NationMaster - Encyclopedia: Socialist Workers Party (US)

The Socialist Workers Party is a small communist political party in the United States. Communism - Wikipedia /**/ @import /w/skins-1. ... The Elections and Parties Series Democracy Representative democracy History of democracy Referenda Liberal democracy Representation Voting Voting systems Ideology Elections Elections by country Elections by calender Electoral systems Politics Politics by country Political campaigns Political science Political philosophy Related topics Political parties Parties by country Parties by name Parties by...

1 Origins
2 Post-War
3 Cold War
4 1960s
5 1970s and new leadership
6 1980s and after
7 2004 Presidential Election
8 External links
- 8.1 Further reading

Origins

The Socialist Workers Party, founded in 1938, traces its origins back to the former Communist League of America. The CLA had been founded in 1928 by members of the Communist Party USA expelled for supporting Russian Communist leader Leon Trotsky against Josef Stalin. In 1934, the Communist League of America merged with the American Workers Party led by A.J. Muste, forming the Workers Party of America. The member of that organization, in turn, joined the Socialist Party of America in 1936. The Socialist Party soon expelled the former Workers Party members, along with others recruited to their Trotskyist politics. 1938 was a common year starting on Saturday (link will take you to calendar). ... The Communist League of America (Left Opposition) was founded by James P. Cannon, Max Shachtman and Martin Abern in 1928 after their expulsion from the Communist Party USA for Trotskyism. ... The Communist Party of the United States of America (CPUSA) is one of several Marxist-Leninist groups in the United States. ... 1915 passport photo of Trotsky Leon Davidovich Trotsky (Russian: Ð›ÐµÐ² Ð”Ð°Ð²Ð¸Ð´Ð¾Ð²Ð¸Ñ‡ Ð¢Ñ€Ð¾Ñ†ÐºÐ¸Ð¹; also transliterated Leo, Lev, Trotskii, Trotski, Trotskij and Trotzky ) (October 26 (O.S.) = November 7 (N.S.), 1879 â€“ August 21, 1940), born Lev Davidovich Bronstein (Ð›ÐµÐ² Ð”Ð°Ð²Ð¸Ð´Ð¾Ð²Ð¸Ñ‡ Ð‘Ñ€Ð¾Ð½ÑˆÑ‚ÐµÐ¹Ð½), was a Bolshevik revolutionary and Marxist intellectual. ... Joseph Stalin Iosif (Joseph) Vissarionovich Stalin (Russian: Иосиф Виссарионович Сталин), original name Ioseb Jughashvili (Georgian: იოსებ ჯუღაშვილი; see Other names section) (December 21, 18791 – March 5, 1953) was a Bolshevik revolutionary and a political leader in the Soviet Union. ... Abraham Johannes Muste (January 8, 1885_February 11, 1967) was a socialist active in the labor movement and the US civil rights movement. ... The Socialist Party of America is a socialist political party in the United States. ... Trotskyism can refer to either the body of ideas associated with Leon Trotsky or the movement based on those ideas. ...

Those expelled founded the Socialist Workers Party, combining the names of the Workers Party and the Socialist Party. The new party participated in founding the Fourth International. Emblem of the Fourth International The Fourth International was an international organisation of Trotskyist communists. ...

The SWP's best known leader was James Patrick Cannon, a former member of the Industrial Workers of the World and former head of the International Labor Defense. Another prominent leader was Max Shachtman until a split between the two men in 1940. James P. Cannon (1940) James Patrick Cannon (1890-1974) was an American Communist and Trotskyist leader. ... The IWW Label The Industrial Workers of the World (IWW or the Wobblies) is an international union headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. It contends that all workers should be united within a single union as a class and the profit system abolished. ... The International Labor Defense (ILD) was a communist legal defense organization in the United States, headed by William L. Patterson. ... Max Shachtman (September 10, 1904 - 1972) is best known as an American Trotskyist theorist. ... 1940 was a leap year starting on Monday (link will take you to calendar). ...

James Cannon in Moscow (1922)

The 1940 split in the SWP followed an internal factional debate over the party's internal regime, the class nature of the Russian state, and Marxist philosophy among other quetions. The SWP was to experience many other factional conflicts and splits in its history, but this was the largest, and it foreshadowed many features of those to come. Image File history File links The young communist, James Patrick Cannon in Moscow, 1922. ...

The majority faction, led by Cannon, supported Trotsky's position that the USSR remained a "workers' state" and should be supported in any war with capitalist states, despite their opposition to the regime headed by Josef Stalin. The minority faction, led by Shachtman, held that the USSR should not be supported in its war with Finland. One of its leaders, James Burnham held, in addition, that the USSR had degenerated so far that it deserved no defense whatsoever. Like this debate, most later factional disputes within the SWP also centered on different attitudes towards revolutions in other countries. James Burnham (1905-1987) was a popular political theorist, activist and intellectual, known for his work The Managerial Revolution, published in 1941, which heavily influenced George Orwells Nineteen Eighty-Four. Burnhams theories are thought to have been influenced by Bruno Rizzis book La Bureaucratisation du Monde which...

The opposition faction alleged that Cannon's leadership of the SWP was "bureaucratic conservative" and demanded the right to its own publications to express its views outside the party. The majority faction said this was contrary to Lenin's concept of democratic centralism, and that disagreements and the SWP should be debated only internally. Similar disagreements over the SWP's internal regime have surfaced in most later faction fights, with most later opposition factions raising similar demands and accusations. Despite this, most of these later factions claimed political descent from Cannon and the SWP majority, not from earlier opposition factions and splitoff parties. Vladimir Ilyich Lenin ( Russian: Влади́мир Ильи́ч Ле́нин listen?), original surname Ulyanov (Улья́нов) ( April 22 (April 10 ( O.S.)), 1870 – January 21, 1924), was a Russian revolutionary, the leader of the Bolshevik party, the first Premier of the Soviet Union, and the founder of the ideology of Leninism. ... In Liberalism, Democratic centralism is a political philosophy that forms the basis of building a democratic unitary state, as opposed to a democratic federal state. ...

The minority faction led by Shachtman eventually split away and formed the Workers Party, taking roughly 40% of the party's membership as well as its youth organization, the Young People's Socialist League. The Workers Party was a Trotskyist group in the United States. ... The Young Peoples Socialist League began in 1907 as a youth circle in Chicago, Illinois. ...

The SWP opposed U.S. entry into World War II, arguing that the U.S. would be conducting an "imperialist war" for redivison of the world's colonies and spheres of influence, not a war for democracy against fascism. It experienced some difficulty as a result. World War II was a truly global conflict with many facets: immense human suffering, fierce indoctrinations, and the use of new, extremely devastating weapons like the atom bomb. ...

First, the SWP's main base of influence in the labor unions came under attack. This was its place in the International Brotherhood of Teamsters in the upper Midwest, especially Minneapolis. A number of members of the SWP had been prominent in leading the [1934 Minneapolis Teamster strike and mid-30s organization of Midwest intercity trucking] and held leadership positions in a number of locals. The Minneapolis local's newspaper agitated against U.S. entry into the war. Teamsters International President Daniel Tobin launched an effort to dislodge them from these positions, and with the aid of employers and government agencies, he was successful. The International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Chauffeurs, Warehousemen and Helpers of America, commonly known as the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT) or simply the Teamsters, is one of the largest labor unions in the United States. ...

A number of members were imprisoned under the Smith Act of 1941, including J. P. Cannon (see Smith Act Trials). Those imprisoned included the main national leaders of the SWP and those members most prominent in the Midwest Teamsters. The Alien Registration Act or Smith Act (18 USC 2385) of 1940 made it a criminal offense for anyone to knowingly or willfully advocate, abet, advise, or teach the duty, necessity, desirability, or propriety of overthrowing the Government of the United States or of any State by force or violence... 1941 was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ... The Alien Registration Act or Smith Act (18 USC 2385) of 1940 made it a criminal offense for anyone to knowingly or willfully advocate, abet, advise, or teach the duty, necessity, desirability, or propriety of overthrowing the Government of the United States or of any State by force or violence...

However the party put into practice the so-called Proletarian Military Policy of opposing the war politically while arguing that their members of military age, which meant most of the membership, should go with their class into the military and attempt to transform the imperialist war into a civil war while fighting the Nazis. Although the members of the SWP kept a deliberately low profile during the war years the marine fraction of the party lost a number of its members while sailing in the extremely perilous convoys to Murmansk in an attempt to contact revolutionaries in Russia. The Proletarian Miliatary Policy was a policy adopted by some Trotskyite groups, including the U.S. Socialist Workers Party, in response to World War II. The outbreak of World War II was in many ways an unprecedented crisis for Socialist organizations. ... The Nazi party used a right-facing swastika as their symbol and the red and black colors were said to represent Blut und Boden (blood and soil). ...

As a consequence of the repression they experienced during the war the SWP was quite cautious in its campaigning during this period. That many of their members were in the armed forces also had a detrimental effect on their ability to exploit the opportunities that existed. However in contrast to the rival Workers' Party of Max Shachtman they were unadventurous. One campaign that they did launch that seems to have failed due to a lack of energy on the part of the SWP was its campaign for a Labor Party. Problems caused as a result of the imprisonment of experienced leaders and the enlistment in the armed forces of many others mean that during the war years the editorship of The Militant passed through a number of hands. The Militant is an international socialist newsweekly connected to the Socialist Workers Party published in the US and distributed in other countries such as Canada, United Kingdom, Australia, France, Sweden, Iceland, New Zealand. ...

The SWP was active in supporting those labor strikes that occurred despite the wartime "no-strike pledge", and in supporting protests against racist discrimination during the war, such as A. Philip Randolph's March on Washington Movement. The U.S. Postal Service refused to mail some issues of The Militant and threatened to cancel its third-class mailing permit, citing objections to its articles opposing racist discrimination. Asa Philip Randolph (April 15, 1889 - May 16, 1979) was a socialist active in the labor movement and the US civil rights movement. ... The Militant is an international socialist newsweekly connected to the Socialist Workers Party published in the US and distributed in other countries such as Canada, United Kingdom, Australia, France, Sweden, Iceland, New Zealand. ...

Post-War

Following the war the SWP and the Fourth International both expected that there would be a wave of revolutionary struggles such as accompanied the end of the previous war. Indeed, revolutions did occur in countries including Yugoslavia, Albania, Vietnam, and China, to name only those which resulted in the overthrow of capitalism, but contrary to Trotskyist expectations they were headed by Moscow-oriented "Stalinist" parties. Emblem of the Fourth International The Fourth International was an international organisation of Trotskyist communists. ...

In the United States, the largest strike wave in U.S. history - involving over 5 million workers - occurred with the end of the war and the wartime pledge made by many union leaders not to strike for the duration. (This did not mean there were not many strikes during wartime - there were many wildcat strikes during this period, as well as strikes officially called by the United Mine Workers of America. There were also protests by GIs demanding rapid demobilization after the end of the war, sometimes called the going-home movement). SWP participation in this upsurge led to a brief period of rapid growth for the SWP immediately after the war. This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... Strike action (or simply strike) describes collective action undertaken by groups of workers in the form of a refusal to perform work. ... United Mine Workers of America seal The United Mine Workers (UMW or UMWA) is a United States labor union that represents workers in mining. ...

The end of the war also saw the reorganisation of the FI in which process the SWP played a major role. As part of this process, moves were made to heal the breach with Max Shachtman's supporters in the Workers Party (WP) and for the two groups to fuse. This eventually came to nothing. However some members of the SWP around Felix Morrow and Goldman grew dissatisfied with what they saw as the SWP's ultra-leftist attitude towards revolutionary policies. Eventually they were to leave the SWP in a state of demoralisation and some joined the WP. Felix Morrow (1906 - 1988) US politican, Communist. ...

On the other hand a faction within the WP called the Johnson-Forrest tendency, CLR James (known as Johnson) and Raya Dunayevskaya (Forrest), were impatient of the caution of the WP and considered that the situation could rapidly become pre-revolutionary. This led them to decamp from the WP and rejoin the SWP in 1947. This tendency had moved further away from the 'orthodox Trotskyism' of the SWP, which made for an uncomfortable presence. For example, they continued to hold the position that the USSR was a state capitalist society. By 1951, their presence in the SWP was ever more anomalous, especially as and most left. Dunayevskaya and her supporters eventually formed the News and Letters Committees in 1955 after splitting with CLR James, who was deported from the USA. Cyril Lionel Robert James (4 January 1901–19 May 1989) was a journalist, and a prominent socialist theorist and writer. ... Raya Dunayevskaja (1910 – 1987) was a Ukrainian born immigrant to the United States of America who was a member of the Socialist Workers Party (SWP). ... 1947 was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ... There are multiple definitions of the term state capitalism. ... 1951 was a common year starting on Monday; see its calendar. ... 1955 is a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Cold War

The brief postwar wave of labor unrest gave way to the conservatism of the 1950s, the housebreaking of previously radical labor unions, and the anticommunist witch-hunt. The growing civil rights movement, which continued uninterrupted out of WWII, could not fully offset these trends, and the SWP experienced a period of decline and isolation. McCarthyism, named for Senator Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin, was a period of intense anti-communism in the United States primarily from 1950 to 1954, when the U.S. government was actively engaged in suppression of the American Communist Party, its leadership, and others suspected of being Communists or Communist sympathizers. ...

The party has also had a number of splits over these years. One such split saw the departure of the Pabloite faction of Bert Cochran and Clarke who formed the Socialist Union which lasted until 1959. This 1953 opposition supported the positions of Michel Pablo the Secretary of the Fourth International. 1959 was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1953 is a common year starting on Thursday. ... Michel Pablo (August 24, 1911 - February 17, 1996 ) was the pseudonym of Michel N. Raptis, a Greek Trotskyist leader. ... Emblem of the Fourth International The Fourth International was an international organisation of Trotskyist communists. ...

The next, smaller split was that of Sam Marcy's Global Class War faction which had called within the SWP for support of Henry Wallace's Progressive Party Presidential run in 1948 and regarded Mao Tse-Tung as a revolutionary leader. This faction ended up leaving the SWP in 1958 after supporting the suppression of the Hungarian Rising of 1956 contrary to the position held by most with Trotskyist tendencies. They went on to form the Workers' World Party. Henry Agard Wallace (October 7, 1888–November 18, 1965) was the 33rd Vice President of the United States. ... The United States Progressive Party refers to three distinct political parties in 20th-century United States politics. ... Seal of the President of the United States The President of the United States is the head of state of the United States. ... 1948 is a leap year starting on Thursday (link will take you to calendar). ... Mao Zedong (December 26, 1893—September 9, 1976) was the chairman of the Communist Party of China from 1935 until his death. ... Hungarians investigate a disabled Soviet tank in Budapest The 1956 Hungarian Revolution, also known as the Hungarian Uprising, was a popular revolt against Soviet influence and control in Hungary. ... Workers World Party (WWP) is a communist party in the United States founded in 1959 by Sam Marcy. ...

Meanwhile throughout the 1950s and into the 1960s the remaining membership of the SWP clung to its firmly held beliefs and grew older. Consequently the party membership shrank over these years from a post war high in 1948 until the tide began to turn in the early 1960s. The 1959 Revolution in Cuba however signalled a change in political direction for the SWP as it embarked on solidarity work through the Fair Play for Cuba Committee. The result was a small accretion of youth to the party's ranks and in the same period long time SWP leader Murry Weiss won another group of youth from the Shachtmanites as they joined the SPUSA. Many of the new recruits, however, were drawn from the student movement, unlike those who had led the party since the 1930s, and as a result the internal culture of the party began to change. The 1960s, or The Sixties, in its most obvious sense refers to the decade between 1960 and 1969, but the expression has taken on a wider meaning over the past twenty years. ... Czechoslovak poster saying: We greet the heroic Cuban people. The Cuban Revolution was the overthrow of Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista by the 26th of July Movement and the establishment of a new government led by Fidel Castro in the 1950s. ... Lee Harvey Oswald distributing literature on behalf of the Fair Play For Cuba Committee, August 9, 1963. ... Shachtmanism was a form of Trotskyism associated with Max Shachtman. ... The Socialist Party of America is a socialist political party in the United States. ...

1960s

Despite such growing signs of an end to the isolation which the group had endured during the McCarthyite period, it experienced a new split in the early 1960s. A factional situation developed in the SWP that saw a number of small oppositional groups develop. One of the key issues was the Cuban Revolution and the SWP's response to it. Cannon and other SWP leaders such as Joseph Hansen saw Cuba as qualitatively different from the Stalinist states of Eastern Europe. Their analysis brought them closer to the International Secretariat of the Fourth International from which the SWP had split in 1953. The SWP attempted to negotiate a reunification of the ISFI and the International Committee of the Fourth International leading to the creation in 1963 of the United Secretariat of the Fourth International. Several sections of the ICFI, including Gerry Healy's Socialist Labor League rejected the merger and turned against the SWP leadership working with opponents within the party. McCarthyism, named for Senator Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin, was a period of intense anti-communism in the United States primarily from 1950 to 1954, when the U.S. government was actively engaged in suppression of the American Communist Party, its leadership, and others suspected of being Communists or Communist sympathizers. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... Stalinism is a brand of political theory, and the political and economic system implemented by Joseph Stalin in the Soviet Union. ... Pre-1989 division between the West (grey) and Eastern Bloc (orange) superimposed on current national boundaries: Russia (dark orange), other countries of the former USSR (medium orange) and other former communist regimes (light orange). ... Initially the title International Secretariat of the Fourth International was the name given to the executive committee responsible for the regular operation of the Fourth International (FI) founded in 1938. ... 1953 is a common year starting on Thursday. ... The International Committee of the Fourth International (ICFI) is a Trotskyist international. ... 1963 was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar). ... The United Secretariat of the Fourth International (USFI) is the largest Trotskyist international organisation. ... Gerry Healy (December 3, 1913 - December 14, 1989) was a Trotskyist politician. ... The Workers Revolutionary Party was a Trotskyist political party in the United Kingdom. ...

The most important faction opposing the SWP leadership's new line was the Revolutionary Tendency (RT) led by James Robertson and Tim Wohlforth which rejected the SWP's "capitulation" to Pabloism and opposed joining the USFI. They were critical of the Castro government, arguing variously that Cuba it remained a capitalist state or that it was a bureaucratized, Stalinist-style workers state. However, a split developed within this faction however between groups headed by the two men. Nonetheless both the RT and the Reorganised Minority Tendency split to form the Spartacist (see Spartacist League), and the American Committee for the Fourth International (see Socialist Equality Party), respectively with the latter becoming aligned with Healy's SLL. This article is about James Robertson the Trotskyist political figure. ... Tim Wohlforth is a former Trotskyist politician. ... Michel Pablo (August 24, 1911 - February 17, 1996 ) was the pseudonym of Michel N. Raptis, a Greek Trotskyist leader. ... The International Communist League (Fourth Internationalist) (formerly the International Spartacist Tendency) is a Trotskyist international organisation. ... The Socialist Equality Party is the name of several branches of the Trotskyist International Committee of the Fourth International (ICFI), the largest being in the United States. ...

In the aftermath the Seattle branch also left to found the Freedom Socialist Party, after protesting the alleged suppression of internal democracy, as did Murray and Myra Tanner Weiss. City nickname Emerald City City bird Great Blue Heron City flower Dahlia City mottos The City of Flowers The City of Goodwill City song Seattle, the Peerless City Mayor Greg Nickels County King County Area - Total - Land - Water - % water 369. ... The Freedom Socialist Party is a Trotskyist political party that originated as the Seattle branch of the Socialist Workers Party and was founded when the branch left the SWP in the mid 1960s. ...

The SWP supported both the civil rights movement and the Black nationalist movement which grew during the 1960s. It particularly praised the militancy of Black nationalist leader Malcolm X, who in turn spoke at the SWP's public forums and gave an interview to Young Socialist magazine. After his assassination, the SWP had limited success in forming alliances with his followers and other Black nationalists. However, these movements were part of the radicalization of these years aiding the SWP's growth. Malcolm X Malcolm X (May 19, 1925 â€“ February 21, 1965 â€“ also: Malcolm Little, Detroit Red, El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz, and Omowale) was a spokesman for the Nation of Islam. ...

Like all left wing groups, but even more than most, the SWP grew during the 1960s and experienced a particularly brisk growth in the first years of the 1970s. Much of this was due to its central involvement in many of the campaigns and demonstrations against the war in Vietnam. The SWP advocated that the antiwar movement should call for the immediate withdrawal of all U.S. troops, and should primarily focus on organizing large, legal demonstrations for this demand. It was recognized by friend and foe alike as a major factor influencing the direction of the antiwar movement along these lines. This article provides extensive lists of events and significant personalities of the 1970s. ... The Vietnam War was fought from 1957 to 1975 between Soviet and Chinese-supported Vietnamese nationalist and Communist forces and an array of Western and pro-Western forces, most notably the United States. ...

The SWP was also increasingly outspoken in its defence of the Cuban regime of Fidel Castro and its identification with that regime. A new leadership led by Jack Barnes (who became national secretary in 1972), made identification with Cuba an ever greater part of the politics of the SWP as throughout the 1970s. Cuban President Fidel Castro Fidel Castro Ruz (born August 13, 1926), has led Cuba since 1959, when, leading the 26th of July Movement, he overthrew the regime of Fulgencio Batista, and transformed Cuba into the first Communist state in the Western Hemisphere. ... Jack Barnes (born in 1940) is an American Communist and the National Secretary of the Socialist Workers Party and has held that position since 1972. ... 1972 was a leap year that started on a Saturday. ...

The party also published many of Leon Trotsky's works in these years through their publishing house, Pathfinder Press. Not only were the better-known writings reprinted, many for the first time since the 1930s, but other more obscure articles and letters were collected and printed for a wider audience than they had when first distributed.

1970s and new leadership

The growth of labour militancy in the early 1970s had an impact on the SWP and currents developed within it urging a reorientation of the party towards this militancy. One such current was the Proletarian Orientation Tendency, which eventually dissolved itself. This article provides extensive lists of events and significant personalities of the 1970s. ...

Another tendency developed called the Internationalist Tendency (IT). The IT posed a greater challenge for the group's leadership, as it espoused the ideas of the European-based leadership of the United Secretariat of the Fourth International, including its advocacy of guerilla warfare as a "tactic on a continental scale" in Latin America. However, despite tensions between the SWP and USFI, when the former expelled the IT the latter refused to defend their allies. The IT would disintegrate over the next few months, some of its supporters finding their way back into the SWP. The United Secretariat of the Fourth International (USFI) is the largest Trotskyist international organisation. ...

This period was the peak of the SWP's growth and influence. The party continued its involvement in the movement against the war in Vietnam, which peaked in 1970-71. The SWP also supported Chicano nationalism, including the Raza Unida Party. It helped organize protests demanding legal abortion through the Women's National Abortion Action Coalition.

With the mid- to late 70s decline of these movements and the end of the 1960s-1970s youth radicalization, SWP membership and influence went into decline.

In 1978, the SWP leadership decided that the key task was for party members to make a turn to industry. This turn entailed party members getting jobs in blue collar industries in preparation for, the SWP leadership projected, increasing mass struggles. The 1977-78 coal miners' strike and developments like Steelworkers Fight Back were among the events pointed to in arguing for this change in policy. Party members sought to get jobs in the same workplaces in order to work as organized "fractions", doing "communist political work" as well as union activity.

As a result, many members were asked to move and change jobs, often out of established careers and into low paying jobs in small towns. Many of the older members with experience in trade unions resisted this 'colonization program', which upset their established routine in the unions, as did some of the younger members. This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ...

1980s and after

Opposition to the "turn to industry" developed within the SWP. This opposition was not homogenous and was itself beset by differences between different factions.

A key factor in the growing divisions within the SWP was the move by Jack Barnes, Mary-Alice Waters and others in the leadership away from the Trotskyist label. In 1982, Barnes gave a speech which was later published as Their Trotsky and Ours: Communist continuity today in which Barnes rejected Trotsky's theory of Permanent Revolution arguing that it failed to sufficiently distinguish between the democratic and socialist tasks of a workers' revolution. Barnes argued that anticapitalist revolutions typically began with a "workers' and farmers' government" which initially concentrated on bourgeois-democratic measures, and only later moved on to the abolition of capitalism. 1982 is a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Permanent Revolution is the theory of how to sustain Communism within an undeveloped (backward) state. ...

Barnes also argued that the "Trotskyist" label unnecessarily distinguished revolutionaries in that tradition from revolutionaries of other origins, such as the Cuban Communist Party or the Sandinista National Liberation Front. He argued that the SWP had more in common with these organizations than with many groups calling themselves Trotskyist. The SWP has continued to publish numerous books by Trotsky and advocate a number of ideas commonly associated with Trotskyism, including Trotsky's analysis of Stalinism. Probably the change in the SWP's self-description has gathered far more widespread attention than the nuances of Marxist theory involved.

The opposition factions continued to support the theory of permanent revolution, and the Trotskyist label. While declaring their support to the Cuban and Nicaraguan revolutions, they were more critical of the Castroist and Sandinista leadership. Additionally, they continued to oppose the "turn to industry".

One opposition group gathered around the Weinsteins on the West Coast, (with supporters elsewhere too), while a second group gathered around George Breitman and Frank Lovell. Together they formed an opposition bloc on the SWP's National Committee but in 1983 were defeated in the vote at the party's National Convention. Following the convention, the SWP leadership expelled some who would not pledge to abide by convention decisions; others quit. 1983 is a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

The opposition factions, having split from the SWP, formed new organizations. The grouping around the Weinsteins forming the San Francisco-based Socialist Action. The Breitman-Lovell group, after a time, formed the Fourth Internationalist Tendency. Both groups described themselves as "public factions" of the SWP and set the task of recapturing the SWP to their understanding of Trotskyism. A group, mainly in Los Angeles, that had been close to Breitman but did not agree to orient toward the SWP belonged briefly to Socialist Action but left to join with descendants of the Schachtman organization in Los Angeles and Detroit in the "regroupment" organization Solidarity. See also Socialist Action (UK). ... The Downtown Los Angeles skyline. ... Motto: Speramus Meliora; Resurget Cineribus (We Hope For Better Things; It Shall Rise From the Ashes - this motto was adopted after the disastrous 1805 fire that devastated the territorial city) Nickname: The Motor City and Motown Location in Michigan Founded -Incorporated July 24, 1701 1816 County Wayne County Mayor Kwame...

This was the most recent split or major faction fight in the SWP; the organization has experienced an unusually long period of internal peace since.

The Socialist Workers Party formally left the United Secretariat of the Fourth International in 1990 though it had been increasingly inactive in the Trotskyist movement since Barnes' 1982 speech. In the late 1980s, the SWP's supporters internationally reconstituted themselves in each country as under the name of the Communist League - either renaming national sections of the USFI or splitting from them. The SWP's international formation is sometimes referred to as the Pathfinder tendency as they each operate a Pathfinder Bookstore which sells the publications of the SWP's publishing arm, Pathfinder Press. The United Secretariat of the Fourth International (USFI) is the largest Trotskyist international organisation. ... 1990 is a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar. ... // Events and trends The 1980s marked an abrupt shift towards more conservative lifestyles after the momentous cultural revolutions which took place in the 60s and 70s and the definition of the AIDS virus in 1981. ... See Communist League (disambiguation) for other groups of the same name. ... The Pathfinder tendency is the unofficial name of the group of organizations, each known as the Communist League grouped around the Socialist Workers Party of the United States. ...

The Socialist Workers Party has run candidates for President since 1948; it received its greatest number of votes in 1976, when its candidate, Peter Camejo, received 90,310 votes. In 1986, the party won a lawsuit against the FBI as a result of years of spying by the FBI. 1948 is a leap year starting on Thursday (link will take you to calendar). ... 1976 is a leap year starting on Thursday (link will take you to calendar). ... Peter Miguel Camejo (born December 31, 1939) is a financier, businessman, political activist, environmentalist, author, and one of the founders of the socially responsible investment movement. ... 1986 is a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is a Federal police force which is the principal investigative arm of the United States Department of Justice (DOJ). ...

The SWP's most high profile and controversial campaign in the late 1980s and early 1990s was its Mark Curtis Defense Committee, established after Curtis, an SWP activist and trade union organizer, was charged and convicted on burglary and rape charges in 1988. The party claimed that Curtis had been framed by police for his role in defending immigrant workers. Curtis was eventually paroled. // Events and trends The 1990s are generally classified as having moved slightly away from the more conservative 1980s, but keeping the same mind-set. ... Mark Curtis is a former member of the American Socialist Workers Party who, in the late 1980s and early 1990s, was the subject of a high profile defence campaign by the SWP after he was charged and convicted of raping a 15 year old high school girl in 1988. ... A union (labor union in American English; trade union, sometimes trades union, in British English; either labour union or trade union in Canadian English) is a legal entity consisting of employees or workers having a common interest, such as all the assembly workers for one employer, or all the workers... 1988 is a leap year starting on a Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Immigration is the act of moving to or settling in another country or region, temporarily or permanently. ...

The party has declined to a membership of several hundred in recent years and, in 2003, sold its headquarters in New York City. 2003 is a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Midtown Manhattan, looking north from the Empire State Building, 2005 New York City (officially named the City of New York) is the most populous city in the United States, and is at the center of international finance, politics, communications, music, fashion, and culture. ...

The SWP has continued the policies known as the "turn to industry" and unlike most far-left parties, a large majority of its members are industrial workers and rank-and-file trade union activists. It places a considerable priority on participation in, and solidarity work to aid, strikes and other labor disputes.

The SWP also places considerable priority on supporting Pathfinder Press, which publishes a large range of titles by revolutionary leaders including Malcolm X and Ernesto "Che" Guevara. In 2004, its presidential campaign achieved ballot access in 13 states and the District of Columbia, more than any other socialist candidates. Malcolm X Malcolm X (May 19, 1925 â€“ February 21, 1965 â€“ also: Malcolm Little, Detroit Red, El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz, and Omowale) was a spokesman for the Nation of Islam. ... Che Guevara Dr. Ernesto Rafael Guevara de la Serna (June 14, 1928Â¹ â€“ October 9, 1967), commonly known as Che Guevara or el Che, was an Argentine-born Marxist revolutionary and Cuban guerrilla leader. ...

2004 Presidential Election

Róger Calero speaking at a SWP convention in Oberlin

The Socialist Workers Party ran Roger Calero for President and Arrin Hawkins for Vice-President. It should be noted that both candidates were technically unqualified for the positions because Calero is not an American citizen and Hawkins is 29 years old, with the minimum age being 35. They received 11,947 votes in the Presidential Elections of 2004. They were on the ballot in 13 states and the District of Columbia, more than any other socialist candidates.
Image File history File links Roger Calero Publicity photo for 2004 presidential campaign. ... Oberlin is a city located in Lorain County, Ohio, to the south and west of Cleveland. ... Róger Calero (born 1969) is one of the leaders of the Socialist Workers Party. ... Arrin Hawkins was the vice_presidential candidate of the Socialist Workers Party (USA) in the U.S. presidential election, 2004, filling the ticket below Roger Calero. ...

The SWP also ran several candidates for Congress.

SWP National Secretaries

James P. Cannon (1938-1953)
Farrell Dobbs (1953-1972)
Jack Barnes (since 1972)

James P. Cannon (1940) James Patrick Cannon (1890-1974) was an American Communist and Trotskyist leader. ... Farrell Dobbs (July 25, 1907 â€“ October 31, 1983) was an American Trotskyist politician and trade unionist. ... Jack Barnes (born in 1940) is an American Communist and the National Secretary of the Socialist Workers Party and has held that position since 1972. ...

Presidential candidates from 1948

1948 - Farrell Dobbs = 13,614 counted votes.
1952 - Farrell Dobbs = 10,312 counted votes.
1956 - Farrell Dobbs = 7,797 counted votes.
1960 - Farrell Dobbs = 60,166 counted votes.
1964 - Clifton DeBerry = 32,327 counted votes.
1968 - Fred Halstead = 41,390 counted votes.
1972 - Linda Jenness = 66,677 counted votes.
1976 - Peter Camejo = 91,314 counted votes.
1980 - Clifton DeBerry = 40,105 counted votes.
1984 - Mel Mason = 24,672 counted votes.
1988 - James "Mac" Warren = 15,604 counted votes.
1992 - James "Mac" Warren = 23,096 counted votes.
1996 - James Harris = 8,463 counted votes.
2000 - James Harris = 7,378 counted votes.
2004 - Róger Calero = 11,947 counted votes.

Farrell Dobbs (July 25, 1907 â€“ October 31, 1983) was an American Trotskyist politician and trade unionist. ... Farrell Dobbs (July 25, 1907 â€“ October 31, 1983) was an American Trotskyist politician and trade unionist. ... Farrell Dobbs (July 25, 1907 â€“ October 31, 1983) was an American Trotskyist politician and trade unionist. ... Farrell Dobbs (July 25, 1907 â€“ October 31, 1983) was an American Trotskyist politician and trade unionist. ... Peter Miguel Camejo (born December 31, 1939) is a financier, businessman, political activist, environmentalist, author, and one of the founders of the socially responsible investment movement. ... James Harris - African-American communist politician. ... James Harris - African-American communist politician. ... RÃ³ger Calero (born 1969) is one of the leaders of the Socialist Workers Party. ...

Other leading members

Max Shachtman
James Burnham
Martin Abern
George Novack
Carl Skoglund
George Breitman
Joseph Hansen
CLR James
Raya Dunayevskaya
Felix Morrow
Tom Kerry
Evelyn Reed
Albert Goldman
Harry Braverman
Bert Cochran
Joseph Carter
Peter Camejo
Mary-Alice Waters
Joel Britton
Martin Koppel
Harry Ring
Olga Rodriguez
Norton Sandler
Eric Simpson

See also: COINTELPRO, Other parties called the Socialist Workers Party, List of political parties in the United States List of Communist parties Max Shachtman (September 10, 1904 - 1972) is best known as an American Trotskyist theorist. ... James Burnham (1905-1987) was a popular political theorist, activist and intellectual, known for his work The Managerial Revolution, published in 1941, which heavily influenced George Orwells Nineteen Eighty-Four. Burnhams theories are thought to have been influenced by Bruno Rizzis book La Bureaucratisation du Monde which... Martin Abern, born Martin Abramowitz (December 2nd 1898 ? 1949) was a Trotskyist politician. ... George Norvack (1905-1992). ... Carl Skoglund (1884â€”1960) was a Swedish-American socialist, affectionately called Skogie by all his American friends and comrades. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... Cyril Lionel Robert James (4 January 1901–19 May 1989) was a journalist, and a prominent socialist theorist and writer. ... Raya Dunayevskaja (1910 – 1987) was a Ukrainian born immigrant to the United States of America who was a member of the Socialist Workers Party (SWP). ... Felix Morrow (1906 - 1988) US politican, Communist. ... Evelyn Reed (1905 â€“ 1979) was a communist in the United States and womenâ€™s rights agitator. ... Albert Harry Goldman (April 15, 1927 - March 28, 1994) was an American professor and author. ... Peter Miguel Camejo (born December 31, 1939) is a financier, businessman, political activist, environmentalist, author, and one of the founders of the socially responsible investment movement. ... This article needs cleanup. ... Martín Koppel is one of the leaders of the Socialist Workers Party. ... Olga Rodriguez is a member of the Socialist Workers Party of the United States. ... Eric Simpson is an American Communist and long-time member of the Socialist Workers Party of Miami, Florida and writer for The Militant. ... COINTELPRO is an acronym (COunter INTELligence PROgram) for a program of the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation aimed at investigating and disrupting dissident political organizations within the United States. ... There are various Socialist Workers Parties throughout the world. ... Political parties in the United States lists political parties in the United States. ... There are, at present, a number of communist parties active in various countries across the world, and a number who used to be active. ...

External links

The Militant, the newspaper of the Socialist Workers Party
Pathfinder Books, bookstore of the Socialist Workers Party
James P. Cannon Archive

Contents

Origins GA_googleFillSlot("encyclopedia_square");