Edward (Ted) Grant (born July 9, 1913) is a Trotskyist politician. Image File history File links Pic of Ted Grant File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... July 9 is the 190th day of the year (191st in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 175 days remaining. ... 1913 is a common year starting on Wednesday. ... Trotskyism is the theory of Marxism as advocated by Leon Trotsky. ... A politician is an individual involved in politics. ...

Born Isaac Blank in Germiston, South Africa, he was introduced to Trotskyism by a lodger at his parent's house, and by the Militant publication of the Communist League of America. In 1934, he helped found a small Trotskyist group, but later in the year influenced by Ralph Lee, decided to move to London where he believed there were better prospects for the movement. Germiston in the East Rand of Gauteng is South Africas sixth largest city with 70% of the western worlds gold passing through its gold refinery. ... 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. ... 1934 was a common year starting on Monday (link will take you to calendar). ... St Stevens Tower - The Clock Tower of the Palace of Westminster which contains Big Ben London (see also different names) is the capital city of the United Kingdom and of England. ...

On the journey, he changed his name to Ted Grant, and stopped over in France to meet Trotsky's son, Leon Sedov. Once in Britain, he joined the Marxist Group, which at the time was working in the Independent Labour Party and took part in the Battle of Cable Street against fascists. But when Trotsky suggested the group should turn to working in the Labour Party, and their leadership disagreed, Grant was one of a small group who split to form the Bolshevik-Leninist Group, which soon became known as the Militant Group. The group grew, but in 1937, a dispute about the leadership's treatment of Ralph Lee led to the split of several members including Grant. 1915 passport photo of Trotsky Leon Davidovich Trotsky (Russian: Лев Давидович Троцкий; also transliterated Trotskii, Trotski, Trotzky) (October 26 (O.S.) = November 7 (N.S.), 1879 - August 21, 1940), born Lev Davidovich Bronstein (Лев Давидович Бронштейн), was a Bolshevik revolutionary and Marxist intellectual. ... Leon Lvovich Sedov (February 1906 - February 16, 1938) was the son of the Russian Communist leader Leon Trotsky and his second wife Natalia Sedova. ... The Independent Labour Party (ILP) was a former political party in the United Kingdom. ... The Battle of Cable Street or Cable Street Riot took place on Sunday October 4, 1936 in the East End of London. ... Fascism (in Italian, fascismo), capitalized, was the authoritarian political movement which ruled Italy from 1922 to 1943 under the leadership of Benito Mussolini. ... The Labour Party is a centre-left political party in the United Kingdom (see British politics), and one of the United Kingdoms three main political parties. ... 1937 was a common year starting on Friday (link will take you to calendar). ...

The former RSL members formed the Workers International League, and Grant was to became its main theoretician after the return of Lee to South Africa and in partnership with Jock Haston. The group grew, and in 1941, he became editor of its paper. He continued his role in the fused Revolutionary Communist Party. Upon its break-up, Grant reluctantly joined Gerry Healy's faction, but was soon expelled. He formed a new, small tendency in the Labour Party, called the Revolutionary Socialist League which in 1957 was recognised at the official British section of the Fourth International. The group at first grew only very slowly, but by 1983, when it was known as the Militant Tendency, it was a significant force in British politics, and Grant was expelled from the Labour Party. The Workers International League was a Trotskyist political party in the United Kingdom. ... 1941 was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ... There are a number of political parties called the Revolutionary Communist Party active in various countries across the world. ... Gerry Healy (December 3, 1913 - December 14, 1989) was a Trotskyist politician. ... The Revolutionary Socialist League is the name of more than one group: Revolutionary Socialist League (UK) (either the 1938-44 or 1953-1960s group) Revolutionary Socialist League (US) This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... 1957 was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Emblem of the Fourth International The Fourth International was an international organisation of Trotskyist communists. ... 1983 is a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Militant Tendency was a Trotskyist party within the Labour Party in the UK, practicing entryist tactics. ...

Throughout this time Grant and his colleagues denied that the Militant/RSL was any sort of political organisation, instead claiming it was merely a group of supporters of the newspaper (also called Militant). In the atmosphere of Labour's long shift to the left in the 1970s, all attempts to take action against the Militant/RSL were successfully resisted and even Michael Foot's action against Grant in 1982 (he was expelled along with the so-called "Editorial Board" - actually the Militant/RSL executive committee) was half-hearted. The Right Honourable Michael Mackintosh Foot (born 23 July 1913), British politician, was leader of the Labour Party from 1980 to 1983. ... 1982 is a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

But by 1985 the atmosphere had changed - Militant/RSL were effectively running Liverpool City Council as well as having 3 MPs. The grouping was aggressively advancing within the Labour Party but also faced a new leader, Neil Kinnock who was determined to smash the Militant/RSL as a force within the party. 1985 is a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Liverpool City Council is the governing body for the city of Liverpool in Merseyside, England. ... Lord Kinnock The Right Honourable Neil Gordon Kinnock, Baron Kinnock, PC (born 28 March 1942) is a British politician. ...

The resulting confrontation saw many leading Militant/RSL members expelled from Labour and created a dynamic within the organisation that led many to question Grant's commitment to entryism. They argued that Militant/RSL was able to grow outside Labour and that the Labour Party's position on the poll tax revealed it to be out of touch with working class opinion. Despite the purges organised by the Labour bureaucracy, only a handful of leading Militant/RSL members were ever expelled, and most of the organisation's thousands of members and their three Labour-elected Members of Parliament could not be expelled. Entryism (or entrism or enterism) is a political tactic by which an organisation encourages members to infiltrate another organisation in an attempt to gain recruits, or take over entirely. ... A poll tax, head tax, or capitation is a tax of a uniform, fixed amount per individual (as opposed to a percentage of income). ... The term working class is used to denote a social class. ...

A debate arose within Militant wherein Peter Taaffe and his supporters argued in favour of abandoning the entrism tactic for open work while Grant and his supporters argued for continued work within the Labour Party. After turmoil in the group, Grant was expelled together with Alan Woods in 1992 after a document allegedly written by their faction emerged which stated that they intended to split Militant and the CWI. Following their expulsion they started a new group, known by the name of its publication, Socialist Appeal. The expulsions also left Grant and his supporters outside the Committee for a Workers' International, but he and Woods were able to found the Committee for a Marxist International with international supporters. Since the split, he has devoted much of his time to writing. Peter Taaffe Peter Taaffe is a Trotskyist political figure and general secretary of the Socialist Party of England and Wales. ... Alan Woods was born in Swansea, South Wales in 1944 into a working-class family with a strong Communist tradition. ... 1992 is a leap year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Committee for a Workers International (CWI) is an international association of Trotskyist Parties. ... The Committee for a Marxist International (also known as the International Marxist Tendency) is a Trotskyist tendency based on the ideas of Ted Grant and Alan Woods. ...

External link

• The Ted Grant Internet Archive