What Happened to the Workers' Socialist League?
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100 Spouting Anticollaborationist Slogans Against Those on the Left
THE LABOUR MOVEMENT AND THE LEFT IN THE UNITED STATES* Stanley Aronowitz During the 1960s and early 1970s, majority sentiment on the American left held that the American trade union movement had become a relatively conservative interest group. It fought within the Democratic Party, and in direct bargaining with corporations and government, for an increasingly narrow vision of its interests. For example, when confronted with the demands of blacks for full equality within the unions as much as within society as a whole, labour leaders responded with a dual position. The unions remained committed in general to civil rights at the legislative level, but were primarily protective of their members' immediate interests in higher pay and job security. When these interests were in conflict with the demand for full equality, some unions abandoned all but a legislative commitment to civil rights. On the question of the Vietnam war, most unions were either bellicose supporters of the Johnson policies, or remained silent, due either to the ambivalence of some leaders about the war or to unresolved debates among members. The left was aware that a section of the trade union leadership distinguished itself from the generally conservative policies of a section of industrial unions around the ILGWU, the building trades, and most of the old-line union leaders (all of whom grouped around George Meany). This more liberal wing of the labour leadership was led by the United Auto Workers (UAW) and included most of the old CIO unions except the Steelworkers, as well as some former AFL unions (notably, the Amalgamated Meatcutters, some sections of the Machinists, and the State, County, and Municipal Employees). -
Pablo Bio-Bibliographical Sketch
Lubitz' TrotskyanaNet Michel Pablo Bio-Bibliographical Sketch Contents: Basic biographical data Biographical sketch Selective bibliography Basic biographical data Name: Michel Pablo Other names (by-names, pseud. etc.): Abdelkrim ; Alain ; Archer ; Gabe ; Gabriel ; Henry ; Jérôme ; J.P. Martin ; Jean-Paul Martin ; Mike; Molitor ; M.P. ; Murat ; Pilar ; Michalēs N. Raptēs ; Michel Raptis ; Mihalis Raptis ; Mikhalis N. Raptis ; Robert ; Smith ; Spero ; Speros ; Vallin Date and place of birth: August 24, 1911, Alexandria (Egypt) Date and place of death: February 17, 1996, Athens (Greece) Nationality: Greek Occupations, careers, etc.: Civil engineer, professional revolutionary Time of activity in Trotskyist movement: 1928 - 1964 (1995) Biographical sketch A lifelong revolutionary, Michel Pablo for some one and a half decades was the chief leader of the Trotskyist Fourth International – or at least of its majority faction. He was perhaps one of the most renowned and at the same time one of the most controversial figures of the international Trotskyist movement; for all those claiming for themselves the label of "orthodox" Trotskyism, Pablo since 1953 was a whipping boy and the very synonym for centrism, revisionism, opportunism, and even for liquidationism. 'Michel Pablo' is one (and undoubtedly the best known) of more than about a dozen pseudonyms used by a man who was born Michael Raptis [Mikhalēs Raptēs / Μισέλ Πάμπλο]1 as son of Nikolaos Raptis [Raptēs], a Greek civil engineer, in Alexandria (Egypt) on August 24, 1911. He grew up and attended Greek schools in Egypt and from 1918 in Crete before, at the age of 17, he moved to Athens enrolling at the Polytechnic where he studied engineering. -
People, Place and Party:: the Social Democratic Federation 1884-1911
Durham E-Theses People, place and party:: the social democratic federation 1884-1911 Young, David Murray How to cite: Young, David Murray (2003) People, place and party:: the social democratic federation 1884-1911, Durham theses, Durham University. Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/3081/ Use policy The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that: • a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in Durham E-Theses • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. Please consult the full Durham E-Theses policy for further details. Academic Support Oce, Durham University, University Oce, Old Elvet, Durham DH1 3HP e-mail: [email protected] Tel: +44 0191 334 6107 http://etheses.dur.ac.uk People, Place and Party: the Social Democratic Federation 1884-1911 David Murray Young A copyright of this thesis rests with the author. No quotation from it should be published without his prior written consent and information derived from it should be acknowledged. Thesis submitted for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of Durham Department of Politics August 2003 CONTENTS page Abstract ii Acknowledgements v Abbreviations vi Introduction 1 Chapter 1- SDF Membership in London 16 Chapter 2 -London -
Irish Responses to Fascist Italy, 1919–1932 by Mark Phelan
Provided by the author(s) and NUI Galway in accordance with publisher policies. Please cite the published version when available. Title Irish responses to Fascist Italy, 1919-1932 Author(s) Phelan, Mark Publication Date 2013-01-07 Item record http://hdl.handle.net/10379/3401 Downloaded 2021-09-27T09:47:44Z Some rights reserved. For more information, please see the item record link above. Irish responses to Fascist Italy, 1919–1932 by Mark Phelan A thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Supervisor: Prof. Gearóid Ó Tuathaigh Department of History School of Humanities National University of Ireland, Galway December 2012 ABSTRACT This project assesses the impact of the first fascist power, its ethos and propaganda, on key constituencies of opinion in the Irish Free State. Accordingly, it explores the attitudes, views and concerns expressed by members of religious organisations; prominent journalists and academics; government officials/supporters and other members of the political class in Ireland, including republican and labour activists. By contextualising the Irish response to Fascist Italy within the wider patterns of cultural, political and ecclesiastical life in the Free State, the project provides original insights into the configuration of ideology and social forces in post-independence Ireland. Structurally, the thesis begins with a two-chapter account of conflicting confessional responses to Italian Fascism, followed by an analysis of diplomatic intercourse between Ireland and Italy. Next, the thesis examines some controversial policies pursued by Cumann na nGaedheal, and assesses their links to similar Fascist initiatives. The penultimate chapter focuses upon the remarkably ambiguous attitude to Mussolini’s Italy demonstrated by early Fianna Fáil, whilst the final section recounts the intensely hostile response of the Irish labour movement, both to the Italian regime, and indeed to Mussolini’s Irish apologists. -
Charlie Van Gelderen (1913-2001)
Charlie van Gelderen (1913-2001) https://internationalviewpoint.org/spip.php?article546 Obituary Charlie van Gelderen (1913-2001) - IV Online magazine - 2001 - IV336 - December 2001 - Publication date: Monday 10 December 2001 Copyright © International Viewpoint - online socialist magazine - All rights reserved Copyright © International Viewpoint - online socialist magazine Page 1/3 Charlie van Gelderen (1913-2001) Charlie van Gelderen was the last survivor of those who attended the 1938 Founding Conference of the Fourth International in Paris. He attended as an observer on behalf of South African Trotskyists, though he was already living in Britain by that time. He died peacefully at home in Cambridge on October 26 after a short illness at the age of 88, still a fully paid up and until very recently an active member of the International Socialist Group (British section of the Fourth International). Charlie was born in August 1913 in the small town of Wellington, 40 miles from Cape Town, South Africa. He became politically active as a young man, initially joining the Fabian Society, but in 1931 he became an enthusiastic supporter of the ideas of Leon Trotsky. Together with his twin brother, Herman, he was instrumental in setting up the first Trotskyist organisation in South Africa, the International Marxist League. Charlie was also involved in setting up the Commercial Workers Union in the Cape and for a time became its full time secretary. The South African Trotskyist movement split in 1932 in response to the "French turn", the position put forward by Trotsky at the time urging his French supporters to enter the French Socialist Party. -
The High Tide of UK Anti-Revisionism: a History
1 HIGH TIDE Reg’s Working Class Party Throughout its history there were only a few times when the organisational skeleton of a national ML force was in the making: McCreery in the initial break from the CPGB led the first occasion. With the demise of the CDRCU, it was the launch of the CPB (ML), led by former Communist Party Executive member, Reg Birch that saw the beginnings of a national ML force unchallenged for almost a decade until the late 1970s emergence of the rejuvenated and "bolshevised" Revolutionary Communist League. For the first half of the decade, it was the CPB (ML) that seemed the most promising organisation to make a political break through. The project initiated by Reg Birch could draw upon a lot of goodwill. Birch, with a pedigree of both trade union and communist activity, offered the chance of gathering the best forces of the ML movement around the standard he had raised. Those who were already disgusted with the inward‐looking squabbling, that seemed to dominate the activities of some groups, look forward to the opportunity for serious political work in trade unions and campaigns directed at winning working class support. Reg Birch was an initial asset to the formation of the CPB (ML) and not without confidence, he announced: “Small and new as it is on the British political scene the Communist Party of Britain (Marxist Leninist) is the only party which is genuinely a workers' party. It was founded by workers, serves only the working class and is unswervingly committed to the revolutionary task of smashing capitalism and all its institutions so that exploitation can be ended and workers can establish their own socialist state."1 He had the initial support of, not only his own engineering base, but also of probably the largest single organised Marxist‐Leninist group in the country, the Association of Indian Communist, those Maoists of Indian origin resident in Britain. -
WIRFI Journal 15 February 2016
WORKERS INTERNATIONAL Print JOURNAL version £2 Political and theoretical journal of Workers International (to Rebuild the 4th International) No 15 February 2016 Special obituary edition Farewell Comrade Balazs Nagy! 1927 - 23 August 2015 ALSO INSIDE Bill Hunter and Charlie Pottins: Two veteran British Trotskyists pass away 2015 also saw the loss of Bill Hunter and Charlie Pottins, two former members of the Socialist Labour League / Workers Revolutionary Party in the UK who participated in the 1985-6 split in the Party and the expul- sion of its former leader Gerry Healy. Although they were no longer members of Workers International to Rebuild the Fourth International, we had remained in touch with them and mourn their loss. We joined with the families and comrades who gathered to mark their passing and record their life’s work. See appreciations inside. WORKERS Inside this issue INTERNATIONAL of Workers’ International Journal we JOURNAL Political and theoretical journal of reproduce a selection of the tributes Workers International to Rebuild the 4th International paid to our founding secretary Balazs PO Box 68375, London E7 7DT, UK Nagy (Michel Varga) by present and workersinternational.info Email: former comrades [email protected] Workers International Journal February 2016 Page 1 Comrades and relatives of Balazs Nagy gathered in Albi, France, in August 2015 to bid him farewell. BOB ARCHER pronounced the eulogy on behalf of Workers International to Rebuild the Fourth International “It is impossible to do justice to our comrade Balazs Nagy in a few minutes. He spent all his adult life fighting for that vital thing ̵ the party which leads the struggle of the working class ̵ and to oppose all deformations within it. -
Miscellaneous Notes on Republicanism and Socialism in Cork City, 1954–69
MISCELLANEOUS NOTES ON REPUBLICANISM AND SOCIALISM IN CORK CITY, 1954–69 By Jim Lane Note: What follows deals almost entirely with internal divisions within Cork republicanism and is not meant as a comprehensive outline of republican and left-wing activities in the city during the period covered. Moreover, these notes were put together following specific queries from historical researchers and, hence, the focus at times is on matters that they raised. 1954 In 1954, at the age of 16 years, I joined the following branches of the Republican Movement: Sinn Féin, the Irish Republican Army and the Cork Volunteers’Pipe Band. The most immediate influence on my joining was the discovery that fellow Corkmen were being given the opportunity of engag- ing with British Forces in an effort to drive them out of occupied Ireland. This awareness developed when three Cork IRA volunteers were arrested in the North following a failed raid on a British mil- itary barracks; their arrest and imprisonment for 10 years was not a deterrent in any way. My think- ing on armed struggle at that time was informed by much reading on the events of the Tan and Civil Wars. I had been influenced also, a few years earlier, by the campaigning of the Anti-Partition League. Once in the IRA, our initial training was a three-month republican educational course, which was given by Tomas Óg MacCurtain, son of the Lord Mayor of Cork, Tomas MacCurtain, who was murdered by British forces at his home in 1920. This course was followed by arms and explosives training. -
A Critical and Comparative Analysis of Organisational Forms of Selected Marxist Parties, in Theory and in Practice, with Special Reference to the Last Half Century
Rahimi, M. (2009) A critical and comparative analysis of organisational forms of selected Marxist parties, in theory and in practice, with special reference to the last half century. PhD thesis. http://theses.gla.ac.uk/688/ Copyright and moral rights for this thesis are retained by the author A copy can be downloaded for personal non-commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge This thesis cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the Author The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the Author When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given Glasgow Theses Service http://theses.gla.ac.uk/ [email protected] A critical and comparative analysis of organisational forms of selected Marxist parties, in theory and in practice, with special reference to the last half century Mohammad Rahimi, BA, MSc Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of PhD Centre for the Study of Socialist Theory and Movement Faculty of Law, Business and Social Science University of Glasgow September 2008 The diversity of the proletariat during the final two decades of the 20 th century reached a point where traditional socialist and communist parties could not represent all sections of the working class. Moreover, the development of social movements other than the working class after the 1960s further sidelined traditional parties. The anti-capitalist movements in the 1970s and 1980s were looking for new political formations. -
WP5 – Global Activists. Conceptions and Practices of Democracy in The
WP5 – Integrated Report. GLOBAL ACTIVISTS. CONCEPTIONS AND PRACTICES OF DEMOCRACY IN THE EUROPEAN SOCIAL FORUMS Edited by Donatella della Porta and Massimiliano Andretta European University Institute Florence, March 2007 WP5 Report for “Democracy in Europe and the Mobilization of Society”, a project funded by the European Commission, Contract n. CIT2-CT2004-506026, and (for the Swiss case) by the Swiss Federal Office for Education and Science, Contract no. 03.0482. CHAPTER 1 WHY A RESEARCH ON DEMOCRACY AND THE EUROPEAN SOCIAL FORUM? AN INTRODUCTION BY DONATELLA DELLA PORTA ..................................................................................................................................1 1. DEMOCRACY AND/IN CONTEMPORARY SOCIAL MOVEMENTS: WHERE IS THE CHALLENGE...........................................1 The research on democracy and movements.............................................................................................................4 The research on individual activists..........................................................................................................................5 2. DEMOCRACY IN THE EUROPEAN SOCIAL FORUM: A CRITICAL CASE STUDY...............................................................9 3. THE RESEARCH: METHODS AND CAVEATS .................................................................................................................14 REFERENCES.................................................................................................................................................................21 -
TRANSNATIONAL PARTY ACTIVITY and PORTUGAL's RELATIONS with the EUROPEAN COMMUNITY
TRANSNATIONAL PARTY ACTIVITY and PORTUGAL'S RELATIONS WITH THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITY Juliet Antunes Sablosky Georgetown University Paper Prepared for Delivery at the Fourth Biennial International Conference of The European Community Studies Association May 11-14, 1995 Charleston, South Carolina This paper analyzes the interaction of the domestic and international systems during Portugal's transition to democracy in the 1970's. It focuses on the role which the European Community played in the process of democratization there, using transnational party activity as a prism through which to study the complex set of domestic and international variables at work in that process. The paper responds to the growing interest in the role of the European Community as a political actor, particularly in its efforts to support democratization in aspiring member states. The Portuguese case, one of the first in which the EC played such a role, offers new insights into how EC related party activity can affect policy-making at national and international levels. The case study centers on the Portuguese Socialist Party (PS) and its relationship with the socialist parties1 in EC member states, with the Confederation of the Socialist Parties of the European Community and the Socialist Group in the European Parliament. Its central thesis is that transnational party activity affected not only EC policy making in regard to Portugal, but had demonstrable effects on the domestic political system as well. Using both interdependence and linkages theory as its base, the paper builds on earlier work by Geoffrey Pridham (1990, 1991), Laurence Whitehead (1986, 1991) and others, on the EC's role in democratization in Southern Europe. -
Tom Kahn and the Fight for Democracy: a Political Portrait and Personal Recollection
Tom Kahn and the Fight for Democracy: A Political Portrait and Personal Recollection Rachelle Horowitz Editor’s Note: The names of Tom Kahn and Rachelle Horowitz should be better known than they are. Civil rights leader John Lewis certainly knew them. Recalling how the 1963 March on Washington was organised he said, ‘I remember this young lady, Rachelle Horowitz, who worked under Bayard [Rustin], and Rachelle, you could call her at three o'clock in the morning, and say, "Rachelle, how many buses are coming from New York? How many trains coming out of the south? How many buses coming from Philadelphia? How many planes coming from California?" and she could tell you because Rachelle Horowitz and Bayard Rustin worked so closely together. They put that thing together.’ There were compensations, though. Activist Joyce Ladner, who shared Rachelle Horowitz's one bedroom apartment that summer, recalled, ‘There were nights when I came in from the office exhausted and ready to sleep on the sofa, only to find that I had to wait until Bobby Dylan finished playing his guitar and trying out new songs he was working on before I could claim my bed.’ Tom Kahn also played a major role in organising the March on Washington, not least in writing (and rewriting) some of the speeches delivered that day, including A. Philip Randolph’s. When he died in 1992 Kahn was praised by the Social Democrats USA as ‘an incandescent writer, organizational Houdini, and guiding spirit of America's Social Democratic community for over 30 years.’ This account of his life was written by his comrade and friend in 2005.