DOCSLIB.ORG

Finding Aid No. 2360 / Instrument De Recherche No 2360

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Finding Aid No. 2360 / Instrument De Recherche No 2360 LIBRARY AND ARCHIVES CANADA/BIBLIOTHÈQUE ET ARCHIVES CANADA Canadian Archives Direction des archives Branch canadiennes Finding Aid No. 2360 / Instrument de recherche no 2360 Prepared in 2004 by John Bell of the Préparé en 2004 par John Bell de la Political Archives Section Section des archives politique. II TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction............................................................................................................................iv Series 1: Internal bulletins, 1935-1975 ....................................................................................1 Series 2: Socialist Workers Party internal information bulletins, 1935-1975 .......................14 Series 3: Socialist Workers Party discussion bulletins, 1934-1990.......................................19 Series 4: International bulletins and documents, 1934-1994 ................................................28 Series 5: Socialist League / Forward Group, 1973-1993 ......................................................36 Series 6: Forward files, 1974-2002........................................................................................46 Series 7: Young Socialist / Ligue des jeunes socialistes, 1960-1975 ....................................46 Series 8: Ross Dowson speech and other notes, 1940-1989..................................................52 Series 9: NDP Socialist Caucus and Left Caucus, 1960-1995...............................................56 Series 10: Gord Doctorow files, 1965-1986 ..........................................................................64 Series 11: Socialist Rights Defence Fund and Harry Kopyto Defence, 1989-1997 ..............66 Series 12: Kopyto and Codina defence campaigns, 1989-1997 ............................................71 Series 13: Waffle, 1969-1989 ................................................................................................71 Series 14: Ross Dowson (large files), 1918-1989..................................................................73 Series 15: Art Grey archives / Socialist League, 1947-1990.................................................75 Series 16: Ross Dowson personal files, 1930-2000...............................................................77 Series 17: Ross Dowson confidential files, 1929-2002 .........................................................84 Series 18: Ross Dowson international files, 1931-1988 ........................................................93 Series 19: Ross Dowson correspondence, 1950-1988 ...........................................................96 Series 20: Subject Files, 1925-1990.......................................................................................99 Series 21: League for Socialist Action (LSA/LSO), 1949-1988 ........................................ 101 Series 22: Saskatchewan LSA/YS - Richard Thompson archives, 1965-1975 .................. 106 III Series 23: Vancouver LSA - Jerry and Ruth Houle archives, 1958-1991 .......................... 107 Series 24: Canadian movement, 1905-1988 ....................................................................... 108 Series 25: John Darling archives, 1961-2002 ..................................................................... 115 Series 26: Fair Play for Cuba Committee, 1961-1999........................................................ 116 Series 27: International Trotskyist and left publications, 1936-1964................................. 122 Series 28: Subject files (second block), 1932-1995............................................................ 122 Series 29: Canadian and US Trotskyist journals, 1922-1996 ............................................. 123 Series 30: Miscellaneous subject files, 1944-1991............................................................. 123 Series 31: Hugh Dowson / Autoworkers (DeHavilland) local 1967, 1955-1975 ............... 124 Series 32: Arnie Mintz archives, 1970-1994 ...................................................................... 125 IV INTRODUCTION In 1989, Canada’s leading Trotskyist, Ross Dowson, suffered a debilitating stroke, which brought an end to more than fifty years of political activism. Following Dowson’s incapacitation, members of the Trotskyist organization the Forward Group embarked on an archival project devoted to the arrangement and description of Dowson’s archives, which included not only Dowson’s personal papers, but records of the Canadian Trotskyist movement and the Canadian Fair Play for Cuba Committee, as well as papers obtained by Dowson -- or later by the Dowson archives project -- relating to Art Grey, Richard Thompson, Arnie Mintz, John Darling, Gord Doctorow, Dowson’s brother Hugh Dowson, Jerry and Ruth Houle, and other Canadian Trotskyist activists. The Dowson archives project was located in the home of Dowson’s sister, Lois Bedard. The archival work was undertaken primarily by Dowson’s associate John Darling. The Ross Dowson fonds, which was acquired by the National Archives in 2003 in conjunction with the acquisition of Dowson’s collection of left-wing literature by the National Library, consists of correspondence, memoranda, grey literature, and other records relating primarily to Dowson’s activities as a leading Trotskyist activist during the 1935-1989 period. The fonds is arranged in the series that were identified by John Darling of the Forward Group’s Dowson archives project. Within series, files are generally in chronological order. John Darling’s file titles have been retained. They typically consist of two parts: an alpha-numeric code (which comprises a location indicator and a chronological reference) and a descriptive element (which can be quite long). The file tabs only feature the first part of the title (the alpha-numeric code), which in some instances is shared by several different files. For this reason, it is important to utilize the National Archives file numbers (i.e., 20-1, 20-2, 20-3, etc.), when locating a specific file. It should also be noted that John Darling sometimes utilized an asterisk after the alpha-numeric code to denote files that contain notes by Dowson. In total, the fonds comprises 36 series. The textual-records portion of the fonds comprises the first 32 series, which are described to the file level in the following finding aid. Ross Dowson fonds R10995 Container File Subject Date INTERNAL BULLETINS SERIES [Asterix denotes a file containing documents with annotations by Ross Dowson.] 1 1 A1-1935 1935 Spartacus Youth League of Canada: L. Trotsky, "War and the 4th International" 1 2 A1-1938 c. 1938 (Educational doc.) Bulletin #5: "The Financial Class"; “A National Program for the C.C.F.” 3 40 A1- (Large) Folder # 1 - Part 1 1946-1950 Binder - Internal Bulletins of Revolutionary Workers Party and Socialist Educational League, 1946-1957 [1946 - Mar., Vol.1, No. 1: "Perspectives for the Canadian Section" (PC of Cdn. Section); 1946 - July ,Vol.1, No. 2: "The Necessity for a Revolutionary Party"; "Our Role in the CCF"; "Our Tasks," "Perspectives of the Left Wing," Contributions by Paul Kane, by Montreal Branch, by George Martell; 1946 - Sept., Vol.1 No. : Constitution of the Revolutionary Workers Party of Canada & Report of the Founding Convention; 1947-Aug. Vol.1 No. 4: "On the Irish Question," "Palestine & the Jews", "On Toronto Election Experiences (RD) & Articles by Leon Trotsky; on the Labor Challenge Sub Campaign; 1947 - Sept., Vol.1, No.4 (5): "The RWP and Political Action, the BC Federation and PA," "Political Action and the CCF"(RD); article by Leon Trotsky, "Comments on Organizational Programs" (RD); 1949 - June, Vol.1, No. 6:"On Critical Support, War and the CCF," "The Toronto Branch Election Campaign," "The Tactic of Entry," "Organizational Problems Confronting the RWP" (RD); 1950 Discussion Document: "Should we support the UE?" (Rose & Andrews-McAlpine); "An explanation" (RD); 1950 - Mar., Vol. II, No. 1: "A reply to Rose's Letter on the UE-IUE Dispute", "Reply to the Windsor Comrades," "An Open Letter to the Party Membership," "The Case of Comrade Rose," "The CCF in BC" (continued)] 2 ROSS DOWSON FONDS R10995 Container File Subject Date 3 41 A1- (Large) Folder # 1 - Part 2 1950–1957 Binder - Internal Bulletins of Revolutionary Workers Party and Socialist Educational League, 1946-1957 [1950 - Apr.,Vol. II, No. 2: "Marxism & Petty-bourgeois Confusionism", "A note on Discussion"(J. Rose); "A Further Note" (RD); Letter from the International Secretariat," "Convention Call"; 1950 - Sept., Vol. II, No. 3: Convention Resolutions by Rose, Joyce, Burke & Davids; "Trade Union Policy -- the CCF and Our Perspectives" (Rose); 1951 - Apr.,Vol. II, No. 4: National Secretary's Statement on CC Report; Control Commission Report on Toronto Situation; "Not just Aberrations" (Fitzgerald); "Addendum to 'Not just Aberrations'" (P.Kane); (Vol. II, No. 5 does not appear); 1951 - June, Vol. II, No. 6: "For a Proletarian Orientation" (Toronto Minority-1); "Counter-Resolution to the NC Resolution" (Toronto Minority-2); "An Answer to the Report of Control Commission"; Organizational and Constitutional Documents; Resolution - "Perspectives before the Party in Quebec" (McAlpine); "Open Letter to the Party" (Rosslund); "Better to Rule in Hell" (Brent); 1951 - July, Vol. III, No. 1: "The CCF and Our Tasks & Perspectives" (RD); 1951 - Sept. Vol. III, No. 2: Minutes of the 2nd National Convention of the RWP; Memorandum on the Criteria for a Workers' State and the Class Nature of China (Kelly & Rose); 1951(?) (Re-Drafted) Political Resolution of the PC; 1951 - March:
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Hugo Blanco, the Peruvian Ecosocialist
    Hugo Blanco, the Peruvian ecosocialist https://internationalviewpoint.org/spip.php?article7049 Peru Hugo Blanco, the Peruvian ecosocialist - Features - Publication date: Thursday 22 April 2021 Copyright © International Viewpoint - online socialist magazine - All rights reserved Copyright © International Viewpoint - online socialist magazine Page 1/8 Hugo Blanco, the Peruvian ecosocialist "Of course I am an ecosocialist, as are the indigenous peoples even if they do not use that term". Hugo Blanco is one of the figures in the struggle for emancipation in Peru. In the 1960s, he played an important role in the revolutionary mobilization of indigenous peasants against the four-century-old dominant agrarian regime latifundism. During a self-defence action, a policeman was killed; Blanco was sentenced to death. Defended by Amnesty International, Sartre and de Beauvoir, he lived in exile in the 1970s: in Mexico, Argentina, Chile and then, in the aftermath of the coup against Allende, in Sweden. Returning home, he joined the Peasant Confederation and became a member of parliament, then a senator under the colours of Izquierda Unida a coalition of left-wing organizations. At the age of 86, he currently [2021] resides in Sweden, retired from "political life". Last month, during the screening of a documentary tracing his career, the Peruvian far right campaigned against him. This is an interview published in his native country: he looks back on his life as an activist. Tell us about your life: were you a peasant or a student? My mother was a small landowner and my father was a lawyer. He had a brother who was studying at La Plata (in Argentina).
    [Show full text]
  • "New World Order": Imperialist Barbarism
    SPARTACIST Bush, Mulroney' Gloat Over Desert Massacre "New World Order": Imperialist Barbarism Rebours/AP Charred remains of imperialist slaughter of Iraqi soldiers withdrawing from Kuwait. As planes repeatedly bombed "killing box" for over 12 hours, pilots boasted It was "like shooting fish in a barrel." U.S. imperialism's easy win in its one-sided, bloody war of armbands. Bush gloats that Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein devastation against Iraq is a deadly danger to working people "walks amidst ruins," while a pumped-up officer in the field and the oppressed everywhere. trumpets Washington's messagc to "thc rest of the world": The flag-wavers came out in force, with military parades and "If the U.S. is going to deploy forces, watch out." yellow ribbons everywhere. The U.S. Congress staged a spec­ Washington's junior partners in Ottawa played their part tacle for the conquering commander in chief that rcsembled in raining death upon the people of Iraq. Now Joe Clark has something between a football pep rally and a Nazi beer haJJ been sent to tour the Near East, hoping to share the spotlight meeting. Democrats and Republicans alike repeatcdly rose to for helping with the slaughter, and sniffing around for a few ehant "Bush! Bush! Bush!" and wore American flags like (continued on page 12) 2 SPARTACIST/Canada Partisan Defense Committee Fund Appeal Defend Arrested British Spartacist! At a February 2 demonstration against the Gulf War in London Alastair Green, a comrade of the Spartacist League!Britain, was arrcsted, dragged off the march, hit in the face with a police helmet and then charged with "obstructing a police officer" and "threatening behaviour." The police action against our comrade was carried out expressly on the basis of the SL/B's political positions on the war-for the' defeat of U.S.!British imperialism and defense of Iraq.
    [Show full text]
  • The New Democratic Parly and Labor Political Action in Canada
    ^ •%0k--~* ^'i'^©fc: s $> LABOR RESEARCH REVIEW #22 The New Democratic Parly and Labor Political Action in Canada • Elaine Bernard Political humorist Barry Crimmins recently remarked that the Perot phenomenon in the last Presidential election showed the depressing state of U.S. politics. "Who would have thought/' shrugged Crimmins, "that the development of a third party would reduce political choice?" Many U.S. union progressives have envied their Canadian counterparts' success in building an enduring labor-based political party—the New Democratic Party (NDP). They look to Canada and the NDP as proof that labor and democratic socialist ideas can win a wide hearing and acceptance in North America. As U.S. activists learn about Canada's more progressive labor laws, the national system of universal publicly funded single-payer health care coverage, and the more generous and extensive entitlement programs, they naturally look to labor's political power and the role of the labor-supported New Democratic Party in winning many of these reforms and promoting progressive social change in Canada. Yet most activists in the U.S. know little about the 33-year history of the NDP, the struggles that took place within the Canadian labor movement over the party's creation, and the continuing evolution of • Elaine Bernard is the Executive Director of the Harvard Trade Union Program. Before moving to the U.S. in 1989, she was a longtime activist and the president of the British Columbia wing of the New Democratic Party of Canada. 100 Labor Research Review #21 the relationship between organized labor and the party.
    [Show full text]
  • Ponciano Del Pino H
    Dear Agrarian Studies Readers: This paper summarizes the main arguments of two chapters in which memories of the Shining Path’s violence are situated in the framework of longer historical memory and state-making from 1920s to 1960s. Beyond the immediate past, land insecurity and conflict, the politics of articulation, and government as idea, political language and identity, shape people’s memory, as well as the position assumed by the communities in the context of the 1980s violence. The book manuscript I am working on explores memories of violence at different levels: I emphasize the production of silences and secrets as the central dynamic in the production of memory on the Shining Path’s Peru. This immediate past is framed in the longer historical memory, the politics of articulation and state-making. Finally, the historicity of memory and violence is seen in memory places, landscape and nature, insofar as those were not outsiders to the violence. I analyze narratives about the power of the mountains and their present weakness, which seems to be the case in the context of melting ice. The environmental change provides another window into communities’ experience of natural and social vulnerability in the context of the state pressure and expansion throughout the twentieth century. This multilevel subjective, political and historical experience of the highland communities of Ayacucho, Peru, not only shapes local politics and culture but also exposes the relation between the process of nation-state formation and transformation, and of colonialism as a global process of domination, which lies at the heart of twentieth-century politics in Peru and many other countries of Latin America.
    [Show full text]
  • All Indochina Must Go Communist!
    NUMBER NINETEEN TEN CENTS MAY 1975 Saigon puppets flee All Indochina must go communist! The fall of Saigon on 30 April to the National The triumphant advance of the NLF-DRV proved and the complete collapse of the capitalist class Liberation Front and Democratic Republic of Viet­ conclusively the complete untenability of the and its state apparatus, there is now only one nam (NLF-DRV) is a decisive defeat of US imperi­ 1973 Paris peace treaty, an agreement promoting possible path of 'development -- the expropriation alism and its South Vietnamese puppets. Together the illusion of peace between the classes, pro­ of the basic productive forces. Whatever the with the success of. the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia, claiming acceptance of continued capitalism in outward forms of rule in Cambodia and South Viet­ it is a great victory for the oppressed through­ South Vietnam and a coalition government with the nam, they are now deformed workers states, which out the world, and especially for the workers and capitalist Saigon government. The peace treaty can only base themselves on the property forms of peasants of Indochina who have fought so long and came not out of a decisive military victory but proletarian rule, but with socialist development suffered so much through three decades of war out of a heroic struggle of the masses resulting and the international extension of revolution against oppression. But with this victory the in a military standoff with their enormously held back by a bureaucratic caste ruling in the struggle does not end, either for the peoples of powerful enemy.
    [Show full text]
  • Redalyc.Koka Mama
    Argumentos ISSN: 0187-5795 [email protected] Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana Unidad Xochimilco México Blanco, Hugo Koka Mama Argumentos, vol. 19, núm. 50, enero-abril, 2006, pp. 117-140 Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana Unidad Xochimilco Distrito Federal, México Disponible en: http://www.redalyc.org/articulo.oa?id=59501906 Cómo citar el artículo Número completo Sistema de Información Científica Más información del artículo Red de Revistas Científicas de América Latina, el Caribe, España y Portugal Página de la revista en redalyc.org Proyecto académico sin fines de lucro, desarrollado bajo la iniciativa de acceso abierto MUNDO ANDINO: HISTORIA, CULTURA Y REBELIÓN DOSSIER KOKA MAMA Hugo Blanco* La “coca” es un emblema de la antigua cultura andina: es la hoja sagrada. Tiene un signifi- cado religioso, social y medicinal desde hace seis mil años. La política imperial de Estados Unidos difunde la idea según la cual “coca es igual a cocaína” para combatir a los pueblos andinos y despojarlos de sus riquezas naturales. KOKA MAMA The “coca” is a symbol of the ancient Andean culture: it is the sacred leaf. It has had a religious, social and medical meaning for more than six thousand years. The imperial policy of the United States disseminates the idea that “coca” and cocaine are the same thing, to attack the Andean villages and deprive them from their natural resources. KOKA MAMA La “coca” est un emblème de l’ancienne culture andine : elle est feuille sacrée. La “coca” a une signification religieuse, social et médicinale depuis six mille ans. La politique impériale des Etats-Unis répand l’idée selon laquelle la “coca” est “cocaïne” pour combattre les peuples andins et les dépouiller de leurs ressources naturelles.
    [Show full text]
  • Interviews with Hugo Blanco, Other Exiles, on Right-Wing Junta's Repression · -Pages 5-7
    OCTOBER 12, 1973 25 CENTS VOLUME 37/NUMBER 37 A SOCIALIST NEWSWEEKLY/PUBLISHED IN THE INTERESTS OF THE WORKING PEOPLE II Interviews with Hugo Blanco, other exiles, on right-wing junta's repression · -pages 5-7 Mexico City. Part of demonstration of 100,000 to protest Chile coup. U.S. protests, pages 9, 10. ln.Briel MICHIGAN STUDENTS OPPOSE TUITION HIKE: Stu­ in San Francisco last March of the tenth anniversary dents at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor are of the CIA-backed coup that brought the shah of Iran THIS organizing a tuition strike to roll back a 24 percent fee to power. hike passed by the board of regents this summer. Widespread protests forced the dropping of the assault WEEK'S The Student Action Committee, which is coordinating charges. But Shokat and Ghaemmagham pleaded guilty the strike, held a rally of 250 students on Sept. 28, despite to the lesser charge of "intimidation" to bring the case MILITANT pouring rain. Militant correspondent Marty Pettit reports to an end. 3 UFW-Teamster talks the protesters then lined up in front of collection windows ·The Iranian Student Association has urged protests 4 Boudin describes gov't in the registration area and successfully prevented cashiers against these sentences, especially the imposition of the from accepting payments. maximum jail term on Shokat. Write to: Honorable Judge attempts to discredit him Strike leader Ruy Teixeira said, "A lot of people see this Williams, Federal Building, Nineteenth Floor, 450 Golden 8 New evidence of mass whole struggle, which hopefully will become nationwide, Gate Ave., San Francisco, <_::alif.
    [Show full text]
  • Favorability – USA 2000
    Catching the Big Wave: Public Opinion Polls and Bandwagons in US and Canadian Elections Dissertation Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Delton T. Daigle, M.A. Graduate Program in Political Science The Ohio State University 2010 Dissertation Committee: Professor Herbert Weisberg, Advisor Professor Janet M. Box-Steffensmeier Professor Paul Allen Beck Professor Randall B. Ripley i Copyright by Delton T. Daigle 2010 i Abstract For as long as public opinions have generally thought to be known there have been claims made that knowledge of where people stand can impact both the attitudes and behaviors of others. Previous research has had mixed results in identifying and measuring the effects of ―bandwagons‖. This research uses better data and derives tests from contemporary theories of public opinion to show that not only do bandwagons definitively exist, but also that they exist most often among the groups of people we would expect to be influenced by ambient information: those adequately prepared to receive a message but not so sophisticated as to not be influenced by it. This research examines and finds bandwagon effects in four elections total in two different countries (Canada in 2004 and 2006 and the United States in 2000 and 2004) and as such, contributes to the larger scientific endeavor of generalization through comparison. ii Dedication For my patient and loving wife Carolina iii Acknowledgements It only seems natural to begin acknowledgements with recognizing my advisor Herb Weisberg and my committee Jan Box-Steffensmeier, Randall Ripley and Paul Beck, whose patience with how long it took me to defend this project cannot be appreciated more.
    [Show full text]
  • Paul J. Lawrence Fonds PF39
    FINDING AID FOR Paul J. Lawrence fonds PF39 User-Friendly Archival Software Tools provided by v1.1 Summary The "Paul J. Lawrence fonds" Fonds contains: 0 Subgroups or Sous-fonds 4 Series 0 Sub-series 0 Sub-sub-series 2289 Files 0 File parts 40 Items 0 Components Table of Contents ........................................................................................................................Biographical/Sketch/Administrative History .........................................................................................................................54 .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... ........................................................................................................................Scope and Content .........................................................................................................................54 .........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • Joseph Hansen Papers
    http://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/tf78700585 No online items Register of the Joseph Hansen papers Finding aid prepared by Joseph Hansen Hoover Institution Archives 434 Galvez Mall Stanford University Stanford, CA, 94305-6003 (650) 723-3563 [email protected] © 1998, 2006, 2012 Register of the Joseph Hansen 92035 1 papers Title: Joseph Hansen papers Date (inclusive): 1887-1980 Collection Number: 92035 Contributing Institution: Hoover Institution Archives Language of Material: English Physical Description: 109 manuscript boxes, 1 oversize box, 3 envelopes, 1 audio cassette(46.2 linear feet) Abstract: Speeches and writings, correspondence, notes, minutes, reports, internal bulletins, resolutions, theses, printed matter, sound recording, and photographs relating to Leon Trotsky, activities of the Socialist Workers Party in the United States, and activities of the Fourth International in Latin America, Western Europe and elsewhere. Physical Location: Hoover Institution Archives Creator: Hansen, Joseph, Access The collection is open for research; materials must be requested at least two business days in advance of intended use. Publication Rights For copyright status, please contact the Hoover Institution Archives. Preferred Citation [Identification of item], Joseph Hansen papers, [Box no., Folder no. or title], Hoover Institution Archives. Acquisition Information Acquired by the Hoover Institution Archives in 1992. Accruals Materials may have been added to the collection since this finding aid was prepared. To determine if this has occurred, find the collection in Stanford University's online catalog at http://searchworks.stanford.edu . Materials have been added to the collection if the number of boxes listed in the online catalog is larger than the number of boxes listed in this finding aid.
    [Show full text]
  • W11r Protests Pl11nnetl F!!D~~N~Eia~! N11tionwitle, Apri/21 Vol
    THE W11r Protests Pl11nnetl f!!d~~n~eiA~! N11tionwitle, Apri/21 Vol. 32 - No. 14 Monday, April 1, 1968 Price 10¢ MARCH 27 - Massive antiwar large that many persons never demonstrations for April 27 have reached the UN rally. now been announced for the seven Although this year's New York largest cities in the nation and at march is local, while the April 15 least eight other cities. The big mobilization last year was nation­ seven are New York, Chicago, Los al, there is every reason to expect Angeles, Philadelphia, Detroit, San a massive turnout. Opposition to Viet Vote in Wise. Francisco and Boston. the war in all strata of the popula­ Demonstrations are also planned tion is considerably deeper. for Washington D.C., Minneapolis, According to the most recent Cleveland, Cincinnati, Columbus, Louis Harris poll, "For the first Austin Seattle and Newburgh, time since the United States be­ Slated for April 2 N.Y. Many other actions are ex­ came heavily engaged in the war I pected in cities throughout the in Vietnam, the American people's country and internationally. confidence in this country's ability MADISON, March 24 - "In one The New York protest will in­ to handle the situation there by week, residents of Madison will clude twin parades down Fifth military means has sharply de­ have a chance to vote directly on Avenue on one side of Central clined." the war - for staying in or getting Park and Central Park West on ou,t," Bob Wilkinson, the Socialist In a survey of "basic support to the other side.
    [Show full text]
  • O Eview Bssay
    c:\users\ken\documents\type3402\rj 3402 050 red.docx 2015-02-04 9:19 PM o eview bssay BEHIND THE SCENES AT THE BRPF, THE VIETNAM SOLIDARITY CAMPAIGN, AND THE RUSSELL TRIBUNAL Stefan Andersson [email protected] Ernest Tate. Revolutionary Activism in the 1950s and 60s: a Memoir. Vol. 1: Can- ada 1955–1965. Pp. xvi, 274. C$15; £9; €11. Vol. 2: Britain 1965–1969. London: Resistance Books, 2014. Pp. xviii, 402. isbn: 978-0-902869-60-8. C$21; £13. i. introduction rnest (Ernie) Tate was born in 1934 in Northern Ireland and emigrated to b=Canada in 1955. He describes himself as “a working class activist without any formal education, politically formed mainly by my experiences in a small Trotskyist group in Canada” (Memoir 2: 164). He came to Britain in 1965 to establish, with much help from his partner, Jess MacKenzie, a British Section of the Fourth International. This is when the International Marxist Group (img) was born. In this review I will limit my comments to Tate’s activities in his second volume relating to the brpf, the Vietnam Solidarity Campaign (vsc) and the International War Crimes Tribunal (iwct). Tate describes how the img came into being and some of its main person- alities: Ken Coates, Pat Jordan, Geoff Coggan, and in particular Tariq Ali. Ali was elected President of the Oxford Union in 1965 and organized the first teach-in against the Vietnam war in the uk. He was a delegate on behalf of the British Peace Committee to the Communist-dominated Helsinki Peace Conference, visited Vietnam as a member of one of the investigative commis- sions sent out by the iwct and reported his findings at the session in Stock- holm in May 1967.
    [Show full text]