DOCSLIB.ORG

The Party “Discussion” Opens! FTER, Not a Little Delay, Occasioned by the Eus- by James P

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
The Party “Discussion” Opens! FTER, Not a Little Delay, Occasioned by the Eus- by James P The Party “Discussion” Opens! FTER, not a little delay, occasioned by the eus- by James P. Cannon that Christ wrought miracles but we do not be­ A tomary cabling back and forth, by cabled ap- lieve that even he ever succeeded in riding two peals of protest by the Foster group which were horses going in opposite directions at the same time. rejected over the same cables, the statement of the group of interminable debaters. Neither are we an The Foster group took a forward step when, it Lovestone-Pepper C.E.G. on our declaration and ex­ army of voting robots. The automatic hand raiser united with us in the fight against the right wing pulsion was published in the Daily Worker on is no Communist any more than the undisciplined, (joint fight against the Panken “ maneuver” , com­ November 16th. endless talker. The one of these conceptions is mon platform at the February and May Plenary The statement of the Party majority covers jvjst as far away from Leninism as the other. We meetings of the Central Executive Committee, much paper, but it had no space to answer the hold to the principle of democratic centralism just common platform on “ the Right Danger in the criticisms of the Opposition on a single point. Our as firm ly as we reject the suppression of discussion American Party” , etc.) Its failure to develop the declaration raised principle questions. They an- and the substitution of official commands for ideo­ international implications of our common opposi­ swered with an administrative instruction to the logical and political leadership. tion stand, its failure to see that the problems of party to expel all those who share our views. The great principle questions raised by the Rus­ our party and the fight against its right wing lea­ W e said, what everyone knows, that the questions sian Opposition— questions of decisive importance dership are indissolubly bound up with the Bolshe­ have never been discussed and we demanded a for the whole future of the world proletarian re­ vik fight o f the Russian Opposition, arrested the discussion. They replied “ the discussion is closed.” volution— have never been fairly and fully dis­ forward development of the Foster group and pre­ W e said the position of the Russian Opposition cussed in any party of the Comintern, including pared the ground for its disintegration. Its pitiful, has been correct on all important questions; we our own party, and, consequently, have been de­ if shq'rt-lived, attempt to outdo the opportunist gave reasons for our'statement and demanded the cided wrongly. This is the essence of the matter, leadership in demagogy agfainst the Russian .Oppo­ right to defend these views in the pre-convention which the statement of the Lovestone majority ig­ sition and against us only sharpened its contradic­ discussion prescribed by the Party constitution. nores entirely, because it is fatal for their whole tions and made its whole position politically impos­ They disposed of this.political proposal with legal­ case. sible. Those who do not stand clearly on princi­ istic references to the decisions of thé Communist The party comrades do not know the issues from ples, foresee their implications and understand their International. all sides and cannot know them for the reason that logic are b<jund to play a sorry role when principle Such, in brief, is the political content of the long- the material of the Opposition was not published questions are placed on the agenda. delayed and much labored-over statement of the — it was suppressed. There has been no real and The resolution of the District Executive Com­ Lovestone-Pepper faction which, by grace of Bu- serious discussion in the party—it was prohibited. mittee of New York, under the direct inspiration charin, constitutes the majority of our Central The Communist militants who have had the op­ of the Central'Executive Committee majority, de­ Executive Committee. W e might add that, as an portunity to read the documents and learn the mands that the Foster opposition repudiate the extraordinary concession on their part (and con­ truth are not allowed to speak within the party— statement on “ the Right Danger in the American sidering the fact that the Party members had al­ they are expelled. Party” if it really wants to fight “Trotskyism” ready read it in The Militant) they printed our The Foster group which had the honor of car­ and logically so. The Lovestone-Pepper group of statement to the Polcom, including even a para­ rying the “ information” against us to Lovestone opportunists represents on an American scale what graph, which we, for Party reasons, had thought and Pepper, received their reward in the statement: the opportunist opponents and' calumniators of the best to eliminate from publication. a condescending pat on the back, which was no Russian opposition represent on a Russian and in­ They merely recite that the C.I. has decided doubt appreciated, even if it was accompanied ternational scale. The Lovestone faction leaders against the Trotsky platform—a fact which every­ by a rough box on the ear, to say nothing of a are merely the American representatives of the an­ body knew before—and pass that off for an an­ number of boots to the bottom. ti-Trotsky faction in the Communist International swer to the principle arguments of the Opposition. The difficulties of the Foster group arise out and have been imposed upon the party by it. They The merits of the decision of the C.I., which all of the contradictions in its position. It is claimed are not and can never be leaders of our party in Communists have a right and duty to discuss and their own right. On the other hand, the course of which is the real point of dispute, are not oci ended the American Opposition, insofar as it develops by one word in the statement. Thus the peda­ consistently, merges with the path of the Russian gogical overseers show their contemptuous esti­ Swabeck, Glotzer Join Opposition. This is the logic of the whole situa­ mate of the Party members. They do not consi­ tion. Between these two stools there is no place der it necessary for the Party comrades tp know Opposition; Expelled to sit. for themselves the issues involved. The party The forces of the Opposition were immeas­ The Foster group, by its present policy, weakens comrades are merely informed of the decisions—■ urably strengthened last Saturday by the for­ itself, strengthens the right wing leadership and discussion is not allowed. mal adhesion of a powerful group of Com­ confuses the party. They take part, shame-faced The bureaucrats who rule by decree set up a munist fighters in Chicago, headed by Arne and utterly contemptible, in the obscene lynching conception of the Comintern which Lenin never Swabeck and A1 Glotzer. In a statement campaign against us, saying we have no right to op­ knew. Instead of a living body of revolutionar­ addressed to all Party and League members pose the decision of the Communist International ies, generalizing from world experience, as Lenin these two comrades, the outstanding Chicago cm the Russian questions. The right wing leaders conceived the Comintern, they want to palm it retort: “ Very good. W e appreciate your help in leaders in the Party and Young Workers off as an institution which decides while the Party lynching and expelling Communists by wholesale, League, declared their unconditional support members need only to be informed of the decisions. but the same rule, you are supporting applies to of the platform of the Opposition and their The teachings of Marx and Lenin on the cen­ you also. You have no right to oppose the deci­ solidarity with all comrades expelled for these tralized international organization of the Com­ sion of the Communist International on the Ameri­ views. On the presentation of their statement munist workers are completely lost in such a con­ can question. Your own expulsion in next c|n the at a meeting of the Chicago D.E.C. on Satur­ ception. agenda1” day, November 24, they were also declared ex­ In this caricature of Leninism the Communist And why should they not speak this way? Is pelled from the Party together with comrades who knows for himself and defends his position there some secret paragraph of the statutes of the Mike Zalisko, Sidney Borgeson and Helen because he knows is thrown aside in favor of the Communist International which says that the de­ one who does not know and asks no questions. In Judd. Wholesale expulsions of other com­ cision on the Russian question is sacred and may rades in Chicago are being prepared. The such a scheme there is no recognition of the pos­ not even be discussed under penalty df expulsion, sibilities of errors and no provision for a correction Chicago membership has been profoundly' while the decision on the American question may of them. Tomorrow they w ill go a step further-—in­ shaken by these events. be opposed with impunity?' These decisions arc to deed they have already started on this path— and Comrade Swabeck, as is well known, is one a large extent bound together. For our part we are attempt to establish the same,relationship between o f the foremost American Communists. He is against both and openly say so. the Party members and the C.E.C. of the Party. one of the founders cf the Party and has been W e have no doubt that the overwhelming maj­ Then the Foster group which is now helping to es­ a member of the Central Executive Committee ority of the supporters of the Foster group-..above tablish this principle -which denies our right to cri­ ■ fc-r many years.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Capitalism Unchallenged : a Sketch of Canadian Communism, 1939 - 1949
    CAPITALISM UNCHALLENGED : A SKETCH OF CANADIAN COMMUNISM, 1939 - 1949 Donald William Muldoon B.A., Simon Fraser University, 1974 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS in the Department of History @ DONALD WILLIAM MULDOON 1977 SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY February 1977 All rights reserved. This thesis may not be reproduced in whole or in part, by photocopy or other means, without permission of the author. APPROVAL Name: Donald William Muldoon Degree: Master of Arts Title of Thesis: Capitalism Unchallenged : A Sketch of Canadian Communism, 1939 - 1949. Examining Committee8 ., Chair~ergan: .. * ,,. Mike Fellman I Dr. J. Martin Kitchen senid; Supervisor . - Dr.- --in Fisher - &r. Ivan Avakumovic Professor of History University of British Columbia PARTIAL COPYRIGHT LICENSE I hereby grant to Simon Fraser University the right to lend my thesis or dissertation (the title of which is shown below) to users of the Simon Fraser University Library, and to make partial or single copies only for such users or in response to a request from the library of any other university, or other educational institution, on its own behalf or for one of its users. I further agree that permission for mu1 tiple copying of this thesis for scholarly purposes may be granted by me or the Dean of Graduate Studies. It is understood that copying or publication of this thesis for financial gain shall not be allowed without my written permission. Title of Thesi s/Di ssertation : Author : (signature) (name) (date) ABSTRACT The decade following the outbreak of war in September 1939 was a remarkable one for the Communist Party of Canada and its successor the Labor Progressive Party.
    [Show full text]
  • East Germany: for Workers Political Revolution! DECEMBER 19-A Political Revolution Is Unfolding in the German Democratic Republic (DDR)
    '11111111111111111111111111 i 111111!lll . 111111 SPARTACIST Winter 1989/90 No. 77 25¢ For Lenin's Communism! East Germany: For Workers Political Revolution! DECEMBER 19-A political revolution is unfolding in the German Democratic Republic (DDR). The leadership of the ruling Stalinist party is in retreat. Plans are afoot to "dissolve" the Stasi, the hated secret police. Within the army, soldiers councils are beginning to form. Meanwhile, the West German financiers and industrialists are on a hard course toward capitalist reunification of Ger­ many, with the Socialist Party (SPD) acting as their "left" lieutenants, and outright fascists increasingly active in the DDR as the shock troops of capitalist reaction. An East German workers state under thc democratic, internationalist rule of workers councils-soviets-could be the springboard for a united red Germany and a Socialist United States of Europe, Reunification of Germany on a capital­ ist basis under Helmut Kohl's Fourth Reich means bloody counterrevolution, a resurgence of fascism and the danger Der Spiegel of a third world war. The stakes are Mass demonstration in Leipzig, October 9. No to capitalist reunification! (continued on page 4) For workers councils, now! How Stalinism Wrecked The Communist Party of Canada ......... 12 2 SPARTACIST/Canada Parti§au Defeu!ie tComRmRit~e--------------------- Save Mumia Abu-Jamal! The State of Pennsylvania wants to kill Mumia Abu-Jamal. A former Black Panther Party spokesman, popular Philadel­ phia journalist and prominent defender of the black radical MOVE organization, Mumia has fought racist oppression since he was 14. And so he was framed up on charges of killing a cop in 1981 and sentenced to die in the electric chair.
    [Show full text]
  • Canada's Location in the World System: Reworking
    CANADA’S LOCATION IN THE WORLD SYSTEM: REWORKING THE DEBATE IN CANADIAN POLITICAL ECONOMY by WILLIAM BURGESS BA (Hon.), Queens University, 1978 MA (Plan.), University of British Columbia, 1995 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES Department of Geography We accept this thesis as conforming to the required standard _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA January 2002 © William Burgess, 2002 Abstract Canada is more accurately described as an independent imperialist country than a relatively dependent or foreign-dominated country. This conclusion is reached by examining recent empirical evidence on the extent of inward and outward foreign investment, ownership links between large financial corporations and large industrial corporations, and the size and composition of manufacturing production and trade.
    [Show full text]
  • Bio-Bibliographical Sketch of Martin Abern
    Lubitz' TrotskyanaNet Martin Abern Bio-Bibliographical Sketch Contents: • Basic biographical data • Biographical sketch • Selective bibliography • Notes on archives Basic biographical data Name: Martin Abern Other names (by-names, pseud. etc.): Marty Abern ; Martin Abramowitz ; Henry Allen ; Harry Allen ; Harry Stone Date and place of birth: December 2, 1898, ? (Romania) Date and place of death: April ?, 1949, ?, USA Nationality: Romanian ; USA Occupations, careers, etc.: Party organizer Time of activity in Trotskyist movement: 1928 - ca. 1946 Biographical sketch There are only a few general biographical notes about Martin Abern, listed in the bibliography below. Our short sketch is chiefly based upon Glotzer, Albert: Abern, Martin (1898-1949), in: Biographical dictionary of the Ame­ rican Left, ed. by Bernard K. Johnpoll and Harvey Klehr, New York, NY, [etc.], 1986, pp. 1-2. Martin Abramowitz was born in Bessarabia, the eastern part of Romania, on December 2, 1898 as a son of Jewish parents. In 1902 the family emigrated to the United States, settled in Minneapolis, Min­ nesota, became naturalized and assumed the name Abern. In Minneapolis Martin Abern attended both elementary and high school before enrolling at the University of Minnesota in 1914 where he was tolerated as a campus radical only because he was a star of the university's football team. After the United States had entered World War I, Abern was expelled from Minnesota University because he had refused the draft and was sentenced to a six-month prison term. Having joined the ranks of the IWW (Industrial Workers of the World)1 and of the YPSL (Young People's Socialist League, the youth section of the SP, Socialist Party) already at an early age, Abern together with the entire left wing of the SP and YPSL left the Socialist Party in 1919 and in face of the Bolshevik Russian revolution and of the launching of the Comintern (Communist International) be­ came a founding member of the American communist movement2.
    [Show full text]
  • Family Quarrel: Joe Salsberg, the 'Jewish' Question, and Canadian Communism
    Family Quarrel: Joe Salsberg, the ‘Jewish’ Question, and Canadian Communism Gerald Tulchinsky WHEN JOE SALSBERG (his full name was Joseph Baruch Salsberg but everyone called him Joe; Yiddish-speaking intimates called him Yossele, the Yiddish dimin- utive for Yosel) left the Canadian Labor-Progressive Party of Canada [LPP] in early 1957, he effectively ended a 30-year career of intense activity in the communist cause, including momentous contributions to the labour movement, to progressive legislation as a member of the Toronto City Council and the Ontario legislature, and to the Jewish radical left in Ontario. But while his departure was an anguished one, it was based essentially on his identity as a Jew and his conviction that in the Soviet Union not only had Jewish culture been suppressed under Josef Stalin but that his successors were also determined to continue that policy. Joe believed that the communist family had rejected him and other Jewish devotees of the great cause — and it broke his heart. Salsberg, a capmaker by trade, was born in Lagov, Poland, in 1902 and had im- migrated with his parents to Canada in 1913. To help support his family, he began a full-time working career when he was a mere thirteen years old. Joe’s parents were devout Orthodox Jews, his father Abraham (known as Avremele in the community) was a follower of the Hasidic tradition who prayed that Joe, his firstborn, would be- come a rabbi, while his mother, Sarah-Gitel, was a veritable dynamo who had founded and carefully managed Toronto’s important Malbush Aromin (clothing the poor) Society.
    [Show full text]
  • Bio-Bibliographical Sketch of Max Shachtman
    The Lubitz' TrotskyanaNet Max Shachtman Bio-Bibliographical Sketch Contents: • Basic biographical data • Biographical sketch • Selective bibliography • Notes on archives Basic biographical data Name: Max Shachtman Other names (by-names, pseud. etc.): Cousin John * Marty Dworkin * M.S. * Max Marsh * Max * Michaels * Pedro * S. * Max Schachtman * Sh * Maks Shakhtman * S-n * Tr * Trent * M.N. Trent Date and place of birth: September 10, 1904, Warsaw (Russia [Poland]) Date and place of death: November 4, 1972, Floral Park, NY (USA) Nationality: Russian, American Occupations, careers, etc.: Editor, writer, party leader Time of activity in Trotskyist movement: 1928 - ca. 1948 Biographical sketch Max Shachtman was a renowned writer, editor, polemicist and agitator who, together with James P. Cannon and Martin Abern, in 1928/29 founded the Trotskyist movement in the United States and for some 12 years func­ tioned as one of its main leaders and chief theoreticians. He was a close collaborator of Leon Trotsky and translated some of his major works. Nicknamed Trotsky's commissar for foreign affairs, he held key positions in the leading bodies of Trotsky's international movement before, in 1940, he split from the Socialist Workers Party (SWP), founded the Workers Party (WP) and in 1948 definitively dissociated from the Fourth International. Shachtman's name was closely webbed with the theory of bureaucratic collectivism and with what was described as Third Campism ('Neither Washington nor Moscow'). His thought had some lasting influence on a consider­ able number of contemporaneous intellectuals, writers, and socialist youth, both American and abroad. Once a key figure in the history and struggles of the American and international Trotskyist movement, Shachtman, from the late 1940s to his death in 1972, made a remarkable journey from the left margin of American society to the right, thus having been an inspirer of both Anti-Stalinist Marxists and of neo-conservative hard-liners.
    [Show full text]
  • Canadianliterature / Littérature Canadienne
    Canadian Literature / Littérature canadienne A Quarterly of Criticism and Review Number 220, Spring 2014, Tracking CanLit Published by The University of British Columbia, Vancouver Editor: Margery Fee Acting Editor: Laura Moss Associate Editors: Joël Castonguay-Bélanger (Francophone Writing), Glenn Deer (Reviews), Kathryn Grafton (CanLit Guides), Iain Higgins (Poetry), Daniel Laforest (Francophone Writing) Assistant Editor: Tiffany Johnstone (Reviews) Past Editors: George Woodcock (1959-1977), W. H. New (1977-1995), Eva-Marie Kröller (1995-2003), Laurie Ricou (2003-2007) Editorial Board Heinz Antor University of Cologne Kristina Fagan Bidwell University of Saskatchewan Alison Calder University of Manitoba Carrie Dawson Dalhousie University Cecily Devereux University of Alberta Janice Fiamengo University of Ottawa Carole Gerson Simon Fraser University Helen Gilbert University of London Susan Gingell University of Saskatchewan Faye Hammill University of Strathclyde Paul Hjartarson University of Alberta Lucie Hotte University of Ottawa Coral Ann Howells University of Reading Smaro Kamboureli University of Toronto Jon Kertzer University of Calgary Ric Knowles University of Guelph Louise Ladouceur University of Alberta Patricia Merivale University of British Columbia Judit Molnár University of Debrecen Linda Morra Bishop’s University Lianne Moyes Université de Montréal Maureen Moynagh St. Francis Xavier University Reingard Nischik University of Constance Ian Rae King’s University College Julie Rak University of Alberta Roxanne Rimstead Université
    [Show full text]
  • Their Morals and Ours by Leon Trotsky
    THE NEW A MONTHLY ORGAN OF REVOLUTIONARY MARXISM Their Morals and Ours By Leon Trotsky Collapse of New Deal Max Eastman's Science By Maurice Spector By James Burnham The Socialist Party: A Head Without a Body By M. S. Lithuania and the N a ti onal Gt.lard and U.S.S.R. - By Jerome Labor - By G. Novack The Metaphysics of H. Levy By William Gruen TWENTY CENTS JUNE 1938 / At Home THE NEW INTERNATIONAL Noles A MONTHLY ORGAN OF REVOLUTIONARY MARXISM A HALF·YEAR of the revived NEW VOLUME IV JUNE 1938 NUMBER 6 (Whole No. 21) READERS who have been looking Published monthly by the New International Publishing Company. 118 UntYer8tty Place. INTERNATIONAL, and just beginning New York. N. Y. Telephone: ALgonquin 4-8541. Subllcriptioo rates: $2.00 per year: forward to the article, "Their Morals to go strong. An increased run for bundles: Hc for 5 copies and up. Canada and Foreign: $2.50 per YlI&r: bundles 18c for and Ours", which was promised in 5 copies and up. Single copy: 20c. Entered u lecood-clau matter December 9. 1931. the June issue is certain. Minneap· at the post omce at New York. N. Y .• under the act ot Jlarch 3. 1818. this column some time ago, will, we olis, Chicago and N ew York City are Editorial Board: JAMES BURNHAM, MAX 8HACHTMAN. MAURICE 8PECTOR. are sure feel rewarded for their pa· undertaking campaigns for the mag· BUllnnl Manager: MARTIN ABERN tience. Upon its receipt, the editors azine; see other columns. San Fran. TABLE OF CONTENTS debated on whether to divide it into cisco and Los Angeles, through the two or three installments, spread N.I.
    [Show full text]
  • This Item Is a Finding Aid to a Proquest Research Collection in Microform
    This item is a finding aid to a ProQuest Research Collection in Microform. To learn more visit: www.proquest.com or call (800) 521-0600 This product is no longer affiliated or otherwise associated with any LexisNexis® company. Please contact ProQuest® with any questions or comments related to this product. About ProQuest: ProQuest connects people with vetted, reliable information. Key to serious research, the company has forged a 70-year reputation as a gateway to the world’s knowledge – from dissertations to governmental and cultural archives to news, in all its forms. Its role is essential to libraries and other organizations whose missions depend on the delivery of complete, trustworthy information. 789 E. Eisenhower Parkway ￭ P.O Box 1346 ￭ Ann Arbor, MI 48106-1346 ￭ USA ￭ Tel: 734.461.4700 ￭ Toll-free 800-521-0600 ￭ www.proquest.com A Guide to the Microfilm Edition of Research Collection in Women’s Studies General Editor: Anne Firor Scott The Papers of Eleanor Roosevelt, from the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library: General Correspondence, 1945–1952 Part 2: 1948–1949 A UPA Collection from Cover: Eleanor Roosevelt and United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Spanish text, November 1949. Photo courtesy of the National Archives and Records Administration. Research Collections in Women’s Studies General Editor: Anne Firor Scott The Papers of Eleanor Roosevelt, from the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library: General Correspondence, 1945–1952 Part 2: 1948–1949 Editor Robert E. Lester Guide Compiled by Kristen M. Taynor A UPA Collection from Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data The papers of Eleanor Roosevelt, 1945–1952 [microform] : from the Franklin D.
    [Show full text]
  • Trotsky in Mexico: Toward a History of His Informal Contacts with the U.S
    1 Trotsky in Mexico: Toward a History of His Informal Contacts with the U.S. Government, 1937-1940 William Chase Published as “Trotskii v Mekcike. K istorii ero neglasnykh kontaktov s pravitel'stvom SShA (1937-1940)” ("Trotsky in Mexico: Toward a History of His Informal Contacts with the U.S. Government, 1937-1940"), Otechestvennaia istoriia, 4 (July/August 1995), 76-102. On 25 May 1933, Leon Trotsky wrote from his home in exile on the island of Prinkipo in Turkey to the United States Consul in Istanbul requesting “authorization to enter the United States and to remain for a period of three months” in order to conduct historical research on a book that would compare the American and Russian civil wars. To allay anxieties about admitting a committed revolutionary like him into the U.S., the 53 year old former leader of the Red Army assured the Consul that “my journey has no relation whatsoever with any political aim. I am ready to undertake the categorical obligation not to intervene, either directly or indirectly, in the internal life of the United States” during his visit.1 The U.S. Consul forwarded Trotsky’s letter to the State Department which, on 23 June 1933, denied his request because of his political views. The U.S. Consulate in Istanbul received the formal denial on 10 July.2 Given that in early July, Trotsky obtained permission to establish temporary residency in France, his disappointment over the American government’s denial was probably fleeting. From his arrival in Mexico in January 1937 until his death in August 1940, the U.S.
    [Show full text]
  • Some Sidelights on Canadian Communist History
    Some Sidelights on Canadian Communist History On Karen Levine’s 1977 Interviews During the summer of 2020 I happened to mention the Kenny oral history project to my friend Russell Hann, a labour historian with an encyclopedic memory and a well-organized personal archive. He immediately recalled a 1977 essay by a UofT undergraduate, Karen Levine, on the impact of the 1956 Khrushchev revelations on Canada’s Communists. He also recollected that she cited interviews she conducted with some important figures in the movement, including Robert Kenny. Russell promptly forwarded a copy of “The Labour Progressive Party in Crisis: 1956-57”i to me and after reading it, I contacted Karen, to find out if the recordings she made 43 years earlier still existed. Luckily, Karen kept them (with the unfortunate exception of J.B. Salsberg, a pivotal figure in the 1956 events) and generously agreed to add them to the other interviews in the Kenny oral archive. In her essay Karen also cited information gleaned from earlier recordings done by David Chud, one of several students who, in the early 1970s, recorded over 100 “interviews with individuals involved with [Canada’s] labour and socialist movements.” Don Lake, at that point associated with the left-nationalist Waffle wing of the New Democratic Party, was one of the graduate students who did these interviews. Today Don and his partner Elaine operate “D&E Books,” one of Toronto’s premier antiquarian bookstores. Their business was originally launched in 1977 as “October Books” after they purchased a stock of radical (and other) books and pamphlets from Peter Weinrich who was then in the process of winding up his partnership in Blue Heron Books.
    [Show full text]
  • Albert Glotzer Papers
    http://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/tf1t1n989d No online items Register of the Albert Glotzer papers Finding aid prepared by Dale Reed Hoover Institution Library and Archives © 2010 434 Galvez Mall Stanford University Stanford, CA 94305-6003 [email protected] URL: http://www.hoover.org/library-and-archives Register of the Albert Glotzer 91006 1 papers Title: Albert Glotzer papers Date (inclusive): 1919-1994 Collection Number: 91006 Contributing Institution: Hoover Institution Library and Archives Language of Material: English Physical Description: 67 manuscript boxes, 6 envelopes(27.7 Linear Feet) Abstract: Correspondence, writings, minutes, internal bulletins and other internal party documents, legal documents, and printed matter, relating to Leon Trotsky, the development of American Trotskyism from 1928 until the split in the Socialist Workers Party in 1940, the development of the Workers Party and its successor, the Independent Socialist League, from that time until its merger with the Socialist Party in 1958, Trotskyism abroad, the Dewey Commission hearings of 1937, legal efforts of the Independent Socialist League to secure its removal from the Attorney General's list of subversive organizations, and the political development of the Socialist Party and its successor, Social Democrats, U.S.A., after 1958. Creator: Glotzer, Albert, 1908-1999 Hoover Institution Library & Archives 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 Library & Archives. Acquisition Information Acquired by the Hoover Institution Library & Archives in 1991. Preferred Citation [Identification of item], Albert Glotzer papers, [Box no., Folder no.
    [Show full text]