Ernest Mandel and the Conflicted Legacies of Trotskyism
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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. -
The Personal, the Political, and Permanent Revolution: Ernest Mandel and the Conflicted Legacies of Trotskyism*
IRSH 55 (2010), pp. 117–132 doi:10.1017/S0020859009990642 r 2010 Internationaal Instituut voor Sociale Geschiedenis REVIEW ESSAY The Personal, the Political, and Permanent Revolution: Ernest Mandel and the Conflicted Legacies of Trotskyism* B RYAN D. PALMER Canadian Studies, Trent University, Traill College E-mail: [email protected] JAN WILLEM STUTJE. Ernest Mandel: A Rebel’s Dream Deferred. Verso, London [etc.] 2009. 460 pp. $34.95. Biographies of revolutionary Marxists should not be written by the faint of heart. The difficulties are daunting. Which revolutionary tradition is to be given pride of place? Of many Marxisms, which will be extolled, which exposed? What balance will be struck between the personal and the political, a dilemma that cannot be avoided by those who rightly place analytic weight on the public life of organizations and causes and yet understand, as well, how private experience affects not only the individual but the movements, ideas, and developments he or she influenced. Social history’s accent on the particular and its elaboration of context, political biography’s attention to structures, institutions, and debates central to an individual’s life, and intellectual history’s close examination of central ideas and the complexities of their refinement present a trilogy of challenge for any historian who aspires to write the life of someone who was both in history and dedicated to making his- tory. Ernest Mandel was just such a someone, an exceedingly important and troublingly complex figure. * The author thanks Tom Reid, Murray Smith, and Paul Le Blanc for reading an earlier draft of this review, and offering suggestions for revision. -
Socialist Re Yvonne Groseil View, and I Was Quite Impressed by It
Tvvo Vievvs on the Dialectics of Nature To William F. Warde tal to Sartre and Hyppolite. There is and I hope it will precipitate in this I have just read your article, "Is Na one point in your article, however, with country a greater appreciation of the ture Dialectical?" in the Summer 1964 which I would take some exception. problem and wide discussion of it. That is when you argue against the issue of the International Socialist Re Yvonne Groseil view, and I was quite impressed by it. anti-dialecticians by pointing out the Although I must plead guilty to a advances made in science, especially by November 15, 1964 rather superficial knowledge of Marx Oparin, through the use of dialectical ism, I am very interested in Hegel's method. Dialectical logic may help the Reply work. During my study of Hegel, I have scientist reach some useful hypotheses Here are some comments on the main come to the conclusion that the ques for later investigation, but this is not questions of theoretical interest raised tion of the philosophy of nature is a the essential point here. by this friendly letter. crucial one. In my opinion, Hegel's I t seems to me that the method or 1. Would knowledge of the method of philosophy falls apart into a dualism of means by which scientific discoveries the materialist dialectic, which is based mind and matter instead of being the are made is secondary in this argument. on the most general laws of being and synthesis he desired just because of the What is really vital is the fact that only becoming, assist the physical scientist failure of his philosophy of nature. -
Week School on Political Issues from the History of AWL
Week school on political issues from the history of AWL Day One Session: Heterodox, orthodox, and “orthodox Mark 2” 1. Why we started: 1966-8 Trotskyism: http://www.workersliberty.org//taxonomy/term/555 http://www.workersliberty.org/wwaawwmb The AWL's tradition: http://www.workersliberty.org/node/5146 Session: Party and perspectives What happened in 1968 and how the left responded ***************** Why we fused with IS (SWP) Timeline 2. Ireland: 1968-71 1964 July 2: After years of civil rights agitation in USA, Civil Rights http://www.workersliberty.org/node/10010 Act becomes law. October 15: Labour wins general election, after 13 years of Session: The debates in 1969 - “withdraw subsidies”, Tory rule “southern arsenals”, “troops out” before August 1969, “Catholic economism” and transitional demands, “troops out” 1965 in August 1969. January 31: USA starts bombing of North Vietnam. Vietnam war, and movement against it, escalate. Day Two February: SLL, then biggest revolutionary group in Britain, launches its own independent "Young Socialists" as a 3. The Tories and Labour 1970-4 response to limited expulsions by Labour Party after SLL wins majority in Labour youth movement. Session: General strike Our Labour Party debate then: syndicalism, economism, and 1966 politics Summer: Beginning of "Cultural Revolution" in China: a faction of the bureaucracy mobilises gangs to purge rivals 4. Stalinism 1968-75 reinforce autarkic, ultra-statist policy. But many leftists in the West will admire the "Cultural Revolution"; Maoism will Session: Czechoslovakia 1968 be a big force on the revolutionary left from 1968 to the “Soviet dissidents” mid-70s, though less so in Britain than in other European Vietnam and Cambodia 1975 countries. -
What Happened to the Workers' Socialist League?
What Happened to the Workers’ Socialist League? By Tony Gard (as amended by Chris Edwards and others), September 1993 Note by Gerry D, October 2019: This is the only version I have of Tony Gard’s docu- ment, which contains the unauthorised amendments as explained in the rather tetchy note by Chris Edwards below. [Note by Chris Edwards (May 2002). War is the sternest possible test for any Trot- skyist organisation. While many British organisations failed this test in the case of the Malvinas/Falklands War (e.g. the Militant group with its “workers war” against Argen- tina position), the British proto-ITO comrades did attempt to defend a principled posi- tion against the bankrupt positions of the leadership of their own organisation, the British Workers Socialist League (WSL). This is an account of the tendency struggle over the Malvinas war and many other is- sues to do with British imperialism. This document was written with the stated purpose of being a “balance sheet” of the tendency struggle. It was somewhat ironic that, Tony G, the author of most of this document, and the person who had played the least part in the WSL tendency struggle during 1982-3, felt himself most qualified to sit in judge- ment on the efforts of those who had been centrally involved in the tendency struggle. This was despite his insistence that he did not wish to do so at the beginning of this ac- count (see below). In fact, one of the barely disguised purposes of this “balance sheet” was to rubbish and belittle the efforts of the comrades who had been centrally involved in the tendency struggle. -
The Communist International, the Soviet Union,And Their Impact on the Latin America Workers’ Movement
The Communist International, the Soviet Union,and their impact on the Latin America Workers’ Movement DAN LA BOTZ Abstract: The Soviet Union and A L the Communist International had an adverse influence on the Latin CONTRA American workers’ movement, ), 1957-1964. continually diverting it fighting for UCIÓN L a democratic socialist society. They ALHE T REVO A DE subordinated the workers’ movements L ( to the interests of the Soviet . Union’s ruling class, the Communist IQUEIROS PORFIRIANA bureaucracy. At one moment, they led S the workers’ movement in disastrous ARO F L uprisings, while in a subsequent era A they encouraged it to build alliances DICTADURA AVID with capitalist and imperialist power. D Keywords: Soviet Union. Communist International. Communist Parties. Cuba. Workers Movement. A Internacional Comunista, a União Soviética e seu impacto no movimento de trabalhadores da América Latina Resumo: A União Soviética e a Internacional Comunista tiveram uma influência adversa no movimento latino-americano de trabalhadores, frequentemente, distraindo-o de sua luta por uma sociedade socialista democrática. Ambas subordinaram os movimentos de trabalhadores aos interesses da classe dominante na União Soviética, a burocracia comunista. Em um momento, dirigiram o movimento de trabalhadores para levantes desastrosos, DAN LA BOTZ enquanto em um período subsequente encorajaram-no a fazer alianças com Ph.D in American history and poderes capitalistas e imperialistas. professor at the Murphy Institute, the Palavras-chaves: União Soviética. labor school of the City University Internacional Comunista. Partidos of New York. He is the author of ten Comunistas. Cuba. Movimento de books on labor, social movements, Trabalhadores. and politics in the United States, Mexico, Nicaragua, and Indonesia. -
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. -
INTERNATIONAL CAPITALISM and "SUPRA-NATIONALITY" Ernest Mandel IT Has Long Been a Commonplace That the Development Of
INTERNATIONAL CAPITALISM AND "SUPRA-NATIONALITY" Ernest Mandel IT has long been a commonplace that the development of productive forces has outgrown the framework of the national state on the Euro• pean continent. International cartels and international holdings steadily extend their control over important parts of the European economy. German industry—to take the most obvious example—cannot survive within the boundaries of the traditional German state. It is in essence expansionist, whether this expansionism takes the violent, military conquering road towards the East, as it did during the First and Second World Wars, or whether it takes the "peaceful" commercial conquer• ing path towards the West that it "chose" after the Second World War, as a result of the changed political and military relationship of forces on the Continent. In this sense, one may say that the movement towards Western European economic integration via the Common Market is a product of capitalist concentration on an international scale: an attempt by capitalism to reconcile the level of development of the productive forces and the degree of monopolistic concentration with the survival of the national state. By creating a larger area in which commodities, capital and labour circulates freely, it thereby releases industry from at least part of the fetters which Malthusian cartels, tariff walls and short-sighted economic nationalism had imposed upon it in the inter-war years. But the Common Market is not only a product of capital concentra• tion; it is also the motor for a new phase in capital concentration on the Continent and beyond. Most of the large-scale Western European enterprises cater mainly for their national market; their export quota rarely exceeds 35 per cent. -
The Break-Up of the WRP: from the Horse’S Mouth - Simon Pirani
The break-up of the WRP: from the horse’s mouth - Simon Pirani An account by one of its former activists of the breakup of the UK Trotskyist group Workers Revolutionary Party following widespread sexual abuse by its leader, Gerry Healy in the mid- 1980s. Trigger warning for discussion of sexual abuse. In the controversy surrounding the Socialist Workers Party, and the way it has dealt with accusations of rape and sexual harassment by a leading member, the break-up of the Workers Revolutionary Party in 1985 has been referred to as a worst-case scenario. Warnings have been issued that, if the SWP is not careful, it will end up like the WRP. Such assertions imply that the WRP break-up was essentially a bad thing. As one of many former WRP members active in labour and social movements, I write this to argue that (i) the break-up was overwhelmingly a good thing, and (ii) while there are great dissimilarities between the two cases, there may be lessons of general relevance from 1985, about “revolutionary morality” and forms of working-class organisation. Even at this distance the break-up of the WRP is an emotional subject, for me at least, and I don’t want to pretend – as people often do in discussions on the left – to be rising “above” emotion or stating “objective” truths. This is just how I see it. Given how hard-won our experience was, the least we can do is to try to share it. First, it is worth repeating some key facts about the WRP break-up. -
To Download As
Solidarity& Workers’ Liberty For social ownership of the banks and industry Reminiscences of Ted Knight, 1933-2020 By Sean Matgamna am saddened by the death of Ted Knight (30 March 2020). I knew him well long ago in the Orthodox Trotskyist organisa- Ition of the late 1950s and early 1960s. When I first encountered him, Ted was a full-time organiser for the Socialist Labour League (SLL), responsible for the Man- chester and Glasgow branches, alternating a week here and a week there. He was on a nominal wage of £8 a week and was lucky if he got £4. He recruited me, then an adolescent member of the Young Communist League, to the SLL. I’d come to think of myself as a Trotskyist, but was unconvinced - didn’t want to be convinced, I suppose - that a revolution was needed to overthrow the Rus- sian bureaucracy. Ted Knight (in middle background) with Bertrand Russell (right Ted lent me his copy of Trotsky’s The Revolution Betrayed. I foreground) and Russell’s secretary Ralph Schoenman (bearded, didn’t take a lot of persuading, as I recall it. left). From The Newsletter, 25 June 1966 That Ted Knight would have been very surprised to find his obituary in the Morning Star headlined “A giant of the labour of the Orthodox Trotskyist Labour Review when it became a big movement” (as if the Morning Star would know about such A4-sized magazine designed for (successful) intervention into things!). the crisis-ridden Communist Party from January 1957. But in The Manchester SLL branch I joined early in 1960 was going 1959-60 there was still a great deal of the old hostility to Trot- through a bad period. -
North Korea and the Theory of the Deformed Workers' State
North Korea and the Theory of the Deformed Workers’ State: Definitions and First Principles of a Fourth International Theory Alzo David-West James P. Cannon, Peng Shuzi, Pierre Frank, Michel Pablo, Ernest Mandel, and Tim Wohlforth Abstract This essay examines the academically neglected theory of the deformed workers’ state in relation to the political character of the North Korean state. Developed by leaders of the Fourth International, the world party of socialism founded by exiled Russian Bolshevik revolutionary Leon Trotsky, the theory classifies the national states that arose under post- Second World War Soviet Army occupation as bureaucratic, hybrid, transitional formations that imitated the Soviet Stalinist system. The author reviews the origin of the theory, explores its political propositions and apparent correspondences in the North Korean case, and concludes with some hypotheses and suggestions for further research. Copyright © 2012 by Alzo David-West and Cultural Logic, ISSN 1097-3087 Alzo David-West 2 Introduction On the centenary of the birth of Kim Il Sung in 2012, North Korea entered a period officially designated as “opening the gate to a great prosperous and powerful socialist nation.” Coming after the post-Soviet rise of markets within a planned economy, the initiation of capitalist Special Economic Zones in the early 1990s and 2000s, market- oriented economic and currency reforms in 2002, and the dropping of “communism” from the 2009 revised constitution, the reference to present-day North Korea as a “socialist nation” is evidently more symbolic than substantial. Still, over sixty years after the founding of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) on 9 September 1948, the political character of the North Korean state remains a more or less unresolved issue in North Korean studies. -
Socialist Workers Party Records
http://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/tf1k40019v No online items Register of the Socialist Workers Party records Finding aid prepared by Hoover Institution Archives Staff Hoover Institution Archives 434 Galvez Mall Stanford University Stanford, CA, 94305-6010 (650) 723-3563 [email protected] © 1998, 2016 Register of the Socialist Workers 92036 1 Party records Title: Socialist Workers Party records Date (inclusive): 1928-1998 Collection Number: 92036 Contributing Institution: Hoover Institution Archives Language of Material: English Physical Description: 135 manuscript boxes, 1 oversize box(57.8 linear feet) Abstract: Correspondence, minutes, resolutions, theses, and internal bulletins, relating to Trotskyist and other socialist activities in Latin America, Western Europe, Iran, and elsewhere, and to interactions of the Socialist Workers Party with the Fourth International; and trial transcripts, briefs, other legal documents, and background materials, relating to the lawsuit brought by Alan Gelfand against the Socialist Workers Party in 1979. Most of collection also available on microfilm (108 reels). Creator: Socialist Workers Party. Access Collection is open for research. The Hoover Institution Archives only allows access to copies of audiovisual items. To listen to sound recordings or to view videos or films during your visit, please contact the Archives at least two working days before your arrival. We will then advise you of the accessibility of the material you wish to see or hear. Please note that not all audiovisual material is immediately accessible. Publication Rights For copyright status, please contact the Hoover Institution Archives. Preferred Citation [Identification of item], Socialist Workers Party Records, [Box no.], Hoover Institution Archives. Acquisition Information The Hoover Institution Archives acquired records of the Socialist Workers Party from the Anchor Foundation in 1992.