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. or title], Hoover Institution Library & Archives. 1908 Born, Ivanik, Russia (now Belarus) 1913 Immigrated to United States 1923 Joined Young Workers (Communist) League and subsequently Workers (Communist) Party 1928 Expelled from Communist Party. Founding member, Communist League of America (subsequently Workers Party of the United States and then Socialist Workers Party) 1931 European trip. Stayed with Leon Trotsky in Turkey 1934 European trip as delegate to International Socialist Youth Conference. Stayed with Trotsky in France 1937 Official reporter of Dewey Commission hearings in Mexico at which Trotsky testified regarding Moscow Trial charges 1940 Founding member, Workers Party (subsequently Independent Socialist League) following split in Socialist Workers Party 1958 Joined Socialist Party (subsequently Social Democrats, U.S.A.) upon dissolution of Independent Socialist League 1989 Author, Trotsky: Memoir and Critique 1999 Died, New York City Scope and Content of Collection Albert Glotzer had a career as an American socialist leader that was notable both for its long duration and for the number of bases touched in the course of his evolution from communism to social democracy. It included a significant role in the beginning of American Trotskyism. By profession Glotzer was a court reporter, a skill he put to use in transcribing the proceedings of the commission chaired by John Dewey to investigate the Moscow Trial charges, which heard lengthy testimony from Leon Trotsky in hearings in Mexico City in 1937. For several years Glotzer was president of the Federation of Shorthand Reporters. In his earlier years he used the pseudonym Albert Gates in party work. The collection is arranged in four series corresponding to four distinct phases of Glotzer's political life. The Communist Period Papers consist of his papers as a member of the Workers (Communist) Party and of its youth group, the Young Workers (Communist) League. Glotzer joined the youth league in 1923 and the adult party two years later, both at precocious ages, and became a member of the national committee of the youth league. He was expelled from both youth league and party in 1928 as a Trotskyist. The Trotskyist Period Papers consist of Glotzer's papers as a member of the Communist League of America (1928-1934), of the Workers Party of the United States (1934-1936), of the Socialist Appeal Caucus of the Socialist Party (1936-1937), and of the Socialist Workers Party (1938-1940). These were successively the first organizational expressions in the United States of the international communist opposition movement led by Leon Trotsky. The papers document Register of the Albert Glotzer 91006 2 papers Glotzer's meetings with Trotsky in Europe and his participation in the Dewey Commission hearings, the formation of the Communist League of America, its merger with the American Workers Party to form the Workers Party of the United States, Trotskyist entry into and exit from the Socialist Party, establishment of the Socialist Workers Party, and the full-scale faction fight that rent the party when the onset of World War II acutely posed the question of Soviet defense. Glotzer was a member of the national committees of all the American Trotskyist organizations of this period. The Shachtmanite Period Papers consist of Glotzer's papers as a member of the Workers Party (1940-1949) and of the Independent Socialist League (1949-1958). These were the successive organizations of the group led by Max Shachtman which split from the Socialist Workers Party in 1940. Their departure with a substantial proportion of the membership capped the intraparty dispute over the "Russian question" in which Trotsky defined the Stalinized Soviet Union as a "degenerated workers' state," while Shachtman maintained that it had ceased to be a workers' state of any description and eventually settled upon "bureaucratic collectivist" as a label to categorize it. The possibility of reunifying the rival parties resulting from the split remained open and a subject of discussion for several years. Instead, the Shachtmanites, as they came to be called, ultimately evolved in a social democratic direction and disbanded in 1958. Glotzer was a member of the national committees of the Shachtmanite groups as well as editor of the newspaper Labor Action and of the theoretical journal The New International. The papers document the Workers Party's relationship with the Socialist Workers Party, its transition to Independent Socialist League, and its campaign for removal from the Attorney General's subversive organizations list. The Social Democratic Period Papers consist of Glotzer's papers as a member of the Socialist Party (1958-1972) and of its successor, Social Democrats, U.S.A. (1972-1999). Glotzer was a member of the national committees of these organizations, in which he, along with Shachtman and other former members of their group, came to play a leading role. The papers document their activities and influence, controversies within the Socialist Party at the time of the Vietnam War and the 1972 presidential election, and the transition to Social Democrats, U.S.A., while an opposing faction led by Michael Harrington split away. The series is also pertinent to Glotzer's earlier political history. In his later years he was conscious of being one of the last surviving personal associates of Leon Trotsky and one of the last surviving veterans of the formative period of the Trotskyist movement. He sought to record and evaluate his experiences in his book Trotsky: Memoir and Critique (published in 1989), in shorter writings, and in an extensive and patient correspondence with a younger generation of historians of the American left. Each of these series is subdivided in a similar manner, with a typical succession being: correspondence; speeches and writings by Glotzer; minutes, internal bulletins, other internal documents, and public issuances of the organizations to which he belonged during the period; contemporaneous issuances of other organizations; and miscellaneous or subject file material. There is a fifth series of Photographs. The Hoover Institution Library & Archives acquired the main body of the collection from Albert Glotzer in 1991, with subsequent increments following. Subjects and Indexing Terms Communism -- United States Subversive activities -- United States Socialism -- United States Internal security -- United States Trotsky, Leon, 1879-1940 Fourth International Socialist Workers Party Independent Socialist League Social Democrats, U.S.A. Commission of Inquiry into the Charges Made Against Leon Trotsky in the Moscow Trials, New York, 1937 Munkáspárt Socialist Party-Social Democratic Federation Communist Period Papers 1919-1929 Scope and Contents note Papers of Albert Glotzer as a member of the Workers (Communist) Party and of the Young Workers (Communist) League Register of the Albert Glotzer 91006 3 papers Communist Period Papers 1919-1929 Correspondence 1927-1928 box 1, folder 1 Abern, Martin 1928 box 1, folder 2 Cannon, James P. 1928 box 1, folder 3 Cowl, Carl 1928 box 1, folder 4 Dunne, Vincent R. 1928 box 1, folder 5 Shachtman, Max 1927-1928 Scope and Contents note Includes photocopies of printed articles by Shachtman from 1924 issues of The Liberator box 1, folder 6 Swabeck, Arne 1928 Speeches and writings by Albert Glotzer 1928 box 1, folder 7 "Report to the NEC on the New England YWL Training School" (with Niel Kruth and H. Sidney Bloomfield) 1928 August 8 Scope and Contents note Typescript box 1, folder 8 "Statement" in protest of expulsions (with Arne Swabeck) 1928 November 22 Scope and Contents note Mimeograph Internal documents 1920, 1928-1929 box 1, folder 9 1920 Scope and Contents note