Historical Documents
In this section of our web site we will repost a variety of documents produced by Revolutionary Regroupment’s political predecessors, concentrating on the post-WW 2 period of the Trotskyist movement. While we seek to continue the work and build on the contributions of those who came before us, we do not dogmatically defend past mistakes that may inevitably have been committed. Therefore our posting these documents reflects broad agreement, not an uncritical adherence to every secondary argument and formulation.
The documents are organized in thematic sections. The sections are listed in alphabetic order.
ALGERIA
Algerian Coup-A Crushing Blow to Revisionists Theory. by Cliff Slaughter. First printed in Newsletter, 3 July 1965. Reprinted in Spartacist #5, Nov.-Dec. 1965.
The Private Life of Islam: A Review. First printed in Women & Revolution #10, Winter 1975-76]
BASIC DOCUMENTS, DECLARATIONS & STATEMENTS OF PURPOSE
Toward Rebirth of the Fourth International. DRAFT RESOLUTION ON THE WORLD MOVEMENT submitted to the 1963 SWP Convention by the Revolutionary Tendency.
Declaration of Principles of the Spartacist League. General line unanimously adopted by Founding Conference, 3 September 1966. Final draft approved by Political Bureau, 8 November 1966.
Introducing 1917: The Necessity of Revolutionary Organization. International Bolshevik Tendency, published in the first issue of the IBT’s journal 1917, Winter 1986.
For Trotskyism! The following document was adopted by the fusion conference of the Bolshevik Tendency and the Left Trotskyist Tendency on November 1986 as a codification of the programmatic agreement reached by the two organizations. It was reprinted in 1917 #3, Spring 1987.
BLACK STRUGGLE
Black History
Scottsboro by James P. Cannon. First Printed in The Militant April 9, 1932
On Federal Troops in Little Rock by Richard Fraser, 10 October 1957.
Malcolm X [Obituary] First Printed in Spartacist #4, May-June 1965.
The ‘X’ That Won’t Go Away International Bolshevik Tendency, first printed as 1917 West #3, December 1992.
Beware Murderes That Weep Spartacist leaflet dated 6 April 1968. Reprinted in Young Spartacus #54 May 1977.
Rise and Fall of the Panthers First printed in Workers Vanguard #4, January 1972.
Ten Years After Assassination: BOURGEOISIE CELEBRATES KINGS LIBERAL PACIFISM First printed in Workers Vanguard #207, 26 May 1978]
Jesse Jackson: Judas Goat for the Bourgeoisie; Democrats, Dixiecrats and Rainbows International Bolshevik Tendency, first printed in 1917 #5, Winter 1988-89.
LA: Days of Rage International Bolshevik Tendency, supplement to 1917, May 1992
Black Oppression & Marxist Analysis
America and the Negro question by John Reed Speech at 2nd Congress of Comintern, July 25 1920.
The Black Question. Document of the Fourth Congress of the Communist International, 30 November 1922
When Anti-Negro Prejudice Began by George Breitman. First printed in Fourth International, Spring 1954
The Russian Revolution & the American Negro Movement by James P. Cannon. First printed in International Socialist Review, Summer 1959.
Race — Social or Biological? by David Dreiser, a supporter of the Kirk-Kaye tendency within the SWP. First printed in International Socialist Review, Vol.21 No. 1, Winter 1960,.
For Black Trotskyism by James Robertson and Shirley Stoute 3 July 1963. First printed in SWP Discussion Bulletin, Vol. 24, No. 30, republished in Marxist Bulletin No. 5.
Black Power – Class Power: Once Again On Black Power by Geof White. Reprinted from Spartacist West, Vol. 1, No. 8, 30 September 1966.
BLACK AND RED — Class Struggle Road to Negro Freedom. First published in Spartacist, Special Supplement, May-June 1967
Racial Oppression & Working Class Politics. By Revolutionary Marxist Caucus position paper presented at the December 1969 PL-SDS Conference.
Black Liberation & the Class Struggle. International Bolshevik Tendency, first printed in 1917 #8, Summer 1990.
Related: Richard Fraser’s Writings
http://www.marxists.org/history/etol/document/icl-spartacists/prs3-fraser/index.htm
BOLIVIA
A Letter on the Bolivian Revolution by Sam Ryan of the Vern-Ryan Tendency. First printed in the Socialist Workers Party Internal Bulletin, June 1952.
Class Collaboration Makes a Recruit by Sam Ryan of the Vern-Ryan Tendency. First published in the Socialist Workers Party Internal Bulletin, August 1953.
The Bolivian Revolution and the Fight Against Revisionism by Sam Ryan of the Vern-Ryan Tendency. First printed in the Socialist Workers Party Discussion Bulletin, October 1954.
Centrist Debacle in Bolivia First printed in Workers Vanguard # 3, December 1971.
Third Period Healyism: Learn to read, Learn to think First printed in Workers Vanguard # 3, December 1971.
BRAZIL
Student Struggles Engulf Brazil First printed in Young Spartacus #56, July/August 1977.
Labor Shakes Generals’ Brazil First printed in Workers Vanguard #256, 16, May 1980.
Related links:
Articles from US Trotskyist theoretical journal on Brazil (1938-1946)
http://www.marxists.org/history/etol/newspape/ni/vol04/no05/brazil.htm (1938)
http://www.marxists.org/history/etol/newspape/ni/vol04/no07/ross.htm (1938)
http://www.marxists.org/history/etol/newspape/fi/vol03/no09/notes.htm (1942)
http://www.marxists.org/history/etol/newspape/fi/vol07/no04/brazil.htm (1946)
BIOGRAPHICAL ESSAYS/ SUMMARIES
“World history would indeed be very easy to make, if the struggle were taken up only on condition of infallibly favorable chances. It would, on the other hand, be a very mystical nature, if “accidents” played no part. These accidents themselves fall naturally into the general course of development and are compensated again by other accidents. But acceleration and delay are very dependent upon such “accidents,” which included the “accident” of the character of those who at first stand at the head of the movement”
– Marx 1871
“Our author substitutes mechanistic determinism for the dialectic conditioning of the historical process. Hence the cheap jibes about the role of individuals, good and bad. History is a process of the class struggle. But classes do not bring their full weight to bear automatically and simultaneously. In the process of struggle the classes create various organs which play an important and independent role and are subject to deformations. This also provides the basis for the role of personalities in history. There are naturally great objective causes which created the autocratic rule of Hitler but only dull-witted pedants of “determinism” could deny today the enormous historic role of Hitler. The arrival of Lenin in Petrograd on April 3, 1917 turned the Bolshevik party in time and enabled the party to lead the revolution to victory. Our sages might say that had Lenin died abroad at the beginning of 1917, the October revolution would have taken place “just the same.” But that is not so. Lenin represented one of the living elements of the historical process. He personified the experience and the perspicacity of the most active section of the proletariat. His timely appearance on the arena of the revolution was necessary in order to mobilize the vanguard and provide it with an opportunity to rally the working class and the peasant masses. Political leadership in the crucial moments of historical turns can become just as decisive a factor as is the role of the chief command during the critical moments of war. History is not an automatic process. Otherwise, why leaders? why parties? why programs? why theoretical struggles?”
– Trotsky 1940
Sixtieth Birthday Speech by James P. Cannon. Transcribed from wire recording. Los Angelos, California March 4 1950.
“The decision to join the Trotskyist Camp” By James P. Cannon. Written May 27, 1959
James P. Cannon Memorial Meeting, Speech made on August 27 1974 by Jim Robertson. First pruinted in Spartacist # 38-39, Summer 1986.
Maurice Thorez: The Making of a Stalinist by John Sharpe. First printed in Workers Vanguard #85, 14 November 1975.
The Test Jim [Robertson] Didn’t Pass First Published in Bulletin of the External Tendency of the iSt No. 4, May 1985.
Greetings to Clara Fraser’s Memorial Meeting by Samuel Trachtenberg. April 19, 1998.
BUREAUCRATS, BUREAUCRATISM & HACKS
“The more honest or open-eyed of the ‘friends’, at least when speaking tete-a-tete, concede that there is a spot on the Soviet sun. But substituting a fatalistic for a dialectic analysis, they console themselves with the thought that ‘a certain’ bureaucratic degeneration in the given conditions was historically inevitable. Even so! The resistance to this degeneration also has not fallen from the sky. A necessity has two ends: the reactionary and the progressive. History teaches that persons and parties which drag at the opposite ends of a necessity turn out in the long run on opposite sides of the barricade.”
Leon Trotsky (1936)
http://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/1936/revbet/ch12.htm#ch12-1
“There is nothing revolutionary about the bureaucrats. They fear the masses and distrust them and are always swept aside during periods of upsurge. Only when the masses quiet down do the bureaucrats have their day—the gray people of the ebb tide. You see this manifested in all workers’ organizations in all mutations of the class struggle, from strikes to revolutions, and from trade unions to the organs of state power.
James P. Cannon (1951)
http://www.marxists.org/archive/cannon/works/1951/peace.htm
“Pablo’s duplicity in presenting one face to the leadership of the SWP while secretly collaborating with the revisionist Cochranite tendency is a method that is alien to the tradition of Trotskyism. But there is a tradition to which It does belong—Stalinism. Such devices, used by the Kremlin, were instrumental in corrupting the Communist International Many of us had personal experience with all this in the 1923-28 period…”
***
“This procedure is out of the foul tradition of the Comintern as it underwent degeneration under the influence of Stalinism. If there were no other issue than this, it would be necessary to fight Pabloism to a finish to save the Fourth International from internal corruption.”
A Letter to Trotskyists Throughout the World (1953)
http://www.marxists.org/history/etol/document/ibt/ibt01.htm
A Stupendous Bureaucracy by Max Shachtman. First printed in New International, Vol.1 No.3, September 1934.
The Soviet Thermidor by Leon Trotsky. Chapter 5 of “The Revolution Betrayed: What is the Soviet Union and Where is it Going?” (1936)
The Champion from Far Away by James P. Cannon. First printed in Labor Action, January 16, 1937.
An Open Letter to Members of the Socialist Labour League and Other Marxists by Peter Fryer, November 11 1959.
Healy “Reconstructs” the Fourth International Originaly published in June 1966 by the Socialist Workers Party in the US with a preface by Joseph Hansen as “Healy ‘Reconstructs’ the Fouth International: Documents by Participants in a Fiasco.” A selection of correspondence from the participants in the 1966 International Committee conference
Revolution and Truth First printed in Spartacist #8, November – December 1966
The Wohlforthite Ultimatum Exchange between the Communist Working Collective and the Workers League’s Tim Wohlforth in 1971. Reprinted in Marxist Bulletin #10 “From Maoism to Trotskyism: Documents on the development of the Communist Working Collective of Los Angeles”.
SWP Uses Watergate Methods Against Trotskyists First printed in Workers Vanguard #29, 28 September 1973.
Portrait of a Healyite Scab/Spy First printed in Workers Vanguard #231, 11 May 1979.
Resignation Letter from the Spartacist League US by Howard Keylor. September 5, 1981.
SL Over the Brink – Trotskyists Out Now! The Road to Jimstown. Originally published May 1985
‘I Liked Gerry Healy…: ’The Robertson School of Party Building International Bolshevik Tendency, first printed in 1917 No.1 Winter 1986.
On the Spartacist Tendency Excerpt from a 6/16/88 letter from Bill Logan on behalf of the Permanent Revolution Group (New Zealand) to the Communist Left (New Zealand).
Truth or Consequences International Bolshevik Tendency, first printed in 1917 #8, Summer 1989.
CAPITALIST COUNTERREVOLUTION IN THE SOVIET BLOC
Eyeywitness Reports: The Collapse of the DDR International Bolshevik Tendency, first printed in 1917 #8, Summer 1990.
Death Agony of Stalinism International Bolshevik Tendency, first printed in 1917 #8, Summer 1990. Also appended is a 9/9/04 letter to the Internationalist Group further elaborating the IBT position on the events discussed.
The National Question in the USSR International Bolshevik Tendency, first printed in 1917 #10 3rd Quarter 1991.
Counterrevolution Triumphs in USSR. September 1991 statement by the International Bolshevik Tendency, republished in 1917 #11, Third Quarter 1992.
DDR Junked — First the Wall… Then the factories. International Bolshevik Tendency, first printed in 1917 #11, Third Quarter 1992.
Yeltsin’s Counterrevolution Was the Greater Threat First printed in 1917 West #1, Spring 1992. Article based on presentation at a November 1991 International Bolshevik tendency debate with the Revolutionany Trotskyist Tendency [today known as Humanists Workers for Revolutionary Socialism]
Soviet Rubicon and the Left. International Bolshevik Tendency, first printed in 1917 #11, Third Quarter 1992.
Getting Russia Right. The following letter by Samuel Trachtenberg was distributed at a Partisan Defense Committee event in New York in December 1994. It was reprinted by the International Bolshevik Tendency in 1917 #16, 1995.
CHINA
The Chinese Revolution by Ted Grant/RCP, January 1949.
Report on the Chinese Situation to the Third Congress of the Fourth International, by Peng Shuzi. Report given to the Third World Congress of the Fourth International, August-September 1951.
Lessons of the Chinese Revolution by Vicent Grey/SWP, Winter (South Hemisphere) of 1954
China: The Gathering Storm [PDF] First published by the Internation Bolshevik Tendency in 1994.
Capitalism in a deformed workers state. China: Towards the Brink First published by the Internation Bolshevik Tendency on April 18, 2004.
CUBAN REVOLUTION
Statements on the Cuban Missile Crisis
Castro in Moscow, by P. Jen. First printed in Spartacist #1, February-March 1964.
Castroism, Trotskyism, and the SWP by Goeffry White. First printed in Spartacist West Vol 1. #3 [no date], circa early 1966.
A Bureaucratic, Anti-Working-Class Regime: Guerrillas in Power First printed in Workers Vanguard #102, March 25, 1976.
Rewriting Cuba by J. Leisler First Printed by the International Bolshevik Tendency in 1917 West #1, Spring 1992.
Smash Yankee Imperialism! Defend the Cuban Revolution! International Bolshevik Tendency, first published in 1917 No.11, 3rd Quarter 1992.
Cuba, the LRCI and Marxist Theory International Bolshevik Tendency, first printed in 1917 #13, 1994
See Also: Cuba & Marxist Theory
http://www.marxists.org/history/etol/document/icl-spartacists/cuba/index.htm
DEFENCE WORK/ POLICY
The Capitalist WitchHunt — And How to Fight It Reprinted in Fourth International, Vol.11 No.2, March-April 1950,. Resolution adopted by the February 1950 Plenum of the National Committee of the Socialist Workers Party.
State Repression & the Left International Bolshevik Tendency, first printed in 1917 #25, 2003.
Material on Mumia Abu-Jamal’s defence campaign (1995-2000)
FRANCE/ FRENCH TROTSKYISM
To the Brink and Back: French Revolution First printed in Spartacist No. 12, September-October 1968.
Maurice Thorez: The Making of a Stalinist by John Sharpe. First printed in Workers Vanguard #85, 14 November 1975.
French Trotskyism
Where is Pablo going? by Bleibtreu-Favre, La Verite, June 1951.
Letter to OCRFI and OCI First printed in Spartacist No. 22, Winter 1973-74. January 15 1973 letter from the Political Bureau Spartacist League/U.S. to the Organizing Committee for the Reconstruction of the Fourth International; and Organisation Communiste Internationaliste.
The Spartacist League, the Minority and Voix Ouvriere By Liz Gordon. Key internal factional document on supporters of the Voix Ouvriere/ Lutte Ouvriere group in France. First printed in Spartacist League Internal Bulletin #7, December 1968.
GENERAL POLEMICS
“In very much the same way, to repeat, a progressive movement occurs in art. When an artistic tendency has exhausted its creative resources, creative “splinters” separate from it, which are able to look at the world with new eyes. The more daring the pioneers show in their ideas and actions, the more bitterly they oppose themselves to established authority which rests on a conservative “mass base,” the more conventional souls, skeptics, and snobs are inclined to see in the pioneers, impotent eccentrics or “anemic splinters‚” But in the last analysis it is the conventional souls, skeptics and snobs who are wrong – and life passes them by….
“Every new artistic or literary tendency (naturalism, symbolism, futurism, cubism, expressionism and so forth and so on) has begun with a “scandal,” breaking the old respected crockery, bruising many established authorities. This flowed not at all solely from publicity seeking (although there was no lack of this). No, these people – artists, as well as literary critics – had something to say. They had friends, they had enemies, they fought, and exactly through this they demonstrated their right to exist.”
Leon Trotsky; Art & Politics in Our Epoch (1938)
Milwalkees Brand of Socialism: Socialism in One City by James Boulton. First printed in Fourth International, December 1940. Critique of Norman Thomas’s Socialist Party.
Reformism vs. Reformism in the CPUSA: Divorce in the Family First printed in 1917 West #1, Spring 1992
Open Letter to the International Socialists (5/1/98). Later reprinted by the International Bolshevik Tendency in 1917 #21, 1999 as “From Cliff to Trotsky”.
Bolshevism & Trotskyism: Defending Our History First Printed in Marxist Bulletin #8, February 1999.
Internationalist Group:”Trotskyism With a Pre-Frontal Lobotomy” Revisited First posted online on 9/23/02
Northites Inc.: Toeing the Bottom Line; Being Determines Consciousness International Bolshevik Tendency, first published in 1917 No.30, 2008.
Against the Theory of State Capitalism. A reply to comrade [Tony] Cliff. By Ted Grant. First published in 1946.
KOREA
The Battle of Koje Island by James P. Cannon. First printed in the Militant 16, June 1952.
U.S. Out of Korea! American Imperialism Rattles Sabre in Korea First printed in Workers Vanguard #123, 3 September 1976
I.S. on Korea: “Third Camp” Social Pacifism First printed in Workers Vanguard #125, 17 September 1976.
Marcyites Call for “Peaceful Reunification”… of the “Global Class War!” First printed in Workers Vanguard #125, 17 September 1976
Kim Il Sung by Charles O’Brian. First printed in Workers Vanguard #125, 17 September 1976
Kim’s North Korea: “Socialism in One Family”. First printed in Young Spartacus, #48, November 1976.
Korea: the Forgotten War International Bolshevik Tendency, first printed in 1917 #16, 1995.
LABOUR
Trade Unions in the Epoch of Imperialist Decay by Leon Trotsky (1940)
The Faces of Economism First from Spartacist #21, Fall 1972
Trade Union Memorandum Adapted by Third National Conference od the Spartacist League/US, 25 November 1972. Reprinted in Marxist Bulletin #9, “Basic Documents of the Spartacist League”
Black Family Firebombed in Chicago UAW Local Sets Up Labor/Black Defense Guard First printed in Workers Vanguard No. 67, 25 April 1975
Stop The Liquidation Of The Trade Union Work! Break With The Robertson-Foster-Nelson Misleadership! Printed on June 25 1983.
Class Struggle on the Waterfront International Bolshevik Tendency, first printed in 1917 #4, Autumn 1987. Interview with Howard Keylor on his experience as a communist active in the ILWU.
Class Struggle Candidate in the San Francisco Printers Union International Bolshevik Tendency, first printed in 1917 #10, Third Quarter 1991.
Labour History
The I.W.W. by James P. Cannon. First printed in Fourth International, Summer 1955.
The 1934 San Francisco General Strike. First printed in Workers Vanguard #109, 14 May 1976
Also Read: Trotskyist Work in the Trade Unions (1973)
by Chris Knox
http://struggle.net/ALC/TWITTU.htm
LGBT
Revolutionary Union On Homosexuals: Malicious Maoist Bigotry First printed in Young Spartacus #26, November 1974. We are appending a 1992 IBT statement on the Revolutionary Communist Party, which the RU later renamed itself.]
Reactionaries Fan Homophobic Hysteria: The Politics of AIDS International Bolshevik Tendency, first printed in 1917 #2, Summer 1986.
Only Socialism Can Bring Freedom to Lesbians and Gays! International Bolshevik Tendency, first printed in 1917 West #1 Spring 1992]
Related Interest – Socialist attitudes in the 1800’s
August Bebel
On Homosexuality and the Penal Code (1898)
Eduard Bernstein
The Judgement of Abnormal Sexual Intercourse (1895)
MILITANT LONGSHOREMAN (1981-1987)
Published by Howard Keylor after his resignation from the Spartacist League/US.
No. 1, December 31, 1981
No. 2, January 29, 1982
No. 3, April 10, 1982
No. 4, January 7, 1982
No. 5, February 4, 1983
No. 6, December 3, 1983
No. 7, January 5, 1984
No. 8, February 3, 1984
No. 9, July, 21, 1984
No. 10, October 12, 1984
No. 11, November 27, 1984
No. 12, November 30, 1984
No. 13, January 7, 1985
No. 14, January 3, 1986
No. 15 January 25, 1986
No. 16, February 7, 1986
No. 17, January, 1987
No. 18, February 6, 1987
No. 19, March 13, 1987
No. 20, March 24, 1987
No. 21, June 1, 1987
No. 22, July 25, 1987
MISC. DOCUMENTS OF ARCHIVAL OR HISTORIC INTEREST
“The Law of the Falling Tendency of the Rate of Profit: Its Place in the Marxist Theoretical System and Relevance to the US Economy” (11 MB pdf file). 1963 doctoral dissertation by a leader of the Revolutionary Tendency in the Socialist Workers Party and subsequently Spartacist League in the US.
What Is Revolutionary Leadership? (Second Edition) Articles originally printed in Labour Review (theoretical journal of the Socialist Labour League of Britain) and republished by the Spartacist League with introductory and supplemental material.
“Healy Reconstructs the Fourth International” (3 MB pdf file). Originaly published in June 1966 by the Socialist Workers Party in the US with a preface by Joseph Hansen with the headline “Documents by Participants in a Fiasco.” A selection of correspondence from the participants in the 1966 International Committee conference.
Seize the Opportunity! Revolutionary Regroupment First printed in Spartacist # 14, November-December 1969.
Healyites, Messengers of Qaddafi First printed in Workers Vanguard #158, May 20, 1977.
Jim Robertson’s infamous 1977 “Goatfucker” Speech (3.47 mb) documenting a key moment in the Spartacist League’s degeneration. Posted for archival purposes only and originally reprinted as “What the Spartacist Really Stands For” by Communist Cadre.
FROM NEW YORK TO SRI LANKA: IT IS DESPERATELY NECESSARY TO FIGHT! A Call to Struggle Against the Degeneration of the iSt. First public statement of the External Tendency of the international Spartacist tendency. October 1982.
No Vote to the SPD/No Vote to the PDS. Critical Electoral Support to the SpAD Statement 11/17/90. Distributed by the German supporters of the International Bolshevik Tendency, translated and reprinted in the Spartacist League’s “Hate Trotskyism, Hate the Spartacist League” series (#6).
A Marxist Programme for the Socialist Labour Party Reprinted in every issue of Marxist Bulletin from #1 (April 1997) to # 6 (February 1998).
Letter to the Internationalist Group on the Ukraine Scandal by Samuel Trachtenberg. August 28, 2003
NATIONAL QUESTION AND INTERPENETRATED PEOPLES
Documents on Northern Ireland
Fourth International Theses on Ireland
by the Revolutionary Socialist Party, Irish section of the Fourth International, 1944
Theses On Ireland. Adopted by the International Executive Committee of the international Spartacist tendency on 5 August 1977. Reprinted in Spartacist #24, Autumn 1977.
British Troops out of Ireland, Now! — We need a workers’ solution to the ‘national’ divide!
Originally published in ‘Marxist Bulletin’ No.3, publication of the British section on the International Bolshevik Tendency, August 1997.
Documents on Zionism and the Palestinian Struggle
Against the Stream. Palestinian Trotskyist document translated and reprinted in Fourth International, May 1948.
For a Socialist Federation of the Near East! First printed in Workers Vanguard #105, 16 April, 1976
Israel Out of the Occupied Territories! International Bolshevik Tendency, first printed in 1917 #5, Winter 1988-89.
OTHER RELEVANT CLASS STRUGGLE EVENTS (POST WWII)
Another Cuba? What Next for Nicaragua?
For Workers and Peasants Government – Not Bourgeois Sandinista Junta!
Spartacist League, August 1979
SWP/USec Criminal Tailism
[Iran:] History Takes its Vengeance
Spartacist League, September 1979
PABLOISM / REVISIONISM
Letter on Yugoslavia by Jock Haston. Sent to the IEC by the RCP (Britain), 1948.
Open Letter to B.S.F.I. (British Section of the Fourth International) by Ted Grant, September/October 1950
Where is Pablo going? by Bleibtreu-Favre, La Verite, June 1951
Letters exchanged between Daniel Renard and James P. Cannon, February 16 and May 9, 1952
A Letter to Trotskyists Throughout the World, First published in The Militant, 16 November 1953. From the 25th Anniversary Plenum of the National Committee of the Socialist Workers Party.
The Chinese Experience With Pabloite Revisionism And Bureaucratism by Peng Shuzi. Letter to James P. Cannon, December 30, 1953
Lessons of the Chinese Revolution, Vincent Grey (Vince Copeland). First printed in Fourth International, Summer 1954.
The Bolivian Revolution and the Fight Against Revisionism by Sam Ryan. First printed in the Socialist Workers Party Discussion Bulletin, October 1954.
In Defense of a Revolutionary Perspective March 1962; Statement of Basic Position by the Revolutionary Tendency. Presented to the June 1962 plenary meeting of the SWP National Committee. Reprinted in Marxist Bulletin #1
Trotskyism Betrayed: The SWP accepts the political method of Pabloite revisionism by the National Committee of the Socialist Labour League, July 21, 1962
The Centrism of the SWP and the Tasks of the Minority By Jim Robertson & Larry Ireland. September 6, 1962
Opportunism & Empiricism by the National Committee of the Socialist Labour League, March 23, 1963.
Toward Rebirth of the Fourth International DRAFT RESOLUTION ON THE WORLD MOVEMENT submitted to the 1963 SWP Convention by the Revolutionary Tendency.
For Black Trotskyism by James Robertson and Shirley Stoute 3 July 1963 First printed in SWP Discussion Bulletin, Vol. 24, No. 30, republished in Marxist Bulletin No. 5.
Spartacist Statement to the International Conference by Jim Robertson. First printed in Spartacist #6, June-July 1966,
Communist Working Collective Theses on Pabloism, Inverted Pabloism and the Fourth International August 19, 1971.
The SWP and the Fourth lnternational, 1946-54: Genesis of Pabloism First printed in Spartacist English edition No. 21, Fall 1972.
Origins of Canadian Pabloism by Arnold Michaels and Murray Smith. First printed in Spartacist Canada #4, February 1976.
Workers Power & the Fourth International Extract from a letter to Workers Power from the International Bolshevik Tendency, May 5 1988.
Polemic with USec Supporter: Revolutionary Program vs. ‘Historical Process’ International Bolshevik Tendency, first printed in 1917 No.5, Winter 1988-89.
Revolutionary Continuity & the Split in the Fourth International International Bolshevik Tendency, first printed in1917 #8, Summer 1990.
POLAND and Solidarnosc
A Workers Poland Yes! The Pope’s Poland No!, first published on Spartacist #30, 1980
All the Pope’s Dissidents [PDF], first published on Spartacist #30, 1980
Solidarianosc Counterrrevolution Checked [PDF], first published on Workers Vanguard #295, 12/18/1981
Theses on Solidarnosc Adopted by the fusion conference of the Bolshevik Tendency and the Left Trotskyist Tendency in 1987.
POLICE
“The fact that the police was originally recruited in large numbers from among Social Democratic workers is absolutely meaningless. Consciousness is determined by environment even in this instance. The worker who becomes a policeman in the service of the capitalist state, is a bourgeois cop, not a worker.”
Leon Trotsky (1932)
Milwalkees Brand of Socialism: Socialism in One City by James Boulton. First printed in Fourth International, December 1940.
THE STRIKEBREAKERS GO ON STRIKE… POLICE MILITANCY vs. LABOR First printed in Workers’ Action #8, April-May 1971.
LA: Days of Rage International Bolshevik Tendency, supplement to 1917, May 1992
Cops, Crime & Capitalism International Bolshevik Tendency, first printed as 1917 West #2,October 1992.
“REALIST” OPPORTUNISM
Opportunism and the art of the possible by Rosa Luxemburg First printed in Sachsische Arbeiterzeitung, September 30, 1898.
Trotsky on “Worshipers of the Accomplished Fact” Originally titled “The ‘Friends’ of the Soviet Union” which was an appendix to his 1936 book, The Revolution Betrayed
International Communist League on Afghanistan February 2002 interventions at Spartacist League meetings by Samuel Trachtenberg, The second intervention is relatedly titled “‘Realist’ Wisacres'”.
REVOLUTIONARY CONTINUITY
“But we began the struggle a long time before that. If Pivert thought in a critical manner he would understand that without the long preparatory work of the “Trotskyists” in all probability he would not yet have broken with Blum. From the broad historical outlook, the PSOP as a whole is only a by product of the struggle of Trotskyism. Can it be that Pivert considers this “practical result” insignificant?
Leon Trotsky (1939)
“With the passage of time, a slow drift in the appreciation of old events occurs in the Marxist movement, leading at certain points to sharp departures from what had been previously taken for granted. Sometimes what is in essence a higher and more comprehensive synthesis is arrived at with only incidental loss of particular detail known in an earlier period; and sometimes an essential grasp of reality is dissipated. Which predominates depends on considerations larger than and sometimes remote from the event under consideration.”
Spartacist League (1973)
Stagnation and Progress of Marxism, by Rosa Luxemburg (1903)
On U.S. Trotskyist History Extract first printed in Marxist Bulletin No 3 Part IV “Conversations With Wohlforth: Minutes of the Spartacist-ACFI (American Committee for the Fourth International) Unity Negotiating Sessions June-October 1965
War and the Workers League First printed in Workers Vanguard #7, April, 1972.
Revolutionary Continuity & the Split in the Fourth International International Bolshevik Tendency, first printed in 1917 #8, Summer 1990.
Related Material
The Three Sources and Three Component Parts of Marxism, by V.I. Lenin (1913)
http://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1913/mar/x01.htm
Certain Features of the Historical Development of Marxism, by V.I, Lenin (1910)
http://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1910/dec/23.htm
The Historical Destiny of the Doctrine of Karl Marx, by V.I. Lenin (1913)
http://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1913/mar/01.htm
REVOLUTIONARY PRESS POLICY
What is a “Mass Paper”? By Leon Trotsky, November 30, 1935.
Proposal for Workers Vanguard by Marv Treiger, May 14, 1971.
On the Propaganda Perspective by Samuel Trachtenberg (IBT). An exchange with an Internationalist Group leader, posted on the IBT web site on Feb. 3, 2003.
For a Trotskyist perspective in Turkey. Turkish supporters of the Trotskyist Faction. January 28, 1978
REVOLUTIONARY REGROUPMENT
The Declaration of Four. First printed in The Militant (US), 23 September 1933. Regroupment document endorsed by the Trotskyist movement.
IBT Exchange With ICL On ‘Revolutionary Regroupment’. International Bolshevik Tendency, first printed in 1917 #30, 2008.
Documents on the March 1978 fusion of the iSt and the Trotskyist Faction of Alan Thornett’s Workers Socialist League:
- The Rebirth of British Trotskyism. First printed in Workers Vanguard, No. 200, 7 April 1978.
- Letter from the iSt to the WSL. June 17, 1976.
- In Defence of the Revolutionary Programme. Declaration of the Trotskyist Faction. January 16, 1978
- For a Trotskyist perspective in Turkey. Turkish supporters of the Trotskyist Faction. January 28, 1978
REVOLUTIONARY WILL & DETERMINATION
— as inspiration for the coming new year and the years ahead!
On Optimism and Pessimism. On the 20th Century and on Many Other Issues. By Leon Trotsky (1901).
Order Prevails in Berlin by Rosa Luxemburg. First printed in Rote Fahne 14 January, 1919.
Soon (In 48 Years’ Time) by Alexandra Kollontai 1922
Eugen Leviné’s Last Speech, June 1919
On the Founding of the Fourth International by Leon Trotsky (October 28, 1938)
Fighting Against the Stream by Leon Trotsky (April 1939)
Splinters in Politics and Art (1938) by Leon Trotsky. Excerpted from “Art and Politics in our Epoch” Fourth International, March-April 1950
A Letter to Trotsky (from Vietnamese Trotskyists), May 18, 1939
Testament of Leon Trotsky, Feb. 27, 1940.
Declaration of the International Communists of Buchenwald, April 20, 1945. English translation with an introduction printed in Spartacist #26, Winter 1979.
Sixtieth Birthday Speech by James P. Cannon. Transcribed from wire recording. Los Angelos, California March 4 1950.
“The decision to join the Trotskyist Camp” By James P. Cannon. Written May 27, 1959
SHACHTMANISM
The Shaman and the Swamp by “S. Aesop”. First published in Left Wing Bulletin, April 1957, Vol. 1 #2, published by the Left Wing Caucus of the Young Socialist League. The Caucus opposed Max Shachtman’s plan to liquidate his organization and it’s youth group into Cold War Social Democracy
Don Harris and His Epoch by Tim Wohlforth. First published in Left Wing Bulletin, April 1957, Vol. 1 #2, published by the Left Wing Caucus of the Young Socialist League. The Caucus opposed Max Shachtman’s plan to liquidate his organization and it’s youth group into Cold War Social Democracy.
Introduction to “The Fight For Socialism” by Spartacist, 12 July 1965. Text inserted into published copies of Max Shachtman’s 1946 book.
War and the Workers League First printed in Workers Vanguard #7, April, 1972.
On the Nature of the USSR by Jim Cullen, December 10, 1988 (presentation at debate with the LRP)
See Also: The split in the Socialist Workers Party between the majority (Leon Trotsky, James Cannon) and the minority factions (Max Schachtman, James Burnhman)
STATEMENTS (KEY HISTORIC EVENTS)
The Trotskyist Position in Palestine: Against the Stream Statement of the Revolutionary Communist League of Palestine. Reprinted in Fourth International May 1948
Statements on the Cuban Missile Crisis November 1962
Smash the Reactionary Junta – For Workers Revolution in Chile! September 13, 1973
Defend Iraq Against Imperialist Attack! Defeat Desert Storm! February 1, 1991
Defend Soviet Workers Against Yeltsin’s Attacks! Counterrevolution Triumphs in USSR September 1991
World Trade Center Bombing – U.S. Imperialist Rule, An Endless Horror September 18, 2001
VENEZUELA / CHAVISMO
For a Socialist Federation of Latin America! Venezuela: State & Revolution. International Bolshevik Tendency, originally published in 1917 No. 28, December 2005
On the 2004 Venezuelan Referendum. Principles & Tactics. International Bolshevik Tendency, originally published in 1917 No. 28, December 2005
Marxism & the ‘Bolivarian Revolution’. Venezuela & the Left, International Bolshevik Tendency, originally published in 1917 No. 30, April 2008
WOMEN
Please read our introduction to these documents
Civilised Europeans and Savage Asians by V.I. Lenin. First printed in Pravda No. 87, April 14, 1913
Communism and the Family by Alexandra Kollontai. First published in Komunistka, No. 2, 1920, and in English in The Worker, 1920
Thermidor in the Family by Leon Trotsky. Excerpt from the book The Revolution Betrayed, 1936.
Women Who Won The Right to Vote: The Suffragist Movement by Joyce Cowley. First printed in Fourth International, Spring 1955. Joyce Cowley was one of the original signers of the June 1962 “In Defence of the Revolutionary Program”, the founding statement of the Revolutionary Tendency within the US Socialist Workers Party.
Girl, 17, Dies of Abortion; Where Does the Guilt Really Lie? by Judy Mage. First printed in The Young Socialist, Vol. 1 #5, February 1958
The Fight For Women’s Liberation Revolutionary Marxist Caucus position paper presented at the Students for a Democratic Society December 1969 conference.
Women and the Permanent Revolution First printed in Workers Vanguard # 17 March 1973
Toward a Communist Women’s Movement! First printed in Women and Revolution #4, Fall 1973
Maoism and the Family First printed in Women & Revolution #7, Autumn 1974
International Women’s Day: A Proletarian Holiday First printed in Women and Revolution #8, Spring 1976
The Private Life of Islam: A Review First printed in Women & Revolution #10, Winter 1975-76
Soviet Women: A Stalinist Apology First printed in Women & Revolution #10, Winter 1975-76.
Early Bolshevik Work Among Women of the Soviet East First printed in Women and Revolution # 12, Summer 1976
Solidarnosc: A Man’s World First printed in Spartacist Britain #37, November 1981
Feminism & ‘Moral Panics’ International Bolshevik Tendency, first printed in 1917 No.2, Summer 1986
Smash Anti-Abortion Reaction! International Bolshevik Tendency, first printed in 1917 #7, Winter 1990. Also included are the box “Women and the Russian Revolution” originally appended to this article and an undated Bolshevik Tendency leaflet produced from the late 80’s titled “No More Wire Hangers!”
Marxism, Feminism & Women’s Liberation International Bolshevik Tendency, first printed in 1917 #19, 1997
“WORKERS GOVERNMENT” SLOGAN
A Talk on the Labor Party Question by Jim Robertson. Reprinted in Young Communist Bulletin #3 “On the United Front”, 1976 An edited version of a talk delivered at an internal youth educational in Boston on 5 November 1972.
A workers government without revolution? by Joseph Seymour. Reprinted from Spartacist Britain #11, May 1979. Based on a presentation given to a Spartacist League national educational in London 12/79.
Workers Government: Dictatorship. of the Proletariat or NDP in Power? Reprinted from Spartacist Canada Aug./Sept. 1979.
Workers’ and Farmers’ Government by Leon Trotsky (1938). Extracted from the Transitional Program
YOUTH AND STUDENT STRUGGLES
The Tasks of the Revolutionary Youth by V.I. Lenin. First printed in Student, No. 2-3., September 1903.
The Third International by by Alexandra Kollontai. First printed in The American Socialist, Oct. 23, 1915.
Hail, ‘Young Spartacus’! by James P. Cannon. First published in The Militant, October 24, 1931.
Open the Road to the Woman Worker! Open the Road to the Youth! by Leon Trotsky. Excerpted from The Transitional Program, 1938.
The Struggle Against the Youth by Leon Trotsky. Excerpted from The Revoluion Betrayed, 1936.
Trade Unionists and Revolutionists by James P. Cannon. Speech delivered on May 11, 1953. First Printed in Fourth International, Vol.15 No.2, Spring 1954.
Material on the Berkeley Free Speech Movement Produced by the Spartacist group in 1964-1965. A lengthy article by Geoff White, supplemented by a short leaflet directed to FSM activists on campus. Both were originally posted online at www.fsm-a.org
The Working Class & The Park First printed in Spartacist West #16, 27, June 1969.
Founding Conference of the 4th International: “Resolution on Youth”: Revolutionary Communist Youth Introduction First Printed in Revolutionary Communist Youth Newsletter, No. 17, May-June 1973
Youth, Class & Party. Basic programmatic document adopted at the September 1971 Founding Conference of the Revolutionary Communist Youth (RCY). Published with a new intro in 1974.
Student Struggles Engulf Brazil First printed in Young Spartacus #56, July/August 1977.
Statements on CUNY student struggles; Students Under the Ax, Budgets Bankers & Bloodsuckers and Fight the New Round of Tuition Hikes! were distributed by CUNY student activists supporting the International Bolshevik Tendency during the 1995-97 struggles.
A Communist Perspective for Student/Educational Struggles First distributed at the Rio de Janeiro Federal University on August 2010.