Arne Swabeck (1890–1986) was an American

Communist Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...

leader. Swabeck was born in

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark ...

and emigrated to the United States where he became one of the founding members of the

Communist Party A communist party is a political party that seeks to realize the socio-economic goals of communism. The term ''communist party'' was popularized by the title of ''The Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (1848) by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. A ...

. In the late 1920s he was expelled from the party as a

Trotskyist Trotskyism is the political ideology and branch of Marxism developed by Ukrainian-Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky and some other members of the Left Opposition and Fourth International. Trotsky self-identified as an orthodox Marxist, a rev ...

and worked together with James P. Cannon and other American Trotskyists to create the Socialist Workers Party. Swabeck visited

Leon Trotsky Lev Davidovich Bronstein. ( – 21 August 1940), better known as Leon Trotsky; uk, link= no, Лев Давидович Троцький; also transliterated ''Lyev'', ''Trotski'', ''Trotskij'', ''Trockij'' and ''Trotzky''. (), was a Russian ...

in his exile in

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

in 1933. In the late 1950s, Arne Swabeck became a

Maoist Maoism, officially called Mao Zedong Thought by the Chinese Communist Party, is a variety of Marxism–Leninism that Mao Zedong developed to realise a socialist revolution in the agricultural, pre-industrial society of the Republic of Ch ...

and left the SWP in 1967. For a number of years, he was in the Progressive Labor Party. In 1980, Swabeck appeared as himself in the movie

Reds Reds may refer to: General * Red (political adjective), supporters of Communism or socialism * Reds (January Uprising), a faction of the Polish insurrectionists during the January Uprising in 1863 * USSR (or, to a lesser extent, China) during th ...

. He was briefly interviewed as one of a series of elderly witnesses to events described in the movie. Arne Swabeck wrote the book entitled ''The Split of the Socialist Party'' (New England Free Press, 1969).

External links

Arne Swabeck Archive
at marxists.org * Christopher Phelps
Introducing Arne Swabeck
2002 * {{DEFAULTSORT:Swabeck, Arne 1890 births 1986 deaths American communists American Trotskyists Danish emigrants to the United States Industrial Workers of the World members Members of the Communist Party USA Members of the Socialist Workers Party (United States)