Duncan Hallas (23 December 1925 – 19 September 2002), was a prominent member of the

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 ...

movement and a leading member of the Socialist Workers Party in Great Britain.

Biography

Born into a working-class family in

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

, Duncan Hallas joined the

Young Communist League The Young Communist League (YCL) is the name used by the youth wing of various Communist parties around the world. The name YCL of XXX (name of country) originates from the precedent established by the Communist Youth International. Examples of YC ...

at the age of 14 in 1939 but soon became disillusioned owing to the

Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact , long_name = Treaty of Non-Aggression between Germany and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , image = Bundesarchiv Bild 183-H27337, Moskau, Stalin und Ribbentrop im Kreml.jpg , image_width = 200 , caption = Stalin and Ribbentrop shaking ...

.Harris, N. 'Duncan Hallas: Death of a Trotskyist' Ed. McIlroy, J. ''Revolutionary History'' Vol. 8:4 pg.260 In 1940, he met a woman selling ''Socialist Appeal'' at an Engineering Apprentices College where he was on day release and he joined the Trotskyist Workers International League in 1940Harris, N. "Duncan Hallas: Death of a Trotskyist" Ed. McIlroy, J. ''Revolutionary History'' Vol. 8:4 pg.261 and then its successor organisation the Revolutionary Communist Party while still a young worker during the Second World War. Conscripted into the First Lancashire Regiment in 1943, he served in France, Belgium and Germany and he was also involved in the mutiny in Egypt after the end of the war, earning him three months in military prison. When factional disputes broke out in The Club (the name adopted by British

Trotskyists 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 ...

after entering the Labour Party) Hallas became a supporter of

Tony Cliff Tony Cliff (born Yigael Glückstein, he, יגאל גליקשטיין; 20 May 1917 – 9 April 2000) was a Trotskyist activist. Born to a Jewish family in Palestine, he moved to Britain in 1947 and by the end of the 1950s had assumed the pen nam ...

's positions. Hallas was a founder member of the tiny

Socialist Review Group The Socialist Workers Party (SWP) is a far-left political party in the United Kingdom. Founded as the Socialist Review Group by supporters of Tony Cliff in 1950, it became the International Socialists in 1962 and the SWP in 1977. The party con ...

when it was organised in 1951 and wrote its only major founding document not authored by Cliff, "On the Stalinist Parties".On the Stalinist Parties
/ref> He also wrote a number of articles for the early issues of ''

Socialist Review The ''Socialist Review'' is a monthly magazine of the British Socialist Workers Party. As well as being printed it is also published online. Original publication: 1950–1962 The ''Socialist Review'' was set up in 1950 as the main publication o ...

''. After his job took him to Scotland in 1954/55 he effectively dropped out of the group, although he remained politically active in the

National Union of Teachers The National Union of Teachers (NUT; ) was a trade union for school teachers in Education in England, England, Education in Wales, Wales, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man. It was a member of the Trades Union Congress. In March 2017, NU ...

and elsewhere. With the upsurge in left-wing political activity in 1968 Hallas joined the International Socialists (IS) and rapidly became a member of the group's leadership and a full-time worker at its headquarters. However, Hallas, along with some other leading members, became concerned about Tony Cliff's increasing tendency to take decisions without consulting leadership bodies. Hallas initiated an oppositional group alongside John Palmer and Jim Higgins. However, when this oppositional group became a formal faction, the International Socialist Opposition (ISO), Hallas broke with it. He remained within the IS when the ISO's members were expelled, becoming a leading figure in its successor organisation, the Socialist Workers Party, until his retirement from active politics, owing to ill health, in 1995. Hallas was the author of many articles for the publications of the IS/SWP group and of a short guide to the politics of

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 ...

Publications

Books

*''Trotsky’s Marxism'' (

Pluto Press Pluto Press is a British independent book publisher based in London, founded in 1969. Originally, it was the publishing arm of the International Socialists (today known as the Socialist Workers Party), until it changed hands and was replaced ...

, London 1979) *''The Comintern'' (Bookmarks, London 1985)

Pamphlets

*''Trotsky'' (Socialist Worker, 1970) *''The Meaning of Marxism'' (Pluto Press on behalf of the International Socialists, 1971) *''The Labour Party: Myth and Reality'' (Socialist Workers' Party, 1981) *''Why Import Controls Won't Save Jobs'' with Nigel Harris, (SWP pamphlet, 1981) *''Days of Hope: General Strike of 1926'' with

Chris Harman Chris Harman (8 November 1942 – 7 November 2009) was a British journalist and political activist, and a member of the Central Committee of the Socialist Workers Party (UK), Socialist Workers Party. He was an editor of ''International Soc ...

, (Socialist Worker, 1982)

Selected articles

*"Towards a Revolutionary Socialist Party" (1971) *"The First Shop Stewards' Movement" (''International Socialism'', December 1973) *"The Communist Party and the General Strike" (''International Socialism'', May 1976) *"The Soviet Union State Capitalist or Socialist?" with Peter Binns (''International Socialism'', September 1976) *"Introduction to Trotsky’s The Lessons of October" (1987) *"The Bourgeois Revolution" (''Socialist Review'', 1988) *"Introduction to Lenin’s “Left Wing” Communism" (1993) *"Swimming Against the Tide (interview)" (''Revolutionary History'', 2001)

References

External links

Duncan Hallas Internet Archive
at

Marxists Internet Archive Marxists Internet Archive (also known as MIA or Marxists.org) is a non-profit online encyclopedia that hosts a multilingual library (created in 1990) of the works of communist, anarchist, and socialist writers, such as Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels ...

Socialist Worker obituary
by

and Paul Foot.
Duncan Hallas: An Agitator of the Best Kind
by

Ian Birchall Ian Birchall (born 1939) is a British Marxist historian and translator, a former member of the Socialist Workers Party and author of numerous articles and books, particularly relating to the French Left. Formerly Senior Lecturer in French at Mi ...

Chanie Rosenberg Chanie Rosenberg (20 April 1922 – June 2021) was a South African-born artist, former teacher and socialist. She was the sister of Michael Kidron, the partner of Tony Cliff, and a founder member of the Socialist Workers Party in Britain. Life ...

and Frank Henderson {{DEFAULTSORT:Hallas, Duncan 1925 births 2002 deaths British activists British Army personnel of World War II British communists British Trotskyists British Marxists Marxist theorists Politicians from Manchester Revolutionary Communist Party (UK, 1944) members Socialist Workers Party (UK) members