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The Workers Party (WP) was a
Third Camp The third camp, also known as third camp socialism or third camp Trotskyism, is a branch of socialism that aims to oppose both capitalism and Stalinism by supporting the organised working class as a "third camp". The term arose early during W ...
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 ...
group in the United States. It was founded in April 1940 by members of the Socialist Workers Party who opposed the
Soviet invasion of Finland The Winter War,, sv, Vinterkriget, rus, Зи́мняя война́, r=Zimnyaya voyna. The names Soviet–Finnish War 1939–1940 (russian: link=no, Сове́тско-финская война́ 1939–1940) and Soviet–Finland War 1 ...
and
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 ...
's belief that the
USSR The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...
under
Joseph Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as General Secreta ...
was still innately proletarian, a "
degenerated workers' state In Trotskyist political theory, a degenerated workers' state is a dictatorship of the proletariat in which the working class' democratic control over the state has given way to control by a bureaucratic clique. The term was developed by Leon Tro ...
." They included
Max Shachtman Max Shachtman (; September 10, 1904 – November 4, 1972) was an American Marxist theorist. He went from being an associate of Leon Trotsky to a social democrat and mentor of senior assistants to AFL–CIO President George Meany. Beginnings S ...
, who became the new group's leader, Hal Draper, C. L. R. James, Raya Dunayevskaya,
Martin Abern Martin may refer to: Places * Martin City (disambiguation) * Martin County (disambiguation) * Martin Township (disambiguation) Antarctica * Martin Peninsula, Marie Byrd Land * Port Martin, Adelie Land * Point Martin, South Orkney Islands Austral ...
, Joseph Carter,
Julius Jacobson Julius Jacobson (1922 – March 8, 2003) was an American socialist writer and editor who edited ''Anvil,'' ''New International,'' and '' New Politics'', all publications in the Third Camp tradition of socialism, a democratic Marxist tradition so ...
,
Phyllis Jacobson Phyllis Jacobson (1922 – March 2, 2010) was an American socialist. Together with her lifetime political and personal partner Julius Jacobson, she co-edited the independent left journal '' New Politics'' from the 1960s until the end of the 20th ...
,
Albert Glotzer Albert Glotzer (1908–1999), also known as Albert Gates, was a professional stenographer and founder of the Trotskyist movement in the United States. He was best remembered as the court reporter for the 1937 John Dewey Commission that examined ...
,
Stan Weir Stanley Brian Weir (born March 17, 1952) is a Canadian former ice hockey centre. He played on five different teams for the National Hockey League, and one season in the World Hockey Association, over an 11-year career that lasted from 1972 to ...
,
B. J. Widick B. J. Widick (born Branko J. Widick in Okučani, present-day Croatia, October 25, 1910; died Ann Arbor, Michigan, June 28, 2008) was an American labor activist in the United Auto Workers union and socialist movements. Background An immigrant to t ...
, James Robertson, and
Irving Howe Irving Howe (; June 11, 1920 – May 5, 1993) was an American literary and social critic and a prominent figure of the Democratic Socialists of America. Early years Howe was born as Irving Horenstein in The Bronx, New York. He was the son o ...
. The party's politics are often referred to as "
Shachtmanite Shachtmanism is the form of Marxism associated with Max Shachtman (1904–1972). It has two major components: a bureaucratic collectivist analysis of the Soviet Union and a third camp approach to world politics. Shachtmanites believe that the ...
." At the time of the split, almost 40% of the membership of the SWP left to form the Workers Party. The WP had approximately 500 members. Although it recruited among workers and youth during
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
it never grew substantially, despite having more impact than its numbers would suggest.


Early years

By 1941, the WP had developed a minority tendency, led by C. L. R. James and Raya Dunayevskaya, known as the Johnson-Forest Tendency for its principal leaders' pseudonyms. It developed the viewpoint that Russia was state capitalist. The tendency developed the view that the WP should rejoin the Trotskyist Fourth International due to the imminence of a pre-revolutionary situation. In the meantime the SWP had from 1943 onwards developed a loose oppositional tendency led by Felix Morrow and Albert Goldman which, among other things, called for the WP to be readmitted to the SWP. In 1945 and 1946, these two tendencies argued for their parties to regroup. However, discussions stalled after Goldman was found to be working with the WP's leadership. He left the SWP in May 1946 to join the WP, with a small group of supporters including James T. Farrell. The Johnson-Forest Tendency left the WP in October 1947 in order to rejoin the SWP, while Farrell and Goldman left in 1948 to join the
Socialist Party of America The Socialist Party of America (SPA) was a socialist political party in the United States formed in 1901 by a merger between the three-year-old Social Democratic Party of America and disaffected elements of the Socialist Labor Party of Ameri ...
. Working in the labor movement during
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, the party grew rapidly, largely as at a time of labor shortages which allowed its mainly New York Jewish intellectual members to take industrial jobs which would otherwise have been closed to them. It militantly opposed the no-strike pledge that the
Congress of Industrial Organizations The Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) was a federation of unions that organized workers in industrial unions in the United States and Canada from 1935 to 1955. Originally created in 1935 as a committee within the American Federation of ...
had agreed to with President
Franklin Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...
for the duration of the war. At the same time the draft prevented the construction of a stable industrial base as much of the youthful membership was inducted into the armed forces. During the same period other younger members, such as Marvin Mandell and Betty Mandell, were recruited; they would later become co-editors of the Third Camp socialist magazine '' New Politics''. Also, in the late 1940s, the important Black author
James Baldwin James Arthur Baldwin (August 2, 1924 – December 1, 1987) was an American writer. He garnered acclaim across various media, including essays, novels, plays, and poems. His first novel, '' Go Tell It on the Mountain'', was published in 1953; de ...
began a friendship with Stan Weir and became influenced by the politics of the "Shachtmanites."


Youth organizations

The organization created a youth section, the Socialist Youth League, in 1946. After a merger with a number of former members of the Young People's Socialist League in the early 1950s, including Michael Harrington, who had left the latter organization because its parent organization, the SP, was too inclined to support United States foreign policy during the
Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...
, the SYL renamed itself the ''Young Socialist League''. It "re-merged" with the YPSL at the same time as the former Workers Party, now the Independent Socialist League, was merging with the Socialist Party-Social Democratic Federation in August 1958. A group led by
Tim Wohlforth Timothy Andrew Wohlforth (May 15, 1933 – August 23, 2019), was a United States Trotskyist leader. On leaving the Trotskyist movement he became a writer of crime fiction and of politically oriented non-fiction. As a student, Wohlforth joined the ...
did not approve of this merger and joined the SWP-affiliated
Young Socialist Alliance The Young Socialist Alliance (YSA) was a Trotskyist youth group of the Socialist Workers Party (SWP) in the United States of America. It was founded in 1960, although it had roots going back several years earlier. It was dissolved in 1992. The ...
.


International affiliation

Having departed the SWP the newly founded WP found itself outside the ranks of the Fourth International as well, but during the Second World War it continued to consider itself to be in political sympathy with the FI as a whole. In order to give expression to this the WP founded a "Committee for the Fourth International" to regroup its international "Third Camp" co-thinkers, including a group of émigré Germans. After WWII Shachtman would attend the Second World Congress of the Fourth International as an observer, only to reject the organization as having "proved incapable of abandoning its role of an utterly ineffectual left wing of Stalinist totalitarianism and counter-revolution."


Independent Socialist League

In 1949, recognizing that it was far too small to properly call itself a party, the WP renamed itself the Independent Socialist League. It was removed from the US
Attorney General's List of Subversive Organizations The United States Attorney General's List of Subversive Organizations (AGLOSO) was a list drawn up on April 3, 1947 at the request of the United States Attorney General (and later Supreme Court justice) Tom C. Clark. The list was intended to be a co ...
after a lengthy court battle, but failed to grow as Irving Howe and others exited the organization to start the political magazine '' Dissent.'' From 1949 the organization published an internal discussion bulletin for its members called ''Forum.'' In 1957, the ISL joined the SP-SDF, dissolving the following year. Some members took staff positions in the
United Auto Workers The International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace, and Agricultural Implement Workers of America, better known as the United Auto Workers (UAW), is an American labor union that represents workers in the United States (including Puerto Rico ...
and/or leading positions in the SP, many of them (including Shachtman) drifting rightward, some to the point where they supported the
Bay of Pigs The Bay of Pigs ( es, Bahía de los Cochinos) is an inlet of the Gulf of Cazones located on the southern coast of Cuba. By 1910, it was included in Santa Clara Province, and then instead to Las Villas Province by 1961, but in 1976, it was reas ...
and the
Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...
. A small group including Hal Draper left the SP milieu to form the Independent Socialist Clubs, which upheld the Third Camp tradition and opposed supporting any candidates of the
Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to: *Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to: Active parties Africa *Botswana Democratic Party *Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea *Gabonese Democratic Party *Demo ...
, instead urging the creation of an independent labor party.


"Third Camp"

From the start, the group distinguished itself from the SWP by advocating a Third Camp perspective. In an article published in April 1940, entitled "The Soviet Union and the World War," Shachtman concluded:
The
revolutionary vanguard Revolutionary Vanguard (in Spanish: ''Vanguardia Revolucionaria'') was a political party in Peru founded in 1965 by various Marxist groups. Leaders included Ricardo Napurí (who created it after participating to the MIRrevolutionary defeatism in both
imperialist Imperialism is the state policy, practice, or advocacy of extending power and dominion, especially by direct territorial acquisition or by gaining political and economic control of other areas, often through employing hard power (economic and ...
camps, that is, the continuation of the revolutionary struggle for power regardless of the effects on the military front. That, and only that, is the central strategy of the third camp in the World War, the camp of
proletarian internationalism Proletarian internationalism, sometimes referred to as international socialism, is the perception of all communist revolutions as being part of a single global class struggle rather than separate localized events. It is based on the theory that ...
, of the socialist revolution, of the struggle for the emancipation of all the oppressed.
The group soon developed an analysis of the
Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
as a
bureaucratic collectivist Bureaucratic collectivism is a theory of class society. It is used by some Trotskyists to describe the nature of the Soviet Union under Joseph Stalin and other similar states in Central and Eastern Europe and elsewhere (such as North Korea). ...
mode of production.Joseph Carter, "Bureaucratic Collectivism," 1941, https://www.marxists.org/history/etol/writers/carter/1941/09/burcoll.htm. It was the first group to use the slogan "Neither
Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered on ...
nor
Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...
," implying that its members actively opposed both
capitalism Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their operation for Profit (economics), profit. Central characteristics of capitalism include capital accumulation, competitive markets, pric ...
and the states allied to the Soviet Union. They opposed both American and Russian
imperialism Imperialism is the state policy, practice, or advocacy of extending power and dominion, especially by direct territorial acquisition or by gaining political and economic control of other areas, often through employing hard power (economic and ...
and saw the "
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 ...
" revolutions in
Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...
, China, and
North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and shares borders with China and Russia to the north, at the Yalu River, Y ...
not as extensions of the
Bolshevik revolution The October Revolution,. officially known as the Great October Socialist Revolution. in the Soviet Union, also known as the Bolshevik Revolution, was a revolution in Russia led by the Bolsheviks, Bolshevik Party of Vladimir Lenin that was ...
of 1917 but of the
Stalinist Stalinism is the means of governing and Marxist-Leninist policies implemented in the Soviet Union from 1927 to 1953 by Joseph Stalin. It included the creation of a one-party totalitarian police state, rapid industrialization, the theory o ...
counterrevolution in the USSR.


Footnotes


Publications

* F. Forest ''Outline of Marx's Capital: volume one''
nited States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
Educational Dept. Workers Party, U.S.A. * C. L. R. Jamesbr>''My friends: a fireside chat on the war ''
(as "Native Son") New York : Workers Party 1940 *''This is not our war!'' New York, N.Y., Workers Party 1940 *''Labor's voice against the war: election platform of the Workers Party.'' New York, N.Y., Workers Party, Local New York, 1940 *''Conscription--for what? : an open letter to the President of the United States.'' New York, N.Y. : Workers Party and the Young Peoples Socialist League, 1940 *Walter Weiss ''How to get jobs for all'' New York : Workers Party Election Campaign Committee, 1940 *''Jim Crow on the run!: Negro bus drivers today, Negroes in the war industries tomorrow.'' New York, N.Y. : Workers Party and the Young Peoples Socialist League, 1941 *Henry Pelham ''On to Washington for Negro rights'' New York, N.Y. : Workers Party, 1941 * Henry Judd ''India in revolt'' New York, N.Y., Workers party 1942 * Ernest Erber ''The role of the party in the fight for socialism'' New York, N.Y., Educational Dept., Workers Party, U.S.A., 1942 *
Max Shachtman Max Shachtman (; September 10, 1904 – November 4, 1972) was an American Marxist theorist. He went from being an associate of Leon Trotsky to a social democrat and mentor of senior assistants to AFL–CIO President George Meany. Beginnings S ...
br>''For a cost-plus wage''
New York; The Workers party 1943 *
Paul Temple Paul Temple is a fictional character created by English writer Francis Durbridge. Temple is a professional author of crime fiction and an amateur private detective. With his wife Louise, affectionately known as 'Steve' in reference to her jo ...
''ABC of Marxism.'' New York City, Workers Party, National Education Dept. 1943 *
J. R. Johnson Charles A. Johnson Jr., known as J.R. Johnson (born June 20, 1979) is a former American football linebacker who played one season in the National Football League (NFL) for the Baltimore Ravens and New Orleans Saints. He was signed as an undrafted ...
''Education, propaganda, agitation: post-war America and Bolshevism. '' New York City, Workers Party, National Education Dept. 1943 *Max Shachtma
''The Struggle for the New Course''
New York: New International Pub. Co. 1943; originally published together with Trotskys ''The New Course'' * Ernest Lundbr>''Plenty for all; the meaning of socialism''
New York, The Workers party, 1943 *''The labor party question; resolutions of 1938 and 1944 on the relationship of the Marxists to the movement for a labor party.'' ew York?National Educational Dept., Workers Party, 1944 * Hal Draperbr>''The truth about Gerald Smith: America's no. 1 fascist''
San Pedro, Calif: Workers Party, Los Angeles Section, 1945 *Max Shachtma
''Socialism: the hope of humanity''
New York: New International Pub. Co. 1945 *''Workers Party election platform, New York City, 1945.'' New York, N.Y. : Issued by Workers Party Campaign Committee, 1945 * David Coolidge ''The New York elections and the fight against Jim Crow'' New York, N.Y. : Issued by Workers Party Campaign Committee, 1945 *''Sing!: labor and socialist songs.'' os Angeles, Calif.Workers Party, Los Angeles Section, 1945 *''Security and a living wage; why workers strike.'' ew York, Workers Party, 1945 *Albert Glotzerbr>''Incentive pay: the speed-up new style''
New York: Workers Party, 1945 (as Albert Gates) *Irving Howe]
''Smash the profiteers: vote for security and a living wage''
New York, N.Y. : Workers Party Campaign Committee, 1946. *Max Shachtma

New International Publishing Co., New York, 1946. *Hal Drape
''Jim Crow in Los Angeles''
Los Angeles: Workers Party, 1946 *Hal Draper ''ABC of Marxism: outline text for class and self study'' Los Angeles: Workers Party, 1946 *''1947 municipal platform'' Chicago : Workers Party Campaign Committee, 1947 *Leon Trotsk
''Marxism in the United States''
(introduction) New York: Workers Party, 1947 (as Albert Gates) *Irving How
''Don't pay more rent!''
Long Island City Long Island City (LIC) is a residential and commercial neighborhood on the extreme western tip of Queens, a borough in New York City. It is bordered by Astoria to the north; the East River to the west; New Calvary Cemetery in Sunnyside to the ...
, N.Y. : Published by Workers Party Publications for the Workers Party of the United States 1947. * Albert Goldmanbr>''The question of unity between the Workers party and the Socialist workers party,''
[Long Island City, Workers party publication, 1947 *''Stop the enemies of the working people: a program for the Detroit elections.'' New York, N.Y. : Workers Party of America, 1947 * Ernest Erber ''The role of the trade unions: their economic role under capitalism'' Long Island City, N.Y. : National Educational Dept., Workers Party, 1947 *Herman W. Benso
''The Communist Party at the crossroads : toward Democratic Socialism or back to Stalinism''
New York, Published for the Independent Socialist League by New International Publishing Co., 1957.
''The case for unity : new perspectives for American socialism : resolution adopted by the July 1957 Convention of the Independent Socialist League''
New York, N.Y. : Independent Socialist League, 1957


Similarly named American parties

*Workers Party of America *American Workers Party *Workers Party of the United States


External links


Complete archive of ''Labor Action'' newspaper at the Marxists Internet Archive
* ttp://www.marxists.org/history/etol/newspape/ni/issue3.htm Complete index and selected articles of ''New International'' during the ISL era at the Marxists Internet Archive {{Authority control Defunct Trotskyist parties in the United States Defunct communist parties in the United States Political parties established in 1940 1940 establishments in the United States Multi-tendency organizations in the United States