Joseph Hansen (socialist)
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Joseph Leroy Hansen (June 16, 1910 – January 18, 1979) was an American
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 leading figure in the Socialist Workers Party.


Early life

Joseph Hansen was born on June 16, 1910, in
Richfield, Utah Richfield is a city in and the county seat of Sevier County, Utah, United States, and is the largest city in southern-central Utah. Description As of the 2010 census, the city population was 7,551. It lies in the Mormon Corridor, just off I ...
(162 miles south of
Salt Lake City Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the Capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Utah, most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the county seat, seat of Salt Lake County, Utah, Sal ...
), the oldest of 15 children in a poor working-class family. He was the only one of the children who could attend college. His father, Conrad Johan Zahl Hansen, was a tailor, originally from the island Kvitvær, Lurøy,
Nordland Nordland (; smj, Nordlánnda, sma, Nordlaante, sme, Nordlánda, en, Northland) is a county in Norway in the Northern Norway region, the least populous of all 11 counties, bordering Troms og Finnmark in the north, Trøndelag in the south, N ...
, in northern Norway. His parents had immigrated after they had converted to
Mormonism Mormonism is the religious tradition and theology of the Latter Day Saint movement of Restorationist Christianity started by Joseph Smith in Western New York in the 1820s and 1830s. As a label, Mormonism has been applied to various aspects of t ...
. In school, he read a book on
tariff A tariff is a tax imposed by the government of a country or by a supranational union on imports or exports of goods. Besides being a source of revenue for the government, import duties can also be a form of regulation of foreign trade and poli ...
s by
Daniel De Leon Daniel De Leon (; December 14, 1852 – May 11, 1914), alternatively spelt Daniel de León, was a Curaçaoan-American socialist newspaper editor, politician, Marxist theoretician, and trade union organizer. He is regarded as the forefather o ...
.


Socialism

Hansen was the only member of his LDS family graduating from college. He became politically radicalized in the campus of the University of Utah by his professor of English literature
Earle Birney Earle Alfred Birney (13 May 1904 – 3 September 1995) was a Canadian poet and novelist, who twice won the Governor General's Award, Canada's top literary honour, for his poetry. Life Born in Calgary, Alberta, and raised on a farm in Eri ...
, the follower of Trotsky, when Hansen edited University literary journal. Hansen became a convinced
socialist Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the e ...
and joined the American
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 strongly opposed to James P. Cannon in 1934. In 1936, he became assistant editor of ''Voice of the Federation'', newsletter of West Coast maritime unions. In spite of his opposition to Cannon, Hansen together with his wife Reba was sent to Mexico to help the exiled Russian Communist leader,
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 ...
. Hansen served as Trotsky's secretary, driver and guard from 1937 for the next three years. In 1938 on the request of Trotsky Hansen approached the GPU that he had become disillusioned with the Trotskyist movement and would be willing to sell the only manuscript of Trotsky’s biography of Stalin for $25,000 so that he could buy himself a “nice little ranch” in Utah and retire from politics. The GPU was not interested in the manuscript but was much more interested in the layout of Trotsky’s house in Coyoacan for obvious reasons. Trotsky thought that they at GPU would not need to send other agents if they could have Hansen. But he was wrong. When 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 ...
agent
Ramón Mercader Jaime Ramón Mercader del Río (7 February 1913 – 18 October 1978),Photograph oMercader's Gravestone/ref> more commonly known as Ramón Mercader, was a Spanish communist and NKVD agent, who assassinated Russian Bolshevik revolutionary Leon Tr ...
struck Trotsky in the head with an ice axe (cut down to hammer size), Hansen, together with
Charles Cornell Charles Olney Cornell (1911 – 1989) was an American Communist. Cornell was born on March 14, 1911, in Cochise, Arizona. While a teacher in San Francisco in the 1930s, he became active in the American Trotskyist movement and joined the newly f ...
, prevented the assassin from fleeing, interrogated him, received all necessary confessions. Joe Hansen befriended James Cannon and became his follower and collaborator after Hansen's return to the US. Hansen returned to the United States and started working as a merchant seaman. He wanted to remain a seaman, but the US government prevented from this. At the time, he became editor of the SWP's newspaper ''
The Militant ''The Militant'' is an international socialist newsweekly connected to the Socialist Workers Party (SWP) and the Pathfinder Press. It is published in the United States and distributed in other countries such as Canada, the United Kingdom, Aus ...
'' for a number of years. From 1940 to 1975, Joe Hansen served on the SWP's National Committee. As of October 1948, he was serving as staff writer of ''The Militant'' and editorial board member of the ''Fourth International''. In
1950 Events January * January 1 – The International Police Association (IPA) – the largest police organization in the world – is formed. * January 5 – 1950 Sverdlovsk plane crash, Sverdlovsk plane crash: ''Aeroflot'' Lisunov Li-2 cr ...
(or 1946), he ran on the SWP ticket for US Senator from New York. He helped arrange the reunification of the
International Secretariat of the Fourth International The Fourth International (FI) is a revolutionary socialist international organization consisting of followers of Leon Trotsky, also known as Trotskyists, whose declared goal is the overthrowing of global capitalism and the establishment of wor ...
and the
International Committee of the Fourth International The International Committee of the Fourth International (ICFI) is the name of two Trotskyist internationals; one with sections named Socialist Equality Party which publishes the World Socialist Web Site, and another linked to the Workers Revo ...
into the
United Secretariat of the Fourth International The Fourth International (FI), founded in 1938, is a Trotskyist international. In 1963, following a ten-year schism, the majorities of the two public factions of the Fourth International, the International Secretariat and the International Comm ...
in 1963. He became a leader of the USFI and an editor of the USFI's weekly English-language news service, initially called
World Outlook
and later changed to "
Intercontinental Press ''Intercontinental Press'' (IP) was a weekly news magazine produced on behalf of the Fourth International (FI) between 1963 and 1986. The magazine was founded in Paris as ''World Outlook'' in 1963 under the editorial direction of Joseph Hansen, Pi ...
/
Inprecor ''Inprecor'' is a multilingual monthly Marxist magazine published by the reunified Fourth International. Its name is a contraction of International Press Correspondence and indicates that the magazine translates articles and letters from revo ...
." Hansen strongly supported the
Cuban Revolution The Cuban Revolution ( es, Revolución Cubana) was carried out after the 1952 Cuban coup d'état which placed Fulgencio Batista as head of state and the failed mass strike in opposition that followed. After failing to contest Batista in cou ...
of 1959. In the 1960s, he visited Cuba with
Farrell Dobbs Farrell Dobbs (July 25, 1907 – October 31, 1983) was an American Trotskyist, trade unionist, politician, and historian. Early years Dobbs was born in Queen City, Missouri, where his father was a worker in a coal company garage. The family ...
; both were active in launching of the
Fair Play for Cuba Committee The Fair Play for Cuba Committee (FPCC) was an activist group set up in New York City by Robert Taber in April 1960. History The FPCC's purpose was to provide grassroots support for the Cuban Revolution against attacks by the United States govern ...
(founded 1960). In 1978, he published a book called ''Dynamics of the Cuban Revolution. A Marxist Appreciation''.


Personal life and death

Hansen married Reba Hansen, also a close collaborator, who remained in the Socialist Workers Party until she died in 1990. Joseph Hansen died age 68 on January 18, 1979, from infectious complications in New York City.


Works

*''Father Coughlin: fascist demagogue'' New York : Pioneer Publishers, 1939 *''Wall Street's war, not ours!'' ew York: Pioneer Publishers for the Socialist Workers Party, 1940 * ''American Workers Need a Labor Party'' (1944) * ''The Socialist Workers Party: what it is, what it stands for'' (1948)
''Too many babies? a Marxist answer to some frightening questions ... ''
New York : Pioneer Publishers, 1960
''The truth about Cuba''
New York, Pioneer Publishers, 1960
''In defense of the Cuban revolution: an answer to the State Department and Theodore Draper.''
New York, Pioneer Publishers, 1961
''The theory of the Cuban Revolution''
ew York: Pioneer Publishers for the Socialist Workers Party, 1962
''Trotskyism and the Cuban revolution: an answer to Hoy''
New York: Pioneer Publishers, 1962
''Khrushchev's downfall. A statement by the United Secretariat of the Fourth International; New Deepening of the Sino-Soviet Rift?''
New York : Pioneer Publishers, 1964 *''Healy "reconstructs" the Fourth International documents and comments by participants in fiasco'' (preface) New York: Socialist Workers Party 1966 *''The catastrophe in Indonesia; three articles on the fatal consequences of Communist party policy.'' (introduction) New York: Merit Publishers 1966 *''Behind China's great cultural revolution'' by Shu-tse Peng (contributor) New York: Merit Publishers 1967 *''The Nature of the Cuban revolution: record of a controversy, 1960-1963'' New York: National Education Dept., Socialist Workers Party 1968 *''Leon Trotsky: the man and his work. Reminiscences and appraisals,'' (contributor) New York: Merit Publishers 1969 *''The population explosion: how socialists view it '' New York: Pathfinder Press, 1970 (revised edition of'' Too many babies'') *''The Abern clique'' New York: National Education Dept., Socialist Workers Party 1972 *''Nixon's Moscow and Peking Summits: their meaning for Vietnam'' (with Caroline Lund) New York: Pathfinder Press, 1972 *''A Revolutionary strategy for the 70s; documents of the Socialist Workers Party.'' (contributor) New York: Pathfinder Press, 1972 *''The workers and farmers government'' New York: National Education Dept., Socialist Workers Party 1974 *''Marxism vs. ultraleftism: the record of Healy's break with Trotskyism'' by Ernest Germain (introduction) New York: National Education Dept., Socialist Workers Party 1974 *''Healy's big lie: the slander campaign against Joseph Hansen, George Novack, and the Fourth International: statements and articles'' National Education Dept., Socialist Workers Party 1976 *''What is American fascism?: writings on Father Coughlin, Mayor Frank Hague, and Senator Joseph McCarthy'' (with James Cannon) National Education Dept., Socialist Workers Party 1976 *''Dynamics of the Cuban revolution: the Trotskyist view'' New York: Pathfinder Press, 1978 *''The Leninist strategy of party building: the debate on guerrilla warfare in Latin America'' New York: Pathfinder Press, 1979


References


External links


Joseph Hansen Archive
at marxists.org.

by Joseph Hansen. ''International Socialist Review'' January 1965.

at the ''Lubitz TrotskyanaNet''. * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hansen, Joseph 1910 births 1979 deaths People from Richfield, Utah American people of Norwegian descent Members of the Communist League of America Members of the Workers Party of the United States Members of the Socialist Party of America Members of the Socialist Workers Party (United States) Marxist journalists