Correcting the Record, Part II
A Response to Peter Diamondstone
Regarding: Socialist Party USA
David McRetbikds
2009 July 19
Edited by Michael C. Marino to incorporate corrections and additional detail supplied by Rick Kissell and David McReynolds
What is at stake - fragile though the SP is - is the issue of what, in fact, we are. There are now several people in the SP who are Trotskyists and more than one insist that the SP is a revolutionary party and all social democrats should leave. I don't think of myself as a social democrat, but this effort to purge and purify is something relatively new, and certainly the involvement of Leninists is very new. For better or worse, the revived SP in 1973 was an effort to recreate the SP prior to the take-over by the Shachtman group. And, again, for better or worse, that SP historically held a range of views that tried to co-exist. Maybe this is impossible. I do wonder why, when there are such a vast range of Trotskyist and Leninist groups out there, that anyone who held those views would choose the SP!
This really becomes very difficult, because Peter has gotten his years mixed up (it can happen to any of us). The Social Democratic Federation rejoined the Socialist Party in 1957, after a referendum of the SP membership ratified the reunion. I believe the first convention of the two groups after they had merged was in 1957, and it was then called the Socialist Party-Social Democratic Federation. The ISL came into the SP in 1958.
The forces which worked together to bring Shachtman into the SP included those who came from the Social Democratic Federation and had no hard feelings about the Trotskyists, because the whole Trotskyist split from the SP came in 1937, and the SDF had already left, a year earlier. Also pushing for the admission of Shachtman were the centrists in the Socialist Party, led by Irwin Suall, then the SP's national secretary.
Some of us in the left wing - very much including me (but not Maggie Phair or Bill Briggs) believed Shachtman was no longer a Leninist, but a democratic socialist, and that upon his entry he would help bring in a whole range of others - the Gates group that had left the CP, the group around Bert Cochran and the American Socialist, the Jewish Bund, and all the random "new left" folks emerging in the late 50's and early 60's as the Civil Rights movement shook the old American politics to its foundations. I think it safe to say that Shachtman would not have made it into the SP without the work I did on this. And I'd add that I was less concerned with Max's authentic shift to democratic socialism (Max never understood democracy) but the fact he would help "open" the SP to a range on the left.
The SDF folks agreed with Max - that here was a hope of reviving the broad, vital Socialist Party of the earlier part of the century. Both Shachtman and I approached Thomas, separately.
I tried, and failed, to interest Bayard Rustin and A.J. Muste in the hopes of this new, broader party.
Peter refers to conversations he had with Norman Thomas as if Norman's decision happened in the early 1960's. No, it had already happened. I remember Norman's words, as Irwin Suall and I met in his office, "They can all come in, but not Harrington or Denitch, because they lied to me". Norman didn't initiate the entrance of Shachtman but agreed to it - willing to see his own name and that of the SP used to help build a new left.
One reason I ran for Congress in 1958 (and failed to get on the ballot - it was a write-in campaign) was that I hoped that campaign would dampen some of the extreme bitterness in the NYC SP over our fight to bring the ISL in. It didn't help - the Party's old guard never forgave me for bringing Shachtman in, and Shachtman's people very soon began their drift to the far right (and made a sad and foolish effort to win over the SP's old guard).
Peter Diamondstone asks Steve Rossingnol for his help - Steve can give it, but the facts above can also be found in any standard history of that period, check google or Wikipedia.
Marc Luzittei, of the Florida SP, is an eager young comrade who has moved in his political beliefs from Trotsky to something perhaps approaching "post-RCP". Certainly his politics are interesting to follow, as he is evolving. However he simply cannot act as the authority who can certify when Shachtman ceased to be a Trotskyist. We might agree (though I don't think Marc would) that there are many "children of Trotsky" loose in the land, and that their politics range from perfectly decent democratic socialists, to neo cons. It is quite impossible for Marc, a relative youngster in this situation, who wasn't even alive when Shachtman came into the Socialist Party, to define at what mysterious point Shachtman ceased to be a Trotskyist.
The tragedy in all of this is that we failed history. Shachtman, once in the SP, closed the door behind him. Irwin Suall and I did meet with John Gates and others who had left the CP, but failed to bring them in. The Jewish Bund wavered about joining – Shachtman helped block their coming in. And by this time Max Shachtman began what I still consider his incredible journey to the far right, to support of the Bay of Pigs, of the war in Vietnam, to support of the State of Israel. Why he took that move I have never understood. A.J. Muste and Norman Thomas were, in their late years, moving left. I like to think that I remain on the left.
But the Socialist Party has lost its glory after the three way split of 1972. The one thing which has to be said, categorically, is that Peter Diamondstone is absolutely wrong in thinking that the "revived" Socialist Party of 1973 was "revolutionary". It was not, It was what the SP had pretty much always been - open to a wide range of views. Key to the re-organization of the SP were not the "revolutionists" (not even sure who they were) but Frank Zeidler, Brahm Bassford, Darlington Hoopes Jr. I was very skeptical about the re-organized party, and wrote a piece for Hammer and Tongs saying "The Party's Over", trying to get the members not to have illusions that in 1973 we could somehow recreate the magic and power of the genuine Socialist Party from 1900 to 1940. Our National Secretary early in those days was Steve Rossignol; later followed by the late Ann Rosenhaft, who was certainly a socialist, and a very good one. Steve knew her, as did Greg. But to think of Ann as a "revolutionist" in the sense Marc is using that term is a travesty.
[List of prior Secretaries of SPUSA provided by Rick Kisséll:Abraham Bassford IV; William Osborne “Bill” Hart; Steve Rossignol; Lee Webster; Tom Spiro; Rick Kissell; Don Doumakes; Ann Rosenhaft.]
Now let's get back to whatever our real work is - in the community.
from Peter D.
My memory is that Thomas' decision to allow the Shactman group into SP happened in the early 1960s. That belief is based on conversations I had with Thomas who was a neighbor and family friend.
Maybe Steve R can help with the date Thomas opened the door.
Peter
-----
Original Message -----
From: "darius engel"
<dariusengel@hotmail.com>
Sent:
Sunday, July 19, 2009 12:24:57 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern
I
see marc, very hard to wrap my head around all that splitting and
reforming :P
Date:
Sun, 19 Jul 2009 11:52:55 -0400
From:
chegitz@gmail.com
Darius,
David is referring to the
Schachtmanites, who merged with the party in the late 50s. At one
time, they were Trotskyists, but by the point at which Schachtman had
SP supporting the Vietnam War, it was clear neither he nor his
followers were still Trotskyist.
In fact, those who still were
actual Trotskyists followed Hal Draper out of the Socialist Party and
founded the Independent Socialist Club, which later became the
International Socialists, which later split into the ISO and IS, with
the later eventually founding Solidarity when they merged with
Socialist United, a split from Socialist Action, which was a
split/expulsion from the Socialist Workers Party, which itself had
been thrown out of the Socialist Party. Got it?
So, David is
being disingenuous by saying that the "Trotskyists did it"
when, in fact, the *EX*-Trotskyists did it.
your
comrade,
chegitz guevara
Bolshveik Beach Bum
P.S. One
irony is that if the SPUSA can be said to have an "official"
line (which it doesn't) it is "Draperism."