The Founding of the Socialist Workers Party

Copyright 1982 by Pathfinder Press

Contents

Preface 17

Part 1: Introductions, now and then

Answers to questions 24
by George Breitman
Reminiscences and impressions by a then young delegate
to the first and second conventions of the SWP.
The convention of the new party 53
by the editors of the New International
A preconvention appraisal of the road to the SWP
founding convention by leaders of the expelled Socialist
Party left wing.
The new party is founded 64
by James P. Cannon
A public postconvention report of the founding convention
by the SWPs newly elected national secretary.
A letter to the International Secretariat 75
by James P. Cannon
A confidential report of the founding convention written for
leaders of the Movement for the Fourth International.
Part 2: minutes, First National Convention
of the Socialist Workers Party
(Chicago, December 31, 1937January 3, 1938)
Minutes 86

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 The Founding of the Socialist Workers Party
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Attachments:
Delegate list 126
Used by Credentials Committee.
Report of Trade Union Commission 132
Reporter Farrell Dobbs.
Report of Unemployment Commission 135
Reporter Art Preis.
Statements 141
by Carl Pemble, St. Paul; Melos Most, Chicago; Emil
Revyuk, Chicago and Paul Zimmerman, Louisville.

Part 3:Chicago convention resolutions

The political situation and the tasks of the party 146
The crisis of world capitalism; the drive toward World
War II; the role of U.S. imperialism at home and abroad;
SWP perspectives in the coming war; political possibilities
in the U.S.; the labor party question; opponent political
tendencies; the pressures of petty-bourgeois ideology;
proletarianizing the party.
The trade union movement and the
Socialist Workers Party 167
The enormous growth of unionism; industrial unionism
and the CIO; craft unionism and the AFL; new forms
and channels of struggle; trade union unification; class
collaboration and bureaucratism; the possibility of blocs
with other tendencies; reorienting our party and the
bulk of its work; a responsible approach to strikes; for a
nationally connected left-wing movement based on the
class struggle; a general left-wing platform.
Resolution on the Soviet Union 193
Twenty years after the Russian revolution; the cycle of
bureaucratic degeneration; Leninism vs. Stalinism; a
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 The Founding of the Socialist Workers Party
Copyright 1982 by Pathfinder Press

historical summary; the international character of the

revolution; the present class character and contradictions of
the Soviet state; political change and economic structure;
the need to defend the USSR against imperialist attack;
the need for political revolution to oust Stalinism and
establish proletarian democracy.
Amendment to resolution on the Soviet Union 211
An amendment by James Burnham and Joseph Carter
holding that the Soviet Union cannot be considered a
workers state in any sense but advocating its defense
against any and all imperialist powers as long as its
nationalized economic structure remained unchanged.
Resolution on the Russian question 218
A document by Martin Glee and twenty-one other members
presenting the view that no state, including the Russian,
can be called a workers state in the absence of workers
democratic control of the means of production.
Resolution on Spain 221
A crucial phase in the civil war; the Barcelona events,
May 1937; a decisive test for every tendencyStalinists,
right-wing Socialists, left-wing Socialists, anarchists
and anarcho-syndicalists, the POUM, the Bolshevik-
Leninists, and the Friends of Durruti; the fall of the
Caballero government; the rightward course of the Negrn
government; growing influence of interimperialist rivalry;
the progressive nature of the military struggle against
Franco; for technical and military aid to the Loyalist
government without the slightest political confidence
or support; the difference between material support and
political support.
The internal situation and the character of the party 238
The need for party democracy and party discipline;
the Leninist principle of democratic centralism; rights
and duties of members and of leaders; continuity of

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 The Founding of the Socialist Workers Party
Copyright 1982 by Pathfinder Press

leadership and renewal of leadership; the criteria for

membership; the rights of minorities and the rule of
the majority.
The internal situation and the task of the party 244
A minority resolution by James Burnham, Joseph Carter,
and Hal Draper. The strengths and weaknesses of the
new party; proletarianization and recruitment; greater
attention to concrete and specific issues; systematic
departmentalization of activities; the Joerger and Glee
groups; democratic centralism; potential sources of
bureaucratism; mere advocacy of Soviet defeatism is not
incompatible with membership.
The present war in the Far East
and the tasks of the party 253
Japans war against China is an imperialist war, Chinas
against Japan is a war for national liberation; the role of
the Chinese bourgeoisie and the Kuomintang; Stalinist
and Bolshevik-Leninist policies in China; U.S. imperialism
seeks domination of the Pacific; the campaign for a
consumers boycott of Japanese goods; how American
workers and revolutionists can aid China.
Constitution of the Socialist Workers Party 261
Thirteen articles defining and guiding rules, relations,
and functioning of the new party.
Declaration of principles 269
Part I: The decline of capitalism; wars and revolutions;
fascism; the position of the United States; the only
road; the role of the working class; the capitalist state;
the conquest of power; the workers state; the socialist
society. Part II: The revolutionary party; the Second
International; the Third International; centrist parties
and groupings; the new International; parties in the
United States: 1) the Socialist Party, 2) the Communist
Party, 3) labor and farmer-labor parties; the SWP. Part

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 The Founding of the Socialist Workers Party
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III: The aim of the SWP; the trade unions; the middle
classes; Negroes and other oppressed racial groups; the
unemployed; the youth; the struggle against imperialist
war; colonial peoples; the defense of the Soviet Union;
coalition governments; democracy and fascism; the
Peoples Front; the united front.

Part 4: minutes, SWP National

Committee plenum
(New York, April 2225, 1938)
Minutes 316

Documents:
On the Ludlow Amendment 342
by the SWP National Committee
Why the SWP is changing its position to favor a national
referendum on war and to participate in the movement
supporting this.
The decline of American capitalism and the
revolutionary transitional program
for the next period 344
by the SWP Political Committee
An American adaptation of the international Transitional
Program approved by the April 1938 plenum.
The problem of the labor party 356
by the SWP National Committee majority
Reasons why the SWP should now advocate the formation
of an independent labor party in this country.
Minority resolution on the labor party 362
by Hal Draper for the SWP
National Committee minority
Reasons why the SWP should continue to oppose the
formation of labor parties, as it did at its founding
convention.
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 The Founding of the Socialist Workers Party
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Theses on the Jewish question 376

adopted by the SWP Political Committee
A class-struggle approach; democracy and assimilation;
a bridge from Jewish nationalism to class struggle; for
unrestricted immigration; the Jewish bourgeoisie; Stalinism;
other minorities and the workers; the Transitional Program;
the Jewish youth; a program of action.
Let refugees into United States! Open the doors
to victims of Hitlers Nazi terror! 386
by the SWP National Committee
A call for action against the mass pogroms unleashed in
Germany on Kristallnacht (November 10, 1938).

Part 5: minutes, SWP National

Committee plenum
(New York, November 1920, 1938)
Minutes 392

Documents:
Trade union resolution 413
A trend to labor unity; we remain pro-CIO; labor party
and transitional demands in the unions; the Lewis-Stalinist
bloc; blocs with non-Stalinist elements; syndicalist and
anti-politics tendencies; modest progress since our
convention; national fractions being formed; trade union
department needs strengthening.
Report on amendments to resolutions
acted upon by party referendum 420
How to dispose of amendments that were not clearly
provided for or given a clear structure.
Resolution on twice-weekly Socialist Appeal 423
A decision to expand the SWP newspapers publication
from once to twice per week.

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 The Founding of the Socialist Workers Party
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Resolution on organization of party work 426

Toward systematic and planned activity organized on
the Bolshevik campaign principle: popularizing the
Transitional Program, exposing the role of Stalinism,
increasing and strengthening the SWPs professional
staff, more and better direction of work in the unions;
financial stabilization of the party press.
Resolution on world conference of
Fourth International 430
Endorsing the founding conference of the Fourth
International and its resolutions and pledging continued
support to its work.
Resolution on the youth 433
Why a separate youth organization is needed; it must be
an auxiliary of the party, politically subordinated while
retaining organizational autonomy within its sphere of
work; in the past year some non-Bolshevik habits and
methods have appeared in the YPSL: a budding youth
vanguardism, an unhealthy atmosphere around the
labor party discussion, notions of the YPSL as a youth
party for younger workers alongside the SWP as a party
for adult workers, cynicism and pseudo-intellectualism;
YPSL morale has been affected by lack of progress in
last year; on uniforms, salutes, banners, emblems, etc.;
educational functions; twenty-one should be the upper
age of membership.
Resolution on the SWP and the youth 442
A minority resolution by Joseph Carter presenting a
more favorable balance sheet of YPSL activities in the
last year; the cause of vanguardism and youth party
conceptions; a better division of labor is needed between
the SWP and the YPSL; the YPSL should work among
youth fourteen to eighteen years old and the SWP should
work among the more mature youth.

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 The Founding of the Socialist Workers Party
Copyright 1982 by Pathfinder Press

Resolution on defense work 446

A decision to broaden the American Fund for Political
Prisoners and Refugees and turn it into a mass membership
organization with local branches to handle labor defense
and relief cases supported by the SWP.
Unemployed resolution 448
A decision to support progressive elements expelled or
breaking away from the Workers Alliance of America and
establishing independent unemployed organizations.
Yankee imperialism at Lima 451
A manifesto of the Socialist Workers Party. The
Lima conference as the first act of the U.S. imperialist
counteroffensive against Germany and Japan; what Wall
Street means by defense of the Western Hemisphere;
totalitarian objectives in Latin America; what they
mean by democracy; reactionary dictators backed by
Washington; how to fight fascism in Latin America;
tasks of the Bolshevik-Leninists.

Part 6:Second National Convention

of the Socialist Workers Party
(New York, July 15, 1939)
Minutes 466

Attachments:
Information about the delegates 507
A partial list of delegates names 509

Part 7:New York convention resolutions

Political resolution 512
The U.S. course toward war; from New Deal to War Deal;
U.S. capitalists aim at world hegemony; attacks on labor
and the unemployed; the partys main task; parts of the
war machine; slogans we advance; Latin American tasks;

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 The Founding of the Socialist Workers Party
Copyright 1982 by Pathfinder Press

social convulsions ahead; if war is delayed; the fight for

jobs; boldness with the Transitional Program, a method
to link the party with mass struggles; more attention to
the CP; growth of fascist groups; workers defense guards
more urgent; labor party relevance; possibilities of party
growth; recruiting; the campaign principle.
Resolution on workers defense guard 526
Changes in the fascist movements; we must start building
the guard now; comparison with picket squads; wherever
possible, through the unions; antifascist labor squads:
skeletons or embryos; broadest possible united fronts; a
political weapon too.
The right of self-determination and the Negro
in the United States of North America 533
Ten percent of the population; discrimination and
exploitation; a lack of historical imagination; why the
demand for a Black state is possible; the Garvey movement;
what can happen in a revolutionary crisis; practice will
solve the national minority question; if the masses favor a
separate state, the SWP will support it fully; a Black state
as a stage toward unity; the right of self-determination
and the slogan of self-determination; Blacks have not
decided yet; the duty of Black SWP members.
The SWP and Negro work 539
Potentially the most revolutionary element; crucial
for the partys development; a national department to
initiate and coordinate; obstacles to winning the masses;
the capitalist parties; degeneration of the CP; a desire for
action not controlled by whites; Black chauvinism and
white chauvinism; nationalist tendencies fortified; for
an independent Black mass organization.
Resolution on organization of the unemployed 544
by E.R. McKinney
SWP should modify its orientation toward a new national

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