The Socialist Union of America

From Towards a History of the Fourth International, Part 4, vol. 4: Struggle in the Fourth International: International Secretariat Documents, 1951-1954, Volume 4 of 4 volumes (Education for Socialists, Socialist Workers Party, New York, March 1974), pp. 172. Reproduced with the permission of Pathfinder Press. Scan: Encyclopedia of Trotskyism On-Line.

["They Desert, We Go Forward," by Michel Pablo, "An Attempt at an Anti-Trotskyist Atlantic Pact," by Ernest Germain, and "Against the Treachery of the Cannonites," by the Bureau of the International Secretariat, were translated from the December 1953 issue of La Verite des Travailleurs, the publication of the pro-Pablo wing of the French Trotskyists. An article hailing the formation of the Cochran-Clarke-Bartellite American Socialist Union was translated from the Janurary-February 1954 issue of Quatrieme Internationale, which was then published by the International Secretariat.]

[p. 172]

The Trotskyist minority that was bureaucratically expelled by the majority of the leadership of the SWP, a minority that includes the better part of the working-class membership of that organization, has formed the Socialist Union of America, 863 Broadway, New York City.

It has already held its first regional conference in Detroit, which was a great success. Seventy-five delegates were present, all working-class cadres from the automobile and steel industries. A fund-raising campaign for $5,500 has already achieved marked success.

In addition, it has begun to publish a monthly journal, The American Socialist, which seeks to put forward — in a lively and educational format and without making unwarranted concessions to vulgarization — revolutionary Marxist politics in a way particularly suited to current conditions in America. Judging from the first issues that have come out — which are put together very well, both technically and from the point of view of the contents — this ought to facilitate the evolution toward revolutionary Marxism on the part of the broader layers of advanced workers. From these first issues of The American Socialist — which we salute — we draw attention to several articles and studies on the present conditions and perspectives of the American workers movement, the danger of McCarthyism, the situation in the USSR, etc.

Living Trotskyism carries on with increased vigor in the United States.