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| "The SWP opened its 2026 International Conference here June 11-14 ... SWP National Secretary Jack Barnes, at podium, gave the political report. Seated, from left, are SWP leaders Paul Mailhot, Mary-Alice Waters and Steve Clark." (Photo & caption from The Militant) |
Founded in 1928, The Militant (published by the Socialist Workers Party) has been the unwavering champion of Revolutionary Socialism, standing in the tradition of Marx, Lenin, and above all, Trotsky. Leon Trotsky, aka the Old Man, took a personal interest in the paper and the Party's worker-Bolshevik cadre. Many SWP comrades lived, worked, and/or studied with Trotsky during his exile in Coyoacan, Mexico, including James P. Cannon, Farrell Dobbs, and most prominently, Joseph Hansen.
Party comrades went to jail for their opposition to US involvement in WWII, accused of violating the Smith Act. The convictions were later overturned as the Act was ruled unconstitutional--the first of many civil rights cases where comrades were victorious. The Party played a key role in the 1960s civil rights movement, long championing Malcolm X. The Party-run Pathfinder Press was Malcolm's first publisher.
The SWP reached its height during the Vietnam war, growing to as many as 3000 comrades. It played a key role organizing the antiwar demonstration on April 24th, 1971, the largest ever antiwar demonstration in US history. Together with the 1934 Minneapolis Teamsters' strikes, this was one of only two occasions when the Party exercised political influence well beyond its small size. It is during Vietnam period that the majority of today's comrades were recruited--I also date from that time.
Jack Barnes, who turns 85 this year, has been national secretary (the vaguely Stalinist term for CEO) since 1972. That's 54 years in office--a tenure that's much too long. (There is at least a hint of corruption resulting from such a long tenure.) He and his one-time squeeze, Mary-Alice Waters, were both recruited to the Party in 1960 from Carleton College, where they were members of the Fair Play for Cuba Committee. Defense of the Cuban "Revolution" has been a raison d'être for the movement ever since.
Though things are getting increasingly desperate for that benighted isle. The Militant rises to the "Revolution's" defense with headlines such as Build protests now to defend Cuba’s sovereignty! US hands off Cuba!, authored by Mr. Barnes himself. More pathetic is Join protests, demand: ‘US hands off Cuba!’ The picture shows a dozen or so elderly people forlornly standing up for Castro's kleptocrats.
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| “Hands Off Cuba!” picket at Federal Building in downtown Minneapolis June 3, called by area Cuba Committee. It was one of dozens across the country, worldwide. (Picture & Caption: The Militant) |
The Party's position is that ALL (100%) of Cuba's problems are due to the US blockade. But the blockade is simply the icing on the cake. The country was founded on the principle of stealing from rich people. Not surprisingly, all the rich people left and built prosperous lives for themselves in Miami. Having squandered the wealth of rich people, the Castroites started stealing from the middle class. In particular they reduced skilled professionals to slaves. For example, in terms of purchasing power doctors in Cuba only earn between $15 and $20 per month! (According to ChatGPT)
Needless to say, the middle class has now fled the country--can you blame them? In particular, anybody with the technical skill to maintain the electrical grid is long gone. So no wonder Cuba can't keep the lights on anymore.
As the Castro government cannibalized economic infrastructure (eg, Cuba went from being the world's largest sugar exporter, to--in some years--being a sugar importer) the country depended on handouts. These initially came from the Soviet Union, and then subsequently from fellow kleptocrats in Venezuela--both regimes longstanding enemies of the United States. The Soviets even put nuclear-tipped missiles on the island, aimed at the USA. Apparently the Chinese use Cuba for electronic spying. So no wonder Uncle Sam is kind of pissed, and is finally doing something about the problem.
So Jack and Mary-Alice are getting really old, and the Cuban lodestar is fading fast. There is no younger leadership. Oh, there is, namely the comrades of my generation, who are roughly 10 years younger than the decrepit duo. Whatever--there doesn't appear to be any succession plan, and it's too late for one now anyway.
Marco Rubio memorably describes Cuba this way:
Cuba's in a lot of trouble because, unfortunately for them, it's run by a bunch of incompetent communists. Being a communist is bad. Being an incompetent communist is the worst.
That's a fair appraisal of Cuba--but not so of the SWP. For the Party was at least competent--at least compared to all other Trotskyist grouplets. Their communist doctrine never accurately described the American economy--certainly not post-WWII. Today it's just totally wrong, as I've detailed at length in this blog. So it was never going to become a mass Party with the prospect of taking state power. Most recently they've been pipped by the Democratic Socialists of America--who are campaigning hard on antisemitism.
So today, the biggest accomplishment of the SWP is that they exist--just as the banner says. It appears they will outlive Cuba's kleptocratic "Revolution." Will they survive the passing of Jack Barnes? There are reasons to be skeptical. But I understand (from commenter John B) that they have several million dollars in the bank--so they'll probably soldier on until the money runs out.
The SWP has never had 3000 members. I believe the high point was 1977 or 1978, when it had slightly less than 2000 adherents - around 1600 full members, the rest “provisional” members and members of the youth group who weren’t also in the SWP.
ReplyDeleteAs the Militant article reveals, this year’s Oberlin drew less than 300 attendees, an all-time low. Of these less than 100 are members, the rest members of their foreign affiliates (all of them in Anglo-Saxon countries) or “organized supporters,” mainly elderly ex-members. So they’re not going anywhere.
The SWP has not published an issue of its “theoretical” magazine New International in 20 years. They really no longer have a political program.There’s Cuba, of course, but mostly they just position themselves in knee-jerk opposition to what they call the “Middle-Class Left.” Not a coherent world-view but a series of what Lionel Trilling called “irritable mental gestures.”
Per max size of the Party, my source was ChatGPT (I rely on that a lot these days!). But in this instance I suggest your data is more accurate.
DeleteI did notice the decline in convention attendance, but forgot to mention it in the post. I did update the "Attendance at SWP Annual Conferences" page.
The high point of SWP membership: 1729 full and provisional members as of 11-1-77:
Deletehttps://likembe.net/Documents/SWP-PC/78/78-01-01.pdf
Yes, a sad coda. But, the SWP was already a reformist group and was actually to the right in the anti-Vietnam War movement Their attempts to become the US press agents for the Castro regime marked a clear move away from Trotskyism. Of course, revolutionaries, to this day, defend the Cuban Revolution, and what gains remain. The Revolutionary Tendency emerged as a faction over this issue and ultimately gave birth to the ACFI (Workers League) and the Spartacist League. It in 1963 that the SWP also reunited with the formerly Trotskyist International Secretariat to become the United Secretariat. A heterogeneous international lashup of centrists and reformists that exists in some form, I think, without the SWP.
ReplyDeleteBy the time Joe Hanson died, Barnes decided to clean house of many of the very long-term members such as George Breitman and to declare that the SWP was no longer Trotskyist. It was a vile thing to throw out a number of very dedicated lifers who had been with the party for decades.
Oh, and I think it is worth noting that the current SWP's position on Israel and the middle east is a disgusting travesty. They stand to the right of Trump on Zionism and the SOI.