Marxist Writers: Felix Morrow

 

Marxists’ Internet Archive

Felix Morrow

(1906–1988)

Felix Morrow, James Cannon, Max Shachtman, George Clarke, James Burnham, Nathan Gould, Martin Abern

 


Biography

Felix Morrow was for many years a leading figure figure in American Trotskyism, best known for his classic Revolution and Counter-Revolution In Spain. He joined the Communist League of America in 1933 and after Max Shachtman’s minority split in 1940, served as editor of the Socialist Workers Party’s paper, the Militant, and its theoretical journal, Fourth International. He was one of 18 SWP leaders imprisoned under the Smith Act during the Second World War. In 1943 he formed a faction with Albert Goldman which challenged the SWP’s ‘orthodox’ catastrophic perspective. In one of the most instructive factional struggles in the history of the Trotskyist movement, Morrow and Goldman projected the likelihood of a prolonged period of bourgeois democracy in western Europe and emphasised the need for democratic and transitional demands against the maximalism advocated by the majority. Although he was expelled from the SWP in 1946 for ‘unauthorised collaboration’ with Shachtman’s Workers Party, he did not join Shachtman, and drifted out of politics.

 

Works:

Religion — Its social roots and role, 1932

The Bonus March, 1932

A Critical Analysis of the American Workers Party, May/June 1934 (series)

Soule’s Revolution, August 1934 (book review)

Declining America, November 1934 (book review)

God and Society, January 1935 (book review)

Letter to Socialist Party about Non-Partisan Labor Defense, March 1935 (letter)

The Spirit of the US Constitution, February 1936

For a Socialist Policy on Palestine, March 1936

Malcolm Cowley – Portrait of a Stalinist Intellectual, April 1936

The Civil War in Spain: Toward Socialism or Fascism? September 1936

How the Workers Can Win in Spain, October 1936

Proposed Solutions to the Spanish Crisis, January 1937

Spain’s Unions Join Pact Against Stalinist Repression, August 1937

Spanish Anti-Fascist Movement Slandered by Church Hierarchy, September 1937

Anglo-French Aid to Spanish Loyalists Is a Fraud and Deception, October 1937

Britain Takes Steps to ‘Solve’ Spanish Crisis by Recognizing Franco, November 1937

Revolution and Counter Revolution in Spain, 1938

Anarchism in Spain, January 1938 (book review)

The War in Spain, February 1938 (book review)

Labor in Northwest Rallies to Local 544 in Court Defy, August 1938

Munich Plan for Spain, October 1938

How Shall We Fight Anti-Semitism? December 1938 (series)

Barcelona Workers Face Supreme Test, January 1939

Roosevelt Condemns Jews to Be Permanent Pariahs, January 1939

All Races, Creeds Join Picket Line, February 1939

Barcelona and France’s Future, February 1939

British Officials Prepare to Dash Zionist Hopes, February 1939

Why the Defeats in Spain?, February 1939

British Overlords Sole Gainers in Palestine Conference Plan, March 1939

Fight Repressions in Spain, March 1939

The GPU Orders a Novel, March 1939 (book review)

The Only Way to Fight Against Fascism Is to Organize Workers’ Defense Guards, March 1939

Spanish C.P. Leaders Seek Peace with Madrid Junta, March 1939

‘The Way to Fight Against Fascism Is to Lie Down and Make Believe You Are Dead’, March 1939

Comrade Cross Invents a Problem (excerpt) A Reply to The Relationship Between Free Speech and the Proletarian Revolution

Alibis Don’t Help Liars, April 1939

Courts Invent Means to Break Strikes When Employers Cannot, April 1939

Federal Criminal Syndicalism Law Would Foist Military Rule on Labor, April 1939

C.P. Paint Brush Will Not Hide the Truth on Spain’s Betrayal, May 1939

New Hearings in Ludlow Referendum, May 1939

The New Leader, May Day and War, May 1939

War-Mad Liberal, May 1939 (book review)

Zionist Policy Played into Hands of Great Britain, May 1939

Empty Seats Greet Del Vayo’s ‘Explanation’ of Spanish Defeat, June 1939

Appeal Readers Can Help Us Build the Party, August 1939

ALP Takes Pro-War Line Under Cover of Attack on Stalinism, October 1939

An Answer to the Latest Hue and Cry Against the Marxist Position on the War, October 1939

Can One Justify the ALP War Position?, October 1939

The Socialist Party and Its Lovestone Allies Continue to Cover Up the ALP’s War Position, October 1939

The Socialist Party Meets the Problem of the ALP’s War-Mongering by – Saying Nothing, October 1939

War Cliques Split New York Labor Party, October 1939

Can Workers Accept Molotoff’s Explanation?, November 1939

Rumblings of Revolt Shake War Camps, November 1939

Stalin’s Fake ‘Left Turn’ Masks Reactionary Foreign Policy, November 1939

They Alibi for Social Patriots; Insult Leninists, November 1939

Thomas-Lovestone Groups Yield to the Pressure of “Democratic” Imperialists, November 1939

Lest We Forget the Lessons of Loyalist Spain, December 1939

Socialist Call Mobilizes World for Finland, December 1939

Conscription, Circa 1940 (PDF of original pamphlet)

The Call and Some of Its Friends on Finland, January 1940

Illinois Socialists Condemn Jingo Attacks on USSR, January 1940

Lovestone Shows Norman Thomas How to Do It, January 1940

A ‘Marxist’ Alibi for the Jingoes on Finland, January 1940

An Exchange with Lovestone on Finland, February 1940

The A.L.P. Fight – Stalinists Won a Hollow Victory, March 1940

How Stalin Serves Hitler, March 1940

How Stalin Serves Hitler – How Lenin Negotiated a Treaty, March 1940

Molotov Speech Shows Kremlin Seeks to Regain Middle Ground, April 1940

Stalin Moves into Baltic, June 1940

Communist Int’l Preparing to Abandon “Anti”-War Policy, July 1940

Democrats Offer Us Four More Years of Crisis, Unemployment, July 1940

Sidney Hook – Recruiting Sergeant, July 1940

Social Democrats Try Hard to Blur Lesson of France, July 1940

What Really Happened in France?, July 1940

Labor’s Answer to Conscription (extract), August 1940

CIO Opens Road to Militant Struggle, November 1940

Highlights of the C.I.O. Convention, November 1940

Progressive Stand of the CIO Convention, December 1940

The “Socialist” Critics of the CIO, December 1940

Congress Planning Anti-Strike Laws, January 1941

Lenin’s “Secret” Weapon, January 1941

Hitler’s “New Order” Doesn’t Work, March 1941

So This Is John L. Lewis’ Program for This Epoch of War and Fascism! May 1941

The Stalinist Policy in the Trade Unions, May 1941

Finland’s “Socialists” Now Serve Hitler, July 1941

Stalin’s Speech – Every Word Was Alien to the Leninist Program, July 1941

The Federal Prosecution of the Socialist Workers Party, August 1941

Biddle Finally Chooses Basis for Frameup, September 1941

Why Churchill Doesn’t Open a Western Front, September 1941

Churchill ‘Satisfied’ with Red Army Showing, October 1941

Cannon Answers ‘Sedition’ Charges, November 1941

The Defense Reviews Its Case, November 1941

Albert Goldman, Labor Defender, December 1941

The Minneapolis ‘Sedition’ Trial, January 1942

Effects of Monopoly on War Production, February 1942

Lenin’s Teachings on National Wars: An Answer to the Latest Stalinist Forgeries, April 1942

Inflation, May 1942

Burnham’s Role, Shachtman’s Apology, May 1942

Stalin Blames the German Proletariat, June 1942

China in the War, August 1942

Petty-Bourgeois Radicalism on the Struggle in India, September 1942

The Truth About the Cripps Mission, September 1942

The Apology of Shachtman, November 1942

The National Question in Europe: Our Differences with the Three Theses, December 1942

The Class Meaning of the Soviet Victories, March 1943

Wendell Willkie’s Program, May 1943

Washington’s Plans for Italy, June 1943

Roosevelt and Labor after the Third Coal Strike, July 1943

The CIO Answer to the Anti-Labor Drive, August 1943

Italy: The First Phase of the Revolution, August 1943

The Italian Revolution, September 1943

The First Phase of the Coming European Revolution, December 1943

Introduction to Albert Goldman’s In Defense of Socialism, 1944

Speech at New York Rally for Released Minneapolis Prisoners, February 1945

A Balance Sheet of the Discussion on Europe, March 1945

Marc Dauber (obituary), April 1945

What Was Roosevelt’s Real Role?, April–May 1945

  1. A Marxist Evaluation
     
  2. Did Roosevelt Curb Monopolists?
     
  3. Did Roosevelt Solve the Agricultural Crisis in America?
     
  4. What Did Roosevelt Do for Labor?
     
  5. Outcome of Roosevelt’s New Deal

The Political Position of the Minority in the SWP, May 1945

Allied Powers Divide Germany in 4 Spheres, June 1945

Big Three Differences in Germany, June 1945

British Renew Fraudulent Offer Rejected by India Three Years Ago, June 1945

Stalinists Paving Way for New Shift in Line, June 1945

Stalinists Make Official Change in Their Policy, June 1945

European Perspectives and Policy, July 1945

Was the German Working Class Responsible for Nazism?, July 1945

Some Arguments Heard Against the Slogan of the Republic in Italy, 30 July 1945

The Unity Question in the Socialist Workers Party, August 1945 (with Albert Goldman & R. Williams)

On the Tempo in Europe: To All Sections of the Fourth International, November 1945

What Should Be the Party’s Attitude Toward he UAW Arbitration Proposal of November 19, November 1945

Letter to Workers Party on Unity, November 1945

The Answer of the SWP Minority to the Letter from the PCR of Belgium (with Albert Goldman), 20 December 1945

Tactical Problems of the European Movement, January 1946

The Infantile Sickness of the European Secretariat, February 1946

Brass Hats Scheme to Keep Control of Atomic Energy, March 1946

Anglo-American Imperialists Haggle over Crumbs for Starving Millions, March 1946

Imperialist-Controlled Agencies Haggle as Starvation Spreads, March 1946

International Report – Minority Report to Plenum, May 1946

Bolshevik Politics versus Neo-Economism, October 1946

Resolution on the Russian Question, October 1946

Why Cannon Expelled SWP Minority Leaders, November 1946

 


Last updated: 26 February 2023