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From Labor Action, Vol. 10 No. 23, 10 June 1946, p. 1.
Transcribed & marked up by Einde O’Callaghan for ETOL.
Labor Action is proud to welcome the comrades of the SWP Minority into the Workers Party. For us this is an event of signal importance that will have far-reaching consequences in building the revolutionary socialist movement in the United States.
It is not merely a matter of numbers, though the group that has joined the Workers Party is a large one. We think the significance of the action of these comrades far transcends the size of their group. For as a demonstration for the unity of the Trotskyist movement it is at the same time a demonstration for the principles and concepts of revolutionary party organization in the tradition of our great organizers and teachers, Lenin and Trotsky.
For that, the concept of the party, is the real issue. It is the unique quality of the Workers Party that it bases itself on those principles of democratic centralism that were woven into the texture of the revolutionary socialist movement under Lenin, before Stalin tore it to shreds with bureaucratism and monolithism.
Acting upon the initiative of the Minority in the SWP, the Workers Party took a clear and unambiguous stand for unity, holding that differences in views were permissible in one party, given common agreement on the basic Marxian principles of revolutionary organization and politics.
In its internal life, the Workers Party has demonstrated that this is the concept by which it operates, as friends of the Workers Party who follow its discussions know. The result has been that, within the framework of democratic centralism and in an atmosphere of free interchange of opinion on matters of policy and organization, the Workers Party has been able to make significant contributions to Marxist thought and policy, notably in the development of the party’s view of Russia as a bureaucratic collectivist state, on the relation between democratic demands and socialist struggle in Europe and on the use of transitional demands in the workers’ struggle in the United States.
The militants who have now joined the Workers Party did so because they shared that concept of the party with us. For that, in essence, is the meaning of their campaign for unity – just as the rejection of unity by the Cannon leadership in the SWP flows from a monolithic conception of the party that is, as the comrades say in their statement, completely alien to the spirit of Trotskyism, which made its earliest fight against Stalinism precisely on this issue. In joining the Workers Party, they clearly admit various points of disagreement with party policy, but these differences are compatible with membership in one organization – where they will be ironed out in democratic discussion. That is the basic tenet which the Minority championed in the SWP. That is the concept on which the WP is based.
In another sense, too, the acquisition of these comrades by the Workers Party is of tremendous importance. Again it is not a matter of size. But it is most definitely a matter of composition. The comrades who joined are all of them experienced revolutionists, with ten, twelve or fifteen years of membership in the Trotskyist movement. Many of them waged the battle against Stalinism inside the Communist Party or Young Communist League before they joined the Trotskyist movement a decade or more ago. Several, as in the case of Albert Goldman, date back their membership in the revolutionary socialist movement a score or more of years.
Experienced, trained hands are not easily come by. And the Workers Party has gained just such a group. They are comrades with deep experience in the theory, history and practical work of the movement. And we are confident that many will follow their example, just as, in welcoming the New York comrades who joined several weeks ago, we were confident that others inside and outside the SWP, would follow them.
No greater or better or more effective demonstration could have been made for the unity of the two organizations than this action by the New York and Chicago SP Minority comrades. We are certain that it will prove to be of inestimable value to the Trotskyist movement in this country and internationally.
In welcoming these comrades to the ranks of the Workers Party with revolutionary enthusiasm, Labor Action calls upon all militants also TO JOIN THE WORKERS ’ PARTY, TO HELP US BUILD A PARTY FOR SOCIALIST VICTORY!
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Last updated on 24 January 2019