I have stumbled onto some long sought material in my files, i.e. my notes from 1991 on debates on dialectics conducted under pseudonyms, featuring William Warde (George Novack) and Marc Loris (Jean Van Heijenoort), with interventions by John G. Wright, J. Weber, George Sanders, Irwin Hyper & Buddy Lens, and Ben Maxson. (I haven't checked my pseudonyms lists to determine who's who). It turns out that I even have a text file of my notes. I can't remember whether these e-mail lists allow attachments, but one way or another I could easily send my file. The question is: would anyone be able to understand my fragmentary notes?

I had assumed that this material came from the very rare international bulletins of the 4th International (which I believe I also checked), but rather it's in the relatively (and I mean only relatively) more accessible SWP internal bulletins. I guess I was too cheap to have all this stuff photocopied when I researched it in New York 14 years ago.

I was hoping to put the articles by Van Heijenoort online, but unfortunately I only have a photocopy of a relatively trivial piece:

SURPLUS VALUE AND EXCHANGE OF EQUIVALENTS (NOTE ON AN EXAMPLE IN WILLIAM F. WARDE'S INTRODUCTION TO THE LOGIC OF MARXISM) by Marc Loris, SWP Internal Bulletin, vol. V, no. 5, Dec. 1943: p. 31-35.

I also have a photocopy of two pages by George Sanders on the dialectics of tonality in music (Vol. V, no. 4, Oct. 1943: p. 14-15). Why I don't know.

All of this discussion was a reaction to Novack's (Warde) DIALECTICAL MATERIALISM, OUTLINE COURSE #3 (National Education Dept., SWP (1943), 52 pp.).

The debates that matter are found in:

SWP.  Internal Bulletin,
vol. 5, no. 2, July 1943. 28 pp.
Vol. V, no. 4, Oct. 1943. 15 pp.
vol. V, no. 5, Dec. 1943. 35 pp.

I don't have the wherewithal at the moment to track down this material (the repositories I know are in New York or Berkeley/S.F.) and get it photocopied, but if anyone else is game, let me know.

My general evaluation is that Van Heijenoort had something important to say about the distinction and evaluation of the notions of subjective and objective dialectics, and Novack had his finger up his ass as usual. The other commentators took sides and there may be something interested in whoever backed Van Heijenoort.

Van Hiejenoort used antoerh pseudonym, Gerland, and there's at least one relevant article in THE NEW INTERNATIONAL. It may have been "The Algebra of Revolution". I thought I had a photocopy somewhere, but damned if I know where.

Anyway, this is Van Heijenoort's prehistory, which is why I would like to find the material. As Irving Anellis reports, Van Heijenoort does not report discussing dialectics in WITH TROTSKY IN EXILE, probably because Trotsky was such a dogmatic prick Van Heijenoort didn't want to make trouble for himself.

I'll upload my notes if anyone's interested.


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