On Mon, Apr 26, 2021 at 9:29 PM Roger Kulp <[email protected]> wrote: > Dayne, > That piece at Solidarity is amazing. I would highly recommend it to anybody who wants to learn the real history of the SWP. I didn't know any of this stuff. https://solidarity-us.org/what_happened_to_the_swp/
Thank you Roger, of course i am pleased if it contributes to the education of younger socialists like yourself. After initially making it public i learned of a couple minor factual errors i made from relying on my memory, nothing affecting the substance (i.e. i refer to the "Nov. 7, 1971" demonstration which was actually Nov. 6). I certainly stand by it now a decade later. It is just one person's view based on one slice of experience during about a decade before the SWP (U.S.) began to rapidly decline. It is not "the real history of the SWP." I hope you will also consult other analyses i have referenced during the discussion on this thread; they are generally by activists and thinkers with a much higher profile of socialist and SWP experience than mine. I'm not aware of any SWP-published self-analysis of 'what went wrong'; afaik the SWP still maintains it is the revolutionary party (or "nucleus of ...") leading the working class. The rare occasions when i look at current SWP sources are usually a result of some reference i see here on marxmail. It is discouraging to me that the pre-1980s history of the SWP seems to be little known and appreciated. I think the SWP's effective backbone role in building the mass anti-Vietnam war movement (which recruited me) was exemplary but is largely unknown or ignored. I think the potential lessons on building mass movements for social change are sorely missing in today's socialist circles. Of course the near self-destruction of the SWP has also meant the lack of a strong public voice for the last several decades to speak up on behalf of the SWP's historic contributions. One valuable remnant of the SWP's anti-Vietnam war movement history is Fred Halstead's book "*Out Now! A Participant's Account of the Movement in the United States Against the Vietnam War*" originally published in 1978 and kept in print by Pathfinder Press. in solidarity, Dayne -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Groups.io Links: You receive all messages sent to this group. View/Reply Online (#8247): https://groups.io/g/marxmail/message/8247 Mute This Topic: https://groups.io/mt/82332924/21656 -=-=- POSTING RULES & NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. #4 Do not exceed five posts a day. -=-=- Group Owner: [email protected] Unsubscribe: https://groups.io/g/marxmail/leave/8674936/21656/1316126222/xyzzy [[email protected]] -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
