Justin:
I think that you and I have different views on how socialists and radicals of all
stripes should participate in large mass movements. I think that openness and honesty
is essential, and that it is the failure to be open and honest that leads to trouble,
not "red baiting." "Red baiting" has the power it does only when it catches people in
deception. In the context of contemporary American politics, if someone's politics are
of the sort that they have to hide them, then they need to change their politics,
IMHO; we are not exactly living in a police state.
As for the TDU and _Labor Notes_, I said that the founders and leaders were, "for the
most part," Trotskyists. You say, that is wrong, and then go on to point out, in your
view, which ones are Trotskyists and which ones are not. You may have some difficulty
showing how what you offer for evidence is in any way inconsistent with what I said.
As I see it, it is common knowledge among those who have participated in and know the
history and current structure of left politics and American trade unionism that TDU
and _Labor Notes_ were born out of the efforts of key cadre in the International
Socialists some twenty years ago, and that the main players in that effort are now
members of Solidarity. It is also common knowledge that Solidarity was created by the
merger of various remnants of the Trotskyist movement, and that while it does not
require adherence to Trotskyism from its members, it is a soft 'Trotskyist'
organization. This is really not any different than the knowledge that the Reuther
leadership of the UAW came out of the Socialist Party and defeated a faction aligned
with and led by the Communists, that the AFL-CIO's international operations
pre-Sweeney was run by a series of vociferous anti-Communists who were Lovestonites
[members of the 'right opposition'/Bukharinites of the Communist Party] and Shachtm!
an!
ites ['Third Camp' Trotskyists],
and so on. Pretending that this is not true, in the name of avoiding 'red baiting,'
is, in my view, engaging in the type of deception which has haunted the work of the
left in the American trade union movement.
This was a lesson I learned very quickly on in my participation on the American left.
As a working class teenager from Queens who opposed the war in Vietnam, I invited a
representative from the Student Mobilization Committee Against the War to speak at my
high school. At the meeting, someone accused the SMC of being a front group for the
Socialist Workers Party and Young Socialist Alliance. The speaker adamantly denied
that this was the case, and then told me after the meeting that although he was a
member of YSA, they were under instructions not to admit such matters. As soon as
anyone raised the question, cry 'red baiting.' Is it any wonder that an organization
which worked in that way lacked all credibility?
Leo Casey
