Socialist Action collection HLL.2019.008
Allison Ransom
Holt Labor Library at CSU Dominguez Hills
March 2020
Contributing Institution:
Holt Labor Library at CSU Dominguez Hills
Title: Socialist Action collection
Creator:
Socialist Action. (Organization : U.S.)
Identifier/Call Number: HLL.2019.008
Physical Description:
5.8 Linear Feet
Physical Description:
15 boxes
(14 boxes, 1 carton)
Date (inclusive): 1963-2001, undated
Date (bulk): 1983-2001
Abstract: The collection contains correspondence, reports, draft resolutions, bulletins, minutes, plenum and convention documents, and
subject files related to Socialist Action, a Trotskyist political organization.
Language of Material: Collection material is in English.
Processing Information
Allison Ransom processed the collection and wrote the finding aid in April 2020.
Preferred Citation
Arrangement
The collection is arranged in five series: Series I. Correspondence and reports, 1983-2000, undated; Series II. Bulletins,
1984-2001; Series III. Political Committee Minutes and Plenum Materials, 1984-2001; Series IV. Socialist Action News and Publications,
1963, 1983-2000, undated; Series V. Subject Files, 1964-1971, 1983-1993, undated.
Custodial History
The Socialist Action collection was donated to the Holt Labor Library in San Francisco, California between 2001 and 2019,
and were acquired by the Gerth Archives and Special Collections at California State University, Dominguez Hills, in 2019.
Conditions Governing Access
There are no access restrictions on this collection.
Conditions Governing Use
All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Director of Archives
and Special Collections. Permission for publication is given on behalf of Special Collections as the owner of the physical
materials and not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained.
Scope and Contents
The Socialist Action collection, 1963-2001, undated, bulk 1983-2001, comprises materials reflecting the activities and statuses
of Socialist Action. It includes notices and letters sent to members of the National Committee, general members of the organization,
and correspondents of note including Jeff Mackler. Socialist Action reports and draft resolutions, as well as reports from
various Fourth International-affiliated organizations, such as the Fourth International Tendency and the International Socialist
League (Fourth International), are present. The collection also includes Education Bulletins, Information Bulletins, Internal
Discussion Bulletins, Internal Information Bulletins, Internal International Information Bulletins, and International Discussion
Bulletins. Minutes and reports from the Political Committee, draft world political reports and resolutions, as well as plenum
and convention documents are present. The collection also includes various volumes of
Socialist Action News ,
International Viewpoint magazine,
The Young Socialist, as well as one Socialist Action pamphlet titled
Crisis in the Middle East: the war in Lebanon. Subject files comprising draft reports, newsletters, article photocopies, pamphlets, and congressional records are included
as well.
Biographical / Historical
Socialist Action is a Trotskyist political party in the United States. The roots were laid for the organization during the
early 1980s in the Socialist Workers Party (SWP), when Jack Barnes, Mary Alice Waters, and other SWP leaders began to reject
Trotsky's theory of the permanent revolution in favor of connecting with the Cuban Communist Party and Sandinista National
Liberation Front. This revisionist faction also favored the theory of the Democratic Dictatorship of the Proletariat and Peasantry,
which Lenin himself disagreed with, and also shifted from identifying as a "workers government" to considering itself a "workers
and farmers government." Various members of the SWP including Nat Weinstein, Jeff Mackler, Tom Kerry, Lynne Henderson, Frank
Lovell, George Breitman, and others, organized an oppositional faction that supported the SWP's foundational Trotskyist ideas,
and formed Socialist Action in 1983. Many members of this oppositional faction were expelled from the SWP and therefore aligned
exclusively with Socialist Action, which maintained its membership in the Fourth International and its advocacy of the original
Trotskyist ideas of James P. Cannon. Socialist Action has supported the political campaigns of various members for various
U.S. political offices. Socialist Action advocates for socialist revolution by way of the Transitional Program, which was
introduced at the founding congress of the Fourth International in 1938 and aims to connect the working class with revolutionary
ideas through highlighting the inadequacies of capitalism. The organization supports anti-war, labor, anti-racist, and feminist
movements, among others. In 2019, 29 members were expelled from the organization on the basis of their dissenting views against
the organization's anti-war platform and formed the organization Socialist Resurgence.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Trotskyism -- United States
Socialism -- United States
Fourth International
Series I. Correspondence and reports
1983-2000, undated
box 1, folder 1
Correspondence and reports
1983
box 1, folder 2
Correspondence and reports
1984
box 1, folder 3
Correspondence and reports
1985
box 1, folder 4
Correspondence and reports
1986
box 1, folder 5
Correspondence and reports
1987
box 1, folder 6
Correspondence and reports
1988
box 1, folder 7
Correspondence and reports
1989
box 1, folder 8, box 2, folder 1-2
Correspondence and reports
1990
box 2, folder 3
Correspondence and reports
1991
box 2, folder 4
Correspondence and reports
1992
box 3, folder 1
Correspondence and reports
1993-1994
box 3, folder 2
Correspondence and reports
1995
box 3, folder 3-4
Correspondence and reports
1999
box 3, folder 5
Correspondence and reports
undated
box 15, folder 1
Draft resolutions
1984-2000
box 15, folder 2
Fourth International organization reports
1992, undated
Scope and Contents
Includes reports from the Fourth International Tendency, United Secretariat Fourth International (USFI), the International
Socialist League (Fourth International), and the International Trotskyist Opposition.
box 3, folder 6
San Francisco documents and report
1984, 1987, 1991, 1993, undated
Series II. Bulletins
1984-2001
box 3, folder 7
Education Bulletin, No. 2
1989
box 3, folder 8
Information Bulletins, Vol. 1, No. 1-5
1984
Scope and Contents
Comprises Vol. 1, No. 3, Parts 1 and 2.
Internal Discussion Bulletins
box 3, folder 9
Internal Discussion Bulletins, No. 1-10
1984
box 4, folder 1
Internal Discussion Bulletins, No. 11-20
1984
box 4, folder 2
Internal Discussion Bulletins, No. 21-30
1984
box 4, folder 3
Internal Discussion Bulletins, No. 31-43
1984
box 4, folder 4
Internal Discussion Bulletins, No. 1-8
1986
box 5, folder 1
Internal Discussion Bulletins, No. 1-12
1988
box 5, folder 2
Internal Discussion Bulletins, No. 1-9
1990
box 5, folder 3
Internal Discussion Bulletins, No. 10-19
1990
box 5, folder 4
Internal Discussion Bulletins, No. 1-9
1992
box 5, folder 5
Internal Discussion Bulletins, No. 10-18
1992
box 6, folder 1
Internal Discussion Bulletins, No. 19-28
1992
box 6, folder 2
Internal Discussion Bulletins, No. 1; Vol. 11, No. 2-8
1994
box 6, folder 3
Internal Discussion Bulletins, No. 1-3
1996
box 6, folder 4
Internal Discussion Bulletins, No. 1-16
1998
box 6, folder 5
Internal Discussion Bulletins, Vol. 9, No. 1-4
1999
box 7, folder 1
Internal Discussion Bulletins, Vol. 10, No. 1-16, one unnumbered
2000
box 7, folder 2
Internal Discussion Bulletins, Vol. 10, No. 1-5
2001
Internal Information Bulletins
box 7, folder 3
Internal Information Bulletins Vol. 1, No. 1, 3 (Part 1), 4
1984
box 7, folder 4
Internal Information Bulletins Vol. 1, No. 1; Vol. 2, No. 1-16
1985
box 7, folder 5
Internal Information Bulletins Vol. 3, No. 1-3
1986
box 8, folder 1
Internal Information Bulletins Vol. 4, No. 1; No. 1-2, 4
1987
box 8, folder 2
Internal Information Bulletins :
1988 Third Socialist Action Convention Adopted Reports and Summaries, and
Special Issue : International/ World Movement Resolution.
1988
box 8, folder 3
Internal Information Bulletins No. 1-5
1989
box 8, folder 4
Internal Information Bulletins No. 1-3
1990
box 8, folder 5
Internal Information Bulletins No. 1, 3-6
1991
box 8, folder 6
Internal Information Bulletins Vol. 1, No. 2; No. 1. 4-5
1992
box 8, folder 7
Internal Information Bulletins Vol. 10, No. 1-4
1993
box 8, folder 8
Internal Information Bulletin Vol. 1, No. 1
1994
box 8, folder 9
Internal Information Bulletin Vol. 1, No. 1-2
1995
box 8, folder 10
Internal Information Bulletin Vol. 1, No. 1-2
1996
box 8, folder 11
Internal Information Bulletin No. 1-3, (2 un-numbered)
2000
Internal International Information Bulletins
box 8, folder 12
Internal International Information Bulletin No. 1
1990
box 8, folder 13
Internal International Information Bulletin No. 1-2; Vol. 1, (No Number)
1991
box 8, folder 14
Internal International Information Bulletin Vol. 1, No. 1-3
1995
box 9, folder 1
Internal International Information Bulletin Vol. 1, No. 2
1998
box 9, folder 2
Internal International Information Bulletin, 4 un-numbered issues
2000
box 9, folder 3
Internal Newsletter Vol. 1, No. 1-2
1985
International Discussion Bulletins
box 9, folder 4
International Discussion Bulletin No. 1-2
1989
box 9, folder 5
International Discussion Bulletin No. 1-2
1992
box 9, folder 6
International Discussion Bulletin No. 3-5
1995
carton 1, folder 3-4
Internal Discussion Bulletin
1999-2000
box 9, folder 7
National Committee Internal Information Bulletins No. 1-5
1989
box 9, folder 8
Pre-World Congress Discussion Bulletins No. 1-8
1990
box 9, folder 9
Pre-World Congress Internal Discussion Bulletin No. 1-15
1991
box 10, folder 1
Special Pre-World Congress Internal Discussion Bulletin No. 1-11
1984
Series III. Political Committee Minutes and Plenum Materials
1984-2001
box 15, folder 3
Political Committee and Convention, and control commission minutes and draft resolutions
1992
box 10, folder 2
Political Committee Minutes
1984, 1986-1987
box 10, folder 3
Political Committee Minutes
1989
box 10, folder 4
Political Committee Minutes
1990
box 10, folder 5-6
Political Committee Minutes
1991
box 11, folder 1
Political Committee Minutes
1992
box 11, folder 2
Political Committee Minutes
1993
box 11, folder 3
Political Committee Minutes and Reports
1994
box 11, folder 4
Political Committee Minutes and Reports
1995
box 11, folder 5
Poltiical Committee Minutes and Reports
1996
box 12, folder 1
Political Committee Minutes and Reports
1997
box 12, folder 2
Political Committee Minutes and Reports
1998
box 12, folder 3-4
Poltiical Committee Minutes and Reports
1999
box 12, folder 5
Political Committee Minutes and Reports
2000
box 12, folder 6
Political Committee Minutes and Reports
2001
box 13, folder 1
Plenum Documents
1986-1987
box 13, folder 4
Plenum Documents
1991-1992, 1998-1999
box 13, folder 5
Convention and Conference Documents
1990-1992, 1999-2000
box 13, folder 6
Draft World Political Reports and Resolutions
1990, 1992, 1994
box 14, folder 1
Draft World Political Reports and Resolutions
1998-1999
Series IV. Socialist Action News and Publications
1963, 1983-2000, undated
box 14, folder 2
Crisis in the Middle East : the war in Lebanon, Socialist Action pamphlet
undated
box 15, folder 4
International Viewpoint magazine and
The Young Socialist
1963, 1983
box 14, folder 3
Socialist Action News Vol. 1, No. 1-2 ; Vol. 2, No. 1, 3 ; Vol. 3, No. 2
1992-1994
box 14, folder 4
Socialist Action News Vol. 5, No. 1-4, Vol. 7, No. 5, un-numbered
1996, 1998-2000
box 15, folder 5
Socialist Action Newspaper and Internal Bulletin indexes
1984-1986, 1988, undated
Series V. Subject Files
1964-1971, 1983-1993, undated
box 15, folder 6
Cliff Conner, "Socialism is dead! Long live socialism!" draft report
undated
box 15, folder 7
Control Commission, WOSA (Workers Organisation for Socialist Action), Trotskyist League
1991-1993, undated
box 15, folder 8
James P. Cannon reports
undated
box 15, folder 9
"Labor Struggles"
1989, 1992
box 15, folder 11
Marx, Karl. "The Protectionists, the Free Traders, and the Working Class" article
undated
box 15, folder 12
Socialist Workers Party, North American Free Trade Agreement and Northern California Bay Area District Discussion Bulletin
1983, undated
box 15, folder 13
"Tom Kerry article, 'What McReynolds reveals about Peace and Freedom"
undated
box 15, folder 14
"Trotsky" article and book chapter photocopies
undated
box 15, folder 15
"Vietnam War" congressional records and pamphlet
1964-1971, undated
