by J.R. Johnson, Sept. 19, 1941. Submitted to same Workers Party Convention. F. Forest (Raya Dunayevskaya) and J.R. Johnson (C.L.R. James) formed the State-Capitalist Tendency. In 1945 it renamed itself the Johnson-Forest Tendency.
Month: May 2015
(1) Russia is a State-Capitalist Society
by Freddie James, Washington D.C. This was the first document in which Freddie James (Raya Dunayevskaya) called Russia a state-capitalist society. It was submitted to the Second Workers Party National Convention, 1941, independently of other critiques of Russia.
Section I 1941 — First Analysis of Russia as a State-Capitalist Society
VOLUME I: 1941-1947 — BEGINNING OF STATE-CAPITALIST THEORY (IN THE WORKERS PARTY)
PART ONE BIRTH AND DEVELOPMENT OF STATE-CAPITALIST THEORY
(9) The Balance Sheet Completed. Ten Years of American Trotskyism
August 1951. Handed in as the Johnson-Forest Tendency left the SWP. Written by Johnson, though it bears all but his name.
(8) The Revolt of the Workers and the Plan of the Intellectuals
An Answer to Comrades William F. Warde and John G. Wright, by F. Forest, June 5, 1951.
(7) The Internal Situation in the Fourth International
(Part II of the Resolution on the International Situation), by Johnson-Forest, May 21, 1951.
(6) State-Capitalism and World Revolution,
by Johnson-Forest, Aug. 4, 1950. First published as Discussion Bulletin No. 4, Sept. 1950, of Socialist Workers Party. Written by Johnson, Forest and Ria Stone, the document has been reissued by various groups. Other authors have been added to new editions, who had nothing to do with the original document.
(5) Two Letters on Trotsky and on Trotsky, Luxemburg, Lenin,
by F. Forest, Sept. 14, 1948, Oct. 14, 1948, Written to Johnson.
(4) Letter on Woman and Socialism
by F. Forest.: May 14, 1949.
(3) A Bureaucrat’s Fate
by F. Forest, in Fourth International, June 1949. A review of The Economy of the USSR During World War II by Nikolai Voznessensky, former Chairman of the State Planning Commission of Foreign Affairs in Russia.
(2) Production Statistics and the Devaluation of the Ruble
by F. Forest, Dec. 3, 1948. Typescript.
(1) Stalinists Falsify Marxism Anew, State of Teaching Marxism in the Soviet Union
by F. Forest, in Fourth International, Sept. 1948.
B. The Johnson-Forest Tendency within the SWP
(2) Oil and Labor
by John Fredericks, in Fourth International, May 1948, Aug. 1946, and Sept. 1948. A three-part article on the development of the oil industry and the role of the worker.
(1) Stalinist Russia, A Capitalist State
by John Fredericks and John Hudson, written Sept. 29, 1946 and published in Internal Bulletin of Socialist Workers Party, Nov. 1946.
A. The existing state-capitalist tendency within the SWP
In 1945 John Fredericks, who had been away in the military, returned, and within the SWP began to develop a state-capitalist tendency. He sought out the Johnson-Forest Tendency and began to collaborate with them for a brief period before they re-entered the SWP.
Section II In the Socialist Workers Party, 1947-1951
E. Internal Bulletins of the Johnson-Forest Minority
Upon leaving the Workers Party in July 1947 the Johnson-Forest Minority applied for entry into the Socialist Workers Party. The Internal Bulletins were one result of that interim period. Twelve Bulletins, July 17, 1947 to Sept. 29, 1947.
(5) The American Worker
by Phil Romano and Ria Stone, 1947. First appeared as articles in the Internal Bulletins of the Johnson-Forest Minority. It was published as a separate pamphlet after entry into the Socialist Workers Party.
(4) The Invading Socialist Society,
by J.R. Johnson, F. Forest, and Ria Stone, 1947.
(3) World Revolutionary Perspectives and the Russian Question
issued Sept. 1947. Contents: A new essay, Dialectical Materialism and the Fate of Humanity, by Johnson; reprints of Historical Retrogression or Socialist Revolution, The Nature of the Russian Economy, and After ‘Ten Years (a review of Trotskys The Revolution Betrayed).
(2) Trotskyism in the United States, 1940-47. Balance Sheet, The Workers Party and the Johnson-Forest Tendency
by J.R. Johnson, F. Forest, Martin Harvey, August 20, 1947. Appendix: Conversations with Trotsky on the Transitional Program, 1933.
(1) Essays by Karl Marx selected from the Economic-Philosophic Manuscripts.
First English translation, by Ria Stone (Grace Lee Boggs), of Alienated Labor, Private Property and Communism, and Critique of the Hegelian Dialectic.
D. Separate publications of Johnson-Forest Tendency
(4) In Memoriam: Natalia Sedova Trotsky
a Weekly Political Letter, Jan. 29, 1962. A somewhat different version appeared in News & Letters, Feb. 1962.
(3) Letter to Natalia Trotsky,
Sept. 28, 1947.
(2) Letter to Natalia Trotsky,
Jan. 11, 1947.
(1) Notes of Conversations with Natalia Trotsky,
July 31, 1946.
C. Conversations and Correspondence with Natalia Trotsky
Raya Dunayevskaya visited Natalia Trotsky in the 1940s and 1950s. Natalia Trotskys position evolved in such a manner that she officially broke with the group claiming to be Trotskyist in the U.S., the Socialist Workers Party, in 1951. Her letter to the SWP was reprinted in News & Letters, Feb. 1962. Also included in the Archives here is Dunayevskaya’s In Memoriam article on Natalia Trotsky written in Jan. 1962, and subtitled Role of Women in Revolution.
(2) An Approach to Lenins Selected Works.
A seven-page manuscript covering Vols. 1-5 and parts of Vols. 6 and 7. The rest of the manuscript is missing.
(1) How to Study Lenin
An 11-page manuscript.
B. Freddie Forest’s Commentary on Lenin’s Selected Works
In 1947 Forest undertook an abbreviated commentary on the 12 volumes of Lenin’s Selected Works for the use of comrades in the Johnson-Forest Tendency.
(1) Eighteen letters and nine-page summary of Fourth International Conference.
Includes letter on meeting with the Cameroonian.
A. F. Forests 1947 trip to Europe as representative of the state-capitalist tendency
In the late summer and fall of 1947 Forest traveled to Europe to establish relations with European comrades and to present the state-capitalist position to the conference of the Fourth International. She met with British Marxists; representatives of a German Marxist group; and Chalieu (later known as Cardan and Castoriadis) who founded Socialisme ou Barbarie in France. She debated the question of state-capitalism with Ernest Mandel. She also met a Cameroonian, and that dialogue anticipated the whole Third World founded in the 1950s.
Section I The Interim Period, 1947
The Johnson-Forest Tendency left the Workers Party in July 1947. In September they entered the Socialist Workers Party. During the interim period the Tendency issued 12 Internal Bulletins as well as separate publications. Freddie Forest (Raya Dunayevskaya) undertook a trip to Europe to represent the state-capitalist position at the Fourth International Conference.