The New York Intellectuals (10th Anniversary Edition)

by Alan M Wald

  3. In addition to Cannon’s own books, a few of the most important biographical sources about him are Les Evans, ed., James P. Cannon as We Knew Him (New York: Pathfinder, 1976); Theodore Draper, The Roots of American Communism (New York: Viking, 1957), and American Communism and Soviet Russia (New York: Viking, 1960). I have also drawn on the following: Milton Genecin to AW, 17 February 1984; Albert Glotzer to AW, 11 February 1984; Milton Zaslow to AW, 1 March 1984. In addition, I am grateful to Jeanne Morgan for providing me with a copy of her unpublished memoirs of Cannon and pages from her diary when she worked as his secretary.

  4. The biographical information about Max Shachtman is partly based on the following: Julius Jacobson, “The Two Deaths of Max Shachtman,” New Politics 10, no. 2 (Winter 1973): 96–99; Milton Alvin, “Max Shachtman, 1904–1972,” Militant, 1 December 1972, p. 18; George Novack, “Max Shachtman: A Political Portrait,” International Socialist Review 34, no. 2 (February 1973): 26–29, 44; Stan Weir, “Requiem for Max Shachtman,” Radical America 7, no. 1 (1973): 69–78; Milton Genecin to AW, 17 February 1984; Phyllis Jacobson to AW, 10 March 1984; Albert Glotzer to AW, 11 February 1984; author’s interview with Emanuel Geltman, May 1981, New York City; Milton Zaslow to AW, 1 March 1984; Albert Glotzer, “Max Shachtman,” New America 10, no. 22 (16 November 1972): 1, 4; Tom Kahn, “Max Shachtman: His Ideals and His Movement,” ibid., p. 5; interview with Max Shachtman, Columbia University Oral History Project, Columbia University, New York, N.Y.

  5. George Breitman to AW, 17 July 1985.

  6. Tony Cliff, “The Theory of Bureaucratic Collectivism: A Critique,” Neither Washington nor Moscow: Essays on Revolutionary Socialism (London: Bookmarks, 1982), pp. 87–88.

  7. A typical quotation: “. . . in the USSR minus the social structure founded by the October Revolution would be a fascist regime.” Leon Trotsky, In Defense of Marxism (New York: Pathfinder, 1973), p. 53.

  8. George Breitman and Sarah Lovell, eds., Writings of Leon Trotsky [1932–33] (New York: Pathfinder, 1972), p. 126.

  9. George Breitman and Sarah Lovell, eds., Writings of Leon Trotsky [1930–31] (New York: Pathfinder, 1973), p. 374.

  10. In a June 1940 discussion with Trotsky on organizational questions, Cannon states the following: “I think that the party in the eyes of the leading militants should be considered as a military organization. The party forms should be much more considerably formalized in a deliberate form of hierarchical organization. A strict record of grades of authority in the party.” In his response, Trotsky does not challenge these points directly but never discusses anything remotely like hierarchies and “grades of authority,” emphasizing instead the relationship between internal democracy and discipline: “. . . it is necessary to create an elastic relationship between democracy and centralism.. . . To assimilate [large numbers of new members] can’t be done by centralism. It is necessary to enlarge the democracy.” Talking of Bolshevik Party functioning during the civil war, he says: “Even at the front we had closed party meetings, where all party members discussed with complete freedom, criticized orders, etc. But when we left the room, the orders became a strict discipline, for the breaking of which a commander could shoot.” See Naomi Allen and George Breitman, eds., Writings of Leon Trotsky [1939–40] (New York: Pathfinder, 1973), pp. 286–87. An example of Trotsky’s feeling that Cannon tended to be too factional can be found in a 6 December 1937 letter beginning: “The discussion regarding the nature of the USSR seems to us down here to be much sharper than is warranted and to possibly presage results out of proportion to the issues.” Ibid., p. 87. In The Struggle for Marxism in the United States: A History of American Trotskyism (New York: Bulletin Books, 1971), pp. 60–62, Tim Wohlforth cites a number of letters from Trotsky to Cannon indicating that Cannon might be rushing too quickly toward a split.

  11. Interview with Max Shachtman, Columbia University Oral History Project.

  12. Unpublished biographical sketch of Martin Abern by Albert Glotzer.

  13. See Max Shachtman, “James Joyce,” Liberator, 7 no. 6 (June 1924): 33; “Leonid Andreyev,” ibid., no. 7, (July 1924): 30.

  14. The biographical information on Burnham is based partly on the following: Benjamin G. Hoffman, “The Political Thought of James Burnham” (Ph.D. diss., University of Michigan, 1969); James Gilbert, Designing the Industrial State (Chicago: Quadrangle, 1972), pp. 266–84; John P. Diggins, Up from Communism (New York: Harper and Row, 1975), pp. 160–200, 303–42; author’s interview with F. W. Dupee, July 1973, Carmel, Calif.; author’s interview with B. J. Widick, September 1984, Ann Arbor, Mich.

  15. James Burnham, “Trying to Say,” Symposium 2, no. 1 (January 1931): 51–59; review of Literature and Occult Tradition, ibid., pp. 141–45.

  16. James Burnham, review of The History of the Russian Revolution, ibid. 3, no. 2 (July 1932): 370–80.

  17. James Burnham, “Marxism and Aesthetics,” ibid. 4, no. 1 (January 1933): 3–29.

  18. James Burnham and Philip Wheelwright, “Thirteen Propositions,” ibid. 4, no. 2 (April 1933): 127–34.

  19. James Burnham, “Comment,” ibid. 4, no. 4 (October 1933): 403–13.

  20. Author’s interview with F. W. Dupee, August 1973, Carmel, Calif.

  21. James Burnham, “His Place in History,” New Masses 10, no. 4 (23 January 1934): 15.

  22. James Burnham, “War by Norman Thomas,” New International 2, no. 6 (December 1935): 240; James Burnham, “For a Revolutionary Socialist Party,” Socialist Appeal 2, no. 7 (August 1936): 5–8; James Burnham, The People’s Front: The New Betrayal (New York: Pioneer, 1937).

  23. John West, “Max Eastman’s Straw Man,” New International 2, no. 7 (December 1935): 220–25; James Burnham, “Max Eastman as Scientist,” ibid. 4, no. 6 (June 1938): 177–80.

  24. The biographical information is based on the author’s interview with Harry Roskolenko, June 1980, New York City.

  25. The biographical information is based on the author’s interview with Max Geldman (cousin of Max Geltman), April 1983, Los Angeles, Calif.; author’s interview with Emanuel Garrett, May 1981, New York City; and obituary for Max Geltman, New York Times, 19 May 1984, p. 48.

  26. The biographical information on Joseph Friedman is from Militant, 29 June 1929, p. 2; author’s interview with B. J. Widick, September 1984, Ann Arbor, Mich.; and author’s interview with Walter Goldwater, May 1981, New York City.

  27. For additional information on Bruno Rizzi see Leon Trotsky, In Defense of Marxism (New York: Pathfinder, 1973), pp. x, xvi, 1, 4, 10, 11.

  28. See “Amendment to Resolution on the Soviet Union,” in The Founding of the Socialist Workers Party: Minutes and Resolutions, 1938–39, ed. George Breitman, pp. 141–45 (New York: Monad, 1982).

  29. James Burnham to Leon Trotsky, 9 December 1937, Trotsky Papers, HL.

  30. James Burnham and Max Shachtman, “Intellectuals in Retreat,” New International 5, no. 1 (January 1939): 3–21.

  31. [Socialist Workers Party’s] Internal Bulletin on “The Workers Party” 7, no. 11 (1946): 26. The fullest explanation of Cannon’s views on party organization and the conflict with Shachtman can be found in James P. Cannon, The Struggle for a Proletarian Party (New York: Pioneer, 1943).

  32. Albert Goldman, “Unity—Will It Work?,” New International 13, no. 4 (April 1947): 108.

  33. See the following contributions to the Workers Party’s Internal Bulletins: Philip Sherman et al., “Defining a Tendency” 2, no. 8 (April 1941): 4; letters from Dwight Macdonald, 2, no. 9 (May 1941): 4. Other information is from the author’s interview with Martin Glaberman, September 1984, Detroit, Mich.

  34. On state capitalist theory, Trotsky states in Allen and Breitman, eds., Writings of Leon Trotsky [1937–38], p. 341: “We have rejected . . . this term, which while it does correctly characterize certain features of the Soviet state, nevertheless ignores its fundamental difference from capitalist states.” In “The USSR in War,” reprinted in In Defense of Marxism, Trotsky states the following about bureaucratic co
llectivist theory: “The inability of the proletariat to take into its hands the leadership of society [at the end of World War II] could actually lead under these conditions to the growth of a new exploiting class from the Bonapartist fascist bureaucracy,” p. 9.

  35. The following are characteristic remarks of Trotsky from In Defense of Marxism on these issues: “In the USSR the overthrow of the bureaucracy is indispensable for the preservation of state property. Only in this sense do we stand for the defense of the USSR,” pp. 15–16; “The defense of the USSR is related to the world socialist revolution as a tactical task is related to a strategic one. A tactic is subordinated to a strategic goal and can in no case be in contradiction to the latter,” pp. 17–18; “We were and remain against seizures of new territories by the Kremlin,” p. 20; “Our defense of the USSR is carried out under the slogan ‘For Socialism! For the World Revolution! Against Stalin!,” p. 20.

  36. In Allen and Breitman, eds., Writings of Leon Trotsky [1937–38], p. 128, Trotsky states: “Twenty years after the revolution the Soviet state has become the most centralized, despotic, and bloodthirsty apparatus of coercion and compulsion. The evolution of the Soviet state therefore proceeds in complete contradiction to the principles of the Bolshevik program. The reason for it is to be found in this, that society, as has already been said, is evolving not toward socialism but toward the regeneration of social contradictions. Should the process continue in this direction, it must inevitably lead to the rebirth of classes, the liquidation of planned economy, and the restoration of capitalist property. The state regime will in that case inevitably become fascist.”

  37. James Burnham, “Letter of Resignation from the Workers Party,” reprinted in Trotsky, In Defense of Marxism, Appendix T.

  38. James Burnham, “Lenin’s Heir,” Partisan Review 12, no. 1 (Winter 1945): 61–72; James Burnham, “The Outcome,” The Struggle for the World (New York: John Day, 1947), pp. 242–48.

  39. Michael Harrington, Fragments of the Century: A Social Autobiography (New York: Dutton, 1973), p. 222.

  CHAPTER 7

  1. A. J. Muste, The Essays of A. J. Muste (New York: Bobbs-Merrill, 1967), p. 238.

  2. Sidney Hook, “Against Sanctions,” Modern Quarterly 10, no. 1 (April 1936): 15.

  3. Howard Zinn, A People’s History of the United States (New York: Harper and Row, 1980), p. 398.

  4. See Irving Howe and Lewis Coser, The American Communist Party: A Critical History (New York: Praeger, 1957), pp. 387–436; and C. L. R. James, George Breitman, Edgar Keemer et al., Fighting Racism in World War II (New York: Monad, 1980), passim.

  5. Isaac Deutscher makes a similar point in The Prophet Outcast (New York: Oxford, 1963), pp. 501–2.

  6. Leon Trotsky, “Lenin and Imperialist War,” in Writings of Leon Trotsky [1938–39], ed. Naomi Allen and George Breitman, pp. 167–69 (New York: Pathfinder, 1974).

  7. Leon Trotsky, “A Step toward Social Patriotism,” in ibid., p. 209.

  8. Leon Trotsky, “India Faced with Imperialist War,” in Writings of Leon Trotsky [1939–40], ed. Naomi Allen and George Breitman, p. 29 (New York: Pathfinder, 1973).

  9. Leon Trotsky, “On the Question of Workers’ Self-Defense,” ibid., pp. 104–5.

  10. Leon Trotsky, “Discussions with Trotsky,” ibid., p. 258.

  11. Leon Trotsky, “Bonapartism, Fascism, and War,” ibid., p. 411.

  12. James P. Cannon, “Summary Speech on the Proletarian Military Policy,” Socialist Appeal, 26 October 1940, reprinted in Revolutionary Strategy in the Fight against the Vietnam War (New York: Education for Socialists Bulletin, 1975), p. 84.

  13. Albert Goldman, Militant, 2 March 1941, p. 2.

  14. For example, see Albert Goldman, “Differences between Imperialism? Yes, But Not Decisive,” Socialist Appeal, 3 August 1940, p. 4.

  15. See New International 7, no. 1 (July 1941): 3; and Milton Alvin, “On Shachtman’s Answer to the Position of the SWP on Conscription, War, and Militarism,” Internal Bulletin [of the Workers Party], no. 6 (January 1941): 6.

  16. Irving Howe, “Labor Action Answers California Eagle Attack,” Labor Action, 25 May 1942, p. 2.

  17. Sidney Hook, “The Radical Comedians: Inside Partisan Review,” American Scholar 54, no. 1 (Winter 1984–85): 45–61.

  18. Statement of the League for Cultural Freedom and Socialism, “War Is the Issue!,” Partisan Review 6, no. 5 (1939): 125–27.

  19. Dwight Macdonald to Leon Trotsky, Summer 1937, Trotsky Papers, HL.

  20. Author’s interview with Dwight Macdonald, November 1973, Buffalo, N.Y.

  21. V. I. Lenin and Leon Trotsky, Kronstadt (New York: Monad, 1979), p. 127.

  22. Ibid., pp. 83–94.

  23. Ibid., pp. 101–24.

  24. Ibid., pp. 131–35.

  25. Stephen Cohen, “Bolshevism and Stalinism,” in Stalinism: Essays in Historical Interpretation, ed. Robert C. Tucker, p. 3 (New York: Norton, 1977).

  26. Sidney Hook, “As a (Marxist) Professor Sees It,” Common Sense 7, no. 1 (January 1938): 23.

  27. Letter from Dwight Macdonald, Socialist Appeal, 10 December 1938, p. 4.

  28. Dwight Macdonald, “Off the Record,” ibid., 4 February 1939, p. 1; ibid., 14 February 1939, p. 4; ibid., 11 April 1939, p. 3.

  29. Dwight Macdonald, “Sparks in the News,” ibid., 13 June 1939, p. 3.

  30. Ibid., 11 July 1939, p. 2.

  31. Author’s interview with Dwight Macdonald, November 1973, Buffalo, N.Y.; Socialist Appeal, 17 October 1939, p. 1; ibid., 3 November 1932, p. 2.

  32. Labor Action, 26 April 1940, p. 2.

  33. New International 7, no. 1 (January 1941): 49.

  34. Internal Bulletin [of the Workers Party], no. 5 (November 1940): 1.

  35. Ibid., no. 9 (May 1941): 4–9.

  36. Ibid.

  37. Dwight Macdonald, “Trotsky Is Dead,” Partisan Review 7, no. 5 (September–October 1940): 339–53.

  38. Dwight Macdonald, “The Burnhamian Revolution,” ibid. 9, no. 1 (January–February 1942): 76–85.

  39. Dwight Macdonald, “Notes on a Strange War,” ibid. 7, no. 3 (May–June 1940): 170–75.

  40. Leon Trotsky to Dwight Macdonald, 20 January 1938, Trotsky Papers, HL.

  41. Philip Rahv, “What Is Living and What Is Dead?,” Partisan Review 7, no. 3 (May–June 1940): 175–80.

  42. Biographical information from author’s Interview with Clement Greenberg, June 1980, New York City.

  43. Clement Greenberg and Dwight Macdonald, “10 Propositions on the War,” Partisan Review 8, no. 4 (July-August 1941): 271–78.

  44. Philip Rahv, “10 Propositions and 8 Errors,” ibid. no. 6 (November–December 1941): 499–506.

  45. “Reply by Greenberg and Macdonald,” ibid., 506–8.

  46. “A Statement by the Editors,” ibid., 9, no. 1 (January–February 1942): 2.

  47. Dwight Macdonald, “The (American) People’s Century,” ibid. 9, no. 4 (July-August 1942): 294–310, and “Political Notes,” ibid. 9, no. 6 (November–December 1942): 476–82.

  48. S. A. Longstaff, “Partisan Review and the Second World War,” Salmagundi 43 (Winter 1979): 108–29.

  49. Michael Wreszin to AW, 3 March 1986.

  50. The biographical information on Delmore Schwartz is from James Atlas, Delmore Schwartz: The Life of an American Poet (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1977).

  51. Robert Phillips, Letters of Delmore Schwartz (Princeton, N.J.: Ontario Review Press, 1984), pp. 132–33.

  52. Ibid., p. 78.

  53. Ibid., p. 168.

  54. Dwight Macdonald, “Why I Am No Longer a Socialist,” Liberation 3, no. 5 (May 1958): 4–7.

  55. See Mary McCarthy’s preface to Nicola Chiaromonte, The Worm of Consciousness (New York: Harvest, 1977), pp. xii–xvi.

  56. Macdonald, “Why I Am No Longer a Socialist,” p. 4–7.

  57. Sidney Hook, “The New Failure of Nerve,” Partisan Review 10, no. 1 (January–February 1943): 2–23.

  58. Sidney Hook, “The
Failure of the Left,” ibid. 10, no. 2 (March-April 1943): 165–77.

  59. Sidney Hook to AW, 12 August 1981.

  60. The biographical information about Meyer Schapiro is based on the author’s interview with Schapiro, June 1980, New York City; Schapiro to AW, 27 July 1974; Helen Epstein, “Meyer Schapiro: To Know and Make Known, Part I,” Art News (May 1983): 60–85; “To Know and Make Known, Part II,” ibid. (Summer 1983): 84–95; author’s interview with Felix Morrow, May 1977, New York City.

  61. Schapiro’s dissertation has been reprinted in Meyer Schapiro, Romanesque Art (New York: George Braziller, 1977), pp. 131–264.

  62. Sender Garlin, Daily Worker, 3 April 1934, p. 2.

  63. Meyer Schapiro, “The Social Bases of Art,” First American Artists’ Congress (New York: American Artists’ Congress, 1936), pp. 31–37.

  64. Serge Guilbaut, How New York Stole the Idea of Modern Art (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1983), pp. 39–40.

  65. For a typical expression of these views see Meyer Schapiro, “Recent Abstract Painting,” Modern Art (New York: Braziller, 1978), pp. 213–26.

  66. Meyer Schapiro, “A Note on ‘The Open City’: Some Comments on Farrell’s Review,” New International 6, no. 12 (December 1946): 311–12.

  67. James Kutcher, The Case of the Legless Veteran (New York: Pathfinder, 1973), p. 78.

  68. Labor Action, 7 March 1949, pp. 1, 3.

  69. Among Schapiro’s few contributions were the very brief 1963 piece, “On David Siqueiros: A Dilemma for Artists,” reprinted in Irving Howe, ed., The Radical Imagination (New York: New American Library, 1967), pp. 417–19, and an obituary for Alfred Rosmer, Dissent 12, 1 (Winter 1966): 75.