Correspondence Publishing Committee
Encyclopedia
Correspondence Publishing Committee was a radical left
organization led by C.L.R. James and Martin Glaberman
that existed in the United States from approximately 1951 until it split in 1962.
led by C.L.R. James and Raya Dunayevskaya
. Its origins are as a Trotskyist organization but it developed a number of highly original ideas including the notion that the Soviet Union was a State Capitalist society, an emphasis on Hegelian theory as a way of understanding the world and a rejection of the Leninist vanguard party. It also sought to focus more energy on the political issues affecting women, youth, African Americans and rank and file workers.
It also had an emphasis on analyzing popular culture such as movies and books that was unusual for the era. After spending time as a faction inside both the Workers Party (U.S.) and the Socialist Workers Party (US), the Johnson-Forest Tendency
broke with the Trotskyist left. By early 1951, it had renamed itself Correspondence Publishing Committee. It first published a newspaper, also known as Correspondence, in November 1951 and analyzed a wildcat miners' strike in West Virginia
in the first issue. The newspapers' cartoons have drawn critical acclaim.
It was forced to deal with the deportation of one of its main leaders, C.L.R. James to Britain in 1953 that had a negative impact on the group. Although C.L.R. James continued to advise the group on a very regular basis from Britain, tensions in the group continued and a significant number led by Raya Dunayevskaya
split from Correspondence in 1955 to form News and Letters and promote Marxist-Humanist
ideas. They publish a newspaper by the same name that remains in print today. Whether a majority or a minority split from Correspondence in 1955 remains in dispute. Historian Kent Worcester claims that Raya Dunayevskaya
had a majority of the members in 1955 but Martin Glaberman
, writing in New Politics
has claimed the opposite. He has also challenged other aspects of Worcester's book in a review that appeared in Against the Current magazine.
After the split, James Boggs
was named the new editor of Correspondence newspaper. It issued a number of interesting pamphlets including Martin Glaberman
's Union Committeemen and Wildcat Strikes in 1955 and C.L.R. James' Every Cook Can Govern: A Study of Democracy in Ancient Greece. The latter favourably analyzed democracy in the Greek city states, despite the oppression that women and slaves experienced in ancient Greek society.
However, Correspondence will perhaps be best remembered for the book about the 1956 Hungarian workers' revolt, Facing Reality, by C.L.R. James, Grace Lee Boggs
and Pierre Chaulieu, a pseudonym for Cornelius Castoriadis
. However, the group split again in 1962 when Grace Lee Boggs
, James Boggs
, Freddy Paine and Lyman Paine
split from C.L.R. James. They continued to publish Correspondence for a couple of years but increasingly reflected a third worldist somewhat Maoist politics. Martin Glaberman
and others who remained loyal to C.L.R. James started a new organization known as Facing Reality
that continued to promote the same politics as Correspondence until its dissolution in 1970.
against Stalinist rule. The nature of the contribution by Cornelius Castoriadis
is complex because he apparently did not have an opportunity to examine the manuscript before it went to press. The book argued that the example of Hungary demonstrated that modern society was shifting towards confrontation between workers' councils and bureaucratic institutions. Therefore, organizations such as Correspondence were needed. It also included a defense of the role of revolutionary newspapers, such as the one published by Correspondence. There was also analysis of the radical potential of anti-colonial movements such as the Gold Coast nationalist movement that had emerged in what is now Ghana
. Attention was paid to the role of Kwame Nkrumah
. The book was sharply criticized by Raya Dunayevskaya
.
Far left
Far left, also known as the revolutionary left, radical left and extreme left are terms which refer to the highest degree of leftist positions among left-wing politics...
organization led by C.L.R. James and Martin Glaberman
Martin Glaberman
Martin Glaberman was an influential American Marxist, teacher, and autoworker.-Biography:Glaberman was associated with the Johnson-Forest Tendency, a radical left group that split from the Trotskyist Socialist Workers Party, which understood the Soviet Union as a state capitalist society rather...
that existed in the United States from approximately 1951 until it split in 1962.
History
The Correspondence Publishing Committee has its origins in the Johnson-Forest TendencyJohnson-Forest Tendency
The Johnson–Forest tendency, sometimes called the Johnsonites, refers to a radical left tendency in the United States associated with Marxist theorists C.L.R. James and Raya Dunayevskaya, who used the pseudonyms J.R. Johnson and Freddie Forest respectively...
led by C.L.R. James and Raya Dunayevskaya
Raya Dunayevskaya
Raya Dunayevskaya was the founder of the philosophy of Marxist Humanism in the United States of America. At one time Leon Trotsky's secretary, she later split with him and ultimately founded the organization News and Letters Committees and was its leader until her death.-Biography:Of Jewish...
. Its origins are as a Trotskyist organization but it developed a number of highly original ideas including the notion that the Soviet Union was a State Capitalist society, an emphasis on Hegelian theory as a way of understanding the world and a rejection of the Leninist vanguard party. It also sought to focus more energy on the political issues affecting women, youth, African Americans and rank and file workers.
It also had an emphasis on analyzing popular culture such as movies and books that was unusual for the era. After spending time as a faction inside both the Workers Party (U.S.) and the Socialist Workers Party (US), the Johnson-Forest Tendency
Johnson-Forest Tendency
The Johnson–Forest tendency, sometimes called the Johnsonites, refers to a radical left tendency in the United States associated with Marxist theorists C.L.R. James and Raya Dunayevskaya, who used the pseudonyms J.R. Johnson and Freddie Forest respectively...
broke with the Trotskyist left. By early 1951, it had renamed itself Correspondence Publishing Committee. It first published a newspaper, also known as Correspondence, in November 1951 and analyzed a wildcat miners' strike in West Virginia
West Virginia
West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian and Southeastern regions of the United States, bordered by Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Ohio to the northwest, Pennsylvania to the northeast and Maryland to the east...
in the first issue. The newspapers' cartoons have drawn critical acclaim.
It was forced to deal with the deportation of one of its main leaders, C.L.R. James to Britain in 1953 that had a negative impact on the group. Although C.L.R. James continued to advise the group on a very regular basis from Britain, tensions in the group continued and a significant number led by Raya Dunayevskaya
Raya Dunayevskaya
Raya Dunayevskaya was the founder of the philosophy of Marxist Humanism in the United States of America. At one time Leon Trotsky's secretary, she later split with him and ultimately founded the organization News and Letters Committees and was its leader until her death.-Biography:Of Jewish...
split from Correspondence in 1955 to form News and Letters and promote Marxist-Humanist
Marxist humanism
Marxist humanism is a branch of Marxism that primarily focuses on Marx's earlier writings, especially the Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts of 1844 in which Marx espoused his theory of alienation, as opposed to his later works, which are considered to be concerned more with his structural...
ideas. They publish a newspaper by the same name that remains in print today. Whether a majority or a minority split from Correspondence in 1955 remains in dispute. Historian Kent Worcester claims that Raya Dunayevskaya
Raya Dunayevskaya
Raya Dunayevskaya was the founder of the philosophy of Marxist Humanism in the United States of America. At one time Leon Trotsky's secretary, she later split with him and ultimately founded the organization News and Letters Committees and was its leader until her death.-Biography:Of Jewish...
had a majority of the members in 1955 but Martin Glaberman
Martin Glaberman
Martin Glaberman was an influential American Marxist, teacher, and autoworker.-Biography:Glaberman was associated with the Johnson-Forest Tendency, a radical left group that split from the Trotskyist Socialist Workers Party, which understood the Soviet Union as a state capitalist society rather...
, writing in New Politics
New Politics (magazine)
New Politics is an independent socialist journal founded in 1961 and still published in the United States today. While it is inclusive of articles from a variety of left-of-center positions, the publication leans strongly toward a Third camp, democratic Marxist perspective, placing it typically to...
has claimed the opposite. He has also challenged other aspects of Worcester's book in a review that appeared in Against the Current magazine.
After the split, James Boggs
James Boggs (activist)
James Boggs was an American political activist, auto worker and author. He was married to feminist activist Grace Lee Boggs for forty years until his death in 1993.-Biography:...
was named the new editor of Correspondence newspaper. It issued a number of interesting pamphlets including Martin Glaberman
Martin Glaberman
Martin Glaberman was an influential American Marxist, teacher, and autoworker.-Biography:Glaberman was associated with the Johnson-Forest Tendency, a radical left group that split from the Trotskyist Socialist Workers Party, which understood the Soviet Union as a state capitalist society rather...
's Union Committeemen and Wildcat Strikes in 1955 and C.L.R. James' Every Cook Can Govern: A Study of Democracy in Ancient Greece. The latter favourably analyzed democracy in the Greek city states, despite the oppression that women and slaves experienced in ancient Greek society.
However, Correspondence will perhaps be best remembered for the book about the 1956 Hungarian workers' revolt, Facing Reality, by C.L.R. James, Grace Lee Boggs
Grace Lee Boggs
Grace Lee Boggs is an author, lifelong social activist and feminist. She is known for her years of political collaboration with C.L.R. James and Raya Dunayevskaya in the 1940s and 1950s. She eventually went off in her own political direction in the 1960s with her husband of some forty years, James...
and Pierre Chaulieu, a pseudonym for Cornelius Castoriadis
Cornelius Castoriadis
Cornelius Castoriadis was a Greek philosopher, social critic, economist, psychoanalyst, author of The Imaginary Institution of Society, and co-founder of the Socialisme ou Barbarie group.-Early life in Athens:...
. However, the group split again in 1962 when Grace Lee Boggs
Grace Lee Boggs
Grace Lee Boggs is an author, lifelong social activist and feminist. She is known for her years of political collaboration with C.L.R. James and Raya Dunayevskaya in the 1940s and 1950s. She eventually went off in her own political direction in the 1960s with her husband of some forty years, James...
, James Boggs
James Boggs (activist)
James Boggs was an American political activist, auto worker and author. He was married to feminist activist Grace Lee Boggs for forty years until his death in 1993.-Biography:...
, Freddy Paine and Lyman Paine
Lyman Paine
George Lyman Paine, Jr. , known as Lyman Paine, was an architect and radical left activist. He is known for his work with the Correspondence Publishing Committee with his wife Freddy Paine, and was closely associated with Grace Lee Boggs.Paine was born in New York City in 1901. His father George...
split from C.L.R. James. They continued to publish Correspondence for a couple of years but increasingly reflected a third worldist somewhat Maoist politics. Martin Glaberman
Martin Glaberman
Martin Glaberman was an influential American Marxist, teacher, and autoworker.-Biography:Glaberman was associated with the Johnson-Forest Tendency, a radical left group that split from the Trotskyist Socialist Workers Party, which understood the Soviet Union as a state capitalist society rather...
and others who remained loyal to C.L.R. James started a new organization known as Facing Reality
Facing Reality
Facing Reality was a radical left group in the United States which existed from about 1962 until 1970.-History:Facing Reality originated in the Johnson-Forest Tendency led by C.L.R. James and Raya Dunayevskaya. It has its origins in the Trotskyist left but regarded the Soviet Union as state...
that continued to promote the same politics as Correspondence until its dissolution in 1970.
Facing Reality
The most important contribution of this group was the publication of the book, Facing Reality. It analyzed the implications of the October 1956 revolt in HungaryHungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
against Stalinist rule. The nature of the contribution by Cornelius Castoriadis
Cornelius Castoriadis
Cornelius Castoriadis was a Greek philosopher, social critic, economist, psychoanalyst, author of The Imaginary Institution of Society, and co-founder of the Socialisme ou Barbarie group.-Early life in Athens:...
is complex because he apparently did not have an opportunity to examine the manuscript before it went to press. The book argued that the example of Hungary demonstrated that modern society was shifting towards confrontation between workers' councils and bureaucratic institutions. Therefore, organizations such as Correspondence were needed. It also included a defense of the role of revolutionary newspapers, such as the one published by Correspondence. There was also analysis of the radical potential of anti-colonial movements such as the Gold Coast nationalist movement that had emerged in what is now Ghana
Ghana
Ghana , officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country located in West Africa. It is bordered by Côte d'Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, Togo to the east, and the Gulf of Guinea to the south...
. Attention was paid to the role of Kwame Nkrumah
Kwame Nkrumah
Kwame Nkrumah was the leader of Ghana and its predecessor state, the Gold Coast, from 1952 to 1966. Overseeing the nation's independence from British colonial rule in 1957, Nkrumah was the first President of Ghana and the first Prime Minister of Ghana...
. The book was sharply criticized by Raya Dunayevskaya
Raya Dunayevskaya
Raya Dunayevskaya was the founder of the philosophy of Marxist Humanism in the United States of America. At one time Leon Trotsky's secretary, she later split with him and ultimately founded the organization News and Letters Committees and was its leader until her death.-Biography:Of Jewish...
.
Sources
Kent Worcester, C.L.R. James: A Political Biography (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1996).External links
- Facing reality, complete book at Hathi Trust
- /Analysis of Facing Reality by Loren Goldner