Ted Grant
Encyclopedia
Edward "Ted" Grant 9 July 1913 in Germiston
, South Africa
– 20 July 2006 in London
) was a South African Trotskyist who spent most of his adult life in Britain. He was a founding member of the Militant tendency
and later Socialist Appeal
.
His parents divorced when he was young and he was brought up by his French-born mother who took in lodgers to supplement her income. He was introduced to Trotskyism by one of these lodgers, Ralph Lee, who discussed politics with Isaac and supplied him with copies of The Militant
, the Trotskyist newspaper of the Communist League of America
. In 1934, he helped Lee found the Bolshevik-Leninist League of South Africa, a small Trotskyist group which soon merged with other tendencies to form the Workers Party of South Africa
. Later in the year, Grant, Lee and Max Basch decided to move to London where they believed there were better prospects for the movement.
to meet Trotsky's son, Lev Sedov. Once in Britain, he joined the Marxist Group
, which at the time was working in the Independent Labour Party
and took part in the Battle of Cable Street
against fascists. But when Trotsky suggested the group should turn to working in the Labour Party
, and their leadership disagreed, Grant was one of a small group who split to form the Bolshevik-Leninist Group, which soon became known as the Militant Group
. The group grew, but in 1937, a dispute about the leadership's treatment of Ralph Lee led to the split of several members including Grant.
members formed the Workers' International League
, and Grant was to became its main theoretician after the return of Lee to South Africa and in partnership with Jock Haston
. The group grew, and in 1941, he became editor of its paper. He continued his role in the fused Revolutionary Communist Party. Upon its break-up, Grant reluctantly joined Gerry Healy
's faction, but was soon expelled. He formed a new, small tendency in the Labour Party which, during 1952 and 1953, called itself the International Socialist Group after its quarterly magazine, The International Socialist. Later named the Revolutionary Socialist League, it was recognised as the official British section of the Fourth International
between 1957 and 1965. In 1964 it founded the paper Militant.
From the first issue, Grant and all those who wrote for the Militant newspaper always openly identified themselves. Most stated the constituency Labour Party or Labour Party Young Socialist branch to which they belonged. Whilst being open with ordinary members, they however maintained to the party officialdom if needs be that they were not an organised party with their own distinct rules, discipline and programme. They sold the Militant newspaper openly inside Labour Party ward and constituency meetings, and moved "Militant" resolutions at wards, constituencies, and national conference, with occasional success.
The group at first grew only very slowly, but by 1983 it had become a significant force in British politics, known as the Militant tendency
. "Internal" documents, those circulated only amongst Militant members, traditionally hid the authors of its pieces under their initials, often reversed, but, like many other groups within the Labour Party at that time, both of the left and the right, its organisation and membership was an open secret.
Throughout this time Grant and his colleagues formally denied to officials of the Labour Party that the Militant was organised in a way which was contrary to the constitution of the Labour Party, instead claiming it was merely a group of supporters of the Militant newspaper. In the atmosphere of Labour's long shift to the left in the 1970s, in which constituency Labour Party General Management Committees (GMCs, later termed GCs) were largely against expulsions, there were only a few isolated attempts to take action against Militant, whilst its support in the party, judged by the number of delegates to national conference which supported its motions, seemed to grow.
Under Labour Party leader Michael Foot
the National Executive Committee (NEC) expelled the so-called "Editorial Board" of the Militant newspaper, namely the "Political Editor" Ted Grant, "Editor" Peter Taaffe
, Keith Dickinson, Lynn Walsh
, and the Militant national treasurer Clare Doyle in 1983. These members of Militant represented the leading members at that time. The decision was subsequently endorsed by the full conference of the party, where the union block vote (a vote cast by each union in one single block, often used at the discretion of the union general secretaries, and which at that time commanded the overwhelming majority of votes at conference) swung behind the expulsions, while 80% of the delegates of the General Management Committees of the Constituency Labour Parties were against and a considerable number of rank-and-file trade union delegates voted against expulsion. This measure did not however stop the growth of the Militant.
as well as having 3 MPs. The grouping was advancing within the Labour Party but also faced a new leader, Neil Kinnock
who was determined to remove the Militant tendency presence from the party. Kinnock's closest advisers were often from the ranks of the Labour Party's student organisation NOLS
led by the Clause Four or associated with the Labour Co-ordinating Committee
.
The resulting confrontation saw many leading Militant tendency members expelled from the Labour Party and created a dynamic within the organisation that led many to question the policy of entryism
. They argued that the Militant tendency was able to grow outside Labour and that the Labour Party's position on the poll tax
revealed it to be out of touch with working class
opinion. At first only a handful of leading Militant tendency members were expelled, and most of the organisation's thousands of members and their three Labour-elected Members of Parliament could not be expelled.
In 1986 the Labour Party comprehensively over hauled its rule book, at the same as expelling leading Militant tendency members in Merseyside, with a view to making it possible to systematically remove members of entryist parties such as the Militant tendency.
However, Militant MP Terry Fields
was removed as a Labour MP for not paying his poll tax, less than two weeks after being released from jail after serving sixty days for the same crime. Militant supporter Dave Nellist
MP was suspended from Party membership around the same time, for a "sustained course of conduct bringing the party into disrepute" despite the fact that he had just been voted "Backbencher of the year" by the Conservative supporting Spectator magazine.
, and there was a feeling by some members that continued support for the Labour Party was impeding the growth of the tendency. A debate arose within Militant wherein Peter Taaffe
and his supporters argued in favour of abandoning the entryism tactic, and instead standing candidates against the Labour Party in the Liverpool Walton by-election, 1991
and then in the 1992 general election
in Liverpool and Scotland. Ted Grant opposed this, and after the ensuing lengthy internal debate and special national conference which confirmed the decision to leave the Labour Party, Grant was expelled from the Militant tendency together with Alan Woods in 1992 after a document allegedly written by their faction emerged in the mainstream media which stated that they intended to split Militant and the Committee for a Workers' International
.
Following the expulsion they started a new group in the Labour Party, known by the name of its publication, Socialist Appeal
. The split also left Grant and his supporters outside the Committee for a Workers' International, but he and Woods were able to found the Committee for a Marxist International (now called the International Marxist Tendency
) with international supporters. He spent much of his time following the split on his writing until he suffered a stroke in 2003 at the age of 90, while he was giving a speech. Ted Grant died on the 20 July 2006, at the age of 93.
Trotsky's grandson Vsievolod Platonovich Volkov said in 1997 that Grant's "deep knowledge of Marxist theory, and particularly the thoughts and works of Leon Trotsky, leap from the written page. Such a knowledge is the fruit of a long life tenaciously dedicated to the meticulous study of Marxism both in theory and in everyday practice."
, a Leninist
and a Trotskyist. In his ideas, one can recognize a strong emphasis on the following issues:
Germiston, Gauteng
Germiston is a city in the East Rand of Gauteng in South Africa. Germiston is now the seat of the Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality which includes much of the East Rand, and is also considered part of Greater Johannesburg.-History:...
, South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
– 20 July 2006 in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
) was a South African Trotskyist who spent most of his adult life in Britain. He was a founding member of the Militant tendency
Militant Tendency
The Militant tendency was an entrist group within the British Labour Party based around the Militant newspaper that was first published in 1964...
and later Socialist Appeal
Socialist Appeal
Socialist Appeal is the publication of a British Trotskyist organisation operating within the Labour Party which was founded by Ted Grant and Alan Woods after they were expelled from the Militant tendency. The organisation is popularly known as the Socialist Appeal group, and publishes a monthly...
.
Early political life
Grant's father had settled in South Africa after fleeing Tsarist Russia in the nineteenth century. His original family name is reported as "Blank" also in his autobiography, but the Guardian in an obituary suggested that his full birth name was kept unknown.His parents divorced when he was young and he was brought up by his French-born mother who took in lodgers to supplement her income. He was introduced to Trotskyism by one of these lodgers, Ralph Lee, who discussed politics with Isaac and supplied him with copies of The Militant
The Militant
The Militant is an international Socialist newsweekly connected to the Socialist Workers Party and the Pathfinder Tendency. It is published in the United States and distributed in other countries such as Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, France, Sweden, Iceland, and New...
, the Trotskyist newspaper of the Communist League of America
Communist League of America
The Communist League of America was founded by James P. Cannon, Max Shachtman and Martin Abern late in 1928 after their expulsion from the Communist Party USA for Trotskyism. The CLA was the United States section of Leon Trotsky's International Left Opposition and initially positioned itself as...
. In 1934, he helped Lee found the Bolshevik-Leninist League of South Africa, a small Trotskyist group which soon merged with other tendencies to form the Workers Party of South Africa
Workers Party of South Africa
The Workers Party of South Africa was the first Trotskyist organisation in South Africa to have a national base. It published a regular newspaper, Spark....
. Later in the year, Grant, Lee and Max Basch decided to move to London where they believed there were better prospects for the movement.
Early career in Britain
On the journey he changed his name to Edward Grant - but he was always to be known as Ted - and stopped over in FranceFrance
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
to meet Trotsky's son, Lev Sedov. Once in Britain, he joined the Marxist Group
Marxist Group (UK)
The Marxist Group was an early Trotskyist group in the United Kingdom.Its origins lay in the Communist League, the first Trotskyist group in the country. Trotsky advised the group to enter the Independent Labour Party , which had just disaffiliated from the Labour Party...
, which at the time was working in the Independent Labour Party
Independent Labour Party
The Independent Labour Party was a socialist political party in Britain established in 1893. The ILP was affiliated to the Labour Party from 1906 to 1932, when it voted to leave...
and took part in the Battle of Cable Street
Battle of Cable Street
The Battle of Cable Street took place on Sunday 4 October 1936 in Cable Street in the East End of London. It was a clash between the Metropolitan Police, overseeing a march by the British Union of Fascists, led by Oswald Mosley, and anti-fascists, including local Jewish, socialist, anarchist,...
against fascists. But when Trotsky suggested the group should turn to working in the Labour Party
Labour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
, and their leadership disagreed, Grant was one of a small group who split to form the Bolshevik-Leninist Group, which soon became known as the Militant Group
Militant Group
The Militant Group was an early British Trotskyist group, formed in 1935 by Denzil Dean Harber, former leader of the Marxist Group, as an entrist group inside the Labour Party....
. The group grew, but in 1937, a dispute about the leadership's treatment of Ralph Lee led to the split of several members including Grant.
Formation of the "Militant tendency"
The former Revolutionary Socialist LeagueRevolutionary Socialist League (UK, 1938)
The first RSL was formed in early 1938 with the merger of two different parties, the Marxist League led by Harry Wicks and the Marxist Group led by C. L. R. James....
members formed the Workers' International League
Workers' International League (1937)
The Workers' International League was a Trotskyist group in Britain which existed from 1937 to 1944.-Formation:The WIl was formed in 1937 by around members of the Militant Group, who had split due to false allegations from the leadership of that group that Ralph Lee, then a newly arrived South...
, and Grant was to became its main theoretician after the return of Lee to South Africa and in partnership with Jock Haston
Jock Haston
James "Jock" Ritchie Haston was a Trotskyist politician and General Secretary of the Revolutionary Communist Party in Great Britain.-Early years:...
. The group grew, and in 1941, he became editor of its paper. He continued his role in the fused Revolutionary Communist Party. Upon its break-up, Grant reluctantly joined Gerry Healy
Gerry Healy
Thomas Gerard Healy, known as Gerry Healy , was a political activist, a co-founder of the International Committee of the Fourth International, and, according to former prominent U.S. supporter David North, the leader of the Trotskyist movement in Great Britain between 1950 – 1985...
's faction, but was soon expelled. He formed a new, small tendency in the Labour Party which, during 1952 and 1953, called itself the International Socialist Group after its quarterly magazine, The International Socialist. Later named the Revolutionary Socialist League, it was recognised as the official British section of the Fourth International
Fourth International
The Fourth International is the communist international organisation consisting of followers of Leon Trotsky , with the declared dedicated goal of helping the working class bring about socialism...
between 1957 and 1965. In 1964 it founded the paper Militant.
From the first issue, Grant and all those who wrote for the Militant newspaper always openly identified themselves. Most stated the constituency Labour Party or Labour Party Young Socialist branch to which they belonged. Whilst being open with ordinary members, they however maintained to the party officialdom if needs be that they were not an organised party with their own distinct rules, discipline and programme. They sold the Militant newspaper openly inside Labour Party ward and constituency meetings, and moved "Militant" resolutions at wards, constituencies, and national conference, with occasional success.
The group at first grew only very slowly, but by 1983 it had become a significant force in British politics, known as the Militant tendency
Militant Tendency
The Militant tendency was an entrist group within the British Labour Party based around the Militant newspaper that was first published in 1964...
. "Internal" documents, those circulated only amongst Militant members, traditionally hid the authors of its pieces under their initials, often reversed, but, like many other groups within the Labour Party at that time, both of the left and the right, its organisation and membership was an open secret.
Throughout this time Grant and his colleagues formally denied to officials of the Labour Party that the Militant was organised in a way which was contrary to the constitution of the Labour Party, instead claiming it was merely a group of supporters of the Militant newspaper. In the atmosphere of Labour's long shift to the left in the 1970s, in which constituency Labour Party General Management Committees (GMCs, later termed GCs) were largely against expulsions, there were only a few isolated attempts to take action against Militant, whilst its support in the party, judged by the number of delegates to national conference which supported its motions, seemed to grow.
Under Labour Party leader Michael Foot
Michael Foot
Michael Mackintosh Foot, FRSL, PC was a British Labour Party politician, journalist and author, who was a Member of Parliament from 1945 to 1955 and from 1960 until 1992...
the National Executive Committee (NEC) expelled the so-called "Editorial Board" of the Militant newspaper, namely the "Political Editor" Ted Grant, "Editor" Peter Taaffe
Peter Taaffe
Peter Taaffe is the general secretary of the Socialist Party of England and Wales SPEW and member of the International Executive Committee of the Committee for a Workers International , which claims sections in over 35 countries around the world.Taaffe was founding editor of the Marxist Militant...
, Keith Dickinson, Lynn Walsh
Lynn Walsh
Lynn Walsh is a leading figure of the Socialist Party of England and Wales, the English and Welsh part of the Committee for a Workers International, and editor of the Socialist Party's monthly magazine, Socialism Today.-Biography:...
, and the Militant national treasurer Clare Doyle in 1983. These members of Militant represented the leading members at that time. The decision was subsequently endorsed by the full conference of the party, where the union block vote (a vote cast by each union in one single block, often used at the discretion of the union general secretaries, and which at that time commanded the overwhelming majority of votes at conference) swung behind the expulsions, while 80% of the delegates of the General Management Committees of the Constituency Labour Parties were against and a considerable number of rank-and-file trade union delegates voted against expulsion. This measure did not however stop the growth of the Militant.
Kinnock takes action
But by 1985 the atmosphere had changed - Militant were effectively running Liverpool City CouncilLiverpool City Council
Liverpool City Council is the governing body for the city of Liverpool in Merseyside, England. It consists of 90 councillors, three for each of the city's 30 wards. The council is currently controlled by the Labour Party and is led by Joe Anderson.-Domain:...
as well as having 3 MPs. The grouping was advancing within the Labour Party but also faced a new leader, Neil Kinnock
Neil Kinnock
Neil Gordon Kinnock, Baron Kinnock is a Welsh politician belonging to the Labour Party. He served as a Member of Parliament from 1970 until 1995 and as Labour Leader and Leader of Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition from 1983 until 1992 - his leadership of the party during nearly nine years making him...
who was determined to remove the Militant tendency presence from the party. Kinnock's closest advisers were often from the ranks of the Labour Party's student organisation NOLS
NOLS
Several different organisations use the acronym NOLS:*The National Outdoor Leadership School of the United States.*The National Organisation of Labour Students of the United Kingdom.*The National Organisation of Labor Students of Australia....
led by the Clause Four or associated with the Labour Co-ordinating Committee
Labour Co-ordinating Committee
The Labour Co-ordinating Committee was a factional body inside the British Labour Party established in 1978 and wound-up in 1995. In that period it moved from a group established to challenge to leadership of the party from the left to the vanguard of Tony Blair's drive to modernise the party's...
.
The resulting confrontation saw many leading Militant tendency members expelled from the Labour Party and created a dynamic within the organisation that led many to question the policy of entryism
Entryism
Entryism is a political tactic by which an organisation or state encourages its members or agents to infiltrate another organisation in an attempt to gain recruits, or take over entirely...
. They argued that the Militant tendency was able to grow outside Labour and that the Labour Party's position on the poll tax
Poll tax
A poll tax is a tax of a portioned, fixed amount per individual in accordance with the census . When a corvée is commuted for cash payment, in effect it becomes a poll tax...
revealed it to be out of touch with working class
Working class
Working class is a term used in the social sciences and in ordinary conversation to describe those employed in lower tier jobs , often extending to those in unemployment or otherwise possessing below-average incomes...
opinion. At first only a handful of leading Militant tendency members were expelled, and most of the organisation's thousands of members and their three Labour-elected Members of Parliament could not be expelled.
In 1986 the Labour Party comprehensively over hauled its rule book, at the same as expelling leading Militant tendency members in Merseyside, with a view to making it possible to systematically remove members of entryist parties such as the Militant tendency.
However, Militant MP Terry Fields
Terry Fields
Terence Fields was a British trades unionist and Labour Member of Parliament for Liverpool Broadgreen. He was a supporter of the Militant tendency.-Early life:...
was removed as a Labour MP for not paying his poll tax, less than two weeks after being released from jail after serving sixty days for the same crime. Militant supporter Dave Nellist
Dave Nellist
David John Nellist is a British Trotskyist activist and former Labour Member of Parliament for the now abolished constituency of Coventry South East...
MP was suspended from Party membership around the same time, for a "sustained course of conduct bringing the party into disrepute" despite the fact that he had just been voted "Backbencher of the year" by the Conservative supporting Spectator magazine.
The expulsion from Militant
At the end of the eighties the Militant tendency had enjoyed considerable success in the anti-Poll Tax movementAll Britain Anti-Poll Tax Federation
The All Britain Anti Poll Tax Federation was an organisation in Great Britain to co-ordinate the activities of local Anti-Poll Tax Unions campaigning against the Community Charge brought in by Margaret Thatcher's Conservative government in 1989 and 1990 .The BBC technicians' union, Broadcasting...
, and there was a feeling by some members that continued support for the Labour Party was impeding the growth of the tendency. A debate arose within Militant wherein Peter Taaffe
Peter Taaffe
Peter Taaffe is the general secretary of the Socialist Party of England and Wales SPEW and member of the International Executive Committee of the Committee for a Workers International , which claims sections in over 35 countries around the world.Taaffe was founding editor of the Marxist Militant...
and his supporters argued in favour of abandoning the entryism tactic, and instead standing candidates against the Labour Party in the Liverpool Walton by-election, 1991
Liverpool Walton by-election, 1991
The Liverpool Walton by-election was held on 4 July 1991, following the death of the Labour Party Member of Parliament Eric Heffer for Liverpool Walton, on 27 May.The constituency had become a safe Labour seat under Heffer, who was known as a left-wing MP...
and then in the 1992 general election
United Kingdom general election, 1992
The United Kingdom general election of 1992 was held on 9 April 1992, and was the fourth consecutive victory for the Conservative Party. This election result was one of the biggest surprises in 20th Century politics, as polling leading up to the day of the election showed Labour under leader Neil...
in Liverpool and Scotland. Ted Grant opposed this, and after the ensuing lengthy internal debate and special national conference which confirmed the decision to leave the Labour Party, Grant was expelled from the Militant tendency together with Alan Woods in 1992 after a document allegedly written by their faction emerged in the mainstream media which stated that they intended to split Militant and the Committee for a Workers' International
Committee for a Workers' International
The Committee for a Workers' International is an international association of Trotskyist parties. Members include the Socialist Party of England and Wales, the Socialist Party , the Socialist Party the Democratic Socialist Movement in South Africa and Nigeria and groups using the name Socialist...
.
Following the expulsion they started a new group in the Labour Party, known by the name of its publication, Socialist Appeal
Socialist Appeal
Socialist Appeal is the publication of a British Trotskyist organisation operating within the Labour Party which was founded by Ted Grant and Alan Woods after they were expelled from the Militant tendency. The organisation is popularly known as the Socialist Appeal group, and publishes a monthly...
. The split also left Grant and his supporters outside the Committee for a Workers' International, but he and Woods were able to found the Committee for a Marxist International (now called the International Marxist Tendency
International Marxist Tendency
The International Marxist Tendency is an international socialist organisation based on the ideas of Marx, Engels, Lenin, and Trotsky. The late Ted Grant was its chief theoretician and the person who built the organisation since its beginning. Currently, Alan Woods and Lal Khan are its best known...
) with international supporters. He spent much of his time following the split on his writing until he suffered a stroke in 2003 at the age of 90, while he was giving a speech. Ted Grant died on the 20 July 2006, at the age of 93.
Trotsky's grandson Vsievolod Platonovich Volkov said in 1997 that Grant's "deep knowledge of Marxist theory, and particularly the thoughts and works of Leon Trotsky, leap from the written page. Such a knowledge is the fruit of a long life tenaciously dedicated to the meticulous study of Marxism both in theory and in everyday practice."
Main ideas
Ted Grant described himself as a MarxistMarxism
Marxism is an economic and sociopolitical worldview and method of socioeconomic inquiry that centers upon a materialist interpretation of history, a dialectical view of social change, and an analysis and critique of the development of capitalism. Marxism was pioneered in the early to mid 19th...
, a Leninist
Leninism
In Marxist philosophy, Leninism is the body of political theory for the democratic organisation of a revolutionary vanguard party, and the achievement of a direct-democracy dictatorship of the proletariat, as political prelude to the establishment of socialism...
and a Trotskyist. In his ideas, one can recognize a strong emphasis on the following issues:
- So-called "Socialist" states born after World War IIWorld War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
are defined by Grant as "deformed workers' states", i.e. "proletarian BonapartistBonapartismBonapartism is often defined as a political expression in the vocabulary of Marxism and Leninism, deriving from the career of Napoleon Bonaparte. Karl Marx was a student of Jacobinism and the French Revolution as well as a contemporary critic of the Second Republic and Second Empire...
" regimes. Thus he denies a qualitative difference between StalinJoseph StalinJoseph Vissarionovich Stalin was the Premier of the Soviet Union from 6 May 1941 to 5 March 1953. He was among the Bolshevik revolutionaries who brought about the October Revolution and had held the position of first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee...
's USSR and such countries. In particular, Grant attempted to work up from Trotsky's theory of the Soviet Union as a degenerated workers' stateDegenerated workers' stateIn Trotskyist political theory the term degenerated workers' state has been used since the 1930s to describe the state of the Soviet Union after Joseph Stalin's consolidation of power in or about 1924...
. Grant foresaw the likelihood, in the 1945-1991 world situation, of the establishment of new bureaucratised "workers' states" in backward countries, also on the basis of left-wing military coups and peasant guerrilla wars. According to Grant, variants between such regimes have a minor importance and the clashes counterposing their leaderships are just instrumental in supporting the interests of conflicting bureaucracies. Differently from most Trotskyist groups, Ted Grant believed that also Burma and SyriaSyriaSyria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....
, though their leaders were not delivering Communistic speeches, were to be included in that same category when they had a planned economyPlanned economyA planned economy is an economic system in which decisions regarding production and investment are embodied in a plan formulated by a central authority, usually by a government agency...
. For all these countries, he supported a classic Trotsky's demand: a workers' "political revolution" aimed at restoring or establishing "workers' democracy" while preserving economic planning, as asked by the workers' wing of the Hungarian Revolution of 1956.
- Heavily stressed was the importance of the "united frontUnited frontThe united front is a form of struggle that may be pursued by revolutionaries. The basic theory of the united front tactic was first developed by the Comintern, an international communist organisation created by revolutionaries in the wake of the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution.According to the theses of...
" tactics worked out by the Third International in the 1920s and a renewed version of the entrist tactics which Trotsky advised some of his followers to adopt in the 30's. According to Grant, Trotskyist groups joining large left-wing parties and the most important unions was a practical implementation of the united front in those difficult conditions Trotskyists had to face after 1945, when the Fourth InternationalFourth InternationalThe Fourth International is the communist international organisation consisting of followers of Leon Trotsky , with the declared dedicated goal of helping the working class bring about socialism...
was far from being a gathering banner for most workers and leftist youth. In particular since the late 50's, Ted Grant developed an original concept of entrism (which he described as being a different concept than the classic entryism and also an opposing vision to Michel PabloMichel PabloMichel Pablo was the pseudonym of Michalis N. Raptis , a Trotskyist leader of Greek origin.- Early activism :...
's "deep entrism" or "entrism sui generis"): the revolutionists should have worked "inside, outside and around the mass organisations" for "workers begin to move through their own traditional mass organisations" and therefore "outside the workers' movement, there's nothing". This stance resulted in the Grantist groups on a world scale leaving the Fourth International after 1965, since Grant considered other Fourth Internationalists as having degenerated into sects under the influence of the ideas of the petty bourgeoisie (guerrillaism, left-wing nationalism, studentism, third-worldism, feminism etc.).
Trivia
- He is depicted as Jed Burroughs of the Burrowers League in Tariq AliTariq AliTariq Ali , , is a British Pakistani military historian, novelist, journalist, filmmaker, public intellectual, political campaigner, activist, and commentator...
's satire Redemption (Chatto & Windus 1990 ISBN 0-7011-3394-5). - Ted Grant's collected works are in the process of being published by Wellred Books; so far, the first volume has come out, covering the period 1938-1942.
See also
- Militant TendencyMilitant TendencyThe Militant tendency was an entrist group within the British Labour Party based around the Militant newspaper that was first published in 1964...
- Labour PartyLabour Party (UK)The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
- Socialist AppealSocialist AppealSocialist Appeal is the publication of a British Trotskyist organisation operating within the Labour Party which was founded by Ted Grant and Alan Woods after they were expelled from the Militant tendency. The organisation is popularly known as the Socialist Appeal group, and publishes a monthly...
- International Marxist TendencyInternational Marxist TendencyThe International Marxist Tendency is an international socialist organisation based on the ideas of Marx, Engels, Lenin, and Trotsky. The late Ted Grant was its chief theoretician and the person who built the organisation since its beginning. Currently, Alan Woods and Lal Khan are its best known...
- Alan Woods
- Grant, T. (2010). Writings, Volume One - Trotskyism and the Second World War. London: Wellred Publications
- Grant, T. (1989). The Unbroken Thread. London: Fortress Books
- Christophe Le Dréau, « Repères pour une histoire du trotskisme britannique, 1925-2005 », Communisme, 2006, 87, numéro spécial « Regards sur le communisme britannique », pp. 149–160.
External links
- The Ted Grant Internet Archive
- In Defence of Marxism International Marxist Tendency official website
- Obituary by his close collaborator Alan Woods.
- Obituary and critical analysis of Grant's life and thought from the World Socialist Web SiteWorld Socialist Web SiteThe World Socialist Web Site is the online news and information center of the International Committee of the Fourth International . The site publishes articles and analysis covering a wide range of topics and events all around the world. The daily 'Perspective' article presents the position of the...
- Obituary from The GuardianThe GuardianThe Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
- Obituary by Ian BirchallIan BirchallIan Birchall is a British Marxist historian and translator, a member of the Socialist Workers Party and author of numerous articles and books, particularly relating to the French Left...
in the Socialist WorkerSocialist WorkerSocialist Worker is the name of several socialist/communist newspapers associated with the International Socialist Tendency...
. - Obituary from The Daily TelegraphThe Daily TelegraphThe Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Arthur B...
- Obituary from The TimesThe TimesThe Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
- Obituary from Socialist DemocracySocialist Democracy (Ireland)Socialist Democracy is the successor to People's Democracy, a left wing current which emerged in Belfast in 1968 during the civil rights movement in Northern Ireland. During the 1970s it evolved towards Trotskyist positions and, by merging with the Dublin-based Movement for a Socialist Republic,...