Tony Cliff
Encyclopedia
Tony Cliff was a Trotskyist
who was a founding member of the Socialist Review Group which went on to become the Socialist Workers Party
. Born to a Jewish family in Palestine, he moved to Britain in 1947 and assumed the pen name Tony Cliff.
, he never joined the Communist Party of Palestine
, as he had not met any of its members before becoming a socialist activist. However, he did join the socialist Zionist group Hashomer Hatzair
, soon becoming not only a Trotskyist in 1933, but also a confirmed opponent of Zionism. Along with other Hashomer Hatzair members, he joined the illegal Palestine Revolutionary Communist League
, necessitating the use of several pseudonyms in three languages.
During World War II
, Gluckstein was imprisoned by the British authorities who governed the territory. After his release, he moved to Britain in 1947, but was never able to become a citizen and remained a stateless person. To the end of his life, he spoke English with a distinct foreign accent. He was for a while deported to the Republic of Ireland
and was only permitted to take up British residency due to the status of Chanie Rosenberg, his wife, as a British citizen. Living in London, he again became active with the Revolutionary Communist Party onto whose leadership he had been co-opted. For most purposes Gluckstein was a supporter of the leadership of the RCP around Jock Haston
and as such he was involved with the discussions concerning the nature of those states dominated by Russia and the Communist parties initiated by a faction within the RCP. This debate was linked to other discussions on the nationalised industries in Britain and the increasingly critical stance of Haston and the RCP as to the leadership of the Fourth International
with regard to Eastern Europe
and Yugoslavia
in particular.
On the break-up of the RCP, his supporters joined Gerry Healy
's group The Club
, although having been deported to Ireland Gluckstein himself did not. In 1950 he helped launch the Socialist Review
Group which was based around a journal of the same name. This was to be the main publication for which Gluckstein wrote during the 1950s, until it was superseded by International Socialism
in 1960, eventually ceasing publication altogether in 1962.
By the time he gained permanent residency in Britain, his supporters in The Club had been expelled due to differences on Birmingham Trades Council as to socialist policy concerning the war in Korea, where Gluckstein's co-factionalists refused to take a position of support for either side in the war.
Owing to his lack of established residency rights in Britain and during his earlier exile in Ireland the name Roger or Roger Tennant was used as a pseudonym. The first edition of his short book on Rosa Luxemburg
in 1959 was possibly the first use of the pen name 'Tony Cliff'. In the 1960s Cliff would revive many of his earlier pseudonyms in the pages of International Socialism in which journal reviews are to be found by Roger, Roger Tennant, Sakhry, Lee Rock and Tony Cliff, but none by Yigael or Yg'al Gluckstein.
His group was renamed the International Socialists in 1962, and was to grow from less than 100 members in 1960 until it claimed in the region of 3,000 in 1977, at which point it was renamed the Socialist Workers Party
(SWP). Cliff remained a leading member until his death in 2000. He was central to the various reorientations carried out in the SWP from time to time to react to changes in the situation of the working class. In particular, after the high level of strike activity in the early seventies, he argued in the late seventies that the working class movement was entering a "downturn" and that the party's activity should be radically changed as a result. A fierce debate ensued, which Cliff's side eventually won.
The SWP is now the largest self-styled revolutionary party in Britain, and the leading group in the International Socialist Tendency
. Cliff's biography is, as he himself remarked, inseparable from that of the groups of which he was a leading member.
Shortly before his death, he underwent a major surgical operation on his heart.
Cliff was one of several leading Marxists of his era (including Raya Dunayevskaya
and C.L.R. James) to develop a version of the theory that Russia and the 'glacis
countries' (buffer states), as they were referred to in the Fourth International at the time, were "state capitalist
". This theory was not at the time as iconoclastic as it came to appear later. The Fourth International
held until 1951 that the 'glacis' states had remained capitalist even while the FI maintained the position that Russia was a degenerated workers' state. In fact one leader of the Fourth International (Ernest Mandel
, writing under the name Germain) remarked that the ideas that both Russia and the glacis were capitalist, or that both Russia and the 'glacis' were workers' states, were both obviously incorrect and had no place in the Fourth International. However within months he would adopt the viewpoint that both Russia and the 'glacis' were workers' states.
Since then the consensus in most Trotskyist groups has been that all the states dominated by Stalinist parties and characterised by state planning and state ownership of property are to be seen as 'degenerated workers' states' (The Soviet Union) or 'deformed workers' states' (other Stalinist states, including much of Eastern Europe). In many ways Cliff was the main dissident from this idea although some of his opponents have sought to associate his state capitalist view with other ideas, for example the theory of 'bureaucratic collectivism
' associated with Shachtmanite
Workers Party
in the United States. However Cliff himself was insistent that his ideas owed nothing to those of Max Shachtman, or earlier proponents of the theory such as Bruno Rizzi, and made this clear in his Bureaucratic Collectivism - A Critique. Nevertheless, in the 1950s his group distributed literature published by Shachtman's group and the theory of the 'permanent arms economy' which was considered one of the pillars of what became the International Socialist Tendency originated with Shachtman's group though it is sometimes alleged that Cliff refused to acknowledge this publicly.
Besides Cliff's theory of state capitalism, and an adaptation of the idea of permanent arms economy, central to the ideology of the International Socialist tradition has been Cliff's theories on "Deflected Permanent Revolution," and the social roots of reformism.
Cliff is depicted as Jimmy Rock of the Rockers in Tariq Ali
's satire Redemption
.
and journalist
. His works were published in many languages as a result of the international nature of the movement of which he was a leader. A list of some of the more important of his works appears below. The date shown is mostly that of first publication.
Trotskyism
Trotskyism is the theory of Marxism as advocated by Leon Trotsky. Trotsky considered himself an orthodox Marxist and Bolshevik-Leninist, arguing for the establishment of a vanguard party of the working-class...
who was a founding member of the Socialist Review Group which went on to become the Socialist Workers Party
Socialist Workers Party (Britain)
The Socialist Workers Party is a far left party in Britain founded by Tony Cliff. The SWP's student section has groups at a number of universities...
. Born to a Jewish family in Palestine, he moved to Britain in 1947 and assumed the pen name Tony Cliff.
Biography
Although as a young man he identified with CommunismCommunism
Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...
, he never joined the Communist Party of Palestine
Communist Party of Palestine
The Communist Party of Palestine was a communist party in Palestine 1922-1923. It was formed through a split in the Po‘alei Tziyon which lead to the formation of the Jewish Communist Party and another faction forming the Palestinian Communist Party). A major difference between the two parties was...
, as he had not met any of its members before becoming a socialist activist. However, he did join the socialist Zionist group Hashomer Hatzair
Hashomer Hatzair
Hashomer Hatzair is a Socialist–Zionist youth movement founded in 1913 in Galicia, Austria-Hungary, and was also the name of the group's political party in the Yishuv in the pre-1948 British Mandate of Palestine...
, soon becoming not only a Trotskyist in 1933, but also a confirmed opponent of Zionism. Along with other Hashomer Hatzair members, he joined the illegal Palestine Revolutionary Communist League
Revolutionary Communist League (Palestine)
The Revolutionary Communist League or Brit Kommunistim Mahapchanin was a Trotskyist party in Palestine in the late 1930s and 1940s....
, necessitating the use of several pseudonyms in three languages.
During World War II
World War II
World 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...
, Gluckstein was imprisoned by the British authorities who governed the territory. After his release, he moved to Britain in 1947, but was never able to become a citizen and remained a stateless person. To the end of his life, he spoke English with a distinct foreign accent. He was for a while deported to the Republic of Ireland
Republic of Ireland
Ireland , described as the Republic of Ireland , is a sovereign state in Europe occupying approximately five-sixths of the island of the same name. Its capital is Dublin. Ireland, which had a population of 4.58 million in 2011, is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy,...
and was only permitted to take up British residency due to the status of Chanie Rosenberg, his wife, as a British citizen. Living in London, he again became active with the Revolutionary Communist Party onto whose leadership he had been co-opted. For most purposes Gluckstein was a supporter of the leadership of the RCP around 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:...
and as such he was involved with the discussions concerning the nature of those states dominated by Russia and the Communist parties initiated by a faction within the RCP. This debate was linked to other discussions on the nationalised industries in Britain and the increasingly critical stance of Haston and the RCP as to the leadership 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...
with regard to Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe is the eastern part of Europe. The term has widely disparate geopolitical, geographical, cultural and socioeconomic readings, which makes it highly context-dependent and even volatile, and there are "almost as many definitions of Eastern Europe as there are scholars of the region"...
and Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia refers to three political entities that existed successively on the western part of the Balkans during most of the 20th century....
in particular.
On the break-up of the RCP, his supporters 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 group The Club
The Club (Trotskyist)
The Club was a Trotskyist group in the United Kingdom. It operated inside the Labour Party and was the official section of the Fourth International from 1950 until 1953 when, after the FI split, it became part of the International Committee of the Fourth International...
, although having been deported to Ireland Gluckstein himself did not. In 1950 he helped launch the Socialist Review
Socialist Review
The Socialist Review is the monthly magazine of the British Socialist Workers Party. As well as being printed it is also published online.-Original publication: 1950-1962:...
Group which was based around a journal of the same name. This was to be the main publication for which Gluckstein wrote during the 1950s, until it was superseded by International Socialism
International Socialism (journal)
International Socialism is a British-based quarterly magazine of socialist theory published by the Socialist Workers Party. It is currently edited by Alex Callinicos, who took over after the death of Chris Harman in November 2009....
in 1960, eventually ceasing publication altogether in 1962.
By the time he gained permanent residency in Britain, his supporters in The Club had been expelled due to differences on Birmingham Trades Council as to socialist policy concerning the war in Korea, where Gluckstein's co-factionalists refused to take a position of support for either side in the war.
Owing to his lack of established residency rights in Britain and during his earlier exile in Ireland the name Roger or Roger Tennant was used as a pseudonym. The first edition of his short book on Rosa Luxemburg
Rosa Luxemburg
Rosa Luxemburg was a Marxist theorist, philosopher, economist and activist of Polish Jewish descent who became a naturalized German citizen...
in 1959 was possibly the first use of the pen name 'Tony Cliff'. In the 1960s Cliff would revive many of his earlier pseudonyms in the pages of International Socialism in which journal reviews are to be found by Roger, Roger Tennant, Sakhry, Lee Rock and Tony Cliff, but none by Yigael or Yg'al Gluckstein.
His group was renamed the International Socialists in 1962, and was to grow from less than 100 members in 1960 until it claimed in the region of 3,000 in 1977, at which point it was renamed the Socialist Workers Party
Socialist Workers Party (Britain)
The Socialist Workers Party is a far left party in Britain founded by Tony Cliff. The SWP's student section has groups at a number of universities...
(SWP). Cliff remained a leading member until his death in 2000. He was central to the various reorientations carried out in the SWP from time to time to react to changes in the situation of the working class. In particular, after the high level of strike activity in the early seventies, he argued in the late seventies that the working class movement was entering a "downturn" and that the party's activity should be radically changed as a result. A fierce debate ensued, which Cliff's side eventually won.
The SWP is now the largest self-styled revolutionary party in Britain, and the leading group in the International Socialist Tendency
International Socialist Tendency
The International Socialist Tendency is an international grouping of unorthodox Trotskyist organisations based around the ideas of Tony Cliff, founder of the Socialist Workers Party in Britain...
. Cliff's biography is, as he himself remarked, inseparable from that of the groups of which he was a leading member.
Shortly before his death, he underwent a major surgical operation on his heart.
Ideology
Cliff was a revolutionary socialist in the Trotskyist tradition attempting to make Lenin's theory of the party effective in the present day. Much of his theoretical writing was aimed at immediate tasks of the Party at the time.Cliff was one of several leading Marxists of his era (including 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...
and C.L.R. James) to develop a version of the theory that Russia and the 'glacis
Glacis
A glacis in military engineering is an artificial slope of earth used in late European fortresses so constructed as to keep any potential assailant under the fire of the defenders until the last possible moment...
countries' (buffer states), as they were referred to in the Fourth International at the time, were "state capitalist
State capitalism
The term State capitalism has various meanings, but is usually described as commercial economic activity undertaken by the state with management of the productive forces in a capitalist manner, even if the state is nominally socialist. State capitalism is usually characterized by the dominance or...
". This theory was not at the time as iconoclastic as it came to appear later. 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...
held until 1951 that the 'glacis' states had remained capitalist even while the FI maintained the position that Russia was a degenerated workers' state. In fact one leader of the Fourth International (Ernest Mandel
Ernest Mandel
Ernest Ezra Mandel, also known by various pseudonyms such as Ernest Germain, Pierre Gousset, Henri Vallin, Walter , was a revolutionary Marxist theorist.-Life:...
, writing under the name Germain) remarked that the ideas that both Russia and the glacis were capitalist, or that both Russia and the 'glacis' were workers' states, were both obviously incorrect and had no place in the Fourth International. However within months he would adopt the viewpoint that both Russia and the 'glacis' were workers' states.
Since then the consensus in most Trotskyist groups has been that all the states dominated by Stalinist parties and characterised by state planning and state ownership of property are to be seen as 'degenerated workers' states' (The Soviet Union) or 'deformed workers' states' (other Stalinist states, including much of Eastern Europe). In many ways Cliff was the main dissident from this idea although some of his opponents have sought to associate his state capitalist view with other ideas, for example the theory of 'bureaucratic collectivism
Bureaucratic collectivism
Bureaucratic collectivism is a theory of class society. It is used by some Trotskyists to describe the nature of the Soviet Union under Joseph Stalin, and other similar states in Central and Eastern Europe and elsewhere .- Theory :...
' associated with Shachtmanite
Shachtmanism
Shachtmanism is the form of Marxism associated with Max Shachtman. It has two major components: a bureaucratic collectivist analysis of the Soviet Union and a third camp approach to world politics...
Workers Party
Workers Party (US)
Not to be confused with the modern Marxist-Leninist party, Workers Party, USA.The Workers Party was a Third Camp Trotskyist group in the United States. It was founded in April 1940 by members of the Socialist Workers Party who opposed the Soviet invasion of Finland. They included Max Shachtman,...
in the United States. However Cliff himself was insistent that his ideas owed nothing to those of Max Shachtman, or earlier proponents of the theory such as Bruno Rizzi, and made this clear in his Bureaucratic Collectivism - A Critique. Nevertheless, in the 1950s his group distributed literature published by Shachtman's group and the theory of the 'permanent arms economy' which was considered one of the pillars of what became the International Socialist Tendency originated with Shachtman's group though it is sometimes alleged that Cliff refused to acknowledge this publicly.
Besides Cliff's theory of state capitalism, and an adaptation of the idea of permanent arms economy, central to the ideology of the International Socialist tradition has been Cliff's theories on "Deflected Permanent Revolution," and the social roots of reformism.
Personal life
Cliff had little or no time for any activities not directly linked to the needs of building his party (with the exception of caring for his family). He did not drink or smoke, or socialize very much. Cliff's wife, Chanie Rosenberg, was herself an active member successively of the SRG, IS and SWP, in which she remains active. As well as authoring many articles on social questions for the groups' publications, she was an activist in the National Union of Teachers until her retirement. In addition, three of the couple's four children became members of the SWP, with one son, Donny Gluckstein, co-authoring two books with his father.Cliff is depicted as Jimmy Rock of the Rockers in Tariq Ali
Tariq Ali
Tariq Ali , , is a British Pakistani military historian, novelist, journalist, filmmaker, public intellectual, political campaigner, activist, and commentator...
's satire Redemption
Redemption (1990 novel)
Redemption, the first novel by author, historian and former Trotskyist Tariq Ali, is a roman à clef and apostate satire of the inability of Trotskyists to handle the downfall of the Eastern bloc....
.
Major works
Cliff was a prolific authorAuthor
An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...
and journalist
Journalist
A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...
. His works were published in many languages as a result of the international nature of the movement of which he was a leader. A list of some of the more important of his works appears below. The date shown is mostly that of first publication.
- All That Glitters Is Not Gold (1945)
- State Capitalism in Russia (1955) (out of print; originally issued as The Nature of Stalinist Russia (1947, book 1948))
- The Class Nature of the Peoples Democracies (1948)
- Collectivism - A Critique (1948)
- Stalin's Satellites in Europe (1952) (out of print)
- Economic Roots of Reformism (1957)
- Perspectives For The Permanent War Economy (1957)
- Mao's China (1957) (out of print) (1959) ISBN B0000CKFSJ
- Trotsky On Substitutionism (1960)
- Incomes Policy, Legislation and Shop Stewards (1966) with Colin BarkerColin BarkerColin Barker is a British sociologist as well as a Marxist historian and writer. A long-standing member of the Socialist Workers Party in Manchester, he is the author of numerous articles and works on Marxism, including a history of the Polish trade union Solidarity, Festival of the Oppressed.A...
- The Employers Offensive; Productivity Deals And How To Fight Them (1967)
- France : The Struggle Goes On (1968) with 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...
- Party and Class (1971) ISBN 0-902818-00-7
- Lenin, 4 volumes: Building the party (Vol.1, 1975), All Power to the Soviets (Vol.2, 1976), The Revolution Besieged, 1917-1923 (Vol.3, 1978) and The Bolsheviks and World communism (Vol.4, 1979).
- Portugal At the Crossroads (1975)
- The Labour Party: A Marxist History with Donny Gluckstein (1988) ISBN 0-906224-45-4
- Trotsky, 4 volumes, Bookmarks, 1989-1993. (A four volume biography, including Vol.1, Towards October: 1879-1917; Vol. 2, The Sword of the Revolution: 1917-1923; Vol.3, Fighting the rising Stalinist bureaucracy: 1923-1927; Vol.4, The darker the night the brighter the star: 1927-1940.)
- Trotskyism After Trotsky (1999)
- A World To Win (2000) (autobiography) ISBN 1-898876-62-2
- Marxism at the Millennium (2000)
- Selected Writings, Bookmarks, 2001/02/03. Three volumes: International Struggle and the Marxist Tradition; In The Thick Of Workers' Struggle; Marxist Theory After Trotsky.
Archives
- A Summary Description of the Tony Cliff papers held at the Modern Records Centre, University of WarwickUniversity of WarwickThe University of Warwick is a public research university located in Coventry, United Kingdom...
Library. Online abstract available. Retrieved June 16, 2006.
External links
- Tony Cliff Internet Archive, biography and collection of his writings from 1938-2000 on Marxists.org.
- “50 Years of the International Socialist Tradition: Ahmed Shawki interviews Tony Cliff in 1997, 50 years after the publication of State Capitalism in Russia.” International Socialist Review, No.1, Summer 1997, pp. 27–31.
- More Years for the Locust: The Origins of the SWP Criticism of Cliff and the SWP by Jim Higgins, a former colleague.
- Talks by Tony Cliff on Lenin and State Capitalism in MP3MP3MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III, more commonly referred to as MP3, is a patented digital audio encoding format using a form of lossy data compression...
- Tony Cliff (1917-2000) : Links to biographies, obituaries and websites, compiled by Modkraft.dk/Tidsskriftcentret
- Tony Cliff Bibliography - the writings and works of Tony Cliff 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...
on Modkraft.dk/tidsskriftcentret
See also
- bureaucratic collectivismBureaucratic collectivismBureaucratic collectivism is a theory of class society. It is used by some Trotskyists to describe the nature of the Soviet Union under Joseph Stalin, and other similar states in Central and Eastern Europe and elsewhere .- Theory :...
- deflected permanent revolution
- deformed workers state
- degenerated workers state
- new classNew classThe "New Class" model, as a theory of new social groups in post-industrial societies, gained ascendency during the 1970s as social and political scientists noted how "New Class" groups were shaped by post-material orientations in their pursuit of political and social goals...
- permanent revolutionPermanent RevolutionPermanent revolution is a term within Marxist theory, established in usage by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels by at least 1850 but which has since become most closely associated with Leon Trotsky. The use of the term by different theorists is not identical...
- state capitalismState capitalismThe term State capitalism has various meanings, but is usually described as commercial economic activity undertaken by the state with management of the productive forces in a capitalist manner, even if the state is nominally socialist. State capitalism is usually characterized by the dominance or...