This is the first volume of Ted Grant’s Writings. It covers the period from 1938 to 1942, when he was involved in building up the forces of Trotskyism in Britain. During the early years of the Second World War, Ted became editor of the Socialist Appeal and political secretary of the Workers’ International League. In this role Ted emerged as the principal theoretician of the British Trotskyist movement.
His participation in the revolutionary movement was to span a period from 1928, when he was introduced to Marxism, through to his death in 2006. For all those who knew him, he was a truly remarkable and inspiring figure.
The articles and documents contained in this first volume of his Writings coincided with the emergence of the WIL as one of the most successful Trotskyist groups in the world. This present volume covers a decisive time in history. It was the most testing time for British and world Trotskyism. As Hitler occupied Europe, the WIL was alone on the continent in applying the proletarian military policy that had been outlined by Trotsky. This it managed to do in the most successful fashion, allowing the WIL to establish an important proletarian base. We publish here only the articles that were either signed by Ted or that he drafted in his role as the WIL’s political secretary. He would have certainly written the vast bulk of the editorials of Socialist Appeal, but these have not been included. These writings constitute an essential and rich part of the theoretical heritage of Marxism, which can serve to educate the new generation of workers and youth who are entering into political activity at this time of deep capitalist crisis.
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Table of Contents
- Preface
- Introduction — "Ted Grant and the WIL" (by Rob Sewell)
1. Pre-war period
- Lessons of Spain [with Ralph Lee] (June 1938)
- [WIL PB] Contribution by WIL to the discussion on the tasks of Bolshevik-Leninists in Britain (June 1938)
- [WIL PB] Statement of the WIL to the founding congress of the Fourth International (September 1938)
- Against "national defence" (March 1939)
- The robbers quarrel over Tientsin (July 1939)
- Workers want peace—bosses prepare for war! (August 1939)
- Down with the war! (September 1939)
2. Imperialist slaughter [September 1939 – July 1940]
- Our war is the class war (February 1940)
- Not for imperialist slaughter (March 1940)
- How to win the class war (April 1940)
- No peace without socialism (May 1940)
- The workers’ war is the class war! (June 1940)
- Workers must be armed against capitalism (July 1940)
3. The internal debate of WIL on the revolutionary military policy [February – March 1941]
- [Andrew Scott] Arm the workers!—The only guarantee against Hitler’s invasion (February 1941)
- [WIL EC Majority] Invasion: arm the workers! (February 1941)
- [Sam Levy and Millie Kahn] The Interpretation of the EC Majority (February 1941)
- [Jock Haston] A step towards capitulation (March 1941)
- [WIL EC Majority] Military policy—or confusion (March 1941)
4. A turning point: the attack on the USSR [July 1941 – December 1942]
- Defend the Soviet Union—Fascism can only be defeated by international socialism (July 1941)
- An analysis of the social basis of the Soviet Union August 1941)
- Daily Herald—A public statement, not a private admission (July 1941)
- [WIL EC] The next steps forward—Towards the rank and file of the Communist Party (September 1941)
- Why USSR is suffering reverses—Internationalism has been abandoned (October 1941)
- [WIL PB] Statement on policy and perspectives (Autumn 1941)
- A challenge to the Communist Party (November 1941)
- ILP and the Stalinist slander (January 1942)
- Stalin threatens new turn—Anglo-USA imperialists fear Soviet victory (March 1942)
- [WIL] An open letter to [ILP] national conference (Easter 1942)
- Labour leaders hold workers back (May 1942)
- British refuse arms to Indians (June 1942)
- The road to India’s freedom [with Andrew Scott] (summer 1942)
- Labour lefts rehearsed debate with Tories! (July 1942)
- An open letter to the Yorkshire Miners’ Association (August 1942)
- Right wing Tories fear our programme (August 1942)
- New allies of Communist Party (September 1942)
- The ILP—A ship without a compass (October 1942)
- Wainwright and Doriot: birds of a feather (December 1942)
- [WIL] Open letter to Yorkshire miners (January 1943)
- Wainwright blunders again on the Chinese revolution (February 1943)
5. WIL’s pre-conference documents and updates [August 1942]
- Preparing for power (August 1942)
- Resolution on military policy (August 1942)
- [WIL conference appeal to the International Secretariat of the Fourth International] (August 1942)
- Constitution of Workers’ International League (August 1942)
- Report of pre-conference (August 1942)
- Perspectives and tasks draft (winter 1942)
Appendices