Summary Information
Spartacist League Records
1964-1974
Mss 500
0.4 c.f. (1 archives box)
Wisconsin Historical Society (Map)
Brief records of a Trotskyist organization formed about 1962 as the result of a split within the Socialist Workers Party, including minutes of national and New York City chapter meetings, two position papers of its youth group, the Revolutionary Communist Youth, and many printed fliers.
English
http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-mss00500 ↑ Bookmark this ↑
Biography/History
The Spartacist League (SL) is a Marxist Communist organization composed of professional revolutionaries who work within the American labor force. Like other Communist groups, the SL is dedicated to the destruction of capitalism through worldwide workers' revolution and the subsequent construction of a socialist state. The Spartacist League originated about 1962 following a split within the ranks of the Socialist Workers Party (SWP) and the expulsion from the party of members who later formed the SL. The League also had strong ties to the Progressive Labor Party (PLP) and the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), but during the late 1960s and early 1970s these groups also differed about strategy and ideology, and the SL eventually followed a separate path. The SL always opposed what was perceived as a growing emphasis on “legitimate” political involvement and ties with the so-called New Left Liberals, and the trend of the SDS toward exclusively anti-war activities.
Membership in the SL was open to all who espoused its purposes and programs, and agreed to abide by SL rules. Members belonged to local chapters, of which the New York Chapter was the most prominent. Every two years a national conference was held to determine and direct party policy; this meeting was the highest authority of the SL. The organization was governed by a continuing central committee, which had final authority on all party questions, except when superceded by an active national conference. The youth group of the SL was the Revolutionary Communist Youth (RCY), formerly the Revolutionary Marxist Caucus. Publications of the SL and RCY include the biweekly Workers Vanguard, Spartacist, published by the Central Committee, Women and Revolution, a publication of the Women's Commission, and the bimonthly Revolutionary Communist Youth Newsletter.
Scope and Content Note
The records in this collection present a rather incomplete view of the activities of the Spartacist League, and of its relationships with the SWP, PLP, and SDS. Many SL publications and printed materials have been separated to the Historical Library, and the researcher is advised to consult these sources as well as the manuscripts. Included with the manuscript records of the Spartacist League are minutes of meetings of the New York Local Chapter, and various national party bureaus and groups. Two position papers of the Revolutionary Marxist Caucus discuss racial oppression and working-class politics, and the fight for women's liberation; both of these papers originally were presented at the December 1969 New Haven SDS conference. Three folders of general printed fliers, probably intended for mass distribution, illustrate many other positions and views of the SL and its chapters on a variety of subjects. Those fliers which do not bear a printed date were dated in ink by the donors prior to receipt at the State Historical Society.
Administrative/Restriction Information
Presented by the Spartacist League via Jim Robertson, New York, New York, 1974, 1977. Accession Number: M74-191, M77-297
Processed by Menzi Behrnd Klodt, September 1979.
Contents List
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Minutes
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Box
1
Folder
1
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New York Local, 1964
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Box
1
Folder
2
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REB and New York Local, 1965
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Box
1
Folder
3
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Political Bureau, REB, and New York Local, 1966
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Box
1
Folder
4-5
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Political Bureau, 1967-1968
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Box
1
Folder
6
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Revolutionary Marxist Caucus Position Papers, December 1969
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Box
1
Folder
7-9
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General Printed Fliers, 1964-1974
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