Johnson-Forest Tendency
Encyclopedia
The Johnson–Forest tendency, sometimes called the Johnsonites, refers to a radical left tendency in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 associated with Marxist theorists 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...

, who used the pseudonyms J.R. Johnson and Freddie Forest respectively. They were joined by 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...

, a Chinese-American woman who was considered the third founder.

History

Much of the story of the Johnson–Forest tendency relates to disputes between various factions of the Trotskyist parties in the USA. James and Dunayevskaya first met in the Socialist Workers Party
Socialist Workers Party (United States)
The Socialist Workers Party is a far-left political organization in the United States. The group places a priority on "solidarity work" to aid strikes and is strongly supportive of Cuba...

. From 1939–1940, there was a bitter fight amongst the members of the Socialist Workers Party, and in 1940, James, Dunayevskaya, and Max Shachtman
Max Shachtman
Max Shachtman was an American Marxist theorist. He evolved from being an associate of Leon Trotsky to a social democrat and mentor of senior assistants to AFL-CIO President George Meany.-Beginnings:...

, among others, split to form the 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,...

. James and Dunayevskaya set up a study group within the Workers Party to work on the idea of State Capitalism, and were soon joined by Lee.

While this new group rapidly cohered around politics which were very similar to those of the Socialist Workers Party, there were certain differences which eventually led to the formation of the Johnson–Forest tendency. The majority of the Workers Party members believed, as did Shachtman
Max Shachtman
Max Shachtman was an American Marxist theorist. He evolved from being an associate of Leon Trotsky to a social democrat and mentor of senior assistants to AFL-CIO President George Meany.-Beginnings:...

, that the class nature of the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....

 was such that it should be designated a bureaucratic collectivist society. The minority opinion, held by James, Dunayevskaya, and Lee, held that it was state capitalist. Further, James was unhappy with the WP's lack of interest in Black activism. This resulted in their secession from the Workers Party.

Their disgruntlement with the Shachtmanite majority within the Workers Party led Johnson–Forest in 1947 to rejoin the Socialist Workers Party. It was during this time that the Johnson–Forest tendency reached the conclusion that, as there was no true socialist society existing anywhere in the world, a return to the fundamentals of Marxism
Marxist philosophy
Marxist philosophy or Marxist theory are terms that cover work in philosophy that is strongly influenced by Karl Marx's materialist approach to theory or that is written by Marxists...

 was in order. Their emphasis on Hegel's philosophy as being the foundation of Marxism
Karl Marx
Karl Heinrich Marx was a German philosopher, economist, sociologist, historian, journalist, and revolutionary socialist. His ideas played a significant role in the development of social science and the socialist political movement...

 was largely due to Dunayevskaya, who was deeply immersed in both Marx's and Lenin's writings.

Johnson–Forest remained in the Socialist Workers Party until 1950, exiting the party once again with a book co-authored by James and Dunayevskaya, State Capitalism and World Revolution. In the three years Johnson–Forest remained in the Socialist Workers Party, James also participated in party discussions on the American “Negro question” (as it was then called), arguing for support for separate struggles of blacks as having the potential to ignite the entire U.S. political situation. This arguably happened in the 1950’s and 1960’s.

Finally leaving the Socialist Workers Party, Johnson–Forest founded their own organization for the first time, called Correspondence. This group changed its named to the Correspondence Publishing Committee
Correspondence Publishing Committee
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.-History:...

 the next year. However, tensions that had surfaced earlier presaged a split, which took place in 1955. Through his theoretical and political work of the late 1940’s, James had concluded that a vanguard party
Vanguard party
A vanguard party is a political party at the forefront of a mass action, movement, or revolution. The idea of a vanguard party has its origins in the Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels...

 was no longer necessary, because its teachings had been absorbed in the masses. In 1956, James would see the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 as confirmation of this.

Dunayevskaya had agreed that the Leninist vanguard party was outmoded, but, in contrast to James, felt the need for some kind of revolutionary organization. In 1953, James was deported from the U.S. to Britain for the lack of a visa, and the polemic continued. The split was completed in 1955, when Dunayevskaya and her faction founded the group News and Letters Committees
News and Letters Committees
News and Letters Committees is a small, revolutionary-socialist organization in the United States. It is the world's most prominent Marxist-Humanist organization....

. Grace Lee remained with the Johnsonites who founded 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...

, as well as a newsletter based in Detroit of the same name. When Lee moved away from the group in the early 1960’s, the continuity of the Johnsonite tradition was maintained by 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...

until Glaberman's death in 2001.

Publications


External links

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