Introduction¶
Core Argument¶
In this introductory chapter, Ted Grant establishes the scope and central argument of his history of British Trotskyism, tracing the movement from its origins to the dissolution of the Revolutionary Communist Party (RCP) in June 1949. Grant, who served as the chief theoretician of British Trotskyism during the Second World War, grounds the narrative in his own political formation: born in South Africa, he was converted to Marxism at fifteen through discussions with a lodger, Ralph Lee, and made contact with the international Trotskyist movement in 1929 via the American Militant. Arriving in England in 1934, having met Trotsky’s son Leon Sedov in France, he joined the Marxist Group inside the Independent Labour Party and later the Trotskyists within the Labour League of Youth, helping to develop the Militant Group. The Paddington Group, led by Grant, became the most active section, and a decisive split in 1937–38 formed the Workers’ International League (WIL), which Grant identifies as the real beginning of British Trotskyism.
During the war, the WIL adopted Trotsky’s proletarian military policy, renamed its paper Socialist Appeal, and oriented towards the factories. In 1944, the WIL fused with the Revolutionary Socialist League to form the RCP. After the war, Grant played a key role in reorienting the RCP’s perspective as the revolutionary wave was derailed by Stalinists and Social Democrats. The chapter details the intrigues of James P Cannon, Gerry Healy, and others against the RCP leadership, culminating in the RCP’s break-up in June 1949 and the destruction of a layer of cadres. Healy and his collaborators welcomed the defections of 1950 as removing a threat to their own leadership. Those who did not resign, including Grant, Roy Tearse and Jimmy Deane, were expelled on various pretexts. When Jock Haston’s expulsion was moved in the Political Bureau, Deane requested that Haston be allowed to produce a written defence; he was told he must indicate in writing immediate political support for the resolution condemning Haston. Deane refused and was expelled for “cryptic sympathy”. Tearse was expelled for refusing to break personal relations with Haston. Grant was expelled from the Trotskyist movement in 1950 after protesting the treatment of the Cliff group. These events destroyed the British section of the Fourth International and constituted a watershed in British Trotskyism, marking the end of Grant’s history. The subsequent development of the movement is outlined in the book’s postscript.