Ted Grant Writings: Volume One¶

Core Argument¶

Ted Grant Writings: Volume One presents the political and theoretical development of the Workers' International League (WIL) as the most significant Trotskyist formation in wartime Europe, recovering the organisation's internal debates and strategic orientation from 1937 to 1942. The volume's central thesis is that the WIL, forged through principled factional struggle and democratic internal debate, alone among British Trotskyist currents understood the necessity of rooting revolutionary work within the mass organisations of the working class — the Labour Party, trade unions, and the armed forces — rather than adopting the sectarian abstentionism that doomed rival groups to isolation. The book argues that the WIL's adoption and refinement of Trotsky's proletarian military policy, particularly through the decisive February-March 1941 internal debate, provided the theoretical clarity that enabled the organisation to intervene effectively in the British army and among war workers, avoiding both chauvinist capitulation and sterile anti-militarism.

The volume sets out to prove that the WIL's growth from eight members in 1937 to over three hundred by its first national conference in August 1942 — a membership 90 to 95 per cent proletarian and trade union organised — was not accidental but flowed directly from its correct political perspectives. The central political document Preparing for Power, drafted by Ted Grant, expressed confidence that Britain was entering the most revolutionary period in its history, with the war fusing the army with the working class and the labour bureaucracy losing its mass basis as imperialist super-profits from colonial monopoly were destroyed by inter-imperialist rivalry. The volume demonstrates that the WIL's break from the Trotskyist sects, its refusal to participate in the 1938 unity conference on principled grounds, and its patient work within the Labour Party and trade unions were vindicated by its growth and political influence, while the official section, the Revolutionary Socialist League, remained trapped in sectarian isolation.

Overview¶

The volume opens with an introduction tracing the political apprenticeship of Ted Grant in South Africa, where he was introduced to Marxism at fifteen by Ralph Lee, an expelled member of the South African Communist Party. Together they organised a Left Opposition group in Johannesburg and led the 1934 laundry workers' strike before relocating to Britain. The WIL emerged from a factional rupture with the Militant Group in December 1937, precipitated by slanders against Lee, and established itself as the only genuine Trotskyist organisation in Britain. Trotsky adopted a patient attitude towards the WIL as an unofficial sympathising group, marking with interest Ralph Lee's February 1938 letter reporting the establishment of a printing press and the publication of Workers' International News and a pamphlet on the Moscow Trials. The introduction situates the WIL's development against the backdrop of imperialist war preparations, exposing how Britain had assisted German rearmament as a bulwark against Bolshevism and how the proclaimed "war against fascism" masked imperialist war aims.

The pre-war period chapter establishes the WIL's theoretical grounding through its 1938 pamphlet The Lesson of Spain, which argued that the Spanish Civil War demonstrated the bankruptcy of the popular front strategy. The Republican government had left the army in reactionary hands, suppressed workers' militias and factory committees, and failed to prepare against Franco. The pamphlet warned that the same strategy was being prepared for Britain, where the Labour bureaucracy would embrace popular frontism once workers began moving leftwards. A WIL Political Bureau document from June 1938 analysed the material basis of British labour opportunism, rooted in super-profits from colonial monopoly, a foundation being destroyed by German, Italian and Japanese rivalry, colonial revolts, and the approaching slump. The WIL sharply polemicised against the Revolutionary Socialist League's abstentionist tactic towards reformist organisations, committing its entire forces to work within the Labour Party, arguing that revolutionary socialists inside the party gained political weight disproportionate to their numbers.

The volume's theoretical core lies in the February-March 1941 internal debate on revolutionary military policy, which the preface identifies as instrumental in forging principled unity within the WIL leadership. The Majority Executive Committee position, defended by Ted Grant, Gerry Healy, and Andrew Scott, argued that the British ruling class, like the French, would rather capitulate to Hitler than arm the working class, and called for arming the workers under a socialist programme to genuinely fight fascism. The Minority, led by Jock Haston, Sam Levy, and Millie Kahn, charged that the Majority mechanically identified the French situation of 1940 with Britain in 1941, ignoring crucial differences in economic strength and working-class consciousness. The debate sharpened the organisation's understanding of Trotsky's proletarian military policy, defending the method of proletarian militarism: instead of negative opposition to imperialist war, a positive programme aiming to transform imperialist war into revolutionary war by transferring control to the workers. The debate ultimately strengthened the WIL's cohesion, enabling successful intervention in the British army.

The attack on the USSR in June 1941 forced the Communist International to abandon its opposition to the imperialist war and adopt collaboration with the 'democratic' nations against fascism. The Communist Party of Great Britain overnight switched from agitating for peace on Hitler's terms to supporting Churchill's war plans, becoming a strike-breaking force. The WIL exploited this by developing fractional work inside the CPGB and orientating towards the Independent Labour Party. The volume argues that despite the Kremlin bureaucracy, the basic conquests of October — the abolition of capitalist private ownership — remained, and the masses rallied to defend them. However, Stalin could not wage a revolutionary war; the bureaucracy fought to preserve its privilege, not for socialist revolution. The WIL assessed its own shortcomings, acknowledging that although the Nazi invasion of the USSR trebled Socialist Appeal sales, the organisation failed to make deep inroads into the confused Communist Party rank and file, with members lacking confidence, clinging to abstract theory, and being overawed by reformist and Stalinist bureaucrats.

The pre-conference documents of August and December 1942 mark the coming of age of British Trotskyism. The central political document Preparing for Power, drafted by Ted Grant, argued that Britain was in terminal decline as a world power, now subordinate to America, with its empire disintegrating. The document rejected entrism into the Labour Party, arguing that conditions for it no longer existed since the Labour Party machine had collapsed. The main activity must be in the unions, factories, and shop committees, preparing cadres and raising the banner of the Fourth International. The conference unanimously endorsed the new orientation and voted to appeal to the International Secretariat to accept the WIL as the official British section of the Fourth International. The appendices present a fragmented portrait of the international Trotskyist movement's struggles, including a report on the deteriorating position of the Bolshevik-Leninist fraction within the Independent Labour Party, a Stalinist leaflet attacking Trotskyists as Nazis, and a thesis of Indian Fourth Internationalists characterising the Indian National Congress as a bourgeois party comparable to the Kuomintang.

Chapter Guide¶

Acknowledgements — A record of the archival recovery and editorial coordination that made the volume possible, naming researchers, repositories, and proofreaders.
Preface — Frames the collection as a contribution to political education, explaining the editorial decisions and foregrounding the 1941 military policy debate as a defining moment.
Introduction — Traces the WIL's origins from Grant's South African apprenticeship through its consolidation as the most significant Trotskyist formation in wartime Europe.
Pre-war period — Establishes the WIL's theoretical grounding through analysis of the Spanish Civil War, British labour opportunism, and polemics against RSL sectarianism.
Imperialist slaughter [September 1939 – July 1940] — Analyses the first months of war, exposing the true aims of belligerents and the French ruling class's capitulation.
The internal debate of WIL on revolutionary military policy [February-March 1941] — Records the decisive internal debate that sharpened understanding of Trotsky's proletarian military policy and strengthened organisational cohesion.
A turning point: the attack on the USSR [July 1941 – December 1942] — Examines the WIL's response to Operation Barbarossa, the crisis in the CPGB, and the defence of the deformed workers' state.
WIL's pre-conference documents and updates [August and December 1942] — Presents the new orientation centred on preparing cadres for revolution, rejecting entrism for trade union and factory work.
Appendices — Provides supplementary material on the ILP fraction's decay, Stalinist polemics, and Indian revolutionary perspectives.

Key Concepts¶

Proletarian military policy — Trotsky's strategic orientation, adopted by the WIL, calling for arming the working class and dissolving the standing army into an armed people, aiming to transform imperialist war into revolutionary war.

Proletarian militarism — The method of advancing a positive programme for war rather than negative opposition, raising demands for elected officers and trade union control of military training.

Transitional programme — The Fourth International's method of advancing slogans that bridge the gap between immediate demands and the conquest of power, central to the WIL's orientation.

Permanent revolution — The theory that the bourgeoisie in backward countries cannot solve bourgeois-democratic tasks, requiring the proletariat to lead the peasantry, take power, and advance to socialist tasks.

Popular front — The strategy of coalition between working-class parties and capitalist parties, denounced by the WIL as the graveyard of working-class independence, as demonstrated in Spain.

Deformed workers' state — The characterisation of the USSR under Stalinist bureaucracy, where capitalist private ownership had been abolished but workers' democracy was suppressed.

Abstentionism — The sectarian tactic of refusing to work within reformist mass organisations, rejected by the WIL in favour of systematic intervention in the Labour Party and trade unions.

Labour bureaucracy — The layer of trade union and Labour Party officials whose material interests are tied to the maintenance of capitalism, rooted in imperialist super-profits from colonial monopoly.

Chapters¶

9 chapters