Ted Grant Writings: Volume Two¶

Core Argument¶

This volume collects Ted Grant's writings from the critical period of the Second World War and its immediate aftermath, spanning 1943 to 1945. The central thesis is that the war was not a conflict between democracy and fascism but an inter-imperialist struggle, and that its outcome would not restore stable capitalism but unleash a revolutionary wave across Europe. Grant argues that the working class, not the Allied powers, would be the true agent of liberation, and that the task of revolutionary Marxists was to prepare for the seizure of power rather than support any imperialist camp.

The book contends that the Stalinist bureaucracy and social democratic leaderships had become instruments of counter-revolution, betraying every opportunity for working-class victory from Greece to Italy to France. Grant insists that the Fourth International alone possessed the correct programme, but that its numerical weakness constituted a fatal subjective gap between the maturing objective conditions for revolution and the absence of mass revolutionary parties. The central strategic problem of the epoch is therefore the crisis of proletarian leadership.

Overview¶

The volume opens with a substantial introduction that establishes the historical context: the Workers' International League's emergence as the most developed Trotskyist force in Europe by 1943, its fusion with the Revolutionary Socialist League to form the Revolutionary Communist Party in March 1944, and the revolutionary upheavals in Greece, Italy, and France that confirmed Trotsky's prediction of a post-war revolutionary wave. Grant's March 1945 document, The changed relationship of forces in Europe and the role of the Fourth International, is identified as a landmark theoretical intervention, recognising a developing stabilisation in Europe taking the form of "counter-revolution in a democratic form."

The early chapters, drawn from Socialist Appeal in 1943, develop a sustained polemic against the war. Grant argues that the dissolution of the Comintern clears the ground for the Fourth International, that the Anglo-American second front is designed to weaken the Soviet Union rather than defeat fascism, and that the fall of Mussolini in July 1943 marks the opening of a continent-wide revolutionary upheaval. A series of chapters on Italy provide a detailed Marxist analysis of fascism's rise and fall, arguing that the Italian working class had instinctively begun to reconstruct organs of workers' power—factory committees, workers' militias, soviets—only to be betrayed by Stalinists and reformists who preferred a deal with the monarchy and Allied imperialism.

The middle sections address the revolutionary situation in France, Greece, and Germany. Grant analyses the liberation of Paris as a spontaneous mass insurrection deliberately sabotaged by de Gaulle and the Stalinists, who disarmed the workers to prevent a repetition of the Commune. The Greek uprising of December 1944 is presented as a revolutionary seizure of power betrayed from within by its own leadership. A substantial theoretical section confronts the problem of Germany, arguing that the Allied policy of collective punishment and dismemberment would prolong resistance, but that the German working class—steeled by repression and possessing a deep Marxist tradition—would inevitably rise in revolution once the Nazi apparatus collapsed.

The later chapters shift to internal party debates and strategic questions. Grant defends the WIL's military policy—rejecting both support for the imperialist war and passive pacifism in favour of a positive revolutionary approach that engages with workers' anti-fascist sentiment while counterposing proletarian militarism to capitalist militarism. A lengthy section debates the correct tactic towards the Labour Party, with Grant arguing against the entrist orientation favoured by the RSL and for an independent perspective rooted in industrial work, while maintaining factions inside the Labour and Independent Labour Parties. The volume concludes with documents from the 1944 fusion conference that created the Revolutionary Communist Party, including resolutions on military policy, the entrist tactic, and industrial strategy.

Chapter Guide¶

Acknowledgements — Credits the individuals and institutions whose archival research and editorial work made the volume possible.
Introduction — Establishes the historical context of the WIL's wartime growth, the fusion with the RSL, and the revolutionary wave in Europe.
Aid Red Army with Lenin's weapon — Argues that Stalinist chauvinist propaganda is squandering the Red Army's heroism and steering the Soviet Union toward destruction by Anglo-American imperialism.
The need for the International — Contends that the dissolution of the Comintern clears the ground for the Fourth International.
The rise and fall of the Communist International — Traces the Comintern's degeneration from an instrument of world revolution into a tool of Kremlin diplomacy.
Second front will not end fascism — Argues that the Anglo-American invasion of Sicily is an inter-imperialist manoeuvre, not a genuine war against fascism.
Fascism collapsing – Europe's revolution has begun — Presents Mussolini's fall as the opening salvo of a continent-wide revolutionary upheaval.
Fascism in power loses social base — Traces Italian fascism's trajectory from mass movement to hollow military-police dictatorship.
Only the Trotskyists understood the processes — Argues that Trotskyists alone correctly anticipated the revolutionary process unleashed by Mussolini's fall.
Reformists and Stalinists prepare betrayal — Contends that Stalinists and socialists are already preparing to channel the Italian revolution into bourgeois democracy.
How Mussolini came to power — Traces Mussolini's rise to the betrayal of the Italian revolutionary movement by its reformist leaders.
Land to the peasants! Factories to the workers! — Argues that the fall of Mussolini opens a revolutionary crisis taking the form of socialist revolution.
Policies of the working-class parties — Delivers a polemical indictment of all working-class parties in Italy and Britain for failing to provide revolutionary leadership.
Anglo-US strategy Weaken Russia! — Argues that Anglo-American strategy aims to weaken both Germany and the Soviet Union.
Rift widens in Allied camp — Contends that Red Army victories have exposed the fundamental antagonism between the Soviet Union and its imperialist allies.
A dash for the borders — Argues that the war's closing phase is defined by a naked imperialist scramble for Eastern Europe.
Churchill's speech marks a new stage in the war — Analyses Churchill's speech as a frank disclosure of ruling-class fear of revolution.
Italian workers had control — Argues that Italian workers had seized de facto control of industry before any concessions were granted.
Churchill's quislings have no mass support — Excoriates the Allied claim to be waging a war for democracy.
Stalin agrees with Anglo-US imperialists to hold Europe in chains — Argues that the Moscow Conference represents a conspiracy to suppress socialist revolution.
British stake claim to dominate post-war Arab federation — Dissects the Lebanon crisis as a struggle between rival imperialist powers.
Allied talks plot world carve-up — Argues that Tehran and Moscow represent a cynical imperialist carve-up of post-war Europe.
Stalin scraps "Internationale" — Argues that replacing the Internationale with a new national anthem is a decisive rupture with revolutionary internationalism.
Stalin recognises Badoglio — Denounces Stalin's recognition of the Badoglio government as a calculated betrayal of the Italian working class.
Statement of the political bureau of the Revolutionary Communist Party — Argues that the second front serves Anglo-American imperialism, not the liberation of Europe.
Allies offer no hope for German workers — Argues that Allied war aims promise a punitive settlement more savage than Versailles.
Germany – What next? Behind the generals' revolt — Analyses the July 1944 bomb plot as a symptom of impending proletarian revolution.
Leon Trotsky — Defends Trotsky's revolutionary legacy against Stalinist falsifications.
Capitalists fear armed Paris workers — Argues that the liberation of Paris was a spontaneous mass insurrection sabotaged by the bourgeoisie.
Capitalists fear armed workers — Exposes the class logic behind the post-liberation disarmament of the French resistance.
They remember the Commune — Argues that the French ruling class fears the revolutionary memory of the Paris Commune.
Hate campaign against German people — Argues that Allied policy is deliberately engineered to prolong German resistance.
Problems posed by Hitler's victories — Confronts the theoretical crisis precipitated by Hitler's military ascendancy.
How the struggles developed in Europe — Argues that the war intensified class struggle, fusing the national question with the social question.
Problem posed by the victories of the allies — Confronts the contradiction that Allied victory will not bring genuine freedom.
Soviets and national freedom — Argues that the Soviet Union under Stalin has become a contradictory force, progressive in defending nationalised property but reactionary in suppressing revolution abroad.
The German revolution and the future — Argues that Hitler's defeat confirms Trotsky's prognosis that the epoch of bourgeois states is exhausted.
No stable counter-revolutionary capitalist armies in Europe — Argues that the military foundation of European bourgeois rule has been shattered.
Ideological preparation for Allied repression in Europe — Argues that the Allies are conducting a deliberate ideological campaign to prepare for the suppression of the German working class.
The German people under the Nazis — Argues that the Nazi regime systematically betrayed its middle-class base.
Splits in the German ruling class — Dissects internal fractures within the German ruling class as symptoms of approaching revolutionary crisis.
Allied plans after Hitler's fall — Argues that the Allies intend to preserve capitalist structures under an occupation regime.
Prepare for the socialist revolution — Argues that the defeat of Nazism will unleash a revolutionary crisis in Germany.
Why Hitler came to power — Argues that the Stalinist leadership of the German Communist Party bears historic responsibility for Hitler's victory.
Thälmann denounced the united front — Delivers a devastating indictment of the KPD for sabotaging the united front against Hitler.
Military dictator placed in power — Argues that Churchill's concessions in Greece were a tactical feint.
Betrayal of British Labour leaders — Indicts the British Labour leadership and Communist Party for complicity in Churchill's Greek intervention.
Greek workers were struggling for power — Argues that the Greek uprising was a revolutionary seizure of power betrayed from within.
Crimea decisions kept from masses — Argues that the Yalta Conference was a fraud concealing a plot against the working class.
The changed relationship of forces in Europe and the role of the Fourth International — Argues that the post-war configuration is defined by the preponderance of the Soviet Union and the United States.
The plans of the imperialists went wrong — Argues that the Soviet Union emerged from the war as the greatest military power on the European continent.
Our attitude to the resistance movements — Argues that resistance movements were arenas of sharp class struggle, not unified national fronts.
Classic conditions for the proletarian revolution — Argues that the war produced classic objective conditions for revolution but the subjective factor was missing.
The experience of Greece — Presents the Greek civil war as a concentrated model of post-war class dynamics.
The counter-revolution in a "democratic" form — Argues that the bourgeoisie must adopt a democratic form of counter-revolution after the defeat of fascism.
The Allied programme for Europe — Argues that the Allied programme is more catastrophic than Versailles.
Our tasks in Europe — Argues that the Fourth International can only build mass parties through tactics attuned to shifting mass moods.
Open letter on repression in Northern Ireland — Denounces a coordinated campaign of repression by the Northern Irish state against Trotskyists.
Widespread movement against Tories — Argues that the ruling class is preparing a coordinated offensive against the working class.
A directive to members — Establishes a principled line for confronting agitation surrounding the Beveridge Report.
ILP conference and tasks of the left — Delivers a Marxist reckoning with the Independent Labour Party's past and future.
Tailism – not foresight — Dissects the ILP's political trajectory as a superficial shift from one opportunist pole to another.
India — Critiques the ILP's position on Indian independence as insufficient.
Internationalism — Argues for the necessity of a revolutionary programme and international organisation prepared in advance.
CP-LP affiliation — Dissects the ILP's refusal to adopt a principled position on Communist Party affiliation to Labour.
The ILP in transition — Argues that the ILP's Jubilee conference revealed accelerating evolution under pressure of working-class radicalisation.
Not reflection of rank and file feeling — Argues that the Labour Party conference did not reflect genuine working-class sentiment.
The political truce — Argues that the truce's fate will be decided by the class struggle, not conference votes.
Shameful resolution passed at conference — Launches a blistering polemic against the Labour conference resolution blaming the German people for Nazi crimes.
They were responsible for Hitler — Argues that Stalinist and Social-Democratic leaderships, not German workers, bear responsibility for Hitler's rise.
Paper control used for political victimisation — Argues that the suspension of Socialist Appeal's paper licence is a politically motivated attack.
Ridley and Brockway exponents of confusion — Delivers a blistering critique of theoretical errors on the international question.
Churchill's support crumbling — Argues that a decisive leftward shift in British mass consciousness is underway.
ILP conference — Reports on the 1944 ILP conference, arguing the leadership's rightward drift rendered the party incapable of rising to historic tasks.
Bevin defends his anti-labour laws — Polemicises against Defence Regulation 1AA as a deliberate assault on the entire working class.
The role of the Communist Party — Argues that the Stalinists have been forced into a hypocritical position on Regulation 2D.
Labour leaders fear conference — Argues that the cancellation of the Labour Party conference was a deliberate manoeuvre to avoid facing a rebellious rank and file.
The attack on our party — Assesses the strategic consequences of the state attack on the Revolutionary Communist Party.
Our industrial perspective in the light of 1AA — Argues for a disciplined tactical retreat in industrial work following the 1AA legislation.
Statement to members from the Political Bureau — Presents the convictions of leading RCP members as a class attack while claiming political victory.
Land Bill satisfies owners — Argues

Chapters¶

141 chapters