James P. Cannon and the Emergence of Trotskyism in the United States, 1928-38

A magisterial study of the politics and practice of the American Trotskyist movement in its heyday.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 1208 pages
Publication date: 09 March 2023
Publisher: Haymarket Books

Bryan D. Palmer offers a fresh perspective on the history of labor and the left in the United States during the 1930s by exploring the emergence of Trotskyism in the world's most advanced capitalist country. Drawing on his previous work, James P. Cannon and the Origins of the American Revolutionary Left, 1890-1928, Palmer delves into a comprehensive and meticulously researched study of Cannon and the Trotskyist movement in the United States from 1928 to 1938. This dissident communist movement is placed within the broader context of class struggle, both nationally and internationally, as Palmer examines how Cannon and his colleagues sought to revive a combative trade unionism, combat fascism and the drift toward war, reject Stalinism's various degenerations, and establish a new Party and International dedicated to the revival and realization of revolutionary socialism. The result is a remarkable study that presents a definitive account of the largest and most influential Trotskyist movement in the world during the 1930s, challenging established notions of the more extensively studied experience of United States working-class militancy and the role of the Comintern-affiliated Communist Party within it.

Weight: 1652g
Dimension: 153 x 229 x 68 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781642597783