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Workers World Party | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Abbreviation | WWP |
| First Secretary | Larry Holmes |
| Founder | Sam Marcy |
| Founded | 1959; 66 years ago (1959) |
| Split from | Socialist Workers Party |
| Headquarters | 121 W. 27th St. Suite 404. New York City,New York 10001 |
| Newspaper | Workers World |
| Ideology | |
| Political position | Far-left |
| Colors | Red |
| Members in elected offices | 0 |
| Website | |
| workers | |
TheWorkers World Party (WWP) is aMarxist–Leninistcommunist party in the United States founded in 1959 by a group led bySam Marcy.[3] WWP members are sometimes calledMarcyites. Marcy and his followers split from theSocialist Workers Party (SWP) in 1958 over a series of long-standing differences, among them their support forHenry A. Wallace'sProgressive Party in 1948, their view ofPeople's Republic of China as aworkers' state, and their defense of the1956 Soviet intervention in Hungary, some of which the SWP opposed.[4][5][6]
The WWP had its origins in the Global Class War Tendency, led bySam Marcy andVincent Copeland, within the SWP. This group crystallized during the1948 presidential election when they urged the SWP to backHenry Wallace'sProgressive Party campaign, rather than field their own candidates. Throughout the 1950s, the Global Class War Tendency expressed positions at odds with official SWP policy, categorizing theKorean War as a class, rather than imperialist, conflict; support of thePeople's Republic of China as aworkers' state, if not necessarily supporting theMao Zedong leadership; and supporting the suppression of theHungarian Revolution by theSoviet Union in 1956.[7]
The Global Class War Tendency left the SWP in early 1959. Although they would later abandonTrotskyism, in theirInternational Workers' Day issue (no. 3) of their new periodical the group proclaimed: "We are THE Trotskyists. We stand 100% with all the principled positions of Leon Trotsky, the most revolutionary communist since Lenin".[8] The nascent group appears to have organized as the Workers World Party by February 1960.[9] At its inception, the WWP was concentrated among theworking class in Buffalo, Youngstown, Seattle and New York. A youth organization, first known as the Anti-Fascist Youth Committee and later asYouth Against War and Fascism (YAWF), was created in April 1962.[10]
The WWP began publishing the monthlyWorkers World newspaper in 1959; it was published weekly since 1974.
From the beginning, the WWP and YAWF concentrated their energies onstreet demonstrations. Early campaigns focused on support ofPatrice Lumumba, opposition to theHouse Un-American Activities Committee and against racial discrimination in housing. They conducted the first protest againstAmerican involvement in Vietnam on August 2, 1962.[11] Their opposition to the war also included the tactics of "draft resistance" and"GI resistance". After organizing demonstrations atFort Sill, Oklahoma in support of a soldier being tried for possessing anti-war literature, they founded theAmerican Servicemen's Union, intended to be amass organization of American soldiers. However, the group was completely dominated by the WWP and YAWF.[12]
During the late 1960s and 1970s, the party was involved in protests over causes including "defen[se] of the heroic black uprisings inWatts,Newark,Detroit,Harlem" andwomen's liberation. During theAttica Prison riot, the rioters requested YAWF memberTom Soto to present their grievances for them. The WWP was most successful in organizing demonstrations in support ofdesegregation "busing" in the Boston schools in 1975. Nearly 30,000 people attended the Boston March Against Racism which they had organized. During the 1970s, they also attempted to begin work inside organized labor, but apparently were not very successful.[13]
In 1980, the WWP began to participate inelectoral politics, naming a presidential ticket as well as candidates for New York Senate, congressional and state legislature seats. In California, they ran their candidateDeirdre Griswold in the primary for thePeace and Freedom Party nomination. They came in last, with 1,232 votes out of 9,092. In 1984, the WWP supportedJesse Jackson's bid for theDemocratic nomination, but when he lost in the primaries they nominated their own presidential ticket, along with a handful of congressional and legislative nominees.[14]
In 1968, the WWP absorbed a small faction of theSpartacist League that had worked with it in theCoalition for an Anti-Imperialist Movement called theRevolutionary Communist League (Internationalist). This group left the WWP in 1971 as theNew York Revolutionary Committee. The NYRC's newspaper provided rare details about the internal functioning of the group that have subsequently been used by scholars as a primary source. The NYRC later reconstituted as the Revolutionary Communist League (Internationalist).[15]
In 2004, the WWP suffered its most serious split when the San Francisco branch and some other members left to form theParty for Socialism and Liberation.[16][17]
In July 2018, the WWP experienced another schism in which several branches including the Detroit branch, one of its oldest, resigned from the organization to form theCommunist Workers League.[18]
The WWP has organized, directed or participated in many coalition organizations for various causes, typicallyanti-imperialist in nature.
TheInternational Action Center, which counts many WWP members as leading activists, founded theAct Now to Stop War and End Racism (ANSWER) coalition shortly after theSeptember 11 attacks in 2001 and has run the All People's Congress (APC). The APC and the IAC in particular share a large degree of overlap in their memberships withcadre in the WWP.
In 2004, ayouth group close to the WWP called Fight Imperialism Stand Together (FIST) was founded.[citation needed] The group's Web site was live as of 2024[update], but the latest newsletter available at that time was dated October 4, 2010,[19] and the home page advertised a "forthcoming" event on 3 December 2011.[20]
The WWP describes itself as a party that has since its founding "supported the struggles of alloppressed peoples". It has recognized the right of nations toself-determination, including the nationally oppressed peoples inside the United States. It supportsaffirmative action as necessary in the fight forequality and it opposes all forms ofracism and religiousbigotry.[citation needed]
The WWP and its affiliate Youth Against War and Fascism (YAWF) were known for their consistent defense of theBlack Panthers, theWeather Underground, theVietnam Veterans Against the War and thePuerto Rican Independence movement.[citation needed]
The WWP has maintained a position of supporting the government ofNorth Korea. Through its Vietnam-era front organization, theAmerican Servicemen's Union (ASU), the party endorsed a 1971 statement of support for that government. The statement was read on North Korea's international radio station by visiting ASU delegateAndy Stapp.[21] In 1994,Sam Marcy sent a letter toKim Jong Il expressing his condolences on behalf of the WWP on thedeath of his fatherKim Il Sung, calling him a great leader and comrade in the international communist movement.[22] Its later front groups, IAC and formerlyInternational A.N.S.W.E.R., have also demonstrated in support of North Korea.[23]
When the WWP was playing a role in organizing anti-war protests before theinvasion of Iraq in 2003, many newspapers and TV shows attacked the WWP for supporting Iraqi presidentSaddam Hussein.[24][25][26]
The WWP signalized support ofAlexander Lukashenko during theBelarusian protests in 2020. They accused the protest movement of being "counterrevolutionary" and supported by the "fascistMaidan movement and the U.S. imperialism", while praising President Lukashenko for maintaining some socialist-oriented politics, "rejection of privatization" and keeping the Soviet state symbols.[27][28]
The WWP has participated in presidential election campaigns since the 1980 election, though its effectiveness in this area is limited as it has not been able to get on the ballots of many states. The party also has run some campaigns for other offices. One of the most successful was in 1990, when Susan Farquhar got on the ballot as a Senate candidate inMichigan and received 1.3% of the vote. However, the party's best result was in the1992 Ohio Senate election, when the WWP candidate received 6.7% of the vote, running against a Democrat and a Republican.[29]
In2008, the WWP endorsedCynthia McKinney of theGreen Party of the United States.[30]
| Year | Presidential candidate | Vice presidential candidate | Popular votes | % | Electoral votes | Result | Ballot access | Notes | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Monica Moorehead | Lamont Lilly | 4,173 | 0.00% | 0 | Lost | 142 / 538 | [31] | |
| 2004 | John Parker | Teresa Gutierrez | 1,646 | 0.00% | 0 | Lost | 93 / 538 | [a] | [32] |
| 2000 | Monica Moorehead | Gloria La Riva | 4,795 | 0.00% | 0 | Lost | 51 / 538 | [33] | |
| 1996 | Monica Moorehead | Gloria La Riva | 29,083 | 0.03% | 0 | Lost | 153 / 538 | [34] | |
| 1992 | Gloria La Riva | Larry Holmes | 181 | 0.00% | 0 | Lost | 5 / 538 | [35] | |
| 1988 | Larry Holmes | Gloria La Riva | 7,846 | 0.01% | 0 | Lost | 157 / 538 | [36] | |
| 1984 | Larry Holmes[b] | Gloria La Riva | 17,983 | 0.02% | 0 | Lost | 130 / 538 | [37] | |
| 1980 | Deirdre Griswold | Gavrielle Holmes | 13,213 | 0.01% | 0 | Lost | 117 / 538 | [38] |
Workers World Party is a revolutionary Marxist-Leninist party dedicated to organizing and fighting for a socialist revolution in the United States and around the world. With branches around the U.S., WWP develops militant organizers in every struggle, from anti-racist and immigrant rights to labor, anti-war and anti-imperialist struggles.
This stance in turn meant playing down to insignificance polemics against Stalinism, while seeking leadership of the class through exemplary action. The Marcyites remained uneasily as a faction within the SWP until the USSR's military invasion of Hungary in 1956, which they supported and the SWP denounced. Depending on whose version you believe, the Marcy-Copeland faction either left (Marcy) or was expelled (Cannon), and formed Workers World Party in 1957.
Dance Dance REVOLUTION: Durham, NC FIST Fundraiser, Saturday 3 December 2011
