John Lawrence

["Sol Dollinger" <soldoll@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

There is not much more that Erwin Baur or I can add to Lawrence's
publication and his association with the Cochran Group.  Barry Buitekant
identifies Lawrence as an English associate with Pablo.  From time to time
Lawrence has been identified with the Cochranites but that is a label
applied in England.  There is some credence for the charge inasmuch as the
Lawrence group broke with Healy about the time we were expelled in the
United States by Cannon.   Healy supported Cannon in his  hostile attitude
to Pablo. If there was any contact with the Cochran group, that contact
would probably have resulted from George Clarke's long stay in Europe
representing the United States with the F.I.  Lawrence and Clarke's path may
have crossed but there were obvious differences in policy as represented by
the position of Lawrence who did not support the Hungarian uprising.

I met Lawrence by accident in April or May of 1942 when I landed in Goureck
a short train ride from Glasglow when I was in the merchant marines.  The
trip was unexpected but fortunately I culled up from memory the address of a
bookstore in St. George's Cross. (I helped with the mailings of the New
International and the Fourth International magazine.)  From the owner of the
bookstore, I obtained the address of a comrade and later that evening I sat
in on a discussion of policy of the English Trotskyists over the question of
entry into the Labor Party.  Lawrence made an eloquent impression on me as
he defended the positon of entry while the oppositon came from
representatives of Jock Haston who wanted to maintain an independent
organization. I vaguely recall that a third position was also represented at
this meeting.

For further information there is a fine article by Bob Pitt, Red flag Over
St Pancras, on the Revolutionary History web page.