Harry Braverman talk

[Louis Proyect <lnp3@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I just received the paper that Michael Livingston presented at the recent
conference on American Trotskyism, who spoke on the same panel as me. It
was a discussion of the Trotskyist roots of Harry Braverman's thinking and
a defense of the American Socialist:

"Braverman also sought to build a New (Marxist) Left, a phrase used
frequently in The American Socialist. This New Left would be based on a
vibrant, renovated Marxist critique of capitalism as a tool for
revolutionary action. In addition, this New Left would have intellectual
centers. Indeed, the aim of The American Socialist was to be such an
intellectual center "that could again make socialism a purposeful and
exciting adventure and could revive interest in the message and cause among
new groups of students, intellectuals, and workers"(21). The New Left would
also have collegial, nonsectarian collaboration among revolutionaries. The
American Socialist developed a collaborative working relationship with
Monthly Review which lead to the publication of a joint special issue (the
same set of articles appearing in both The American Socialist and Monthly
Review and in a book published by Monthly Review Press) in July-August of
1958. The American Socialist also developed close collaborative
relationships with radical pacifists such as Mulford Q. Sibley and
political independents sympathetic to the CP, such as I.F. Stone."

The entire talk is at: http://www.marxmail.org/harry_braverman.htm



Louis Proyect
Marxism mailing list: http://www.marxmail.org/