Farrell Dobbs
Farrell Dobbs | |
---|---|
National Secretary of the Socialist Workers Party | |
In office 1953–1972 | |
Preceded by | James P. Cannon |
Succeeded by | Jack Barnes |
Personal details | |
Born | trade unionist , historian | July 25, 1907
Farrell Dobbs (July 25, 1907 – October 31, 1983) was an American
Early years
Dobbs was born in
Moves leftward, connects with Teamsters
However, his political viewpoint was changed during the Great Depression in the 1930s. Seeing the plight of workers in that situation (including himself), he became politically radicalized to the left.
In 1933, while working for the
He was influential in the Teamsters' shift from emphasis on local delivery work to over-the-road traffic, which keyed their great expansion towards becoming the largest union in the United States.[3]
Dobbs quit in 1939 to work for the new Socialist Workers Party (SWP). Dobbs met the Russian revolutionary leader Leon Trotsky when he visited Mexico shortly before Trotsky's death in 1940.
Mentors Hoffa
Dobbs served as mentor and advisor to a young
Jailed under Smith Act
For opposing World War II, he and other leaders of the SWP and the Minneapolis Teamsters were convicted of violating the Smith Act, which made it illegal to "conspire to advocate the violent overthrow of the United States Government". He served over a year of a 16-month sentence in Federal Correctional Institution, Sandstone, from 1944 to 1945.
Presidential candidate, supports Fidel Castro
After his release, he became the editor of the SWP's newspaper, The Militant. From 1948 to 1960 he was the SWP's candidate for President of the United States, running in four elections. He succeeded James P. Cannon as national secretary of the party in 1953, serving until 1972.
In 1960, Farrell Dobbs and Joseph Hansen, Trotsky's former secretary in Mexico, went to Cuba to experience the revolutionary movement there. The two American Trotskyists decided to fully support the Cuban Revolution and the leadership of Fidel Castro and Che Guevara.
Later life
Farrell Dobbs retired in 1972, but remained in the party until his death in 1983. He devoted the later part of his life to historical documentation of the American leftist movement and the Minnesota Teamsters. Dobbs was the author of a four-volume history / memoir of the Minneapolis struggles: Teamster Rebellion, Teamster Power, Teamster Politics and Teamster Bureaucracy. He had completed two volumes of a planned history of the
Major works
- Trade union problems, New York, Pioneer Publishers, 1941
- The Voice of socialism: radio speeches by the Socialist Workers Party candidates in the 1948 election (with Grace Carlson and James Cannon), New York, Pioneer Publishers, 1948
- Recent trends in the labor movement, New York, National Education Dept., Socialist Workers Party, 1967
- The structure and organizational principals of the party, New York, National Education Dept., Socialist Workers Party, 1971
- Teamster rebellion, New York, Pathfinder Press, 1972
- Teamster power, New York, Pathfinder Press, 1973
- Teamster politics, New York, Pathfinder Press, 1975
- Teamster bureaucracy, New York, Pathfinder Press, 1977
- Counter-mobilization: a strategy to fight racist and fascist attacks, New York, National Education Dept., Socialist Workers Party, 1976
- Revolutionary continuity: Marxist leadership in the U.S., Vol. 1: The early years, 1848–1917, New York, Monad Press, Distributed by Pathfinder Press, 1980
- Revolutionary continuity: Marxist leadership in the U.S., Vol. 2: Birth of the Communist movement, 1918–1922, New York, Monad Press, Distributed by Pathfinder Press, 1983
- A political biography of Walter Reuther: the record of an opportunist, by Beatrice Hansen, New York, Pathfinder Press, 1987 2nd ed. (contains Dobbs's essay Meany vs. Reuther)
See also
- Minneapolis Teamsters Strike of 1934
- 1948 United States presidential election
- 1952 United States presidential election
- 1956 United States presidential election
- 1960 United States presidential election
References
- ISBN 9781476674933.
- ISBN 9781629639895.
- ISBN 0-671-44793-9, p. 221
- ISBN 0-671-44793-9, p. 221