James Robertson (Trotskyist)
This article needs additional citations for verification. (February 2008) |
Part of a series on |
Trotskyism |
---|
![]() |
James Robertson (1928–2019)[1] was the long-time and founding National Chairman of the Spartacist League (US), the original national section of the International Communist League. In his later years, Robertson was consultative member of the ICL's international executive committee.[2]
Biography
Born in 1928, Robertson joined the
Max Shachtman and his supporters then considered themselves Trotskyists, though they had broken with Trotsky’s
Under the impact of the
Robertson was a leader of the SWP’s youth group, the
The SWP was then a member of the
The RT majority was expelled by the SWP beginning in December 1963, just as the SWP’s reunification with the International Secretariat was being consummated. Robertson was the editor of the journal Spartacist, which began publication in early 1964. Spartacist supporters looked at first to the IC, which was now under the leadership of Gerry Healy. However, Robertson’s experiences at the IC's 1966 London conference led to a definitive break.
Robertson was elected founding national chairman of the Spartacist League/U.S. in 1966. When the international Spartacist tendency was formed in 1974, he was a member of its leading body and the author of the draft of its founding statement, "Declaration for the Organizing of an International Trotskyist Tendency." The iSt changed its name to the International Communist League (Fourth Internationalist) in 1989. Robertson's position as National Chairman of the Spartacist League/U.S. became consultative in 2004. He became a consultative member of the International Communist League’s executive committee in 2007. He died in April 2019 at the age of 90.[1]
References
- ^ a b "Jim Robertson: 1928–2019". Workers Vanguard. No. 1153. April 19, 2019. Retrieved April 24, 2019.
- ^ "Obituary: James Robertson, Spartacist League founder (1928-2019)". 17 April 2019.
- ^ "EXPULSION LAID TO TROTSKYITES; Socialist Workers Accused of Arbitrary Actions". The New York Times. 8 March 1964.