kers' Party supporters in the leadership of the New York garment wor kers' unions; and the Party's activities in defence of political prisoners, in particular the great campi ign against the execution of the anarchists Sacco and Vanzetti in 1927, which Cannon led in his capacity as secretary of the International Labour Defence.
Socialists and trade union militants trying to come to grips with the enormous historical events that are shaking the world with the terminal decline and collapse of Stalinism will find the Forces representing the October revolution were battling internationally to hold back the counter revolution of Stalinism - and this had an inevitable impact on the newly formed American Norkers' Party.
Cannon was one of the most able communist Icaders in the 1920's, a period when the party was influenced but not yet dominated by Stalinism. This was inevitory a tune or aeoate about the tasks facing communists in the communist leaders began to find a re ceptivity within the working class movement, but before the Party could become effective a big battle against ultra leftism was necessary, in which the role of the Communist International (Comintern) was crucial.
Cannon wrote in The First Ten Years Of American Communism: "the traditional sectarianism of the Americans was expressed most glaringly in their attempt to construct revolutionary unions outside the existing labour movement; their refusal to fight for 'immediate demands' in the course of the lass struggle for socialist goals; and their strongly entrenched anti-par lamentarism'. All that hodge-podge of ultra-radicalism was practically wiped out of the American movement in 19201921 by Lenin's pamphlet Left Wing Communism - an Infantile Disorder The whole orientation of the Party began to change from underground squabbling, unrealistic disputes and over refinements of doctrine, began to occupy themselves with and the Party took its first faltering steps into the American Federation of Labor, the dominant organisation at that time.
Some of the most valuable materials in the book are the speeches and arthe trade unions. One of the most important strikes in 1926 was the textile workers dispute at Passaic, New Jersey. Cannon wrote: Page 12 February 13, 1993 No. 37 "The Passaic strike really put the Party on the Labor map. In my opinion it deserves a chapter in Party history all by itself."
Conditions were tough as Cannon sinted out, in 1922 the USA had 6,000,000 out of work; estimates sug gested at least 1,500,000 were constantly unemployed:
There are no state doles. Of approximately 30,000,000 waged worers, only 3,500,000 are organised and even the existence of even their weak organisation is constantly threatened by the open shop drive of the employthe Republican and Democratic Parties are the instruments of big capital and are devoted to its service. Either Party in government crashes the workers' strikes with injunctions, police and troops. In 1920 it was the democratic Attorney General, Palmer, who secured a Federal injunction against 600,000 coal miners denying hem the right to strike.
The question of an independent arty for the working class was central rom the beginning.
The question of the Labor Party cannot cannot be considered separately from the role of the Communist Party Party can be considered independently of the Labor Party. The interest of the Worker's Party are identical with the interests of the wider circles of radical workers who are seeking for expression through the Labor Party. Unless our party plays an active part in the Labor Party movement, it is bound to wither into a futile sect, and the develo. ping class struggle will pass it by.
A large part of the book deals with the serious opportunist mistake that the Workers 4. three decades later he wrote to Theoaore wraper:
Class collaboration, t ments" laborationist politics of miner: leader John L. arty made in 1924 in possibilities for the Party.
ment.
"If I can force myself to return to this leap into political irrationality even now 30 years later it is only be cause a bad experience, honestly evaluated and accounted for, may serve a useful purpose in immunizing the movement against similar abnorIn fighting to root the communists in the mass movement and mobilise the maximum forces against the em. Important tactics to come out of the early years of the Third International was that of the 'united front. Cannon gives some clear illustrations of in concrete application in the trade union movement. In May 1927 he wrote:
We see the starting of a process of differentiation in the bureaucracy. We do not see the differentiation so dearly now as we will see it later. Some of the under the pressure of the masses, will be compelled to take part in the fight against the bosses to main. tain the unions and even to help us to organise the unorganised. Others will will create new alignments, new probems for our work, and new possi bilities. Basing ourselves fundamentally upon the masses we can at the same time, to a certain extent, find allies in the bureaucracy, and make use "The fact of the matter is that the logic of the class struggle is entirely against any stable relations between capital and labor, and when unions surrender a fighting policy in favour of They only give the osses ground for new encroachIn his sharply critical line against colLewis, Cannon gives further example of the dialectics of the struggle which was opening up new "Lewis tried every way to come to an acreement with the bosses tor cas: collaboration agreements. He has haracter and moral fibre who pushed hrough the CIO's formation. When hi distractors are long dead and forgotten, the American working class will remember and honour Lewis as the founder of the CIO.
For Cannon, this contradiction was no surprise: it was one of the ways in which openings for Communism could emerge in the workers' movement: the task was to fight every retreat and exploit every forward move1 deny that cass collaboration rep resents a fixed stage in the struggle. It epresents only a stage in a process cow the outsucacy, i our opiuor! stands before the alternative of giving up the position of the unions entirely or taking up the defensive and even an offensive struggle. And herein we want to state the point of view that the tactics of the burcaucracy and reactionary workers will not be uniform by any means."
"Some of the bureaucrats will unquestionably be compelled under pressure of the masses to take a stand which will be a gesture of struggle, bilities which we can exploit in our work for the organisation of the unorganised and the broadening of the left win and we also are of the opinion, on the basis of the fact that the capitalist will not stop with cass collaboraton agreements, but will proceed from there direct attacks on many of the unions, besides other factors making for movement in the masses, we are of the opinion that a new period of strike activity will begin.
Cannon, together with Max Schactman and Martin Abern were expelled attending an investigation at a Political Committee meeting on 27 October 1928. Theodore Draper who corresponded with Cannon to write a history of the early Communist movement said of Cannon:
"Unilike other Communist paders of his generation, Jim Cannon wanted to remember. mis porton of mis tre sol lives for him because he has not killed it within tamsel, and sam nappy that I had some part in luring him into making its bois matable for sale from Socialist Outlook at a cost of €11.50 (incl. cialist Outlook and serid to: Socialist Outlook, PO Box 1109, London N4 2UU
tamed by love Directed by Francis Ford Coppola Starring Gary Oldman, Winona Ryder, Anthony Hopkins Reviewed by Jodley With thanks to the Odeon Cinema, Brighton DRACULA IS the tale that will not die. Film makers, from Hollywood to the European avantgarde, have never let him rest - but here, we are told, comes the vampire movie to end them all. ( Although this film is beauti. fully shot, has delicious costumes and some marvellous scenes, I left the cinema feelin wasn tishis meant to be a unsatisfied. horror movie? Instead we are riven a love story akin te Seauty and the Beast. The her oine, Mina (Winona Ryder), falls for dashing Prince Vlad, other than the evil Count Dra. cula (Gary Oldman).
Of course, she loves him anyway, and in true Disney style the spell is broken and he returns to his former herincarnation of Vlad's fairy tale princess bride, who killed herself in 1497. Just in case you've missed the point thus far, 'Love never dies' is plastered over the promotional material.
That the film attempts to charm rather than horrify would not matter if it did not 688807084884158580 definitive telling of Bram Stoker's tale.
The horror of the vampire is rooted in conservative notions of essential evil. While there is a long tradition of progressive horror, from Shelley's Frankenstein to Terminator 2, in which evil has social or human causes, Dracula does notsena sseu to such a treatment. So the film offers us the loss of the Count's first love to explain his evil nature.
But as a romantic hero he loses his power to frighten us, and cannot carry the weight of the sexual/social metaphors.
Given the themes of oral eroticism and neck)rophilia, the sex scenes are played very straight. Although bloody, this is politically "safe sex, couched in romanticism, denied any subversive content AIDS references appear to be a sloppy afterthought.
Christian imagery on the level of a Madonna video is littered throughout the film. Apart from Gary Oldman, the acting falls to impress, and even Oldman loses his touch as he rejuvenates.
Although flawed, Coppola's Dracula is visually stunthis basis alone.
But it is also a missed op portunity to get to the heart o. stoker s disturous ans complex novel