Obituary
Frank Lovell, revolutionary Socialist
Marian and Pat Brain
It was with much regret and deep sadness that we learnt of the death of our comrade and friend Frank, who died on May Day of a heart attack at his Manhattan apartment. He was 84 years old. All his political life he was a fighter for working people, a prominent socialist writer and author on trade union issues.
Born on July 24 1913, he went to the University of California’s radical campus, gaining a degree in Philosophy.
He was attracted to the socialist movement just after the San Francisco general strike, joining the Workers Party of the United States, led by James P Cannon and A.J. Muste, in 1935. He consequently became a seafarer and an organiser of the Sailors Union of the Pacific.
In 1938, Lovell was a founding member of the Socialist Workers Party, and for many years played a leading role in that organisation, especially as a trade union activist. He was the long-term labour correspondent of the Militant, the SWP’s newspaper.
For many years, he participated in the influential Friday Night Socialist Forums (later called the Militant Forum), a weekly series that drew a broad range of prominent trade unionists and working class militants, civil rights and black liberation activists, scholars, intellectuals, students and others.
The SWP ran openly socialist candidates in elections. Frank ran for Mayor of Detroit in 1953. This showed the character of the man. At the height of the McCarthyite witch hunt when many socialists were running for cover he went on television and radio and ran a high profile campaign.
At the height of the McCarthyite witch hunt when many socialists were running for cover he went on television and radio and ran a high profile campaign for mayor of Detroit.
He was also on the ticket for Governor of Michigan in 1954,1958, and 1964. In the late 60s Sarah and Frank moved to New York City, where he served as the SWP trade union director.
As a young person Frank was attracted to some of the historical militant working class struggles led by Eugene V Debs, a leader of the American Socialist Party and the militant International Workers of the World.
He was also inspired by the idealism of the early Communist movement.
He joined the small international movement led by Leon Trotsky, the Fourth International, which led a key battle against Stalinist degeneration both in America and internationally. He lived to see all the theoretical battles against Stalinism vindicated by history.
Frank’s political commitment and analytical insights were widely appreciated in left wing and labour circles, as were his warmth, avid intellectual curiosity, keen sense of humour, and an engaging interest in people of all ages and backgrounds.
Marian first met Frank in 1990 when she went to New York. Both Frank and his late companion Sarah, made her feel at home, and introduce her to many legends in the Trotskyist movement. You could not meet better people anywhere.
Frank and Sarah were among the few who stood firm for revolutionary Marxism during the years of Stalinist domination of the radical movement.
Perhaps it was even more crucial that at the time of the degeneration of the American Socialist Workers Party Frank was prepared to begin once again the indispensable task of the building of a revolutionary Marxist cadre.
In the early 1980s, Frank and Sarah, along with hundreds of others, were expelled from the SWP, when the group was taken over.
Its new leadership was intent on replacing the historic Trotskyist programme with a closer alignment to the orientation of the Cuban Communist Party leader Fidel Castro, who had made adaptations towards Stalinism.
The key debate was on the question of the theory of permanent revolution, developed by Trotsky in continuity with Marx, which the leadership of Jack Barnes was prepared to jettison.
In December 1983 Lovell initiated the publication of the Bulletin in Defence of Marxism, serving as its first editor.
Later he continued on its editorial board. Before her death in 1994 Sarah Lovell played a central role as the magazine’s treasurer and chief copy editor.
In Frank’s last year he was also active in the Metro New York Labour Party and worked effectively to secure financial support for the Ernest Mandel institute in Brussels, and the Leon Trotsky Museum at Coyoacan in Mexico City.
Frank will never be forgotten. The revolutionary movement will honour comrades like him, who stood firm in defence of marxism in periods of great difficulty, holding the line until a more favourable relationship of working class forces can develop that will ensure our victory.