The Struggle for Socialism in the American Century: Writings and Speeches, 1945-1947

by James P. Cannon

The challenges posed by the post -- World War II labor upsurge, the rapid expansion of openings for the communist movement, and the subsequent ebb in face of the stabilization of U.S. capitalism and the employers' antilabor offensive and witch-hunt.

480 pages, Hardcover

First published November 1, 1977

About the author

James P. Cannon was born in Rosedale, Kansas, in 1890. His father, who had originally come from Ireland, was a socialist and was a regular reader of Appeal to Reason.

At the age of 18 he joined the Socialist Party of America and became a devoted follower of Eugene Debs. His friend Tom Kerry claimed that Cannon considered Debs as "one of the greatest orators, agitators, and propagandists that the American working class radical movement had produced."

Cannon was also an organizer for the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) where he worked under Frank Little, who was lynched in 1917. Cannon also got to know Vincent Saint John. He later recalled: "Despite his modesty of disposition, his freedom from personal ambition, and his lack of the arts of self-aggrandizement, his work spoke loudly and brought him widespread fame."

According to his friend Joseph Leroy Hansen: "Fundamentally, Jim was an angry person. He was angry at injustice, at inequities, at special privileges, at exploitation. He was angry at poverty, lack of opportunity, oppression, racism, and sexism."

Reviews

[Marc Lichtman · Rating 5 out of 5]

The challenges posed by the post-World War II labor upsurge, the rapid expansion of openings for the communist movement, and the subsequent ebb in face of the stabilization of US capitalism and the employers' antilabor offensive and witch-hunt. I suggest first reading The Struggle for a Proletarian Party and In Defense of Marxism: The Social & Political Contradictions of the Soviet Union, and before any of them, The History of American Trotskyism, 1928—1938: Report of a Participant.