The vanguard is tired

“Vanguard Newsletter” was a small mimeographed magazine published by the Vanguard Newsletter Committee in New York City, a small Trotskyist group lead by Harry Turner. I never met Turner, but I know that he eventually joined the “Morenoite” current within Trotskyism. As a defector from the super-sectarian and increasingly cultish Spartacist League, Turner and his activities were constantly heckled and attacked in the pages of “Workers Vanguard”, the Spartacist bi-weekly. Apparently, Spartacist caudillo James Robertson regarded Turner as some kind of very personal adversary.

I admit that I don't really understand the rationale behind “Vanguard Newsletter”. Its politics seems to have been a rather indistinct version of classical Trotskyism, a bit like the later British group Workers Power. While less sectarian than the Spartacist League (Turner called for Black caucuses and a rank-and-file movement in the unions), the Turnerites were nevertheless more dogmatic than the Socialist Workers Party and the Fourth International, which they never joined.

This issue of the newsletter contains long-winding polemics against other Trotskyist groups, an article attacking Israel, and various protests against thuggery on the left. A campaign headed by Turner's group had apparently been physically attacked by members of the infamous Workers League, and later by goons from the Communist Party (CP). Methods of this kind were not uncommon on the U.S. left at the time. Ironically, the supporters of “Vanguard Newsletter” cooperated with Lyndon LaRouche's NCLC in protesting CP violence. At the time, the NCLC were still seen as a leftist group, albeit a highly aberrant one. Just two year later, the NCLC itself would go on the rampage, physically assaulting members of both the CP and the SWP!

To be honest, I don't think this little publication is particularly interesting or useful, unless you collect old Trotskyist memorabilia just for the sheer fun of it!

My reviews of “Healy's Big Lie”, “The Gelfand Case” and “Against Violence in the Workers Movement” contain some background information relevant to this posting.