Ted Grant was born in South Africa in 1913. Travelling to Britain in search of broader horizons, he stopped off in Paris to talk with Leon Sedov, Trotsky’s son. With Ralph Lee he formed the Workers’ International League (W.I.L.), which subsequently fused with the R.S.L. to became the Revolutionary Communist Party (R.C.P.) in the war years.
After the war he defended Trotsky’s analysis of the Soviet Union in that it was a deformed workers’ state - one in which private property and capitalism had been abolished, yet where the workers did not hold political power. He argued that the so-called “communist” countries of Eastern Europe were in fact run on the same lines as the Soviet Union, and he used the term Proletarian Bonapartism to describe them.
During the 1960s he extended the analysis to the colonial countries that had become “communist”. He argued that the intelligensia of these countries looked towards Stalinism as a way to develop their economies and alleviate the desperate conditions; but since the masses had not been roused on a socialist programme, the bureaucratic nature of these regimes was inevitable.
Ted Grant was most famously the political editor of Militant and was expelled from the Labour Party in 1983. Throughout the 1990s he continued to contribute to Socialist Appeal and In Defence of Marxism. He died in 2006, after being an active Marxist for over 75 years.
Biography
Images
Works
1930s
Lessons of Spain (with Ralph Lee, 1938)
Against “National Defence” (March 1939)
The Robbers Quarrel over Tientsin (July 1939)
Workers want peace—Bosses prepare for war! (August 1939)
Down with the war! (September 1939)
Wartime
Our War Is The Class War (February 1940)
Not for Imperialist slaughter (March 1940)
How To Win The Class War (April 1940)
No Peace Without Socialism (May 1940)
The Workers’ War Is The Class War! (June 1940)
Workers Must Be Armed Against Capitalism (July 1940)
Defend the Soviet Union—Fascism Can Only be Defeated by International Socialism (July 1941)
Daily Herald—A Public Statement, not a Private Admission (July 1941)
An Analysis of the Social Basis of the Soviet Union (August 1941)
Why U.S.S.R. is suffering reverses—Internationalism has been abandoned (October 1941)
A challenge to the Communist Party (November 1942)
I.L.P. and the Stalinist Slander (January 1942)
Stalin Threatens New Turn—Anglo-U.S.A. Imperialists Fear Soviet Victory (March 1942)
Masses losing confidence in boss-class government (May 1942)
British Refuse Arms to Indians (June 1942)
Preparing for Power (June 1942)
Labour Lefts Rehearsed Debate With Tories! (July 1942)
Right Wing Tories Fear Our Programme (August 1942)
Constitution of Workers’ International League (W.I.L.) (August 1942)
An Open Letter to the Yorkshire Miners’ Association (August 1942)
New allies of Communist Party (September 1942)
The I.L.P.—A Ship Without a Compass (October 1942)
Wainwright And Doriot—Birds of a feather (December 1942)
Wainwright Blunders Again On The Chinese Revolution (February 1943)
Statement of the P.B. on the expulsion from W.I.L. of Gerry Healey (February 1943)
Coalition Cracking—Labour To Power (March 1943)
Aid Red Army with Lenin’s Weapon (April 1943)
I.L.P. Conference and Tasks of the Left (April 1943)
The I.L.P. in Transition (May 1943)
Reply of W.I.L. to the R.S.L. criticism of "Preparing for Power" (June 1943)
The Need for the International (June 1943)
Labour Party Endorses Truce — Not Reflection of Rank and File Feeling (June 1943)
The Rise and Fall of the Communist International (June 1943)
Labour leaders back Vansittartism (July 1943)
Fascism collapsing—Europe’s revolution has begun (August 1943)
Aid the Italian Revolution! (August 1943)
The Italian revolution and the tasks of British workers (August 1943)
Rift widens in Allied Camp (September 1943)
The Moscow Conference Plans Post-War Reaction (November 1943)
Lebanon clash bares De Gaulle-Churchill aims (November 1943)
Allied talks plot World carve-up (December 1943)
[Speech] Our Tasks in the Coming Revolution (January 1944)
Stalin scraps “Internationale” (January 1944)
Internationalism and Centrism (February 1944)
Churchill’s Support Crumbling (March 1944)
Stalin recognises Badoglio (April 1944)
I.L.P. Conference (April 1944)
Bevin Defends his Anti-Labour Laws (May 1944)
Churchill Preparing Peace of Revenge (July 1944)
Tories riding high—Land Bill Satisfies Owners (July 1944)
Germany—What next? (August 1944)
Leon Trotsky (August 1944)
Capitalists fear armed Paris workers (September 1944)
The Allies fear fraternisation (October 1944)
The Coming German Revolution (October 1944)
Communist Party Conference Prepares Post-war Sell-out (November 1944)
T.U.C. helps Goebbels (November 1944)
Why Hitler Came to Power (December 1944)
Labour Party Conference—Labour Lefts Sell Out (December 1944)
British Labour Betrayed Greek Workers (February 1945)
The Changed Relation of Forces in Europe and the Role of the Fourth International (March 1945)
Communist Party Leaders Want Post-War Coalition With The Tories (April 1945)
The I.L.P. at the Crossroads (April 1945)
Postwar
Allied Troops End “Non-Frat” Order (July 1945)
Labour Must Fulfil Its Promises—“No Excuses This Time” Say Workers (August 1945)
Lease-Lend Crisis (September 1945)
Labour’s policy (September 1945)
The Character of the European Revolution—A Reply to Some Comrades of the I.K.D. (October 1945)
U.S. loan and British workers (January 1946)
Stalin Versus Marx (February 1946)
Economic Perspectives 1946 (April 1946)
Perspectives in Britain (July 1946) (substantial extract)
Stalin Liquidates Two Republics (July 1946)
Democracy or Bonapartism in Europe—A Reply to Pierre Frank (August 1946)
New Purges in Russia (October 1946)
German Workers Vote Labour—Demonstrate Opposition to Nazism (November 1946)
Transport Bill—Workers Must Demand Control (December 1946)
National Democratic Revolution or Proletarian Revolution: The Tasks in Germany (January 1947) (substantial extract)
Czechoslovakia—The Issues Involved (April 1948)
The Menace of Fascism—What it is and how to fight it (1948)
Behind the Stalin-Tito Clash—Yugoslavs too Independent (July 1948)
Against the Theory of State Capitalism—Reply to Comrade Cliff (1949)
The Chinese Revolution (January 1949)
The Ruhr Statute (February 1949)
Reply to David James (Spring 1949)
1950s
Open Letter to B.S.F.I. (September/October 1950)
Stalinism in the Post War World (June 1951)
Labour’s foreign policy (June 1952)
Marxism versus New Fabianism (Part 1) (November 1952)
Marxism versus New Fabianism (Part 2) (May 1953)
Socialism and German Unity (1954)
The Purge of Stalin (May 1956)
Hungary and the Crisis in the Communist Party (November 1956)
France In Crisis (May 1958)
Problems of Entrism (March 1959)
1960s
Will There be a Slump? (1960)
Meaning of Russia’s new Constitution (May 1962)
What is happening in Russia (June 1963)
The Colonial Revolution and the Sino-Soviet Dispute (August 1964)
Moscow–Peking, the real differences (May 1965)
Crisis in Russia (September 1965)
Neither India or Pakistan—For a Socialist Federation (October 1965)
A Reply to Comrade Clifford (1966) (substantial extract)
Connolly and the 1916 Easter Uprising (April 1966)
Yugoslavia: The meaning of Tito’s “reforms” (July 1966)
Bureaucratism or Workers’ Power (with Roger Silverman, 1967)
International Conference shows C.P. rank and file must fight for real Marxist policy (May 1967)
Russian Revolution: 50 years after (November 7, 1967)
The French Revolution begins (July 1968)
The French revolution has begun (August 1968)
[Book] Lenin and Trotsky—what they really stood for (with Alan Woods, October 1969)
A Strategy for Socialism (November 1969)
1970s
Dutch Labour Party goes left (March 1970)
Programme of the International (May 1970)
Tories and Workers—The coming clash (Autumn 1970)
Pakistani-Indian War? (November 1971)
Nixon-Mao—What Talks Mean (March 1972)
The General Strike 1926 (April 27, 1973)
The Argentine Revolution (July 13, 1973)
The Spanish Revolution 1931-37 (Autumn 1973)
Workers’ Control (July 19, 1974)
Some fundamental questions on the policies of Lenin and Trotsky (November 1, 1974)
57 years after the Russian Revolution (November 8, 1974)
Capitalist Common Market – No! For a Socialist United States of Europe (May 1975)
The Iberian Revolution (May 1975)
The Revolution in Portugal (May 1975)
Russia 1917, Europe 1970s (November 14, 1975)
No Handouts to Bosses—Nationalise Chrysler (December 19, 1975)
World Perspectives (1977) (substantial extract)
Britain in Crisis (September 1977) (substantial extract)
The Colonial Revolution and the Deformed Workers’ States (July 1978) (substantial extract)
Would reflation solve our problems? (November, 1978)
The Iranian Revolution (February 9, 1979)
The Bureaucratic Road to Conflict (March 1979)
Militant's Programme: For a Socialist Plan of Production – Capitalist crisis deepens (April 1979)
World Perspectives (August 1979) (substantial extract)
1980s
Afghanistan—Why the Russian bureaucracy invaded (January 1980)
A Coup in Britain? (April 1981)
The Falklands Crisis—A Socialist Answer (May 1982)
Appeal against Expulsion, Labour Party Conference (September 1983)
George MacDonald (Obituary) (March 15, 1985)
The Colonial Revolution and Civil War in South Yemen (1986)
[Speech] In Defence of Trotskyism (July 1988)
[Book] The Unbroken Thread (1989)
1990s
Trotsky’s relevance today (Summer 1990)
The impact of Trotsky’s death (August 17, 1990)
Scotland—Socialism or Nationalism? (March 18, 1992)
Ireland after the Ceasefire (1994)
The Relevance of Marxism Today (March 1994)
The Collapse of Stalinism and the Class Nature of the Russian State (February 1996)
Strike wave highlights disillusionment with Yeltsin (January 8, 1997)
The first tremors - An analysis of the global economic situation (October 31, 1997)
Crisis in Central Africa (November 1997)
Imperialist bullying and the crisis in the Middle East (February 13, 1998)
Indonesia: the Asian Revolution has begun (May 22, 1998)
Marxism and the Struggle Against Imperialism: Third World in Crisis (June 25, 1998)
Help us!
We always welcome readers pointing out spelling mistakes and other errors! These are extremely helpful. Also if you have an article by Ted Grant that you don’t see here, then we would like to know! (Especially from the 1930s and 1940s.)
Contact emil at marxists dot org