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Fourth International, September–October 1950

Manager’s Column

From Fourth International, Vol.11 No.5, September-October 1950, p.130.
Transcription & mark-up by Einde O’Callaghan for ETOL.

As we go to press with the September-October issue orders are beginning to arrive for the new 1948-1949 bound volume of Fourth International. There is no doubt that this volume contains the best in contemporary Marxist theoretical writing, so get your order in quickly before the supply is exhausted. The price for the 19 issues bound in permanent hard binding is only $5.00. The volume comes with a six page index printed on heavy glossy paper containing both subject and author listings. The index can be purchased separately for 60c.

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If you sit down with pencil and paper it can easily be computed that this volume is a wonderful buy. 19 issues of Fourth International when bought separately cost $4.75. The index sells at cost price for 60c, bringing the total cost up to $5.35. And when you add the cost of binding, which costs us more than $2.00 for each book, the real cost is way over our price. How do we do it? It's contributions from our loyal readers that allow us to perform financial miracles like this and keep Marxist publications within the budget of the workingman.

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An examination of the index for the new bound volume easily proves that it is a necessity for any Marxist library. Many comrades and friends, for example, will use this volume in studying the course of events in Yugoslavia and Eastern Europe. In the August 1948 issue there is a statement by the Political Committee of the Socialist Workers Party on The Yugoslav Events and the Crisis of Stalinism. The same issue contains the well known Open Letter to the Congress, Central Committee and Members of the Yugoslav Communist Party. The December 1948 and November 1949 issues contain penetrating political analyses of Yugoslav developments by Michel Pablo. The September 1949 [1] issue has both an official statement on The Tito-Stalin Conflict and an article by the Yugoslav theoretician, Moshe Pyade, On the Budapest Trial. And the May and September 1949 issues include pertinent economic studies of Eastern Europe by Ernest Germain.

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The issue devoted to problems of the American Empire is, of course, particularly worthy of note. This was in August 1949. There was the issue devoted to Political Trends in the United States having articles on the new union bureaucracy, the Roman Catholics in the trade union movement, and the new stage of the American socialist movement. This was in March 1949. Any of these issues can naturally be ordered individually.

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The development of a correct policy on the Negro Question has taken the Marxist movement many years. You can share the full fruits of the study of this question by reading carefully the Discussions of Leon Trotsky on the Negro Question in the May and September 1948 issues. In addition J. Meyer has written extensively on this question contributing The Revolutionary Answer to the Negro Problem in the United States (December 1948), Stalinism and Negro History (November and December 1949), and many other articles in this bound volume.

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The volume contains important material on the colonial struggles, including articles on the recent downfall of the Kuomintang regime in China and the rise of the new Mao Tse-tung government. These articles on China will be found in the February, June and December 1949 issues. Much of the information included in these articles is very difficult to obtain elsewhere in the English press. The Draft Theses on the Jewish Question Today is presented for discussion by our readers in the January 1949 [2] issue. An editorial from Kol Ham'amad, Hebrew organ of the Palestinian Trotskyists, is translated in the May 1948 issue. In addition the October 1949 copy contains two articles on Palestine bringing the analysis of events past the formation of the Jewish State. One of these articles deals entirely with The Israeli Economy. The other is on Zionism and The Middle East.

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We can mention here by title only a few of the many illuminating articles in this volume. There are many others covering all aspects of the modern political scene in America and abroad. So send your orders for the. 1948-1949 bound volumes to Fourth International, 116 University Place, New York 3, N.Y. If you have been keeping a file of the magazine as it appeared write in for a copy of the index. For 60c your file can be made into a handy reference tool.

Footnote by ETOL

1. It was actually the September 1948 issue.

2. It was actually the January 1948 issue.

 
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Last updated on: 13 June 2018