Socialist Action (Montreal & Toronto)—1938-1942—Selections only

(See Ross Dowson’s correspondence of this period, as he and older brother Murray became leading activists in the Toronto area Spartacus Youth League)

Mimeographed edition, Toronto

1938 April 15th.	“Bulletin on War:” Issued by The Socialist Policy Group, For CCF members only (an internal publication); Special Convention Issue, Vol. 1 No. 1, Toronto: A discussion of the war crisis and CCF policy; not a cent for the war; boycott Japanese goods; down with imperialism whether “democratic” or “fascist"; the main enemy is in your own country
1938 April 25	Vol. 1 No. 2: SPG Statement of Purpose; For CCF members only;
1938 June 1	(Vol. 1 No. 3): "Socialist Action:” The CCF and the Trade Unions,
1938 October	Vol. 1 No. 4: On guard for the democracy of the party! Freedom of expression for all loyal socialist tendencies!
1938-10Oct-1-9	A national program for the CCF; Why the CCF does not grow; We should champion Canadian independence (advocate abolition of all (British) Privy Council powers); Against imperialist war, for socialist defence, Workers’ expropriation not capitalist “nationalization;” the CCF and the farmer, federal work for the workless at trade union rates; protection of wages; how to fight fascism; organize workers’ defence, towards a workers’ national guard.
1938 November	Vol. 1 No. 5: The Provincial Executive stages a trial; 3rd and 4th page of orginial document not found Socialist Policy Group charged with constitutional violation as twelve leading members arraigned; A treacherous (CCF municipal) election policy Canada must open the doors! To half a million German Jews For a socialist united states of Europe (from speech by James P. Cannon)
1938 December	Vol. 1 No. 6: Expelled Left Wing CCF expulsions: A sign and a warning: Who are the counter-revolutionaries? (Some carrion from the Clarion) (An answer to the Stalinist daily’s smear of the expelled CCF members of SPG as it fingers Trotskyists “still in the CCF.") Labor goes to the polls (SPG urges vote for “all-labor candidates"); Towards a regular printed organ Fascism menaces France
January 1939	Vol. 1 No. 7 Socialist Workers’ League is founded. (Socialist Action becomes official organ of SWL, Fourth International) The AF of L—CIO fight; Capitalism proposed to help the unemployed The bitter fruits of opportunism (CCF and CP maneuvering in municipal elections); York Township SWL contests elections; the municipal election program 1938 A brief international review (the Popular Front in France, a possible Stalin-Hitler rapprochement.) Support the press campaign; an appeal to our readers

(End of mimographed series)

Printed editions (Toronto)



1939-03Mar-1abcd	“ Program of Action” the failure of the CCF and CP; the need for a revolutionary party (p.4) For a break with the British Empire; Against imperialist war; For socialist defense; Workers control not capitalist “Nationalization,” (p.5) Federal work for the workless; How to fight fascism; For an independent Farmer-Labor Party
1939-03Mar-2	Open Letter to members of the Communist Party Other Articles Red Army drops allegiance oath to world workers CP militant says Marx junked by Stalin CP-CCF inaction (bosses’ proposal for a Leadership League to harness workers and youth for war effort) Their democracy (a trade treaty with US & GB and the popular front)Anti-Trotskyist slanders exposed Daily Clarion caught red handed (Canadian CP daily thumps war chest)
1939-05May-1ab	2000 Relief workers stand firm against cuts (Toronto area SWL militants give lead); Scarboro strike
1939-05May-2	King prepares to put Canada in war Stalinist goons slug Carl Hichin
1939-05May-3	CCF leaders line up for empire war (Woodsworth & Coldwell accept conscription) CCF rank and file oppose empire war The Worker’s Angle (Column by Robertson) (Earl Birney) ’Peg organizer sees desperate need for class-struggle party (article by ex-CPer Carl Hichin) Trotsky predicts nature of coming war
1939-05May-5	Strike spreads over Toronto (relief workers)
1939-05May-6	York gives signal in jobless fight; Resolute struggle winds public and TU support
1939-05May-7ab	May Day 1939 Day of struggle against imperialist war, for socialism (Joint RWP & SWL rally) Other Articles Stalinist goons slug Carl Hichin The Worker’s Angle (Column by Robertson) (Earl Birney) ’Peg organizer sees desperate need for class-struggle party (article by ex-CPer Carl Hichin) Trotsky predicts nature of coming war
1939-06June	Editorials The Ukrainian Question, For an Independent Farmer-Labour Party; Marx answers Buck; Managers Corner Other Articles Veterans’ leader joins SWL; Tom Montague breaks with Communist Party CP-Herridge deal planned for West, by Carl Hichin; Buck-Herridge move to corral farm discontent The problem of the Ukraine, by Leon Trotsky; For a free, independent Ukraine! Canadian West suffers from deep farming crisis; poverty on the Prairies The Workers’ Angle (Column by Robertson) United States Newsletter: War fever rises; Roosevelt cuts relief (Edit) Communist Party disintegrates More light on Spain (how Stalin sabotaged the Loyalist fight against Franco) Correspondence: Windsor’s patriotic May Day (led by CP under the Union Jack) Europe on the brink (war threatens)
1939-07July-1	S.W.L. adds two new branches (in Saskatchewan); Calgary CCF split by party bosses
1939-07July-2	Scarboro SWL offers program for jobless
1939-07July-3	Veterans’ leader exposes smashing of militant WESL (Stalinists wreck anti-war movement)
1939-07July-4	Calgary CCF split by party bosses
1939-07July-5	Editorials Calgary CCF split; Editorial: Hail US anti-war convention (SWP)
1939-07July-6	Who are the disrupters in York Unemployed Union? (Stalinist factionalism drives militants to join Mount Dennis SWL)
1939-07July-7	Official Secrets Act prepares dictatorship; A blow at labor, No proof needed; Section 98 revived Other Articles Daily Clarion folds up, rejected by workers (due to CP daily paper’s war support) Fed up with panaceas, farmers want fight lead, by Carl Hichin Mitch (Hepburn) and Maurice (Duplessis) book up peppery stew for (Canadian Liberal Party PM) King The Workers’ Angle (column by Robertson) Their crisis; Against war and capitalism (on the eve of war) Carl Hichin replies to Clarion slander (CP paper attacks Trotskyist renegade) Editorial: Odours of decay (the CP paper degenerates); Odours of decay (the CP journal degenerates) An Open Letter to the SUO (SWL letter to Ukrainian sympathizers)
1939-08Aug-1abc	For labor candidates against bosses! Sharpening crisis cracks old two party system; Independent politics by Workers and Farmers
1939-08Aug-2	CCF convention in BC marked by political confusion
1939-08Aug-3	Workers Forum (letters): CCF inactive, SWL active; CCFer Herridge and the Stalinists Other Articles Tammany Hall politicians in Windsor (CCF, CP silent) Finnish militants fed up with CP; Finn militants look for new leadership Plight of Western youth prepares soil for fascism, Prairie letter by Carl Hichin Stalin oppresses minorities (Finns migrate from Soviet Karelia) The Workers’ Angle (column by Robertson) Pageant of Empire; sun never sets on Britain’s 400 million slaves The American Scene (column by Blake Lear); Workers’ defense guards; SWP convention Editorials: 25th anniversary of WW1; For Labour candidates; The (Stalinist) hounds unleashed (against Hichin and the Trotskyists) The little red schoolhouse (teachers strike in Saskatchewan) Tom Montague replies to (CP paper) Clarion slander With the Action builders: Manager’s appeal for funds
1939-09Sept-1	(ISSUE BANNED UNDER WAR MEASURES ACT: typeset but refused printing) Stalin capitulation launches another European war repeated in underground mimeo issue later in September 1939) ; Stalin’s “Go Ahead” Bring Nazis nearer to USSR
1939-09Sept-2ab	War is here—what now? By Robertson (final article for SWL by Earle Birney) Remember 1914-1918 (30 million lives lost in WW1) Real meaning of Moscow Trials is clear (Stalin’s need for a pact with Hitler) The wheat fight: For farmers to “not-sell” is to “sell out” Buck’s new buddy just another Tory; Herridge was Bennett’s ghost; More about Tory (ex-CCFer) Herridge The American Scene (column by Blake Lear; SWP call for referendum on war, runs municipal candidates) Editorials: Who wants war? Who profits; who controls the press, who should be fought? Lenin and Liebhnecht on War
1939-09Sept-3	Miners strike on eve of war(Glace Bay, N.S.)
1939-09Sept-4	BUILD THE ANTI-WAR PARTY; What is to be done, issued by SWL, Canadian Section 4th International (declaration to the workers of Canada to oppose the imperialist war) Other Articles Remember 1914-1918 (30 million lives lost in WW1) Real meaning of Moscow Trials is clear (Stalin’s need for a pact with Hitler) The wheat fight: For farmers to “not-sell” is to “sell out” Buck’s new buddy just another Tory; Herridge was Bennett’s ghost; More about Tory (ex-CCFer) Herridge The American Scene (column by Blake Lear; SWP call for referendum on war, runs municipal candidates) Editorials: Who wants war? Who profits; who controls the press, who should be fought? Lenin and Liebhnecht on War

Mimeographed underground editions (some issues datelined Montreal)

1939-09Sept	Explanation to Subscribers and Readers:“” printers refuse to accept copy due to War censorship;
1939-09Sept	"Stalin Surrender Launches Second World War;” Stalin’s pact with Hitler paves way for war and destruction of Comintern; 4th International denounces Stalin-Hitler Pact; The treachery of Stalin’s “socialism in one country” (retyped from banned issue) Editorial: “War is here—What Now?” CCF pacifists end up supporting war; A War for Democracy? How to stop the war; The Canadian bosses know their enemy; Who gains in Canada from imperialist war?
1939-12Dec	C.P. (Stalinists’) Fake “Left” Turn—Canadian Version (page 4 missing)
1939-12Dec-1ab	Support grows for anti-war Militant: the arrest and campaign to release Frank Watson for speaking out against the war; War Measures Act arrest upheld by court decision despite international support Other articles Editorial: A contemptible fraud—not a mistake (CP “handspring over to Fascist imperialists") (page 4 missing) (from p.4 missing) Invasion of Finland (by the Soviets) Editorial: The War nobody Wants
1939-12Dec-2	After Duplessis, by Louis Gagnon
1940-04Apr	Other Articles Erin’s tragic Easter (the 1916 revolt) Editorial: We must stand on our own two feet; The record of King Government; Prosperity only for Big Business Six months of war (PC of Socialist Workers League): People pay for war; Bosses out for profits; More workers in heavy industries; CCF, an egg with a double (yolk); Communist Party continues on skids’ Forward with Socialist Workers League; Vote labor!
1940-04Apr-1ab	The workers vote; a militant labor program for the federal elections
1940-04Apr-2	“Before you vote: Canadian people do not want this war!” Vote for labor candidates (do not abstain!)
1940-05May-1	May Day is still the Workers’ Day (Manifesto of the SWL) Editorial: Soviet Russia and the Second World War Again and Once more again on the nature of the U.S.S.R., by Leon Trotsky
1940-05May-2abc	Canadian elections reveal anti-war tendency; 2nd page CCF & CP setbacks 3rd one
1940-05May-3	Frank Watson freed; Anti-war militant was first victim of war dictatorship
1940-05May-4ab	A documentary record of CCF warmongering: Patriotism and patronage, CCF advertisement in the Toronto Star: ”A call to service on the economic front” Left winger fights red-baiting in needle trades
1941-04April	(Editorial note: First edition since Spring 1940) Manifesto of the 4th International on Imperialist War and the Proletarian Revolution (part 1); The roots of the war; Lenin on imperialist war (five instalments available upon request from the webmaster)
1941-04Apr-1ab	Leon Trotsky assassinated Do German workers support Hitler
1941-04Apr-2abc	Canada at war: Workers are falling-Profits are rising! Real wages fall
1941-05May-1abc	Canada—May Day 1941 (editorial) Labor vs. Capital—who pays for the War? Part 2: Manifesto of the 4th International on War & Revolution: the role of the United States, the “New Deal;” "The defence of the Fatherland” inside and outside Germany, The lie of the “Struggle for democracy;”
1941-05May-2ab	Canada at war—conscription; the CCF and pacifists buckle under; “Remember France!"
1941-07July-	The USSR and the War The Soviet “war potential" Part 3: The Manifesto of the 4th International on War and Revolution: Hitler’s “Program for Peace” and Japan’s “new order" Defense of the USSR; the planned economy, The Kremlin’s invasion of Finland
1942-02Feb-1ab	The Minneapolis frame-up: The arrest of 29 members of the SWP (US Trotskyist FI section) and Local 544 CIO (Teamsters) for their opposition to American entry into the war; The Honour Roll, the 18 convicted SWP leaders Part 4: The Manifesto of the 4th International on War & Revolution: On the Defense of the USSR; Stalin’s Bonapartist clique; The lessons of the Moscow Trials; The invasion of Finland; The colonial peoples in the war
1942-02Feb-2ab	Ceiling on wages a blow at the trade unions: the King government conscripts labor for the war effort
1942-04Apr	Part 5: Manifesto of the 4th International on War & Revolution: The colonial peoples struggle for independence; The great lesson of China; The war in Asia; India: Ghandi’s “moral” revulsion; Latin America; permanent revolution
1942-04Apr-1abcd	For a Referendum! The King government seeks to impose conscription; CCF and the Communist Party MP vote for conscription; OTHER ARTICLES SWL for military training of workers and farmers under trade union control (British Labour Party leader) Cripps—and the British workers (joins Churchill’s war cabinet)
1942-06June-1-7	(Editorial article -7 pages) The War and the Class Struggle: Germany, Canada, Great Britain; the real saboteurs of the fight against Hitler OTHER ARTICLES Final, part 6: Manifesto of the 4th International on War & Revolution: “Betrayers of international socialism:” the treachery of the Second International; the perfidious role of the Third (Stalinist) International; Stalin’s friendship with Hitler will not endure forever (written on the eve of Hitler’s invasion of Soviet Russia)

(End of publication of Socialist Action)