SCHISMS AND UNIFICATIONS IN THE AMERICAN OLD LEFT, 1953-1970.

Almost two decades ago, the author published an article sketching the schisms in the radical movement of the United States from its inception in the wake of the Civil War until more or less the date of the article itself. These schisms, together with their corollary-the merging of various radical groups- have continued. The present article attempts to bring the story upto date, to trace it from 1953 until roughly the end of 1970. The role of the far Left in this country has almost always been that of a catalyst and forerunner in national politics. The issues over which it quarreled seem to have had little connection with major political controversies, but its ideas sooner or later seem to be taken up by the major parties. One Old Left, relatively influential sect in the early 1950s, the Shachtmanites of the Independent Socialist League, had disappeared; but the breakaways from the Socialist Labor Party, Socialist Party, Communist Party, and Socialist Workers Party resulted in smaller and less influential groups than those from which they split. Finally, no split or reunification during the period brought into existence any group which in the foreseeable future seems likely to be a serious contestant for power in the United States.