Marxist Bulletin No. 4
Expulsion from the Socialist Workers Party
Document 23
Letter to Wohlforth
By James Robertson
New York City
January 2, 1964
Tim Wohlforth
New York
Dear comrade Wohlforth,
Upon due consideration in the light of our recent expulsions, I
have been led inescapably to the conclusion that it continues to be in the
political interest of our tendency for your group to remain in the SWP.
Therefore it is our responsibility to assist your grouping in maintaining
itself within the party despite the role which you played in making possible
our own expulsions.
Consequently, I want to communicate to you two pieces of
information which you may find useful to know in protecting your membership in
the SWP. Comrade Myra Weiss has told us that at the recent party plenum she
felt it necessary to defend our tendency against the charge of being
‘Healyite agents’. As you will recall, I mentioned to you previously
that this summer Feingold had spread the story in Los Angeles that
‘Robertson had raised a lot of money for Healy.’ When Myra came
forward to defend us against the drive to exclude us from the party, we turned
over to her copies of all relevant documents and also told her of the money
rumor being circulated as well as the true facts behind it.
To clear this whole point up, Myra read to the plenum previously
unpublished sections from the original version of the document which comrade
Philips had brought back from England ayear ago and which your tendency
submitted to the party in edited form as the ‘Call for the Reorganization
of the Minority Tendency.’ While Myra’s action certainly absolved us
from any current organizational association with the SLL, it may have placed
your tendency in additional jeopardy.
The other information is related. We are giving serious thought to
shortly publishing a series of informational and documentary bulletins for
public sale and directed especially to the party membership. One particular
sequence of material to be covered would include a bulletin under the tit1e
‘The Split in the Revolutionary Tendency,’ consisting in part of our
correspondence exchanges with comrade Healy over the period November 1962 --
January 1963. Comrade Healy has already granted his express permission in his
letter of 29th May, 1963 to use his writing as we see fit: “So far as we
are concerned, you are at perfect libertyat any time to publish any
correspondence you have had with us.” However, formal permission does not
exhaust our responsibility so we are giving this advance notice of our
contemplated step. This should permit you to take measures to counter possible
adverse effects within the party upon your reorganized tendency.
Fraternally,
James Robertson
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