Alan Woods (political theorist)

Alan Woods ( born 1944 in Swansea ) is a Trotskyist politician and journalist. He lives in London.

Woods leads - in the selected function - the work of the International Marxist Tendency (IMT ) and is editor of the internet portal In Defence of Marxism. He is a 2002 founding member of the global initiative Hands off Venezuela ( HOV).

Life

He comes from a family with strong roots in the Communist Party of Great Britain. However, in the age of 16, he joined the Young Socialists LPYS, the youth wing of the Labour Party, at his home city of Swansea. The Trotskyist flow around Ted Grant was able to secure some comrades within the Welsh LPYS structures for at this time already. They succeeded in a short time, Woods to convince them of their line. Quick was also a friendly relationship with Ted Grant, with the Woods has worked closely up to Grant's death in 2006. Both men had in 1960 - as part of a political seminar of the Welsh LPYS in Swansea, on the Grant gave a lecture - to know. After his schooling Woods studied Russian at the University of Sussex ( Brighton, southern England in ), Sofia and Moscow. He then went to Spain. Along with Spanish and other British comrades, he built the group " Nuevo Claridad " (from 1976: " El militants Voz del Socialismo Marxista y la Juventud. " ) That in the time of the collapse of the Franco dictatorship for the establishment of a socialist workers' republic entered on Spanish soil. On his return to London in the early 1980s he was actively involved in setting up the now rapidly growing Militant Tendency. As a member of the Militant line, he was expelled in 1983 from the Labour Party.

Cleavage of the Militant Group

From about 1988 it came within the militant group to serious disputes, which came to a head in the course of 1991 and the definitive split " the trend " led in January 1992. Along with Grant Wood's held to the strategy of " Dauerentrismus " in the Labour Party firmly, while ever-increasing majority of the Association of Peter Taaffe's opinion followed, Militant must now compete as an independent political party against the irreparable bourgeoisified Labour Party. Woods was together with Grant and his supporters for exercising their - excluded democratic right to form a minority flow from the Militant line from the Association - laid down in the federal rules. From then took over the editorship of the Woods new Marxist newspaper within the Labour Party, the Socialist Appeal. Marxist Voice of the Labour Movement. Internationally, he was instrumental in the reorganization of the old Committee for a Workers International as the new umbrella organization International Marxist Tendency.

Woods and Grant 1995 published their jointly authored book on modern science (German: . Revolt of reason Marxist Philosophy and Modern Science, published in 2002 ). Purpose of marketing this publication, the Internet platform www.marxist.com was completed in 1996 to the Internet. Woods was involved from the beginning with the development of content of the page. Gradually, this site became the international, daily publishing central organ of the IMT and Woods grew into the role of chief editor.

Works

  • Marxism in Our Time (1992 )
  • China in Crisis ( 1994)
  • Bolshevism - The Road to Revolution: A History of the Bolshevik Party, Well Red Publications ( English, 1999) ISBN 978-1-900007-05-4
  • Revolt of reason (English edition under the title of Reason in Revolt: 1995, German edition: 2002 )
  • The Origins of the Russian Revolution ( Lancaster Pamphlets ) ( 1993), ISBN 0-415-10232-4
  • Bolshevism, the road to revolution: a history of the Bolshevik Party from the early beginnings to the October Revolution, 1999, ISBN 1-900007-05-3
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