David North (socialist)
David North | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Chairman of the Socialist Equality Party | |
| Assumed office August 2008 | |
| National Secretary | Joseph Kishore |
| Preceded by | Position established |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1950 (age 74–75) |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation |
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| Part of a series on |
| Trotskyism |
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David North (born in 1950, otherwise known as David Green[1]) is an American Marxist, who has been active in the international Trotskyist movement since 1971.[2] He is currently the National Chairman of the Socialist Equality Party in the United States (SEP),[3] formerly the Workers League. He served as the National Secretary of the SEP until the party's congress in 2008.[4]
North is the chairman of the International Editorial Board of the World Socialist Web Site, the publication of the International Committee of the Fourth International.[5]
Political History
David North was a student of the history department at Trinity College.[1]
North joined the Trotskyist Workers League in 1971, before being elected to the post of national secretary in January 1976.[6]
Throughout the 1970s and early 1980s, North covered and participated actively in numerous labor strikes, most notably the 1973-1974 unionization drive of miners in Harlan County,[6] and the 1983-1986 Phelps Dodge miners strike.[7]
North helped lead the investigation initiated by the International Committee into the circumstances surrounding the assassination of Leon Trotsky in 1940 and the extensive infiltration of the Fourth International by agents of both the Soviet secret police and the US FBI.[8]
In 1982, North informed the Workers Revolutionary Party (WRP), the British section of the ICFI and close collaborator of the Workers League, of his differences with the theoretical methods and politics of the organization. North's 1982 and 1984 documents were distributed throughout the ICFI and to the WRP membership during the crisis that erupted in the WRP in August 1985.[9] While a majority of the ICFI accepted North's criticisms, as well as a section of the WRP membership, the WRP rejected the political authority of the ICFI over its national organization and broke from the International Committee in February 1986.[10]
North opposed the restoration of capitalism in the Soviet Union.[11]
At the founding congress of the Socialist Equality Party (US), held in August 2008, North was elected as the national chairman of the party.[4]
Views
Marxism
North has defended the view that Trotsky represented a Marxist alternative to Stalinism, and therefore states that the collapse of the USSR does not mean that Marxism is a failed project. Summarizing these views as described in North's book The Unfinished Twentieth Century, sociologist Charles Thorpe writes that North "makes a powerful case that, to paraphrase Faulkner, these debates and experiences are not dead; they're not even past".[12]
North has argued that contrary to modern academic traditions, Marxism is not defined by academics, but instead by Marxist organizations and Marxist struggle. He writes that this tradition is represented above all by the Trotskyist opposition to Stalinism and its contemporary continuity in the Socialist Equality Party.[3]
Censorship
In 2017, North alleged in an open letter that changes to Google's ranking system and search engine (their project known as Project Owl) demoted left-wing outlets such as the WSWS, which describes itself as an "online newspaper of the international Trotskyist movement". Google would not comment to The New York Times about the WSWS. Contacted by the same source, North said: "I'm against censorship in any form. It's up to people what they want to read."[5]
United States
Speaking about the 2016 United States presidential election, North told Neues Deutschland that Donald Trump "embodies a cross between all the criminal and immoral features and machinations of the real estate, finance, gambling and entertainment industries".[2]
Interviewed by journalist Chris Hedges in 2018, North stated that while middle class groups promoted identity politics as a response to social tensions and poverty, American workers were not racist and "have a deep belief in democratic rights".[13] North stated that the 20th century problems of war and fascism remained real threats in the 21st century.[13]
Works
Books
- North, David (1988). The heritage we defend: A contribution to the history of the Fourth International. Detroit, Mich: Labor Publications. ISBN 0-929087-00-3. (Preface via World Socialist Web Site)
- North, David (1989). Perestroika versus socialism: Stalinism and the restoration of capitalism in the USSR. Detroit, Mich: Labor Publications. ISBN 0-929087-39-9. OCLC 21203230.
- North, David (1991). Gerry Healy and his place in the history of the Fourth International. Detroit: Labor Publications. ISBN 978-0-929087-58-0.
- North, David (2004). The crisis of American democracy: The presidential elections of 2000 and 2004. Oak Park, Mich. Bankstown, NSW: Mehring Books. ISBN 1-875639-36-5.
- North, David (2007). Marxism, history & socialist consciousness. Oak Park, Mich: Mehring Books. ISBN 978-1-893638-03-7.
- North, David (2007). Leon Trotsky & the Post-Soviet school of historical falsification. Oak Park, MI: Mehring Books. ISBN 978-1-893638-02-0.
- North, David (2010). In defense of Leon Trotsky. Oak Park, Michigan: Mehring Books. ISBN 978-1-893638-05-1.
- The Russian Revolution and the Unfinished 20th Century (2014) ISBN 978-1-893638-40-2
- North, David (2015). The Frankfurt School, Postmodernism and the Politics of the Pseudo-Left: AMarxist Critique. Oak Park, Michigan: Mehring Books. ISBN 978-1-893638-50-1.
- North, David (2016). A Quarter Century of War: The US Drive for Global Hegemony 1990-2016. Oak Park, Michigan: Mehring Books. ISBN 978-1-893638-69-3.
- North, David (2021). The New York Times' 1619 Project and the racialist falsification of history: Essays and interviews. Oak Park, Michigan: Mehring Books. ISBN 978-1-893638-93-8.
- North, David (2023). Leon Trotsky and the Struggle for Socialism in the Twenty-First Century. Oak Park, Michigan: Mehring Books. ISBN 978-1-959-124-02-3.
- North, David (2024). The Logic of Zionism: From nationalist myth to the Gaza genocide. Oak Park, Michigan: Mehring Books. ISBN 978-1-959124-08-5.
- North, David (2025). Sounding the Alarm: Socialism Against War. Oak Park, Michigan: Mehring Books. ISBN 978-1-959124-10-8.
Lectures and other pamphlets
- The USSR And Socialism: The Trotskyist Perspective (1989) ISBN 0-929087-45-3
- Ten Years After The Split in the Workers Revolutionary Party: The WRP's Commemoration Of Healy's Expulsion (1995) ISBN 1-873045-02-6
- In Defense of the Russian Revolution: A Reply to the Post-Soviet School of Historical Falsification (1995) ISBN 978-0-929087-72-6
- Socialism, Historical Truth and the Crisis of Political Thought in the United States (1996) ISBN 978-0-929087-73-3
- Workers League and the Founding of the Socialist Equality Party (1996) ISBN 978-0-929087-74-0
- Equality, the Rights of Man and the Birth of Socialism (1996) ISBN 1-873045-32-8
- Anti-Semitism, Fascism and the Holocaust: A critical review of Daniel Goldhagen's "Hitler's Willing Executioners" (1997) ISBN 978-0-929087-75-7
- A Tribute to Tom Henehan: 1951 to 1977 (1998) ISBN 978-0-929087-78-8
- Ernest Mandel 1923–1995: A Critical Assessment of His Role in the History of the Fourth International (1997) ISBN 1-875639-14-4
- Marxism and the Trade Unions (1998) ISBN 1-875639-29-2
- Leon Trotsky and Fate of Socialism in 20th Century: A Reply to Professor Eric Hobsbawm (1998) ISBN 1-875639-22-5
- Reform and Revolution in the Epoch of Imperialism (1998) ISBN 1-875639-28-4
- After the Slaughter: Political Lessons of the Balkan War (1999) ISBN 1-875639-35-7
- A Tribute to Vadim Rogovin (1999) ISBN 978-0-929087-50-4
- The Economic Crisis & the Return of History (2011) ISBN 978-1-893638-14-3
References
- ^ a b "Letter to the Editor: A Letter to President Berger-Sweeney from David W. Green '71". September 13, 2020.
- ^ a b Vesper, Karlen (January 2, 2018). "Socialism is coming back". Neues Deutschland. Retrieved September 19, 2024.
- ^ a b Saccarelli, Emanuele (2017). "Book review: The Frankfurt School, Postmodernism and the Politics of the Pseudo-Left: A Marxist Critique by David North". Critical Sociology. 43 (4–5): 799–802. doi:10.1177/0896920517699161. S2CID 151862205.
- ^ a b "Socialist Equality Party holds founding Congress". World Socialist Web Site. September 19, 2008. Retrieved July 12, 2025.
- ^ a b Wakabayashi, Daisuke (September 26, 2017). "As Google Fights Fake News, Voices on the Margins Raise Alarm". The New York Times. Retrieved November 28, 2018.
- ^ a b GERRY HEALY A Revolutionary Life.
- ^ Aulette, Judy; Mills, Trudy (1988). "Something Old, Something New: Auxiliary Work in the 1983-1986 Copper Strike". Feminist Studies. 14 (2): 251–268. doi:10.2307/3180152. hdl:2027/spo.0499697.0014.204. ISSN 0046-3663. JSTOR 3180152.
- ^ "British Trotskyism: Trotskyist Writers: Gerry Healy: The Rise and Fall of Gerry Healy". marxists.org. Retrieved November 22, 2023.
- ^ "Trotskyists split over purged chief". The Observer. October 27, 1985.
- ^ "Internal bulletins". mrc-catalogue.warwick.ac.uk. Retrieved September 12, 2023.
- ^ North, David. "How Robert Service Earned the Ire of Trotskyists Like Me: How Robert Service Earned the Ire of Trotskyists Like Me". The Wall Street Journal.
- ^ Thorpe, Charles (2017). "Radical Intellectuals, History, and the Soviet Union". Journal of Historical Sociology. 30: 86–91. doi:10.1111/johs.12146.
- ^ a b Hedges, Chris (February 5, 2018). "The Bankruptcy of the American Left". Truthdig. Retrieved November 28, 2018.