Program of the United Workers Party (US) 1934

Found this over at archive.org. It's the Program of the United Workers Party which later became the US Council Communists. Paul Mattick was a member of the UWP. It was a split from several locals of the Proletarian Party (US).

there is the text online over there, but it's poorly OCRed:

http://www.archive.org/details/World-wideFascismOrWorldRevolutionManifestoAndProgramOfTheUnited

Two more

Two more pamphlets:
http://www.archive.org/details/WhatNextForTheAmericanWorkers What next for the American workers?

and
Bolshevism or communism : on the question of a new communist party and the "Fourth" International (1934)

quite a find. an early u.s.

quite a find. an early u.s. left communist group?

yes, it's a split from the

yes, it's a split from the Proletarian Party, who were the SPGBers who supported the soviet union. Paul Mattick was party of the UWP and they morphed into the council communists who published "Living Marxism". So yeah, pretty important find, a transition.

From wikipedia: Quote: In

From wikipedia:

In 1934 a group of left communists within the IWW joined with a dissident faction of the Proletarian Party to form the United Workers Party. The group soon changed its name to Groups of Council Communists or simply the Council Communists.[1]

I recall reading, with babelfish, a pamplet Mattick wrote in German urging unity between left communists and the iww.

David, Do you know if Mattick

David, Do you know if Mattick was in the PPA or IWW? I've seen the pamphlet, wish I had thought of babelfish... But there was allot of intersection between the various libertarian marxist groups (including the IWW) during the 1930s.

Best of my recollection, and

Best of my recollection, and according to wikipedia, he was a wob.
I don't think it's exactly accurate to call PPA SPGB who supported the ussr by the way. Keracher and his comrades were anti-electoral. They believed in conducting mass education in Marxist theory
http://www.marxisthistory.org/subject/usa/eam/proletarianparty.html

David: The groupings which

David: The groupings which made up the PPA had been quite close to the SPGB and SPC prior to 1920 - to the point of some adopting the Declaration of Principles of the SPGB. There were a number of members of the SPGB and SPC in the US who were on the lam from military conscription in the Empire who organized what became the locals of the PPA. The PPA did diverge from the SPGB re soviets, etc. later (1920 on), but were a unified political bloc at the founding meeting of the Communist Party of America. I don't know if it's true that the PPA were anti-electoral.

We may both be right.

We may both be right. Wikipedia, citing "We Called Each Other Comrade": Charles H. Kerr & Co., Radical Publishers", states that the Michigan SP under Keracher's leadership actually called for expulsion for electoralists. I own the book but it's not close to hand, my library is getting a bit scattered. I'll check the citation. http://www.marxisthistory.org/subject/usa/eam/proletarianparty.html confirms your statement that the party, or at least the newspaper group, adopted SPGB principals.

The 'Letter to the Comintern

The 'Letter to the Comintern from the Representative of the Proletarian Party of America.
by Dennis E. Batt' on the link above is clearly electoral.

The following must be understood and accepted
by any group that expects to function as
the Communist organization in America. Firstly,
America has not been, is not, and will not be for a
considerable time upon the verge of revolution.
The faith of the masses in the bourgeois political
institutions of America has not broken and does
not show any signs of breaking. The psychology
of Americans is such that the ruling class would
not experience any great difficulty in mobilizing
national sentiment against either Japan or England.
They are still thoroughly possessed of the provincial
psychology which arose with America’s frontier
development.

. . .

Further, the psychology of the masses of
America make it imperative that use be made of
election campaigns for the purpose of propaganda.
The nature of American election laws is such that
it will be impossible to make use of these campaigns
by running independent candidates as has
been suggested by some Communists in America.
A distinct organization is necessary. Through the
use of these campaigns it will be possible to propagate
all of the ideas contained in the various theses
of the Communist International with the exception
of the overthrow of capitalist control by force
of arms.

http://www.marxisthistory.org/history/usa/parties/ppa/1921/0000-batt-tocomintern.pdf