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Socialist Workers Party | |
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National Secretary | Jack Barnes |
Founded | January 1938 |
Split from | Socialist Party of America |
Preceded by | Workers Party of the United States |
Headquarters | 306 W. 37th Street, 13th floor New York City, New York 10018 |
Newspaper | The Militant |
Ideology | Socialism Castroism (since 1959)[1][2] Historical: Trotskyism (until 1980s) |
International affiliation | Fourth International (1938–1953) International Committee of the Fourth International (1953–1963) United Secretariat of the Fourth International (1963–1990) Pathfinder tendency (from 1990) |
Colors | Maroon |
Members in elected offices | 0 |
Website | |
themilitant | |
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Socialism in the United States |
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The Socialist Workers Party (SWP) is a communist party in the United States. The SWP began as a group which, because it supported Leon Trotsky over Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, was expelled from the Communist Party USA. Since the 1930s, it has published The Militant as a weekly newspaper. It also maintains Pathfinder Press.
Until the collapse of the Soviet Union, the SWP was the largest Trotskyist organization in the United States.[citation needed] During the 1960s and 1970s, the SWP and its youth wing, the Young Socialist Alliance, were the third-largest socialist organizations, after the Communist Party USA and Students for a Democratic Society. The SWP suffered many splits and its membership declined. The modern SWP is smaller than its progeny, such as the Trotskyist Socialist Alternative and the Marxist-Leninist Party for Socialism and Liberation.
The SWP places a priority on "solidarity work" to aid strikes and is strongly supportive of Cuba. During the 2020s, the SWP has defended "Israel's right to exist" and "right to defend itself", especially during the Israel–Hamas war. This contrasts with other U.S. socialist organizations, which take an anti-Zionist position and defend Palestinian nationalism.[3]