George Breitman: Veteran Marxist

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George Breitman, lifelong member and leader of the American Trotskyist movement, died April 19 in New York City as a result of a heart attack. He was 70 years old and had been in poor health for many years.

Breitman was the editor of the English-language edition of Trotsky's writings and the author of a book and numerous articles about Malcolm X and the Afro-American struggle.

In 1935, when he was 19, Breitman joined the revolutionary movement in Newark, N.J. In 1938 he was a delegate to the founding convention of the Socialist Workers Party and he remained a member of that organization until January 1984, when he was expelled because of political differences with the present party leadership.

The last two years of his life, Breitman helped organize the Fourth Internationalist Tendency and edited Arne Swabeck, a founding member of the American Communist Party in 1919 and of American Trotskyism about 10 years later, died in Los Angeles on March 13, 1986, of a stroke. He was 95 and had been ill for several years.

Born in Denmark, he migrated to the United States in 1916. Here he joined the Socialist Party and the Industrial Workers of the World. He was active in both and identified with the left wing of the Socialist Party led by Eugene V. Debs. He worked his way from the East Coast to Seattle, where he settled for a time.

Swabeck was active in his union, Painters Local 300, from which he was elected a delegate to the Seattle Central Labor Union. In 1919 a strike of 35,000 shipyard workers broadened out to become a general strike of 65,000 workers. Swabeck was a member of the General Strike Committee, which led the action that defeated government and employers' attempts to smash the unions.

In the same year, the Seattle branch of the Socialist Party sent him as a delegate to the party's convention in Chicago. At this gathering a split occurred between the left wing, which supported the 1917 Russian Revolution, and the right wing, which did not. Swabeck was in the left wing. The result of the split was that two Communist parties emerged. Later, they were united.

He was transferred to Chicago in 1920 where he served as Illinois district organizer and as an editor for the new Communist movement. A few years later he was elected to the Communist Party's central executive committee. its journal, the Bulletin in Defense of Marxism. He repeatedly appealed for readmission to the Socialist Workers Party.

Starting in 1941, he served as editor of The Militant, a newspaper which reflects the views of the SWP. He held this post a number of times. Later he took primary responsibility for the editing and publication of an extensive collection of Leon Trotsky's writings from 1929 to 1940, the Russian revolutionary's last exile.

Breitman was a noted authority on the U.S. Black struggle and on Malcolm X. He wrote "The Last Year of Malcolm X: Evolution of a Revolutionary," published by Merit Publishers in 1967 and also edited, in whole or in part, many of Malcolm's writings for publication. These include the books "Malcolm X Speaks" and "By Any Means Necessary," as well as the pamphlets "Malcolm X on Afro-American History."

Breitman ran for public office 10 times on the SWP ticket. The offices sought ranged from the State Assembly in New Jersey to the U.S. Senate. He was a member of the party's National Committee from 1939 to 1981 and served on its Political Committee. He is survived by his companion of 46 years, Dottie, and a brother, Sam, of New Jersey.

A memorial meeting will be held in New York City on June 7 at 7:30 p.m. at the Machinists Hall, 7 E. 15th St. For further information call (718) 972-8070.

Socialist Action is saddened by the death of this respected leader of the American Trotskyist movement. We join the Fourth Internationalist Tendency in honor -ing one who was our friend and comrade.

In our next issue of Socialist Action we will publish an expanded tribute to Breitman's work and his contributions to the revolutionary movement.-The Editors