(This is a letter I received, my reply,  a document referred to in the letter I'm commenting on.
Also, an article on Celia's book launch from the Cuban weekly magazine BOHEMIA.)
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From: LindaLancz@aol.com 
Sent: Sunday, May 06, 2007 6:33 PM
To: walterlx@earthlink.net
Subject: Celia Hart Book and conference Call

Dear Walter,

Are you still in Cuba? I would like to hear your side on how the Celia Hart speeches are being published. I understand you disagree that it should include a quote from Trotsky and Breitman. Is that your position? I can see both sides but would like to hear yours.

Also I understand that you forwarded a draft of the conference call that some of us have been working on to Celia Hart. I am wondering what you and she think of it and of her coming to the states for the conference. We would plan a public forum for her of course. Also would you like to endorse the conference and participate? If you will please let me know. There is growing interest in it. It will be held in NYC next summer. I am forwarding the latest draft of the call enclosed. I am using my maiden name on the call - Thompson. Please note my new e-mail address lthompson321@aol.com.

Best Regards,
Comradely,

Linda
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May 20, 2007
Los Angeles, California

Dear Linda -

Sorry for the delayed response. I'm just back from Cuba a few days ago, and barely recovering from the combination of jet lag and culture shock.

Publishing a book of Celia Hart's writings for a primarily North American, English-speaking audience is a terrific idea. Two other editions of Celia's work has already come out, both very good, though quite different, the one from the other. First, one by Socialist Resistance in the UK, is in English. It's called "It's never too late to love or rebel" and has 112 pages and has no introduction. Socialist Resistance is a British affiliate of the Fourth International. It has a bright, attractive cover

Second, there is one in Spanish by the Friedrich Engels Foundation of Spain. The Engels Foundation is linked to the Grant-Woods International Marxist Current. Their edition is over twice as long, at 266 pages. It has an introduction by Alan Woods, and Acknowledgements by Celia herself written for that edition of her writings.

In my opinion, an edition of Celia's writings with a suitable introduction by the editors, would be a great way to reach out to an audience in the U.S. and Canada, and perhaps as well other English-speaking countries such as Australia, the UK and anywhere else people are interested in Celia's ideas and in the Cuban Revolution. Celia herself is both the daughter of two prominent Cuban revolutionaries, and is a Cuban revolutionary herself.

In case you weren't aware, Celia is not a member of the Cuban Communist Party, and hasn't been for a year. She continues to be politically active and to travel internationally. David Walters circulated the erroneous notion that Celia had been expelled from the PCC on Louis Proyect's Marxmail list. Celia told me her departure was amicable and she retains friendly relations with the PCC, starting with her father. Some people seem to have gotten some notion that Celia represented some kind of "layer", "wing", "trend" or "tendency" within the PCC.

Personally, I've seen no evidence of that, though of course her ideas are discussed by people who know her and of her ideas on the island. There was, for example, a public launching of the Friedrich Engels Foundation edition of her writings at a large bookstore in Havana during my visit, which I attended. About fifty people went to that event, so her name and works draw an audience. Celia's works are also sold by the Engels Foundation at their booths at the Havana book fair, which they've conducted for perhaps half a dozen years, every February. Celia has participated with them in their book tables at these fairs as well. Publishers of any U.S. edition of her writings should strongly consider getting a booth at the fair. Ocean Press, Pathfinder and the Engels Foundational also do that, as do some other European left publishing houses.

My opinion is that a book of Celia's writings with an introduction by the editors would be a great way to get her ideas out to a new and broader audience. As an authentic Cuban revolutionary voice from a younger generation, Celia's ideas can, as they already have, found an audience outside of the circles which are already supportive of the Cuban Revolution. Celia Hart herself favors the publication of a book of her writings in this manner. She likes the two existing books, and I'm sure she'd love an edition like the Engels Foundation one, in English.

On the other hand, a book of Celia's writings, which would also include essays by Trotsky, Hansen, and perhaps, as you now suggest, Breitman, too, would be something very different, Rather than focusing on Celia and her ideas, it would be part of the debates within the Trotskyist world. It would be using Celia's name for other purposes, ones over which she would not have control. Celia isn't interested in being involved in debates among the different Trotskyist forces. She wants to communicate about what she's learned, as a revolutionary Cuban, from her own life and Trotsky's ideas, which have helped her understand her experiences, starting in the GDR.

As far as bringing Celia to the United States, it would seem unlikely that the United States government, which didn't allow Compay Segundo and Ibrahim Ferrer, and which doesn't permit Cuban scientists, artists and writers to enter the United States, to permit an openly political and revolutionary Cuban to come to the United States. The conference organizers would have to invite her, see if she'd be interested in participating, and then see if the United States government would be willing to give her permission to enter. You do know you'd have to supply the $200.00 non-refundable fee she would have to pay for an interview at the U.S. Interests Section in Havana where a determination of her suitability for admission to the United States would be made. Celia hasn't got that kind of money. She's a Cuban single mom with a ten-year-old son at home.

Looking over the conference call, I'm struck by several elements. Lots of talk about Celia Hart, Lots of talk about Chavez and Trotsky, but the Cuban Revolution isn't mentioned. It's as if the Cuban Revolution doesn't exist for the people who've signed the call. Robin David sent me what I guess was an earlier draft of this some months ago. I wrote back to him pointing this out, and never got a response. Cuba's still not part of the conference. I assume that omission is conscious on the part of the organizers. Perhaps it reflects an interest in some sort of regroupment with various organizations including the International Socialist Organization, a tendency which is fiercely hostile to the Cuban Revolution.

Really, as described in the conference call, the gathering sounds a lot like a Trotskyist version of the movie THE WAY WE WERE, only set in the Socialist Workers Party, rather than the CPUSA. I was in the YSA and SWP from 1962-1982, when I had my involuntary departure. Then I was part of two of the little offshoots until 1988. I've been unaffiliated since then.

We did a lot of good work in the old days of the SWP, and I'd love for there to be a new party which could do better than the old SWP did in its heyday. But there's simply no way to roll the clock back to the way we were. It's too late, really, it's just too late, though we really did try make it. Something inside has died and I can hide and I just can't fake it. We can't go home again. Home isn't there and, anyway, I have to say it was a rather flawed model as I look back.

My days in the SWP and YSA were good ones, from which I learned a lot, and about which I have no regrets. I would not be who and where I am today had I not had those valuable experiences. I'm certainly interested in what former friends and companeros are doing with themselves, so please sign me up for any e-mail lists where these things are being discussed.

Since my principal political work today is about Cuba, and the Cuban Revolution isn't part of the conference agenda, it would be inappropriate for me to endorse the gathering. I can't imagine why Celia would want to endorse such an event, but you would have to ask her about that.

One last point. I've received more than one letter on these themes asking my opinions about this book project and conference call. None of the writers of these letters has included Celia in their correspondence, which I think is just common courtesy. I've become Celia's principal English-language publicist, and in the course of my work, I always include her in any such correspondence. I'm copying this to her, and would encourage everyone else to do the same thing.

Best wishes,

Walter Lippmann
p.s., since there can be no genuinely private or internal correspondence in the age of the Internet,
I'm posting this to my website and will be sharing it with interested people. Since you've asked my opinion, I hope you'll share this message with everyone concerned. Thanks!
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Revista Ilustrada de Análisis General FUNDADA EN 1908.

A CubaNews translation. Edited by Walter Lippmann.
http://www.bohemia.cu/2007/04/10/cultura/libros.html

Books

Revolutionary reflections

Celia Hart Santamaría gives free rein to her thoughts on the theory of Revolution and the world today.

By: ULISES ESTRADA LESCAILLE / cultura@bohemia.co.cu

Located next door to the Abel Santamaría Museum, the "Centenario del Apóstol" bookstore hosted the presentation of Apuntes revolucionarios (Revolutionary thoughts), a book by journalist and writer Celia Hart edited by the Federico Engels Foundation in Madrid, Spain.

Graciela and Celia (center) at the presentation.

In her book -a collection of 36 markedly anti-imperialist articles published at different times by a number of foreign media, Celia gives her political insights on the Cuban Revolution, Venezuela's socialist process, the illegal imprisonment of the Cuban Five, the defeat of socialism in the USSR and Eastern Europe, socialism worldwide, and what choices we have today.

Graciela Ramírez, the Argentinean torchbearer of the struggle to release the Cuban Five, acknowledged Celia's political assets as much as her new book, which confirms both the quality of her lineage and her parents' impact on her political and ideological formation.

Celia reminisced about her initial hesitation and fears when the Federico Engels Foundation talked of publishing the book, and stated her satisfaction that it served to reveal her deepest thoughts, forged in the course of many a battle waged as she searched for a proper way to express her political concerns and commitment to socialist revolutionary ideals and proletarian internationalism.

---ooOoo---

Call for a Conference on:
The Legacy  of Leon Trotsky and U.S. Trotskyism:
Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow

We live in both terrible and exciting times, in which a new layer of activists is coming into struggles that former members of the Socialist Workers Party have been part of in the past.  We, both veterans and a new layer of youth, would like to organize a conference to dialogue to better understand past and present struggles, to clarify issues and to build the socialist movement today and tomorrow.

It became clear to many of us that events are reactivating an important layer of former Socialist Workers Party comrades, and that there is a desire on the part of a layer that played leading roles in the old SWP to get back in touch with each other. Many started meeting socially which led to collaborating politically on building meetings for or holding discussions on Barry Sheppard’s book, Lynn Stewart Defense, the Caroline Lund memorials, and the antiwar movement. Other comrades have been involved in translating Celia Hart’s speeches and writing for various web sites and participating in on-line Marxists discussion groups. Some are working with Labor Standard and Socialist Action, in Solidarity, the ISO, The Socialist Organizer and other organizations. Barry Sheppard and Paul LeBlanc have written books about their experiences and conclusions on the last 40 years. These developments are all highly significant and very positive.

Many of us, however, have felt the lack of one unified socialist arena or milieu of Trotskyist comrades to collaborate with and share perspectives about what is happening politically in the USA and the world. This is in a period when the writings of Celia Hart and the comments of Hugo Chavez, along with discussions in the ISO and other left  organizations, are focusing attention on the ideas of  Leon Trotsky and his analyses of permanent revolution and the Soviet Union. For many reasons, we are not suggesting that the proposed conference attempt to recreate  an organization like the old SWP (or any organization) at this time. But hopefully the intervening years have been an opportunity for reflection, for personal and political growth, affording us the possibility of both passing on the most valuable aspects of our time in the SWP and also of participating with others in the creation of a more profound and effective understanding. There is still and always a need to deepen and develop revolutionary thought, strategy and action.

There is value in  preserving the best traditions of the SWP in the living cadre that still exists. We should not undervalue ourselves or each other, and perhaps in our maturity we can afford each other the respect and acknowledgment that was so often lacking towards differences and each other in the SWP. Under the pressure of events and the critical turning point that global warming, globalization and the warfare state present, it should be only natural for us as seasoned revolutionaries to come together. We intend to share our experience, strength and hope for the future and to pass what knowledge we have on to new generations.

As a result of our collective efforts in the SWP many of us developed an important understanding of concepts such as permanent revolution, the analysis of workers' states and Stalinism, democratic centralism, national liberation, racism, patriarchy, gay and gender oppression. While the world looks very different today, an appreciation of questions such as these still provides important answers to the dilemmas facing humankind. They remain crucial for a new generation of activists. We believe that the revolutionary Marxist tradition, which many of us attempted to defend through the SWP, and have continued to uphold since that organization's degeneration, has an essential contribution to make to any more contemporary understanding.


Conference Conception

We intend to focus on what we have in common and what we can do together. It is in the spirit of revolutionary optimism and unity that this conference proposal is offered. We encourage others to share their thoughts on possibilities.  It seems there are several components that could make sense for such a conference.

Theoretical and political perspectives

What remains relevant in the Trotskyist theoretical and political tradition?  What do developments of the late 20th and early 21st century indicate regarding the value of such concepts as permanent revolution, workers' states (and/or workers’ and farmers’ governments), workers' democracy, the revolutionary potential of the working class, the revolutionary potential of the black, women’s and gay movements, Lenin on the vanguard party and democratic centralism, imperialism, the national question, and the relation of democratic struggles to the revolutionary struggle?

What now?

What is the best way to organize for change in the world today?  What is the political situation that we face, particularly from the standpoint of those who continue to want to create a socialist society?  What is the situation in Latin America in countries such as Venezuela and Bolivia, in the Middle East, of the Left, the labor and immigration movements, the antiwar movement, the social movements, the ecology movement? And what are those from the SWP tradition doing (and/or what should we be doing)?

Networking and projects

There are a number of projects that have already been initiated and others that have been suggested to provide opportunities for collaboration and united action:

1. The Marxist Internet Archive and the related Trotskyist On-line Encyclopedia;
2. Kipp Dawson's initiative to help people gather together memories of their political experiences in the SWP and YSA;
3. Barry Sheppard's effort to produce an important historical memoir of the SWP from 1960 to 1988 and related continuing discussions on  the demise of the SWP;
4. The on-line publication Labor Standard, the Holt Labor Library, the collections of materials, such as the Breitman and Lovell collections, at the Tamiment Library (and past efforts to highlight these through a conference and publications);
5.  A number of political campaigns - in the trade unions, in the antiwar movement, and around a variety of other issues such as health care and ecology - that many former SWPers have been involved in;
6. Future joint publishing projects to preserve Trotsky’s legacy;
7. Bringing Celia Hart’s and Chavez’s reflections on Trotsky to a broader audience;
8. Bringing revolutionaries from other countries to the U.S. for joint meetings;
9. Lynn Stewart, Mumia Abu-Jamal and Gary Tyler Defense Work;

Making sense of what we have lived through

Remembering political experiences and comrades who were important to us, how can we best understand the significance and contributions of the pre-1980 Socialist Workers Party?  How is the decline of the Socialist Workers Party to be understood?


Suggestions to implement this conference proposal  have included so far:

1. A  three or four day event, during the summer (probably in 2008), perhaps at a summer camp or Oberlin-type setting.  To include some social/cultural/recreational activities suitable not only for comrades participating but also for families and/or partners.  There could be panels, workshops, small-group brainstorming sessions, plenaries and public forums.  There should be plenty of tape recorders and video cameras going -- perhaps operated by paid "staff."

2. A three day event in New York City or the immediate vicinity to involve many forces who are already organized there and other tendencies. ( Suggestions 1& 2 need not be exclusive.)

3. To include Celia Hart  in person, if possible, and on film or by interactive technology if not, and to bring Venezuelans and other Latin Americans to the conference to discuss their situation.

4. Possible preliminary activities, including a smaller gathering in 2007 (perhaps focusing on efforts by Barry and Kipp).

5. Individual Marxist intellectuals may want to relate in some way to our efforts (which should be welcomed), and the same may be true of several organized political entities, including: the Fourth International, Socialist Action, the International Socialist Organization, the Workers International League, Socialist Voice (Canada), Democratic Socialist group (Australia), Socialist Organizer, among others.  We may want to invite representatives of such groups to our conference as "observers" or participants.

6. A pre - conference on-line discussion of proposed topics, perhaps a specific Yahoo discussion group to facilitate this process and build the conference.

7. Those of us signing this call are constituting ourselves as an initial conference organizing committee, which can be expanded to include others.  We will conduct further discussion to plan for a conference along the lines indicated in the Trotskyist tradition, pulling together the finances and energies capable of making such a conference happen. This organizing committee consists of people who will do their best to be open-minded, good listeners, flexible, committed, and nonsectarian.

Steve Bloom          Kipp Dawson        Robin David            Alexei Folger          Linda Thompson         Paul LeBlanc         Andy Pollack         George Saunders   Asi Somburu          Kwame Somburu      Zakiya Somburu    Dave Walters



Interested parties who can devote time and energy to this project should contact Linda Thompson at 203 453-2770, lthompson321@aol.com on the East coast and Robin David - at 415 285-8548, robindavid@speakeasy.net on the West coast. Please respond to this call with your feedback and ideas. If you wish to be listed as an endorser of this conference please indicate by sending your name (the way you would like it spelled), your address and  phone number to either Linda or Robin.


 

Libros

Por: ULISES ESTRADA LESCAILLE
cultura@bohemia.co.cu

La librería Centenario del Apóstol, a un costado de la Casa Museo Abel Santamaría, acogió la presentación del libro Apuntes revolucionarios, de la periodista y escritora Celia Hart, editado por la Fundación Federico Engels, de Madrid, España.

Graciela y Celia (al centro)
durante la presentación del volumen

Esta obra recopila 36 artículos escritos por Celia en diferentes momentos, en varios medios de prensa internacionales, en los que con marcado acento antimperialista, profundiza en su pensamiento político sobre la Revolución Cubana, el proceso socialista en Venezuela, el ilegal encarcelamiento de nuestros Cinco Héroes, la derrota del socialismo en la URSS y los países de Europa del Este, el socialismo a escala internacional y las opciones del momento actual.

La argentina Graciela Ramírez, abanderada de la lucha por la justa liberación de los Cinco, reconoció los valores políticos de Celia y la obra que presentaba, que confirma la estirpe de su procedencia y el legado de sus padres en su formación político-ideológica.

Celia recordó las dudas y temores que tuvo cuando la Fundación Federico Engels le propuso esta edición y agradeció que la misma haya servido para presentar un conjunto de temas que recogen lo más íntimo de su pensamiento, forjado luego de muchas batallas emprendidas en busca del camino a seguir para lograr materializar sus inquietudes políticas, en su compromiso con las ideas de la revolución socialista y el internacionalismo proletario.