David North (socialist)

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David North (born 1950) is an American Trotskyist. He is the national chairman of the Socialist Equality Party in the United States (SEP), formerly the Workers League. He served as the national secretary of the SEP until the party's congress in 2008. North was the principal political and theoretical leader of the International Committee of the Fourth International during the organization's split with the Workers Revolutionary Party in Britain. North is also the chairman of the International Editorial Board of the World Socialist Web Site, the voice of the ICFI. He is also an author of several books and articles on the history of the Socialist movement. He delivers lectures in politics and the history of Marxism.

In early 1980 a British Trotskyist, Gerry Healy accused North of being agent of CIA. This unfounded accusation was cited among the reasons of Healy being expelled from his party.

Political career

Born in 1950, North studied history in Connecticut, and became politicized by leftwing movements in the United States in 1968. He stated that he was influenced by the Vietnam War, but also by the historical experiences of World War II, fascism and The Holocaust.

As an American Trotskyist, North is a longtime leader of the Socialist Equality Party (SEP). North is chair of the editorial board of the SEP's associated publication the World Socialist Web Site, which has a readership of 250,000 people each month.

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."

According to political scientist Emanuele Saccarelli, 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.

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."

In 2017, North alleged in an open letter that changes to Google's ranking system and search engine, called Project Owl, demoted left wing news sources including the WSWS. When contacted by the New York Times, Google would not comment on the WSWS. North told the Times, "I’m against censorship in any form. It’s up to people what they want to read."

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." North stated that the 20th century problems of war and fascism remained real threats in the 21st.

Works

Books

• Trotskyism versus Stalinism (1987) ISBN 0-929087-20-8 Search this book on .
• The Heritage We Defend (1988) ISBN 0-929087-00-3 Search this book on ., 539pp., a history of the 4th International ([1])
• Perestroika versus Socialism: Stalinism and the Restoration of Capitalism in the USSR (1989) ISBN 0-929087-39-9 Search this book on .
• Gerry Healy and His Place in the History of the Fourth International (1991) ISBN 978-0-929087-58-0 Search this book on ., a critical assessment of the political career of Gerry Healy, longtime leader of the Fourth International
• The Crisis of American Democracy (2004) ISBN 1-875639-36-5 Search this book on ., lectures delivered at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, an analysis of the 2000 and 2004 US presidential elections
• Marxism, History & Socialist Consciousness (2007) ISBN 1-893638-03-0 Search this book on .
• Leon Trotsky & the Post-Soviet School of Historical Falsification (2007) ISBN 978-1-893638-02-0 Search this book on .
• In Defence of Leon Trotsky (2010) ISBN 978-1-893638-05-1 Search this book on .
• The Russian Revolution and the Unfinished 20th Century (2014) ISBN 978-1-893638-40-2 Search this book on .
• The Frankfurt School, Postmodernism and the Politics of the Pseudo-Left: A Marxist Critique (2015) ISBN 978-1-893638-50-1 Search this book on .
• A Quarter Century of War: The US Drive for Global Hegemony 1990 - 2016 (2016) ISBN 978-1-893638-69-3 Search this book on .

Lectures and other pamphlets

• The USSR And Socialism: The Trotskyist Perspective (1989) ISBN 0-929087-45-3 Search this book on .
• Ten Years After The Split In The Workers Revolutionary Party: The WRP's Commemoration Of Healy's Expulsion (1995) ISBN 1-873045-02-6 Search this book on .
• In Defense of the Russian Revolution: A Reply to the Post-Soviet School of Historical Falsification (1995) ISBN 978-0-929087-72-6 Search this book on .
• Socialism, Historical Truth and the Crisis of Political Thought in the United States (1996) ISBN 978-0-929087-73-3 Search this book on .
• Workers League and the Founding of the Socialist Equality Party (1996) ISBN 978-0-929087-74-0 Search this book on .
• Equality, the Rights of Man and the Birth of Socialism (1996) ISBN 1-873045-32-8 Search this book on .
• Anti-Semitism, Fascism and the Holocaust: A critical review of Daniel Goldhagen's "Hitler's Willing Executioners" (1997) ISBN 978-0-929087-75-7 Search this book on .
• A Tribute to Tom Henehan: 1951 to 1977 (1998) ISBN 978-0-929087-78-8 Search this book on .
• Ernest Mandel 1923-1995: A Critical Assessment of His Role in the History of the Fourth International (1997) ISBN 1-875639-14-4 Search this book on .
• Marxism and the Trade Unions (1998) ISBN 1-875639-29-2 Search this book on .
• Leon Trotsky and Fate of Socialism in 20th Century: A Reply to Professor Eric Hobsbawm (1998) ISBN 1-875639-22-5 Search this book on .
• Reform and Revolution in the Epoch of Imperialism (1998) ISBN 1-875639-28-4 Search this book on .
• After the Slaughter: Political Lessons of the Balkan War (1999) ISBN 1-875639-35-7 Search this book on .
• A Tribute to Vadim Rogovin (1999) ISBN 978-0-929087-50-4 Search this book on .
• The Economic Crisis & the Return of History (2011) ISBN 978-1-893638-14-3 Search this book on .

External links

• World Socialist Web Site

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