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Hugo Oehler: Factional Documents and Spanish Civil War Reports, Correspondence and Ephemera

Call Number

TAM.066

Date

1932-1937, inclusive

Creator

Oehler, Hugo
Oehler, Hugo (Role: Donor)

Extent

0.75 Linear Feet (1 box)

Language of Materials

English .

Abstract

The Revolutionary Workers League of the U.S. was a Trotskyist group organized in 1935 by the Left Wing Group of the Workers Party, who had been expelled from the Workers Party (U.S.). The records contain letters and reports (1936-1937) written from Paris and Barcelona by League members Hugo Oehler and R. Martin, largely relating to political developments in the Republic of Spain from a Trotskyist perspective. The collection also includes printed ephemera in Spanish distributed by Spanish Leftist groups. Also included are sixteen folders of material compiled for "special issues" of International News, an internal bulletin of the Workers Party (U.S.), Left Wing Group. The bulletins reproduce documents relating to predecessor organizations, including the Communist League of America, and discussions pertaining to the formation of the Fourth International; correspondence in these files includes two 1933 letters to Oehler from James P. Cannon on the letterhead of the Communist League of America.

Historical/Biographical Note

The Revolutionary Workers League of the U.S. was a Trotskyist group organized in 1935 by the Left Wing Group of the Workers Party, who had been expelled from the Workers Party (U. S.). After several months of internal conflict, at the October Plenum of 1935, Workers Party leaders James P. Cannon and Max Shachtman were able to mobilize a majority to reject the demand of the left faction for an independent publication, and to warn them against violation of party discipline. Shortly afterwards, Hugo Oehler, Thomas Stamm and their followers were expelled and established the RWL, of which Oehler served as National Secretary. The Revolutionary Workers League was the largest group to emerge from the Communist League of America and the Workers Party (U.S.). Oehler and Stamm had opposed the "French turn" in America, that is, the decision to join the Socialist Party in anticipation of attracting left wing socialists to the Trotskyist movement.

Hugo Oehler traveled to Spain after the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War and made contact with a wide range of Trotskyist and other leftist groups and individuals. He was an eyewitness to the May 1937 insurrection in Barcelona, described in his published account, Barricades in Barcelona(NY: Demos Press, 1937).

Arrangement

Series I is arranged alphabetically; series II is arranged by "Special Issue" number.

The files are grouped into two series:

Missing Title

  1. I, Spanish Civil War: Letters, Reports and Printed Ephemera, 1936-1937
  2. II, International News, "Special Issues," 1932-1936

Scope and Content Note

Series I: Spanish Civil War: Letters, Reports, and Printed Ephemera, 1936-1937is made up of two parts. The first consists of reports made by Hugh Oehler and R. Martin to party offices in Chicago and New York. These letters narrate the political developments of the war in Spain in 1937, with particular focus on Catalunya, Valencia, and Aragon. Written from a Trotskyist perspective, they describe both specific events, such as the Insurrection of May 3-6, 1937 in Barcelona, and the more general and theoretical dynamics of the politics of the region. Oehler's reports are detailed first-hand accounts and reflect upon cultural, political, and socio-economic activities with the utmost descriptive specificity. Also of note are accounts of meetings of the "Friends of Durruti," and accounts of logistical problems that Oehler confronted during his visits to Spain and Paris. The second part of the series consists of propaganda distributed by a variety of left-wing groups from Eastern/South-Eastern Spain. Several groups of propaganda photographs, distributed by the "Comissariat de Propaganda de la Generalitat de Catalunya," depict the aftermath of fascist bombardments in Barcelona and children killed by fascist bombs (possibly from the air-raid at Lérida). Three folders of propaganda flyers represent the spectrum of leftist organizations vying for power in Barcelona; best represented is the Partido Obrero de Unificación Marxista(POUM), but also included are the Federación Anarquista Ibérica(FIA), the anarcho-syndicalist group Confederación Nacional del Trabajo(CNT), the Alianza Internacional de Trabajadore(AIT), the Sindicat de la Frustaand various radical youth groups, including the Juventudes Libertarias. Some of this material is harshly anti-Republican and nationalist/separatist in nature.

Series II: International News "Special Issues," 1932-1936, consists of compilations of material intended for internal distribution to members of the Workers Party (U.S.)'s Left Wing Group. Each issue consists of documents, such as position papers, correspondence, draft proposals and resolutions, minutes, etc., often on a single theme. Most of the documents are concerned with practical and theoretical developments in the Workers Party and in closely related left-wing groups active during the period. Most are written by members of the Left Wing Group, including Oehler, Tom Stamm, Louis Basky, and Arne Swabeck. Some of the material contained in the "Special Issues" was included in the version of International News produced for wider distribution by the Left Wing Group beginning in 1935. Note that the dates listed for folders in Series II reflect the dates of individual documents included, not the dates of distribution of the "Special Issues."

Donors

Oehler, Hugo

Conditions Governing Access

Materials are open without restrictions.

Conditions Governing Use

Tamiment Library has no information about copyright ownership for this collection and is not authorized to grant permission to publish or reproduce materials from it. Materials in this collection, which were created in 1932-1937, are expected to enter the public domain in 2058.

Preferred Citation

Published citations should take the following form:

Identification of item, date; Collection name; Collection number; box number; folder number;
Tamiment Library/Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives
Elmer Holmes Bobst Library
70 Washington Square South
New York, NY 10012, New York University Libraries.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Donated by Hugo Oehler, 1975. The accession number associated with this gift is 1975.001.

Collection processed by

Tamiment staff and Ariel Zambenedetti, 2008

About this Guide

This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on 2023-08-20 16:49:10 -0400.
Language: Description is in .

Edition of this Guide

This version was derived from Oehler Fractional Docs.Doc

Repository

Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives
Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives
Elmer Holmes Bobst Library
70 Washington Square South
2nd Floor
New York, NY 10012