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Frank Lovell Papers

Call Number

TAM.204

Dates

1953-1999, inclusive
; 1970-1997, bulk

Creator

Lovell, Frank (Role: Donor)

Extent

10 Linear Feet (10 boxes)

Language of Materials

English .

Abstract

Frank Lovell was born in Illinois in 1913 and attended the University of California at Berkeley. Drawn into the socialist movement after the San Francisco general strike, he joined the Workers Party of the United States in 1935 and became a seaman and organizer for the Sailor's Union of the Pacific. In 1938, Lovell was a founding member of the Socialist Workers Party, and played a leading role in the organization for more than five decades. In the early 1950s, Lovell moved to Detroit where he became an auto worker and ran for Governor of Michigan 3 times from 1954-1964. In the late 1960s, he moved to New York City where Lovell served as the Socialist Workers Party's trade union director until Lovell and wife Sarah were expelled from the SWP in 1981. Lovell died on May 1, 1998. The collection includes: correspondence, the bulk of which pertain to Lovell's 1981 expulsion from the SWP; manuscripts of Lovell's numerous articles, reviews, speeches, class lectures, reports for and on the SWP; and topical files that deal with major labor movement events, controversies, and movements.

Biographical Note

Frank Lovell (1913-1998) was born on July 24, 1913, in Ipava, Illinois, a farming town where his father was a local entrepreneur. In the early 1930s Lovell attended the University of California's Berkeley campus, earning a B.A. in philosophy. Drawn into the socialist movement after the San Francisco general strike, he joined the Workers Party of the United States in 1935. He consequently became a seaman and an organizer for the Sailor's Union of the Pacific. In 1938, Lovell was a founding member of the Socialist Workers Party, and played a leading role in the organization for more than five decades. For a number of years he served on national leadership bodies of the SWP, writing extensively for socialist publications on labor issues and other matters. Under the pen-name Frederick Lang he authored a study of seamen's unionism Maritime!(Pioneer Publishers, 1943). In Portland, Oregon in the late 1940s he edited The Defender, a rank-and-file paper opposing the conservatism and anti-left purges in the maritime industry and unions. In the early 1950s Frank moved to Detroit , where he became an auto worker. With George and Dorothea Breitman, Frank and his wife Sarah played a significant role in the Detroit labor and socialist movements of the 1950s and 1960s and Lovell ran for Governor of Michigan on the SWP ticket in 1954, 1958 and 1964. In the late 1960s they moved to New York City, where Frank served as the Socialist Workers Party's trade union director.

In the early 1980s, Frank and Sarah Lovell were among hundreds expelled from the SWP. In December 1983 Lovell initiated Bulletin in Defense of Marxism, first serving as editor, and later on its Board. Lovell was a leading figure of the Fourth Internationalist Tendency, which from 1983 to 1992 sought to bring about unification of all U.S. supporters of the Fourth International. After the group's dissolution, Lovell for a time was involved in another socialist group, Solidarity. In his final years he gave attention to creating and administering the Thomas Giunta Living Trust, named after a veteran Trotskyist seaman whom Frank had befriended some years before. Lovell died on May 1, 1998.

Arrangement

Organized into three series: I. Correspondence; II. Political activities and writings; and III. FOIA files.

Folders are arranged chronologically within each series.

Scope and Content Note

The Papers are organized into three series. Two are arranged chronologically: I. Correspondence; II. Political Activities & Writings. In addition to correspondence, there are published and unpublished writings, Socialist Workers Party and Fourth Internationalist Tendency internal documents, and clippings and other research materials. The focus of most of this material is the labor movement, and the strategies and tactics to be employed by Trotskyist militants. Series III: FOIA Files contains Freedom of Information Act files on Frank and Sarah Lovell.

The bulk of the correspondence is from the years leading up to and following Lovell's 1981 expulsion from the Socialist Workers Party, and much of it concerns the issues and events leading up to his expulsion, the founding of the Fourth Internationalist Tendency, and the founding and publishing of the Bulletin in Defense of Marxism. Series II contains manuscripts of Lovell's numerous articles, reviews, speeches, class lectures, reports for and on the SWP, most concerned with the labor movement. Many of the lectures were given at classes for union militants held around the country. There are also topical files on major labor movement events, controversies, rank and file movements, and on relevant economic topics.

Donors

Lovell, Frank

Conditions Governing Access

Materials are open without restrictions.

Conditions Governing Use

Copyright (and related rights to publicity and privacy) to materials in this collection created by Frank Lovell was not transferred to New York University. Permission to use materials must be secured from the copyright holder.

Preferred Citation

Published citations should take the following form:

Identification of item, date; Frank Lovell Papers; TAM 204; 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.

Location of Materials

Materials in this collection are stored offsite and advance notice is required for their use. Please contact tamiment.wagner@nyu.edu at least two business days prior to visiting the library.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Donated by Frank Lovell 1998. The accession number associated with this gift is 1998.002.

Related Material at the Tamiment Library/Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives

George Breitman Papers (TAM 169)

Collection processed by

Tamiment Staff

About this Guide

This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on 2023-12-05 16:49:35 -0500.
Using Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language: Description is in English

Revisions to this Guide

December 2023: Updated by Anna Bjornsson McCormick to reflect the rehousing of materials

Edition of this Guide

This version was derived from Lovell guide.wpd

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