Harry Turner Papers
Call Number
Date
Creator
Extent
Language of Materials
Abstract
Harry Turner (1919-1997), born in Brooklyn, N.Y., joined the Communist Party in the 1930s, left in the aftermath of the Soviet suppression of the Hungarian Revolution of 1956, became a Trotskyist, and was a member of the Socialist Workers Party (1964-66), then helped establish the Spartacist League, but left it in 1968, then participated in various U.S. and international Trotskyist organizations until his death. Turner was also a rehabilitation counseler, working for the New York State Office of Vocationa Rehabilitation, and an activist in the New York State Civil Service Employees Association. The collection contains published and unpublished writings by Turner -- newspaper articles, pamphlets, statements, newsletters, and circular letters -- the latter two often relating to the many Trotskyist organizations in which he participated. Materials also include correspondence, reports, newsletters, and ephemera documenting Turner's engagement with various Trotkyist and socialist organizations. The Trotskyist Coordinating Committee, Collective Leadership Faction (CLF), and the Committee for a Revolutionary Socialist Party (CRSP) are particularly well documented. Other groups in the collection include the Workers Revolutionary Party (WRP), International Socialist League (ISL), International Workers League (IWL), and the International Workers Party (IWP).
Biographical Note
Harry Turner (1919-1997), born in Brooklyn, N.Y., joined the Communist Party in the 1930s, left in the aftermath of the Soviet suppression of the Hungarian Revolution of 1956, became a Trotskyist, and was a member of the Socialist Workers Party (1964-66), then helped establish the Spartacist League, but left it in 1968, then participated in various U.S. and international Trotskyist organizations until his death. Turner was also a rehabilitation counseler, working for the New York State Office of Vocationa Rehabilitation, and an activist in the New York State Civil Service Employees Association. A detailed listing of Turner's writings is available at the Library.
Arrangement
This collection has not been arranged by an archivist. Materials received in 2019 and 2022 are arranged in the order in which they were received from the donor. The nature of the arrangement for records received prior to 2019 is unknown.
Scope and Contents
The collection contains published and unpublished writings by Turner -- newspaper articles, pamphlets, statements, newsletters, and circular letters -- the latter two often relating to the many Trotskyist organizations in which he participated. Materials also include correspondence, reports, newsletters, and ephemera documenting Turner's engagement with various Trotkyist and socialist organizations. The Trotskyist Coordinating Committee, Collective Leadership Faction (CLF), and the Committee for a Revolutionary Socialist Party (CRSP) are particularly well documented. Other groups in the collection include the Workers Revolutionary Party (WRP), International Socialist League (ISL), International Workers League (IWL), and the International Workers Party (IWP).
Subjects
Organizations
People
Conditions Governing Access
Materials are open without restrictions.
Conditions Governing Use
Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Labor Archive 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 circa 1968-1990, are expected to enter the public domain in 2067.
Preferred Citation
Identification of item, date; Harry Turner Papers; TAM 208; box number; folder number; Tamiment Library/Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives, New York University.
Location of Materials
Immediate Source of Acquisition
There is no documentation concerning the provenance of the original donation in this collection; the accession number associated with these materials is 1998.014. In October 2019 and March 2022, Jon Willinger donated accretions to the collection. The accession numbers associated with these accretions are 2019.124 and 2022.025, respectively.
Appraisal
Personal check donations to the Trotskyist Coordinating Committee have been appraised out of this collection and destroyed.
About this Guide
Processing Information
Processing, arrangement and description interventions to this collection prior to 2019 were not recorded. Records were rehoused and described at the collection level. Loose documents that arrived as a part of the 2019 accretion were rehoused in archival folders. Some elements of the finding aid were updated to reflect changes in the collection's date, scope, contents, and extent. In 2019 the collection title was changed from the Henry Turner Papers to the Harry Turner Papers to reflect the creator's preferred form of name.
