Joseph Hansen (socialist)
Joseph Hansen | |
|---|---|
| Born | Joseph Leroy Hansen June 16, 1910 Richfield, Utah |
| Died | January 18, 1979 (aged 68) New York, New York |
| Other names | J. Allen, Jack Bustelo, Joe Hansen, Joseph Leroy Hansen, Herrick, Henderson, Pepe, Stern[1] |
| Years active | 1934-1979[1] |
| Political party | Socialist Workers Party |
| Spouse | Reba Hansen |
| Part of a series on |
| Trotskyism |
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Joseph Leroy Hansen (June 16, 1910 – January 18, 1979), was an American Trotskyist and leading figure in the Socialist Workers Party.[1][2][3]
Early life
Joseph Hansen was born on June 16, 1910, in Richfield, Utah[3] (150 miles south of Salt Lake City), the oldest of 15 children in a poor working-class family. He was the only one of the children who could attend college. His father, Conrad Johan Zahl Hansen, was a tailor, originally from the island Kvitvær, Lurøy, Nordland, in northern Norway.[1] His parents had immigrated after they had converted to Mormonism.[4] In school, he read a book on tariffs by Daniel De Leon.[3]
Socialism
Hansen became politically radicalized during the Great Depression by becoming a convinced socialist and joining the American Trotskyist group led by James P. Cannon[1] in 1934.[3] In 1936, he became assistant editor of Voice of the Federation, newsletter of West Coast maritime unions.[3]
With his wife, Reba, Hansen went to Mexico to meet the exiled Russian Communist leader, Leon Trotsky. Hansen served as Trotsky's secretary and guard from 1937 for the next three years.[3] When the Stalinist agent Ramón Mercader struck Trotsky in the head with an ice axe, Hansen, together with Charles Cornell, prevented the assassin from fleeing.[1]
Hansen returned to the United States and started working as a merchant seaman. At the time, he became editor of the SWP's newspaper The Militant for a number of years.[1]
From 1940 to 1975, Joe Hansen served on the SWP's National Committee. As of October 1948, he was serving as staff writer of The Militant and editorial board member of the Fourth International.[3] In 1950 (or 1946[3]), he ran on the SWP ticket for US Senator from New York.[1]
He helped arrange the reunification of the International Secretariat of the Fourth International and the International Committee of the Fourth International into the United Secretariat of the Fourth International in 1963. He became a leader of the USFI and an editor of the USFI's weekly English-language news service, initially called "World Outlook" and later changed to "Intercontinental Press/Inprecor."[1]
Hansen strongly supported the Cuban Revolution of 1959. In the 1960s, he visited Cuba with Farrell Dobbs; both were active in launching of the Fair Play for Cuba Committee (founded 1960). In 1978, he published a book called Dynamics of the Cuban Revolution. A Marxist Appreciation.[1]
Federal Informant
Documents discovered in the US National Archives, and others obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, revealed that Hansen, immediately after the assassination of Trotsky in 1940, sought out and established a covert relationship with high-level US government agents. One such document, a letter from the American consul in Mexico City to an official in the State Department, dated September 25, 1940, reported that Hansen “wishes to be put in touch with someone in your confidence located in New York to whom confidential information could be imparted with impunity.”[5]
Personal life and death
Hansen married Reba Hansen, also a close collaborator, who remained in the Socialist Workers Party until she died in 1990.[1]
Joseph Hansen died age 68 on January 18, 1979, from infectious complications in New York City.[1]
Works
- Father Coughlin: fascist demagogue New York : Pioneer Publishers, 1939
- Wall Street's war, not ours! [New York] : Pioneer Publishers for the Socialist Workers Party, 1940
- American Workers Need a Labor Party (1944)[6]
- The Socialist Workers Party: what it is, what it stands for (1948)[7]
- Too many babies? a Marxist answer to some frightening questions ... New York : Pioneer Publishers, 1960
- The truth about Cuba New York, Pioneer Publishers, 1960
- In defense of the Cuban revolution: an answer to the State Department and Theodore Draper. New York, Pioneer Publishers, 1961
- The theory of the Cuban Revolution [New York] : Pioneer Publishers for the Socialist Workers Party, 1962
- Trotskyism and the Cuban revolution: an answer to Hoy New York: Pioneer Publishers, 1962
- Khrushchev's downfall. A statement by the United Secretariat of the Fourth International; New Deepening of the Sino-Soviet Rift? New York : Pioneer Publishers, 1964
- Healy "reconstructs" the Fourth International documents and comments by participants in fiasco (preface) New York: Socialist Workers Party 1966
- The catastrophe in Indonesia; three articles on the fatal consequences of Communist party policy. (introduction) New York: Merit Publishers 1966
- Behind China's great cultural revolution by Shu-tse Peng (contributor) New York: Merit Publishers 1967
- The Nature of the Cuban revolution: record of a controversy, 1960-1963 New York: National Education Dept., Socialist Workers Party 1968
- Leon Trotsky: the man and his work. Reminiscences and appraisals, (contributor) New York: Merit Publishers 1969
- The population explosion: how socialists view it New York: Pathfinder Press, 1970 (revised edition of Too many babies)
- The Abern clique New York: National Education Dept., Socialist Workers Party 1972
- Nixon's Moscow and Peking Summits: their meaning for Vietnam (with Caroline Lund) New York: Pathfinder Press, 1972
- A Revolutionary strategy for the 70s; documents of the Socialist Workers Party. (contributor) New York: Pathfinder Press, 1972
- The workers and farmers government New York: National Education Dept., Socialist Workers Party 1974
- Marxism vs. ultraleftism: the record of Healy's break with Trotskyism by Ernest Germain (introduction) New York: National Education Dept., Socialist Workers Party 1974
- Healy's big lie: the slander campaign against Joseph Hansen, George Novack, and the Fourth International: statements and articles National Education Dept., Socialist Workers Party 1976
- What is American fascism?: writings on Father Coughlin, Mayor Frank Hague, and Senator Joseph McCarthy (with James Cannon) National Education Dept., Socialist Workers Party 1976
- Dynamics of the Cuban revolution: the Trotskyist view New York: Pathfinder Press, 1978
- The Leninist strategy of party building: the debate on guerrilla warfare in Latin America New York: Pathfinder Press, 1979
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l "Joseph Hansen" (PDF). Trotskyana.net. Retrieved 27 November 2015.
- ^ North, David (10 November 2015). "Security and the Fourth International: The Gelfand Case and the Deposition of Mark Zborowski". World Socialist Web Site. Retrieved 27 November 2015.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Hansen, Joseph (October 1948). The Socialist Workers Party: What It Is, What It Stands For. Pioneer Publishers. p. 2 ("About the Author"). Retrieved 27 February 2021.
- ^ "Joseph Hansen: Right-Hand Man of Leon Trotsky". Utah Humanities. Retrieved 10 June 2018.
- ^ [https://www.wsws.org/en/special/library/foundations-us/48.html
- ^ Hansen, Joseph (November 1944). American Workers Need a Labor Party. Pioneer Publishers. p. 44. Retrieved 27 February 2021.
- ^ Hansen, Joseph (October 1948). The Socialist Workers Party: What It Is, What It Stands For. Pioneer Publishers. p. 30. Retrieved 27 February 2021.
External links
- Joseph Hansen Archive at marxists.org.
- What the Record Really Shows: The Test of the Cuban Revolution by Joseph Hansen. International Socialist Review January 1965.
- Bio-bibliographical sketch of Joseph Hansen at the Lubitz TrotskyanaNet.
- Novack, George. "Joseph Hansen, 1910-1979" (PDF). Intercontinental Press. 7 (3): 51. Retrieved 5 December 2017.
