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As I left New York, I was unhappy with what I had learned at the center of the Socialist Workers Party. Even though they were, as individuals, mostly high-minded and devoted to their cause, their organization was subject to the same petty rivalries and personal preferences as any other. The print shop, as I had suspected, was pretty much the bottom rung of every measure of worth in the Party.
Some of the long-time workers in the print shop were downright exotic. I remember one, a very pretty young woman, who always seemed a bit unkempt and just a little “off.” I liked her; I guess I’ve always been attracted to someone that I considered different, or maybe I just chased anything in skirts. She was in the hospital when I left New York. I read about her in the newspaper. One of the many poisonous snakes that she allowed loose in her apartment had bit her.
From my inside view of the propaganda process of the party, I became slightly disenchanted with party literature. For one thing, the popular newspaper articles revealed, after many many readings, a certain formulaic approach. They would report on something that had happened and then, about ⅔ of the way into the article, usually beginning with the word “unfortunately,” they would criticize whatever event or leadership they were talking about. “Women of the XYZ coalition rallied, 600 strong, at the UN Building today…. unfortunately, they didn’t add ABC and XYZ to their demands…” Or “They didn’t use bullhorns.” Or “They weren’t dressed appropriately.” Or “They didn’t get themselves arrested” Or “They got arrested but they shouldn’t have.” etc.
The SWP’s special international department used the same formula. I remember going into that dark, cold room often, usually to check a misspelling or something. Their ultimate authority on all things international, a venerated old man who had once served directly under Trotsky, liked it cold and dark. There, they processed reports from various nations and reported. They almost always added the “unfortunately” denunciations somewhere in the article. “So and so was elected president of such and such… unfortunately, he didn’t nationalize (or he did nationalize) such and such…”
“Didn’t anybody ever do anything right?” I wondered. “Why does everything that ever happens have an ‘unfortunately’ twist?”
Even though I was still solidly aligned with the Trotskyite view of the SWP, I was a lot less taken with their organization and with their publications, as I left New York. It didn’t keep me from continuing my devotion for another 3 years.
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