This version was derived from cochran TAM 205.doc
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Donated by Cynthia Copeland Cochran, 1998.
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Identification of item, date (if known); The Bert Cochran Papers
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Bert Cochran (Dec 25, 1916 - Jun 4, 1984), an American Trotskyist, also known by the pseudonym, E.R. Frank, was born Alexander Goldfarb in Warsaw, Poland. He joined the Communist League of America in 1934, was a member of the American Workers Party (1935-37), was a district organizer for the Cleveland district of the Mechanics Educational Society of America (MESA) in 1936-37, was a member of the Appeal Group (within the Socialist Party), was a member of the Socialist Workers Party (SWP) from its inception in 1938, serving on its National Committee for many years and, based in Detroit, was a leading figure in the SWP's work in organizing auto workers, serving as chair of the SWP's Auto Fraction, and was an activist in the United Automobile Workers of America.
He left/was expelled from the SWP in 1954 for his leading role in the "Cochran-Clarke" faction, which held dissenting views on the appropriate relationship to Stalinism, and in particular to Communist Party labor- movement activism and activists. Along with fellow ex-SWP members George Clarke and Harry Braverman, he founded the magazine {title render=''italic''}The American Socialist{/title} (1954-1959). In 1949 he met his companion Cynthia Copeland Cochran (who is also the sister of Vince Copeland, also a Trotskyist activist and long-time leading figure in the Workers World Party).
Cochran wrote seven books. Two were on the labor movement: {title render=''italic''}American Labor at Midpassage{/title} (1959) and {title render=''italic''}Labor and Communism: The Conflict that Shaped American Unions{/title} (1977). The others were: {title render=''italic''}The Cross of the Moment{/title} (1961), {title render=''italic''}The War System{/title} (1965), {title render=''italic''}Adlai {/title}{title render=''italic''}Stevenson: Patrician among the Politicians{/title} (1969), {title render=''italic''}Harry Truman and the Crisis Presidency{/title} (1973), and Welfare Capitalism--and After{/title} (1984).
This collection is organized into two series: 1. Labor and Political Activities, and 2. Unpublished Writings. The collection contains correspondence, manuscripts, and minutes, reports, and other internal documents, principally from the Socialist Workers Party, and from the United Automobile Workers union. In addition to Cochran (often as E. R. Frank, or as "Burt" Cochran), notable correspondents and authors include George F. Addes, James Burnham, James Cannon, George Clarke, Farrell Dobbs, Vincent R. Dunne, Jules Geller, Rose Karsner, Homer Martin, Felix Morrow, A.J. Muste, Max Shachtman, Arne Swabeck, and Natalia Trotsky. There are also letters from SWP and UAW activists.
In the first series, the American Workers Party file (1935-36) contains discussion of the political and tactical issues involved in the "French Turn" (the mass entry of individual Trotskyists into the Socialist Party, so called after the tactic used in France). The bulk of the series provides concerns the SWP's activity within the automobile industry and the UAW, and the debates within the SWP on these matters. The documentation is most extensive for the years through 1943. There are lengthy analytical letters, confidential reports, club and auto fraction meeting minutes, leaflets and flyers distributed to the rank and file, and some UAW correspondence, minutes and other internal documents. Issues/events covered include: SWP internal debates on automobile industry and general labor union policy, UAW factionalism, 1937-39, and the SWP's initial support for President Homer Martin's faction, organizing auto workers, the conditions and status of auto industry workers employed under the Works Progress Administration (WPA), and responses to labor measures adopted by the U.S. government during World War II.
There are also numerous reports and statements on the international political and military situation during World War II, two letters from/regarding the (Trotskyist) Internationale Kommunisten Deutschlands (International Communist Party of Germany), and a copy of a 1944 letter from Natalia Trotsky relating to the nature of the Soviet Union. The post-World War II files contain reports and speeches and focus on national and international politics, notably Poland, Korea, and for Yugoslavia, a report from an SWP member who had visited Belgrade ca.1950. There is detailed discussion from 1945-46 of the political differences between the SWP majority and the Morrison (nee Albert Goldman) / Felix Morrow minority. There are also typescripts of several of Cochran's speeches from the 1950s on U.S. and international affairs.
Series two contains portions of two unpublished (and untitled and undated) manuscripts. The first is a partial manuscript (some 450 pp.), an explicitly Marxist study of warfare in human history that may have been written in the years preceding Cochran's study of post-World War II world politics and military policy, The War System{/title} (Macmillan, 1965). The second consists of one chapter, titled "Workers and Intellectuals" (ca.1978), from an untitled work.
Within each series, the folders are arranged chronologically.
Organized into two series:
[The following section contains a detailed listing of the materials in the collection.]