Saturday, April 9, 2022

The cancelled debate with Mr. Bradley (1940)

Party News from the June 1940 issue of the Socialist Standard

A large audience filled Conway Hall on May 19th to hear a debate between Comrade Rubin, for the S.P.G.B., and Mr. G. Bradley, for the Fourth International. Unfortunately, the debate did not take place, owing to the non-appearance of Mr. Bradley. Without any preliminary warning a letter was received from Mr. Bradley at the Hall itself, at the time the debate was to have taken place, saying that he was prevented from attending owing to illness.

As the debate was off, Comrade Rubin gave an address on the question at issue (“Which Way to Socialism — Democracy or Insurrection?”), which was greatly appreciated by the audience.


1 comment:

Imposs1904 said...

Hat tip to ALB for originally scanning this in.

In the notice for the debate that appeared in the May 1940 issue of the Socialist Standard, Gerry Bradley is listed as speaking on behalf of the Fourth International, which is a bit of a weird listing to say the least. British Trotskyism brief period of unity - from '44 to '49 - was under the banner of the Revolutionary Communist Party, but in 1940 there were at least two - maybe more - separate Trotskyist groups in Britain.

The link for Bradley in the text leads to an exhaustive biographical entry spanning decades - a fascinating read, btw - but it has to be taken into account that it's from a *cough* official communist website.