The legal case brought by Alan Gelfand against the Socialist Workers Party and the state forces that had infiltrated the American Trotskyist movement was a monumental historical revelation that contributed documented proof of the role played by agents of imperialism and the Stalinist GPU in the death of Leon Trotsky and the continued penetration of the Socialist Workers Party. The case substantiated information brought forward by the International Committee of the Fourth International’s Security and the Fourth International investigation.
Table of Contents:
Foreword to Volumes One and Two: Analyzes the history of Trotsky’s struggle against the Stalinist bureaucracy, the role of agents in preparing his assassination, in particular that of Joseph Hansen and Sylvia Franklin, James P. Cannon’s secretary, who was placed in the national offices of the Socialist Workers Party, and the efforts of Alan Gelfand to uncover the truth about their roles.
Editor’s Preface: Explains the legal terms used in the case
Chapter One: Joseph Hansen and the FBI documents Hansen’s visits to and correspondence with the US Embassy and the FBI after Trotsky’s death
Chapter Two: Gelfand and the SWP shows Gelfand’s principled attempts to get answers from the SWP leadership about especially Hansen and Sylvia Franklin
Chapter Three: The Filing of the Civil Rights Case documents Gelfand’s July 18, 1979 filing of a Complaint against the SWP leadership and government agencies, after his expulsion from the SWP on January 11, 1979
Chapter Four: Plaintiff’s Closing Brief on Summary Judgment was filed June 28, 1982. It contains a trove of critical information gleaned from testimony of present and past members of the SWP.
