Workers World Party
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The Workers World Party was founded by Sam Marcy in 1959 when he left the Socialist Workers Party. Over time, Marcy's political ideology had changed from Trotskyism to an unusual form of Stalinism. The WWP supported the Eastern Bloc incursion into Czechoslovakia and Hungary. The Workers World Party nominated its first candidate for office in 1980. Though the WWP is small, its membership is highly dedicated. In 1996, the WWP succeeded in capturing a ballot spot in California which led to WWP Presidential candidate Monica Moorehead getting over 29,000 votes (mainly from California) in 1996. Moorehead once again ran for President in 2000 under the WWP ballot, but this time received less than 5,000 votes. The WWP has helped create a number of organizations, including the International Action Center (which has been involved in the anti-globalization demonstrations) and the newly-formed ANSWER (an anti-war group). On May 10, FBI Director Louis Freeh named the WWP as a "domestic terrorist group" without providing any evidence, paving the way for future attacks on civil liberties on groups for merely having different opinions than the mainstream. This has brought sympathy from some leftists towards the WWP. The WWP supports the North Korean government and the Russian Communist Workers Party (RKRP).
In 2004, a major faction of the WWP broke off and formed the Party for Socialism and Liberation. Most of the best organizers and activists joined the new Party because of WWP stagnation and political distortions.
[edit] Entryism and Vanguardism
The Workers World Party is widely disliked by peace movement veterans and activists involved in social change movements. It is widely known that the WWP initiates front groups such as the International Action Center and International A.N.S.W.E.R. as campaigns to give WWP leaders visibility and leadership in social change movements, often erroneously called "the Movement." The WWP was rebuffed by the anti-globalization movement, so when 9/11 happened the WWP formed a fake coalition called International A.N.S.W.E.R., correctly anticipating that many left activists would switch to anti-war activism and many peace movement activists would be active again.
The WWP engages in a variety of disruptive tactics towards other groups and coalitions. If they can't make a WWP group the main player in a national mobilization, they set up a competing protest and then set about applying for protest permits. The protest permit strategy allows the WWP front group to create a conflict with the police which generates publicity for the WWP event. The WWP also engages in bad-jacketing (spreading rumors about activists) and the use of racial politics to divide and disrupt competing groups.
This page is part of the Field Guide to the Left.
