The
Socialist Workers Party is a small political party in the
United States. It was founded by
Trotskyists in
1938 who had been expelled from the
Communist Party. During
World War II, many members were imprisoned under the
Smith Act of
1941. The party has run candidates for President since
1948; it received its greatest number of votes in
1976, when its candidate, Peter Camejo, received 90,310 votes. The party publishes a newspaper,
The Militant. In
1976, the party won a lawsuit against the
FBI as a result of years of spying by the FBI. During the
1970s and
1980s, the party abandoned Trotskyism in favor of a pro-
Castro ideology. The party now has few members.
Since the 1970s, the National Secretary of the Socialist Workers Party has been Jack Barnes.
See also: COINTELPRO, Socialist Workers Party (UK)