255:"Through some slip-up in the apparatus in Moscow," recalls Cannon, "which was supposed to be airtight, this document of Trotsky came into the translating room of the Comintern. It fell into the hopper, where they had a dozen or more translators and stenographers with nothing else to do. They picked up Trotsky's document, translated it and distributed it to the heads of the delegations and the members of the programme commission. So, lo and behold, it was laid in my lap, translated into English by Maurice Spector, a delegate from the Canadian party, and in somewhat the same frame of mind as myself, was also on the programme commission and he got a copy. We let the caucus meetings and the Congress sessions go to the devil while we read and studied this document. Then I knew what I had to do, and so did he. Our doubts had been resolved. It was as clear as daylight that Marxist truth was on the side of Trotsky. We had a compact there and then - Spector and I - that we would come back home and begin a struggle under the banner of Trotskyism."
244:, which permitted the circulation of minority opinions. Although Trotsky had been expelled from the Russian party a year earlier, he took advantage of the Congress to appeal to the Communist International. In the process, he submitted his document on the Draft Programme. Through a blunder in the apparatus, it circulated Trotsky's document to the heads of the delegations, including members of the programme commission. It was then that the American
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232:. In a truly-prophetic statement, Trotsky warned that if this position were adopted by the Communist International, it would inevitably mark the beginning of a process that would lead to the nationalist and reformist degeneration of every communist party in the world. Three generations later, his prediction, which was then ridiculed by the
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Stalin had no intention of circulating
Trotsky's document, but by a strange accident of history, that is what happened. The Stalinist regime had not yet been consolidated, and the Communist International still had to observe certain norms of
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defended
Spector on the grounds that as a Trotskyist, his life would be in danger if he was deported to the Soviet Union. Spector eventually regained his Canadian citizenship and was permitted to remain in New York.
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196:, who introduced him to Lenin's writings and inspired him to join the SDP. Spector engaged with the left wing of the Canadian SDP and eventually left to form the Communist Party of Canada.
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learned that
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in 1936 and became a leading member of the
Trotskyist movement there. He presented the International Report at the founding convention of the
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at the end of 1938 but dropped out of the party in 1939. (Contrary to some reports, he did not take part in the 1939-40 debate between
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shortly after leaving the SWP in 1939 and remained on its executive body until 1958, when he resigned after breaking with
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Palmer, Bryan D. (Fall 2005). "Maurice
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and immigrated to Canada with his family as an infant. He graduated from
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Spector was employed for part of his post-Trotskyist career by the
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Critique of the Draft
Programme of the Communist International
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and was director of the New York trade union division of the
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In 1928, Spector, while attending the Sixth
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Canada had revoked
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and
Maurice Spector first saw and read Trotsky's document.
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movement, which was first constituted as a branch of the
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Members of the Socialist Workers Party (United States)
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Canadian politician, editor and Trotskyist activist
369:Spector died on August 1, 1968, at the age of 70.
170:when he was not employed in political positions.
212:, accidentally got hold of a copy of Trotsky's
473:, Marxists Internet Archive, www.marxists.org/
458:New York: Pioneer Publishers, 1944; pp. 49–50.
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109:Learn how and when to remove this message
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124:(March 19, 1898 – August 1, 1968) was a
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