Farrell Dobbs (July 25, 1907 – October 31, 1983) was an American

Trotskyist Trotskyism (, ) is the political ideology and branch of Marxism developed by Russian revolutionary and intellectual Leon Trotsky along with some other members of the Left Opposition and the Fourth International. Trotsky described himself as an ...

trade union A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...

ist, politician, and historian.

Early years

Dobbs was born in Queen City, Missouri, where his father was a worker in a coal company garage. The family moved to

Minneapolis Minneapolis is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 429,954 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the state's List of cities in Minnesota, most populous city. Locat ...

, and he graduated from North High School in 1925. In 1926, he left for

North Dakota North Dakota ( ) is a U.S. state in the Upper Midwest, named after the indigenous Dakota people, Dakota and Sioux peoples. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba to the north and by the U.S. states of Minneso ...

to find work, but returned the following fall. At this point, young Farrell Dobbs was a Republican, and supported

Herbert Hoover Herbert Clark Hoover (August 10, 1874 – October 20, 1964) was the 31st president of the United States, serving from 1929 to 1933. A wealthy mining engineer before his presidency, Hoover led the wartime Commission for Relief in Belgium and ...

for president in 1928 and 1932.

Politics

Dobbs's political viewpoints changed during the

Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...

in the 1930s. Seeing the plight of workers in that situation (including himself), he became politically radicalized to the

left Left may refer to: Music * ''Left'' (Hope of the States album), 2006 * ''Left'' (Monkey House album), 2016 * ''Left'' (Helmet album), 2023 * "Left", a song by Nickelback from the album ''Curb'', 1996 Direction * Left (direction), the relativ ...

. In 1933, while working for the Pittsburgh Coal Company in

, Dobbs joined the

Teamsters The International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT) is a trade union, labor union in the United States and Canada. Formed in 1903 by the merger of the Team Drivers International Union and the Teamsters National Union, the union now represents a di ...

. After getting to know the three Trotskyist Dunne brothers, (Miles,

Vincent Vincent (Latin: ''Vincentius'') is a masculine given name originating from the Roman name ''Vincentius'', which itself comes from the Latin verb ''vincere'', meaning "to conquer." People with the given name Artists *Vincent Apap (1909–2003) ...

and Grant) and Swedish socialist Carl Skoglund, he joined the

Communist League of America The Communist League of America (Opposition) was founded by James P. Cannon, Max Shachtman and Martin Abern late in 1928 after their expulsion from the Communist Party USA for Trotskyism. The CLA(O) was the United States section of Leon Trotsky' ...

. Dobbs was one of the initiators of a general strike in Minneapolis, and for a while worked full-time as a union organizer. He was influential in the Teamsters' shift from emphasis on local delivery work to over-the-road traffic, which keyed their great expansion towards becoming the largest union in the United States. Dobbs quit in 1939 to work for the new Socialist Workers Party (SWP). Dobbs met the Russian revolutionary leader

Leon Trotsky Lev Davidovich Bronstein ( – 21 August 1940), better known as Leon Trotsky,; ; also transliterated ''Lyev'', ''Trotski'', ''Trockij'' and ''Trotzky'' was a Russian revolutionary, Soviet politician, and political theorist. He was a key figure ...

when he visited

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

shortly before Trotsky's death in 1940. Dobbs served as mentor and advisor to a young Jimmy Hoffa, while Hoffa was making his rise within the Teamsters, eventually becoming its president in 1957. Dobbs primarily inspired Hoffa with his view that the capitalist system was a

Darwinian ''Darwinism'' is a term used to describe a theory of biological evolution developed by the English naturalist Charles Darwin (1809–1882) and others. The theory states that all species of organisms arise and develop through the natural sele ...

struggle, where power, rather than morality, was the primary factor determining the eventual outcome.''The Kennedys: An American Drama'', by Peter Collier (political author) and David Horowitz, Summit Books, 1984, New York, , p. 221 For opposing

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, he and other leaders of the SWP and the Minneapolis Teamsters were convicted of violating the

Smith Act The Alien Registration Act, popularly known as the Smith Act, 76th United States Congress, 3rd session, ch. 439, , is a United States federal statute that was enacted on June 28, 1940. It set criminal penalties for advocating the overthrow of ...

, which made it illegal to "conspire to advocate the violent overthrow of the United States Government". He served over a year of a 16-month sentence in

Federal Correctional Institution, Sandstone The Federal Correctional Institution, Sandstone (FCI Sandstone) is a low-security United States federal prison for male offenders in Sandstone, Minnesota. It is operated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BoP), a division of the United States Unite ...

, from 1944 to 1945.

Presidential candidacy

After his release, he became the editor of the SWP's newspaper, '' The Militant''. From 1948 to 1960 he was the SWP's candidate for

President of the United States The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president directs the Federal government of the United States#Executive branch, executive branch of the Federal government of t ...

, running in four elections. He succeeded James P. Cannon as national secretary of the party in 1953, serving until 1972. In 1960, Farrell Dobbs and Joseph Hansen, Trotsky's former secretary in

, went to

Cuba Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...

to experience the revolutionary movement there. The two American Trotskyists decided to fully support the

Cuban Revolution The Cuban Revolution () was the military and political movement that overthrew the dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista, who had ruled Cuba from 1952 to 1959. The revolution began after the 1952 Cuban coup d'état, in which Batista overthrew ...

and the leadership of

Fidel Castro Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz (13 August 1926 – 25 November 2016) was a Cuban politician and revolutionary who was the leader of Cuba from 1959 to 2008, serving as the prime minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976 and President of Cuba, president ...

and

Che Guevara Ernesto "Che" Guevara (14th May 1928 – 9 October 1967) was an Argentines, Argentine Communist revolution, Marxist revolutionary, physician, author, Guerrilla warfare, guerrilla leader, diplomat, and Military theory, military theorist. A majo ...

Later life

Farrell Dobbs retired in 1972, but remained in the party until his death in 1983. He devoted the later part of his life to historical documentation of the American leftist movement and the Minnesota Teamsters. Dobbs was the author of a four-volume history / memoir of the Minneapolis struggles: ''Teamster Rebellion'', ''Teamster Power'', ''Teamster Politics'' and ''Teamster Bureaucracy''. He had completed two volumes of a planned history of the

Marxist Marxism is a political philosophy and method of socioeconomic analysis. It uses a dialectical and materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to analyse class relations, social conflic ...

movement in the United States at the time of his death, titled: ''Revolutionary Continuity: The Early Years, 1848-1917'' and ''Birth of the Communist Movement, 1918-1922''.

Major works

* ''Trade Union Problems'', New York, Pioneer Publishers, 1941 * ''The Voice of Socialism: Radio Speeches by The Socialist Workers Party Candidates In The 1948 Election'' (with Grace Carlson and James Cannon), New York, Pioneer Publishers, 1948 * ''Recent Trends In The Labor Movement'', New York, National Education Dept., Socialist Workers Party, 1967
''The Structure And Organizational Principals Of The Party''
New York, National Education Dept., Socialist Workers Party, 1971 * ''Teamster Rebellion'', New York,

Pathfinder Press Pathfinder, Path Finder or Pathfinders may refer to: Aerospace * ''Mars Pathfinder'', a NASA Mars Lander * NASA Pathfinder, a high-altitude, solar-powered uncrewed aircraft * Space Shuttle ''Pathfinder'', a Space Shuttle test simulator Arts and ...

, 1972 * ''Teamster Power'', New York, Pathfinder Press, 1973 * ''Teamster Politics'', New York, Pathfinder Press, 1975 * ''Teamster Bureaucracy'', New York, Pathfinder Press, 1977 * ''Counter-Mobilization: A Strategy To Fight Racist And Fascist Attacks'', New York, National Education Dept., Socialist Workers Party, 1976 * ''Revolutionary Continuity: Marxist Leadership In The U.S.'', Vol. 1: ''The Early Years, 1848–1917'', New York, Monad Press, Distributed by Pathfinder Press, 1980 * ''Revolutionary Continuity: Marxist Leadership In The U.S.'', Vol. 2: ''Birth of the Communist Movement, 1918–1922'', New York, Monad Press, Distributed by Pathfinder Press, 1983 * ''A Political Biography of

Walter Reuther Walter Philip Reuther (; September 1, 1907 – May 9, 1970) was an American leader of organized labor and civil rights activist who built the United Automobile Workers (UAW) into one of the most progressive labor unions in American history. He ...

: The Record Of An Opportunist'', by Beatrice Hansen, New York, Pathfinder Press, 1987 2nd ed. (contains Dobbs's essa
''Meany vs. Reuther''

References

External links

The Militant, the newspaper of the Socialist Workers PartyPathfinder Books, the bookstore of the Socialist Workers Party
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dobbs, Farrell 1907 births 1983 deaths People from Schuyler County, Missouri Members of the Communist League of America Socialist Workers Party (United States) politicians American anti–World War II activists American trade union leaders American male non-fiction writers American Marxists American Trotskyists People convicted under the Smith Act Candidates in the 1948 United States presidential election Candidates in the 1952 United States presidential election Candidates in the 1956 United States presidential election Candidates in the 1960 United States presidential election Historians from Missouri 20th-century American historians Minnesota socialists Politicians from Minneapolis 20th-century American male writers North Community High School alumni Trade unionists from Minnesota