George Breitman was one of the most courageous revolutionists I have ever known, with the special sort of courage needed to spend an entire lifetime fighting for socialism in the most stable capitalist power in the world.
For as long as I knew him, more than 20 years, he suffered from an extremely painful and increasingly debilitating form of arthritis. Nonetheless, he continued to devote himself entirely to party work and played a major role in the political and organizational life of the Socialist Workers Party.
Breitman fought for his beliefs as long as he could move two fingers to type or had the strength to talk and was not discouraged by living through several disastrous setbacks in the painfully slow work of building a revolutionary party in the United States.
His speciality became explaining the role and importance of the struggle of oppressed peoples in the fight for socialism and workers' democracy. He was the architect of the SWP's work with revolutionary Black nationalists in the United States and with the outstanding leader and martyr of this current, Malcolm X. In his later life, he took a particular interest in the problem of oppressed nationalities under Stalinist rule.
Breitman had a sensitivity to the feelings and consciousness of oppressed nationalities rare among socialists in advanced capitalist countries. He was never tempted to subordinate their concrete aspirations to any abstract "internationalism." He was unswerving, for example, in his defence of the Irish national struggle.
Since he was one of the best writers in the movement, I was eager to have him write for IV, and he accepted my invitation. Unfortunately, by that time his illness had gone too far for him to contribute. That was our great loss.
Gerry Foley Editor
International Viewpoint 5 May 1986
- PHILIPPINES