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Farrell Dobbs

 

Dobbs, Farrell (1907-1983). American Trotskyist, best identified as a leader of the SWP (US) and a central figure in the Minneapolis Teamsters Strike of 1934. Dobbs was radicalized during the Depression and became a militant union leader as a coal worker in Minneapolis, MN. He remained active in union struggles as an elected teamster local official and then as the trade union director for the SWP, which he discussed with Trotsky in Mexico. Dobbs, along with several others were convicted and served a prison term under the Smith Act in 1941. He was editor of The Militant for a period and also an SWP candidate for presidency in 1948, ’52, ’56 and ’60. He also authored the well-known series on the Teamster Struggle listed in the books section.

His four part series [Teamster Rebellion, Teamster Power, Teamster Politics and Teamster Bureaucracy, Pathfinder Press, New York] on the history of the 1934 Minneapolis Teamster Strikes and subsequent Teamster organizing drives throughout the mid-west of the United States remain a handbook for Communist trade union work to this day.

See also information about where he discusses his political life at length in oral histories, and related material see also oral histories, films, archives, books, newspapers.(SR)


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Last updated: 16.2.2005