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other on various party issues and their own lives regardless of party rules and regulations, this being made possible by Dixon's absence from the country while on a trip to
Eastern Europe. The party's lieutenants called together various members and began speaking out against aspects of the party while discussing its "real nature." Party sessions continued for some few weeks more, until the night before Dixon was scheduled to return. On that night party members convened and unanimously voted to expel the General Secretary (Dixon) from the party, and then to dissolve it. A vote by mail was held in April 1986 amid heated discussions on the future of the party and a majority voted to confirm the party's dissolution and to liquidate its assets, to be shared among former cadres (which was achieved in August 1987).
368:, is the unity all of us join together to build upon. The Party is now the material expression of that unity, of that theoretical world view. That world view is the world view of the Party, its central leadership and all of its members. And there will be no other world view ... This was the unity that founded the Party, this was the unity that safeguarded the Party through purge and two-line struggle, and this is the unity we will protect and defend at all costs. There will be no other unity."
408:
Propositions P, V, and M, the latter of which succeeded in 1980 but was never implemented. Proposition P, on the
November 1979 San Francisco ballot, received 48 percent of the vote. Proposition V, in June 1980, brought in 41 percent, even after much negative publicity about the DWP in the local press. And Proposition M, in November 1980, passed with 55 percent of the vote but was later declared illegal." The DWP began working with the
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Lalich, 209. "The U.S. working class is not revolutionary; therefore, the DWP must support struggles in the underdeveloped world where the revolutionary classes are found... Having reaped the benefits of being situated in the 'imperialist heartland,' the U.S. working class is profoundly disinterested
255:
While serving at McGill
University she once again built up a following among students, and began organizing meetings with them. Relations between her and the staff of McGill University had begun falling in the early 1970s, and by 1974 she had decided to stop teaching. By the time of the formation of
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making her increasingly erratic and too unstable to speak to. She encouraged her lieutenants to launch a "Quality of Life" campaign within the party so that party members could assess their own lives. Lieutenants took this at face value and in late
October members of the party began talking to each
316:
was also widely practiced to abusive extremes along with other measures to an extent condemned by critics and ex-members as destroying any chances of internal debate. The position of
General Secretary was formed by 1976 with Dixon as the first and only holder of the title. The name of the party was
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Lalich, 216. "She talked crassly with her trusted leadership circle about leaving behind the rank-and-file militants and going with a handful of cadres (the ones with money and the ones she considered intellectuals) to start anew in
Washington, D. C. She envisioned setting up a leftist think tank,
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on campus saw this as a politically motivated decision, and a "Committee of 75" was formed which published an open letter demanding Dixon be rehired, as well as students being given an equal say in the hiring and firing of professors. Tensions escalated, and on
January 30, a group of 400 students
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The party developed its own print shop (first called
Greenleaf Press, then Synthex Press), which grew into a full-service printing and publishing operation that serviced mainstream clients such as banks, catalog companies, and publishers throughout the San Francisco Bay Area. The press produced
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Several front organizations (such as the Worker-Patient
Organization, the Peace and Justice Organization and U.S. Out of Central America) were organized by the DWP. These groups sponsored various political activities and campaigns "including the quite popular Tax the Corporations initiatives,
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in change and is not going to get involved in leftist activity, certainly not
Marxist-Leninist parties. Therefore, the DWP must change from being a Marxist-Leninist party and transform into something new while retaining the cadre, the discipline, and the democratic-centralist core."
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class and purging many members of the party over their alleged "petite-bourgeois" activities and ways of thinking, she had begun to see the United States working class as increasingly unable to bring about crucial change and instead began supporting progressive elements of the
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In November 1968, while a professor at the University of Chicago, Dixon participated in a political demonstration, and two months later when her contract renewal came up, the university's sociology department voted unanimously not to rehire her. The
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in particular, while stressing the importance of the Soviet Union and the belief that the development of the world socialist movement was impossible without the existence of the USSR. Dixon began traveling to Western Europe,
470:. This alienated many who had struggled against alleged "PB" (petite-bourgeois) influence within the party and saw this as an about-face. The party also began focusing on foreign affairs while moving away from
360:. On November 6, 1979, the Party's existence was formally acknowledged through a public document issued by the Party itself. The party grew from 125 to 175 full-time militants. At this point a definite
514:). A proposed name for a newly structured party was the Alliance Against American Militarism. By this time the party had about 110 members and its front groups had become either defunct or moribund.
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numerous materials for the Party: books, journals, newspapers, pamphlets, fliers, bulletins, direct mail solicitations and buttons among other things. The Party developed its own newspaper; the
308:. Recruits took on new names within the organization, pooled together their income and resources, worked at assigned tasks for ten hours or more, and other activities meant to reinforce a
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efforts in Chicago. As a result of the protests, Dixon gained a large following. A statement on the University of Chicago sit-in for Marlene Dixon was included in the 1970 anthology
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began to develop around Dixon as she was promoted as a great theoretical figure within the Communist movement. "Comrade Marlene and the Party are inseparable; her contribution
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Lalich, 209. "The world socialist movement cannot hope to survive without the USSR as a socialist power; therefore, the DWP must support the USSR and other socialist states."
226:(SDS). While nominally in support of Dixon, students used the sit-in as an opportunity to air many grievances against the university: its lack of opposition to the
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were formed and recruits grew steadily. Though the party itself operated in a paramilitary and clandestine manner, members participated in activities among
300:, which constituted the nascent party's first internal document. The party's constitution was then written soon after along with a position paper known as
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originally the Workers Party for Proletarian Socialism, then changed to the Workers Party until eventually becoming the Democratic Workers Party by 1984.
161:. She estimated that the Democratic Workers Party at one point had 125-150 full-time members and 300-1,000 members with various degrees of affiliation.
420:. Front groups were also created in workplaces and academic institutions. The U.S. Out of Central America front organized and conducted delegations to
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guidelines. This resulted in an initial group of thirteen women led by Dixon, who formed the original core of the party. In that same period a
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and declared that it had been a failure in the United States. She soon went further, suggesting an end to the party's adherence to
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Malcolm G. Scully, "New Demonstrations Hit U. S. and Canadian Campuses; Several States Weigh Measures to Control Disruptions,"
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in Washington, D.C. Many in the party at this point became increasingly irate at Dixon's behavior, citing her alcoholism and
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groups and supporting strikes while keeping their membership and party secret. From 1978–1981 the party operated via
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Sisterhood is powerful : an anthology of writings from the women's liberation movement (Book, 1970)
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based in California headed by former professor Marlene Dixon, lasting from 1974–1987. One member,
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and Bulgaria with the eventual goal of receiving an invitation from the Soviet Union.
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Sisterhood is Powerful: An Anthology of Writings From The Women's Liberation Movement
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occupied the university's administration building in what would be a thirteen-day
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Marlene Dixon, "Facing Reality," January 15, 1984, 1–2. Cited in Lalich, 297.
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745:(San Francisco: Synthesis Publications, 1979). Cited in Lalich, 294.
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Max Elbaum, "On the DWP's Demise: What Leninism Is and Is Not,"
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and the hiring of female professors, and its spearheading of "
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The party developed a reputation among some of the Left as a
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Marlene Dixon, "On Leadership," C55. Cited in Lalich, 295.
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and the physical intimidation of rival Communist parties.
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on various issues related to U.S. intervention policies.
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such as the Grass Roots Alliance which rallied against
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Bounded Choice: True Believers and Charismatic Cults
320:The DWP had a core membership of 100-125 people.
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780:, August 3, 1987, 2, 15. Cited in Lalich, 297.
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296:and Dixon wrote an 18-page work known as the
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34:Political party in United States
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142:was a United States
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426:Nicaragua
358:reformism
332:Influence
312:culture.
185:and then
179:sociology
128:Elections
88:Communism
64:Dissolved
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688:, 1976).
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492:Bulgaria
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