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Myra Tanner Weiss

Myra Tanner Weiis
Myra Tanner Weiss in 1956
Born(1917-05-17)May 17, 1917
DiedSeptember 13, 1997(1997-09-13) (aged 80)
NationalityAmerican
Alma materUniversity of Utah
OccupationPolitician
Political partySocialist Workers
Spouse
Murry Weiss
​
(m. 1942)​

Myra Tanner Weiss (May 17, 1917 – September 13, 1997) was an American Communist following Trotskyism, and a three time U.S. vice presidential candidate of the Socialist Workers Party (SWP).

Biography

Myra Tanner was born in Salt Lake City. Her grandfather had abandoned the Mormon Church when it stopped supporting polygamy.[1] She was recruited to the American Trotskyist movement in 1935,[2] while at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City. In 1942, she married Murry Weiss, also a member of the SWP. They were living and working for the Party in Los Angeles, and Myra Tanner ran for the mayor of Los Angeles in 1945 and 1949.[3]

Myra Tanner Weiss was the SWP's vice-presidential candidate in 1952, 1956 and 1960, with Farrell Dobbs running for President of the United States.[4] In 1952, she and Dobbs received 10,312 votes in the presidential election.[5] In 1956 they received 7,797 votes, though they increased their support in the 1960 election to 40,165 votes.[6]

Beginning in the 1950s, a split developed in the SWP between the supporters of Murry and Myra Weiss on one side and Farrell Dobbs and Tom Kerry on the other.[7] The two groups argued over their approach to the Cochranites, the supporters of Bert Cochran who advocated for closer work within the Communist Party.[8] Working with James P. Cannon, the Weisses and their supporters, known as the Weissites, attempted to preserve the independence of the SWP as a Trotskyist organization outside of the Communist Party.[9] She resigned from the SWP in 1963, following disagreements with the party about the expulsions of James Robertson and other members of his Revolutionary Tendency group.[10] Later in life, she and her husband Murry Weiss became political supporters of the Freedom Socialist Party.[11]

References

  1. ^ Singer, Peter (2000). Ethics into action: Henry Spira and the animal rights movement (1. paperback print ed.). Lanham, Md.: Rowman & Littlefield. p. 33. ISBN 978-0-8476-9073-2.
  2. ^ Cannon, James P. (2004). The Fight Against Fascism in the USA. Resistance Books. p. 236. ISBN 9781876646172.
  3. ^ "Socialist Slams Liberalism | News | The Harvard Crimson". www.thecrimson.com. Retrieved 2023-08-14.
  4. ^ Breitman, George (1996). Trotskyism in the United States : historical essays and reconsiderations. Atlantic Highlands, N.J.: Humanities Press. p. 46.
  5. ^ Kruschke, Earl Roger (1991). Encyclopedia of third parties in the United States. Santa Barbara (Calif.): ABC-CLIO. p. 175. ISBN 978-0-87436-236-7.
  6. ^ Thayer, George (1968). The Farther Shores of Politics: The American Political Fringe Today. Allen Lane. p. 579.
  7. ^ Breitman, George; Le Blanc, Paul; Wald, Alan (1996). Trotskyism in the United States: Historical Essays and Reconsiderations. Humanity Books. p. 36.
  8. ^ Fraser, Clara (2000). Crisis and Leadership. Seattle: Red Letter Press. p. 75.
  9. ^ Le Blanc, Paul (2017). Left Americana: The Radical Heart of US History. Chicago: Haymarket Books. p. 202.
  10. ^ Alexander, Robert J. (1991). International Trotskyism, 1929-1985: A Documented Analysis of the Movement. Duke University Press. p. 866.
  11. ^ Fraser, Clara (2000). Crisis and Leadership. Red Letter Press. p. 179. ISBN 9780932323088.
Preceded by Socialist Workers Party nominee for
Vice President
1952, 1956, 1960 		Succeeded by
Retrieved from "https://en.Wik.ipedia.Pro.org/w/index.php?title=Myra_Tanner_Weiss&oldid=1239241480"

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