Talk:Ted Grant

message: Ted Grant did not receive any academic training in political theory/philosophy, let alone earn a post-graduate degree. Is it fair and accurate to label him a "political theorist?" I would argue "political activist" is far more appropriate. 121.129.174.74 (talk) 15:45, 18 July 2010 (UTC)
thread_title:  Political theorist? 

message: Ted Grant was definitely born Isaac Blank. It even says so in his autobio. The Guardian obituary (27-July-06) is incorrect. Trious 21:10, 27 July 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: Just had to correct his again... The Guardian is wrong, and so is the Independent who copied from them. It says in his autobiography that he was born Isaac Blank and Rob Sewell says so too. It would be against NOR to claim otherwise. I believe there is documentary evidence too, but its not available online. Trious 11:20, 13 August 2006 (UTC)

text: How is a Guardian article a more reliable source than his autobiography?  "blank is clearly not a name"?  See Blank (surname). Warofdreams talk 10:49, 14 October 2011 (UTC)

text: The Guardian doesn't give any source for their claim.  Given that the Telegraph, Times, Independent and ODNB all acknowledge that he was born as "Isaac Blank", that rather trumps The Guardian.  There is, therefore, a clear consensus in the sources available that it was his real name.  In fact, I haven't found any other source supporting this claim which you keep trying to introduce to the lead of this article. Warofdreams talk 16:02, 14 October 2011 (UTC)
thread_title:  Name 

message: I was sorry to read about the death of Ted Grant in The Socialist 27 July. I first met Ted in 1968 when I was 16. One of his strengths was his ability to patiently explain the fundamental principles of Marxism to young and inexperienced socialists. I didn’t feel patronised. For him the movement and the ideas were all important; he was painstaking and perfectionist in relation to ideas and fond of open debate.
I ended up working with Ted and the others (in a very minor role) with Militant. He was not the easiest of people to work with but the role of Militant in that period is well-documented and we were all caught up in the work and the ideas and consigned personalities to their proper place.
He will always be remembered as someone who kept the ideas of Marxism alive under the most difficult of circumstances in the UK. 
But Militant grew. It was very far from being a “one man band” like some of the “piddling little ultra-left sects” which Ted used to laugh at. And in the heat of the Poll Tax campaign and the struggle against Thatcher, new tactics were called for.
When I knew him, he was fond of saying, “Events, events, events will teach the broad masses of the working class more than any pamphlet or manifesto.” And events (the symptoms of the degeneration of New Labour) were to invalidate the position he came to adopt – seeking signs of life in the corpse of the Labour Left. He remained wedded to a tactic which was doomed to failure.
He is rightly honoured as a pioneer. He is not honoured by those who seek to gloss over his mistakes. 
Derek McMillan
:"He is not honoured by those who seek to gloss over his mistakes. " - who are you referring to Derek? And what mistakes are you thinking of?  Trious 20:36, 1 August 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: Many could argue that outside the Labour Party not much has been built by those who felt such a strong need for "new tactics". Just consider the results of the SSP and SP splits. Anyway, this should be a place for discussing  the Wikipedia article on Ted Grant and not Ted Grant himself. MauroVan 16:17, 19 August 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Working with Ted Grant 

message: I feel this page deals too much with splits-expulsions-regrouping issues and too few with the main ideas of the man. I'm not so sure that people coming here is so interested in such details while nearly nothing is being said about the theoretical contributions of Ted G. to Marxism, like the theory of Proletarian Bonapartism, the dispute with Cliff et alia over "state capitalism" etc. When I'm over with the Italian page I will try and restyle this one if nobody is in disagreement with my proposal. However, some English mother-tongue is needed for turning what I write into proper English. :-) MauroVan 10:10, 21 August 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: I suggest keeping the info that's here at the moment, but adding this information on theoretical contributions.  I'd be happy to copyedit it for you. Warofdreams talk 23:57, 21 August 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: I'll help too. Trious 11:20, 23 August 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: Italian page done. I just need some pictures now. Have a look at it, I will try and translate something in the next days... --MauroVan 15:27, 28 August 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Proposal for restyling 

message: What follows could be put before the beginning of his biography. It's a very bad translation of the "Political positions" section in the Italian page. It needs a thorough check by an English mother tongue. --MauroVan 12:38, 1 September 2006 (UTC)
thread_title: Proposal for a new section

message: :Image:Internationalsocialist.jpg is being used on this article. I notice the image page specifies that the image is being used under fair use but there is no explanation or rationale as to why its use in this Wikipedia article constitutes fair use. In addition to the boilerplate fair use template, you must also write out on the image description page a specific explanation or rationale for why using this image in each article is consistent with fair use.
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thread_title: Fair use rationale for Image:Internationalsocialist.jpg

message: There's a whole website devoted to the life and works of Ted Grant! I don't believe that this page is lacking sources! I would remove the advice and recommend the editors to notify individual sentenced that are considered in need for a source.
The website [www.tedgrant.org www.tedgrant.org] is already cited in the article.--MauroVan (talk) 12:14, 21 May 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  Sources 

message: I have fixed a section that said "Grant deepened Trotsky's theory on proletarian Bonapartism." Trotsky never used the phrase "proletarian Bonapartism" or had such a theory. Rather, Trotsky's idea is that of the "degenerated workers' state," which was applied exclusively to the Soviet Union under Stalin. Grant first used the phrase "proletarian Bonapartism" in 1951 as a synonym for "Stalinism." (See "Stalinism in the Postwar World.") But Grant's idea eventually came to have a much broader reach. By 1978, it was a designation for any nationalist state with "left" policies, e.g., Benin, Burma, Ethiopia, and Syria. (See "The Colonial Revolution and the Deformed Workers' States.") -- Ecosophia09 (talk) 07:06, 28 July 2010 (UTC)
thread_title:  Proletarian Bonapartism 

message: There is an RfC on the question of using "Religion: None" vs. "Religion: None (atheist)" in the infobox on this and other similar pages. 
The RfC is at Template talk:Infobox person#RfC: Religion infobox entries for individuals that have no religion. 
Please help us determine consensus on this issue. --Guy Macon (talk) 16:59, 23 April 2015 (UTC)
thread_title:  [[Template talk:Infobox person#RfC: Religion infobox entries for individuals that have no religion|Request for Comments]] 

message: @Wellington Bay,
Should the section about WPSA now be removed? If Grant left South Africa in 1934, before its founding, it's not really a relevant fact to his Early History but rather relevant to the article on WPSA? Rambling Rambler (talk) 00:00, 9 March 2024 (UTC)
replies: text: I was going to but as the factional issues centred around Lee in south africa carried over to England and had a huge impact on Grant's political life I think it's useful for context. It's only a sentence and doesn't go into minute detail. Wellington Bay (talk) 01:17, 9 March 2024 (UTC)
replies: text: Yeah, I was in the same two minds about it. What I've done though is moved around the order, so the section about Grant being recruited but then leaving is in one bit, and then the founding of WPSA and Lee's expulsion and leaving for England is in another (to give better flow in the next section about Militant). Rambling Rambler (talk) 01:32, 9 March 2024 (UTC)
thread_title:  Removal of WPSA