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Myra Tanner Weiss

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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

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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

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  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
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