Third Camp Socialism. A Phyllis and Julius Jacobson Reader

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Published Apr 2025

Paul Heideman and Kent Worcester

Volume Editors: Paul Heideman and Kent Worcester
Third Camp Socialism collects Phyllis and Julius Jacobson’s major writings on civil rights, Stalinism, the Cold War, and the New York Intellectuals. It makes a powerful case for revisiting the Jacobsons’ contributions to socialist thought.
The Jacobsons advanced a militant, small-d democratic perspective on the landmark events of their era, from the New Deal and World War II to sixties protests and the War on Terror. Today, they are best remembered for founding New Politics and defending a third camp perspective that resists capitalism as well as all varieties of ‘progressive’ authoritarianism.

Biographical Note

Phyllis Jacobson (1922–2010) joined the Trotskyist movement as a high school student during the Depression. She and her husband Julius were active in the Workers Party (1940–1949) and its successor, the Independent Socialist League (1949–1958). They cofounded New Politics in 1961.
Julius Jacobson (1922–2003) was a regular contributor to Labor Action and The New International, and was the founding editor of Anvil (1949–60). His books included The Negro and the American Labor Movement (1968), Soviet Communism and the Socialist Vision (1972), and Socialist Perspectives (1983, coedited with Phyllis Jacobson).
Paul Heideman is the editor of Class Struggle and the Color Line (2018) and a regular contributor to Jacobin magazine. He teaches high school history in New York City.
Kent Worcester‘s books include C.L.R. James: A Political Biography (1996), Silent Agitators: Cartoon Art From the Pages of New Politics (2009), and A Cultural History of the Punisher: Marvel Comics and the Politics of Vengeance (2023).

Readership

This book is especially relevant for public libraries, political activists, college and university libraries, students and faculty with an interest in twentieth century socialism.

Table of Contents

Forthcoming