The leadership of the Socialist Workers Party presents an example of political in-breeding without precedent in the history of the revolutionary movement.

An objective examination of the composition of its leading bodies (the National Committee and the Political Committee) reveals that it is controlled by a small clique — middle-class in origin — that has remained virtually unchanged for 15 years.

This stability is not based on the struggle for political principles. Rather, it is the “stability” of a team of police agents who have been working together since they were recruited by Joseph Hansen through the medium of the Fair Play for Cuba Committee.

The main group of agents were recruited off the campus of Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota. But further investigation has shown that the recruitment program at Carleton was part of a larger operation in which the American Midwest was selected by Hansen as the region where a network of agents was to be assembled.

Hansen’s turn to the Midwest was dictated by the fact that in New York City, the majority of the Young Socialist Alliance leadership was politically sympathetic to the International Committee.

As we detailed in a previous article, Hansen organized a faction in the YSA to get rid of the established youth leadership. The key figures in this operation were Barry Sheppard and Peter Camejo.

It was during this period that Jack Barnes and his wife Elizabeth Stone Barnes joined the YSA and supported Sheppard and Camejo in their factional struggle to remove Wohlforth as national chairman of the youth organization.

By January 1962, Wohlforth was removed from the YSA leadership. Sheppard became National Chairman.

Camejo became National Secretary.

From this point on, the leadership of the YSA and then the SWP was to be turned over to a special network of agents being built up in the Midwest.

Following his graduation from Carleton in June 1961, Barnes moved to Chicago to attend Northwestern University to do graduate work in economics on a grant from the Woodrow Wilson Foundation.

It is well-known that Woodrow Wilson Fellowships are awarded to “the best and the brightest” young men and women who are considered suited for State Department work.

All candidates for a “Woodrow Wilson” must submit detailed applications with recommendations from the faculty and administration of the college they had attended. Even if Barnes had not admitted his involvement in the Fair Play for Cuba Committee and the Socialist Workers Party, the Woodrow Wilson Foundation would have learned of this from the faculty and administration at Carleton.

There is absolutely no way that the Foundation would have awarded the Woodrow Wilson Fellowship to an avowed Communist unless its Board of Governors had been notified that Barnes was in fact pursuing the major goal which the award was meant to facilitate: Government service.

Barnes was working as Hansen’s chief recruiting officer in the Midwest. While at Northwestern, Barnes made two important acquisitions for the agent network.

One was Joel Britton and the second was Lew Jones. Both are at the present time members of the SWP Political Committee.

After working as Chicago YSA organizer, Barnes was promoted to the post of Midwest YSA organizer. Much of his work in 1963 was concentrated on activities at the University of Indiana at Bloomington, where he attended meetings with Russian specialist George Shriver (Saunders) and his close friend, John Glenn — the Air Force intelligence officer with the highest possible security clearance.

Replacing Barnes as Chicago YSA organizer was another present-day member of the SWP Political Committee — Gus Horowitz.

When Horowitz moved to Boston in 1963 for a new assignment, his place as Chicago YSA organizer was taken by Ed Heisler.

By 1963, Heisler — who confessed to being an FBI agent in June 1980 — was already an integral part of the Midwest spy network being set up by Hansen.

As Midwest YSA organizer, Barnes was able to keep in touch with contacts at Carleton College. Visits by Sheppard and Hansen in April 1962 showed that they believed that Carleton still had considerable untapped resources.

The class of 1963 was particularly rich in recruitment material. Those selected from that class were Mary‑Alice Waters, her husband Dan Styron and John Benson.

Two more were recruited from the Class of 1964: Doug Jenness and Paul Eidsvik.

From 1961 to 1964, Hansen concentrated on gathering agents in the Midwest. Then, following the expulsion of nine supporters of the International Committee from the SWP in June 1964, including those who had been in the YSA leadership, Hansen began moving the agents into leadership positions.

In October 1964, Barnes was chosen National Organization Secretary. Just three months later, in January 1965, Barnes was elected YSA National Chairman, replacing Barry Sheppard.

Replacing Barnes as National Organization Secretary was his wife and fellow Carletonian, Elizabeth Stone (known then as “Betsy Barnes”).

Peter Camejo continued to serve as YSA National Secretary but this was changed at the Fifth YSA National Convention in March 1966 when Camejo was replaced by Stone.

By this time, Barnes was ready to move into the national leadership of the SWP. The post of YSA National Chairman was taken over by his old associate from Northwestern, Lew Jones. Barnes became New York City SWP organizer.

At the Sixth YSA National Convention held in April 1967, Stone was replaced as National Secretary by Mary‑Alice Waters.

The latter had been working as editor of the Young Socialist newspaper since the summer of 1966. She had taken over this post from Doug Jenness, who had become YS editor himself after the earlier term of George Shriver.

As for Jenness, he was given the post of YSA National Organization Secretary.

At the Seventh National Convention of the YSA, held in February 1968, Jones remained National Chairman and Waters remained National Secretary.

However, a new National Organization Secretary was chosen to replace Jenness: a Mr. Charles Bolduc. He had not attended either Carleton or Northwestern, but — happy coincidence! — he hailed from Minneapolis.

It should be pointed out that Lew Jones, besides attending Northwestern, also came from Minneapolis. We have already established on the basis of official YSA minutes that the youth organization was virtually non‑existent in Minneapolis.

The next reshuffling took place shortly after the Seventh National Convention. In July 1968, following her return from a trip to Europe with Joseph Hansen, Waters became National Chairman of the YSA.

Lew Jones, his “apprenticeship” completed, took over the position of New York City SWP organizer from Barnes. The latter became SWP Organization Secretary.

At the Eighth National Convention, held in December 1968, there was a new face placed in the position of National Organization Secretary — that of Larry Seigle, Carleton 1966.

That year’s graduating class produced another bumper crop of Carleton agents for the Hansen network: Seigle, Caroline Lund, Barbara Matson and Peggy Brundy.

By the mid‑1960s, Carleton had become a well‑established conduit for agents entering the YSA and SWP. Becoming an agent inside the SWP had the character of a special Carleton‑sponsored career opportunity.

Once selected, the student’s future was “assured”. This explains why all Carleton recruits after the Class of 1964 did not complete their studies and obtain a diploma from the college.

All the members of the Class of 1966 who infiltrated the SWP as well as the last Carletonian to join the spy network, Cindy Jaquith of the Class of 1969, left the school before graduating.

Rather than obtain a Carleton diploma, they moved ahead for advanced studies in espionage with “Professor” Joseph Hansen.

Others promoted at the Eighth YSA Convention were Bolduc, who became National Chairman (replacing Waters) and Carol Lipman, who was elected National Secretary.

Here we have what appears to be a break in the pattern. With the exception of Lipman, everyone appointed to a major post in the SWP or YSA between the years 1965 and 1968 belonged to the Midwest network set up by Hansen with the assistance of Barnes.

The only exceptions to this rule were Sheppard and Camejo, who were already collaborating with Hansen before the Carleton‑Midwest team of agents was recruited.

But Carol Lipman, the new YSA national secretary, was not from Carleton nor the Midwest. However, she was by no means an outsider.

Lipman had worked in the Boston branch of the YSA with Sheppard and Camejo, playing a behind‑the‑scenes role in the Hansen‑led factional struggle to throw International Committee supporters out of the YSA leadership.

When Wohlforth resisted a crude factional maneuver aimed at co‑opting Sheppard onto the National Executive Committee of the YSA (thus depriving Wohlforth of his majority), Lipman wrote the following letter to the then National Secretary Sherry Finer, dated August 15, 1961:

We received the minutes of the NEC meeting of August 7. It was quite a shock to the Boston YSAers when the contents re Comrade Sheppard were made known to us.

Comrade Sheppard was a founder and chairman of the Boston YSA. It was with a heavy heart that we agreed to allow him to transfer his activities to the national center of the YSA.

For the past year the whole YSA has been aware of the terrible personal relationships that have existed among the members of the NEC. We thought that the YSA plenum had made a valuable contribution toward solving this problem by bringing into the committee two comrades who are neutral with regard to the personnel of the NEC.

According to the minutes comrade Wohlforth claimed that comrade Sheppard is not suitable for the NEC because he is not neutral — politically! Was the YSA plenum decision made in that sense? Comrade Wohlforth knows better and it is regretful that he should insult the intelligence of the rank and file YSAers by such maneuvering.

Can anyone have an iota of YSA leadership in him and be neutral in regard to a social revolution? Does comrade Wohlforth think being apolitical is a qualification for YSA leadership?

The NEC should be aware of the sacrifice that Comrade Sheppard made in moving to New York in order to serve the YSA according to the plenum decision.

Comrade Wohlforth at no time previously expressed any disagreement with Comrade Sheppard’s transfer to N.Y., although he was well aware that Comrade Sheppard was moving to N.Y.

Does Comrade Wohlforth consider his actions to be an example of comradeship, or does he feel that being National Chairman frees him from having to consider the well-being of the rank-and-file comrades?

The Boston comrades hope that Comrade Wohlforth and his supporters will give due comradely consideration to the YSA plenum decision and revoke their present stand.

Hansen exercised a veto power over all appointments. No one in either the SWP or YSA was permitted to obtain a leadership position unless they were a tried and tested part of the network.

Let us review the officers who held positions in the SWP and YSA between 1965 and 1968:

1. YSA National Chairman: Barnes (Carleton ‘61), Jones (Northwestern) and Waters (Carleton ‘63).
2. YSA National Secretary: Stone (Carleton ‘61), Waters, and Lipman (Boston associate of Sheppard and Camejo).
3. YSA National Organization Secretary: Stone, Jenness (Carleton ‘64), Bolduc (Minneapolis), and Seigle (Carleton ‘66).
4. YS Editor: Sheppard, Jenness, Waters, Jenness (second term), Lipman and Seigle.
5. SWP New York City Organizer: Barnes, Jones, Horowitz (Chicago associate of Barnes).

Other positions of considerable importance were those of Anti-War Director, for which Lew Jones was appointed; 1968 Election Campaign Director, for which Barnes was selected; and the 1968 Election Campaign Secretary, for which Caroline Lund (Carleton ‘66) was chosen.

At the Ninth National Convention, held in January 1970, Seigle was promoted to YSA National Chairman. The report on “World Youth Radicalization” was given by Caroline Lund.

At the Tenth YSA Convention, the new National Secretary was Cindy Jaquith (Carleton ‘69).

Carleton College produced three YSA National Chairmen (Barnes, Waters and Seigle), four YSA National Organization Secretaries (Barnes, Stone, Jenness and Seigle), and three YSA National Secretaries (Stone, Waters and Jaquith).

The YSA was only a stepping stone into the SWP leadership. At the 22nd SWP National Convention, Hansen’s young agent-proteges were firmly in the saddle. In addition to the report given by Hansen, the main speakers were three Carletonians — Barnes, Waters, and Seigle — plus Barry Sheppard and Gus Horowitz.

In August 1971, at the SWP’s 24th National Convention, the number of reports being given by ex-Carleton students increased to four — by Waters, Barnes, Stone and Jaquith. The other principal reporters were Hansen, Sheppard and Horowitz.

Hansen’s next step was to clear Farrell Dobbs out of the national leadership. Though he remained National Secretary until 1972, from 1968 on he is not listed in the Militant as having delivered a political report at any party convention or National Committee plenum. The only place he would speak was at a funeral or an anniversary meeting.

Having long before abandoned the principles that had enabled him to write an important page in the history of Trotskyism in the United States, Dobbs accepted an ignominious retirement.