Cochran, Bert, 1913-1984

Bert Cochran (Dec. 25, 1913 - June 4, 1984), an American Trotskyist, also known by the pseudonym, E.R. Frank, was born Alexander Goldfarb in Warsaw, Poland. He joined the Communist League of America in 1934, was a member of the American Workers Party (1935-37), was a district organizer for the Cleveland district of the Mechanics Educational Society of America (MESA) in 1936-37, was a member of the Appeal Group (within the Socialist Party), was a member of the Socialist Workers Party (SWP) from its inception in 1938, serving on its National Committee for many years and, based in Detroit, was a leading figure in the SWP's work in organizing auto workers, serving as chair of the SWP's Auto Fraction, and was an activist in the United Automobile Workers of America. He left/was expelled from the SWP in 1954 for his leading role in the "Cochran-Clarke" faction, which held dissenting views on the appropriate relationship to Stalinism, and in particular to Communist Party labor movement activism and activists. Along with fellow ex-SWP members George Clarke and Harry Braverman, he founded the magazine The American Socialist (1954-1959). In 1949 he met his companion Cynthia Copeland Cochran (who is also the sister of Vince Copeland, also a Trotskyist activist and long-time leading figure in the Workers World Party).

Cochran wrote seven books. Two were on the labor movement: American Labor at Midpassage (1959) and Labor and Communism: The Conflict that Shaped American Unions (1977). The others were: The Cross of the Moment (1961), The War System (1965), Adlai Stevenson: Patrician among the Politicians (1969), Harry Truman and the Crisis Presidency (1973), and Welfare Capitalism--and After (1984).

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