On "Revolutionary Regroupment's" Big Lie and Snitchjacketing

The following is being circulated by the IBT back in 24 March 2012. The lie is still peddled by both Sam Trachtenberg's Revolutionary Regroupment and the Brazil-based Reagrupamento Revolucianario:

24 March 2012.

Comrades,

We are writing to alert you to a vicious slander of one of our supporters, Jason Wright, circulated by Sam Trachtenberg's Revolutionary Regroupment website. The latest issue of our journal, 1917, contains a report on the IBT's Sixth International Conference in which we noted our recent failure "to win over members of the Coletivo Lenin (CL) in Rio de Janeiro, some of whom eventually aligned themselves with Sam T., a talented but troubled former IBT member who departed in September 2008 after deciding he was no longer prepared to carry out the directives of the organization."

On 21 March, Sam posted an emotionally-charged and at times delusional critique of this report on www.regroupment.org in which he falsely asserted that comrade Jason "had for several years [been] working at a clerical position for the Dept. of Homeland Security."

Two days later, we wrote Sam a short letter (reprinted below) correcting this misinformation and requesting a retraction within 24 hours. Regrettably there has been no retraction, and we are therefore circulating our letter to expose this odious lie.

Yours for workers' democracy,

Gary H.,

for the International Bolshevik Tendency

To Sam T.:

We have read your 21 March screed directed at us and note that it is largely a pastiche of distortions, falsifications and inventions as well as your previous criticisms. Given your troubled mental condition which would appear to involve more than simply depression, and which we observed gradually worsen during your time in the IBT it is difficult to know which of your misrepresentations are genuinely delusional and which are malicious. While we do not intend to comment on most of your allegations, we were struck by the claim that you “wrote many of their [IBT] documents for so many years.” Whether or not you actually believe this, it is simply not true. We tend to view this assertion as an example of how, at least in some instances, you are genuinely “incapable of recognizing reality.”

A far more serious (and in fact slanderous) allegation is that Comrade Jason had a job “for several years working at a clerical position for the Dept. of Homeland Security.” This is absolutely untrue. It is not clear to us whether you are deliberately inventing this or have derived it from a confused recollection of the fact that Jason, who has long been a unionized state civil servant, was one of the clerks assigned to x-ray mail sent to members of the legislature for a period of time after “9-11.” This had nothing to do with the Department of Homeland Security. The IBT would never have any supporter employed by any police agency, including the Department of Homeland Security, and none of our supporters would ever entertain such a notion. If you are indeed still capable of “making rational political judgements,” we presume you will be anxious to immediately retract this false allegation. If we do not see a correction on your website within 24 hours (and a notification of the change on the Leftist Trainspotters list to which you posted a link to your article), we will have to conclude that you are deliberately promoting a vicious slander.

Bolshevik greetings,

Tom Riley

for the International Bolshevik Tendency

Thoughts on the Split Between Samuel Trachtenberg's Revolutionary Regroupment and the Rio-Based Reagrupamento Revolucianario

About a year ago now there was a rather nasty he-said, she-said fallout between Sam Trachtenberg and the Brazil-based Reagrupamento Revolucianario. Initially I made the rather naive assumption that Reagrupamento Revolucianario had the moral high ground. Sam Trachtenberg had made numerous personal attacks against me. He accused me of "angry outbursts", "flying off the hinges", "discrediting myself", he called me a "liar", a "labour bureaucrat", a "lawyer", a "bourgeois politician" and seemed to insinuate that I was some sort of spy. He also has described the murder of disabled children, the rise of fascism, violence in the workers movement, political censorship and slandering one's opponents as "no big deal". For him exonerating his buddies (namely Robin Palmer and David Walter, to be fair David Walter has since repudiate his mistakes on disability issues) takes precedent over revolutionary principles. I think at this point Sam's politics could be best summed up as political banditry (think Gerry Healy, Tim Wolhforth, David North, James Robertson), unprincipled combinatinism (think Max Schachtman, Martin Abern and James Buhrnam) and cliquism. I thought that to expel Sam Trachtenberg must have been reasonable.

As it turns out Reagrupamento Revolucianario is as cynical and dishonest as it get. Frankly, they seem more like a clique then any sort of serious political organization. According, to Coletivo Lenin, which I have plenty of disagreements with, Icaro Caleb and Marcio Torres (sometimes referred to as Leandro) had the idea that they should run Coletivo Lenin and be allowed to expel anyone who disagrees with them. When they didn't get their they quit. In many ways, fusing with Sam Trachtenberg was to their advantage and to the disadvantage of Trachtenberg. Basically, any time they voted as a bloc, they would run the organization and Trachtenberg would be marginalized. This was further compounded when Pedro Abreu, and another member joined their organization. Basically it would be four against one. Such an arrangement wasn't sustainable long-term. Sam was very much an outsider to their clique.

In order to appease him, they agree to sign on and approve every lie/delusion Sam had to say about my group, the International Bolshevik Tendency (IBT). This includes the Spartacist big lie that Bill Logan is a "sociopath" (via Phil Ferguson) and the malicious slander that Jason Wright works for the Department of Homeland Security. It should be noted that snichjacketing or falsely calling leftists cops, is a popular tactic by police, including COINTELPRO, when they infiltrate left groups. Actually this very tactic helped tear apart the Black Panther Party. To be fair, it is probably best to give the Reagrupamento Revolucianario clique the benefit of the doubt and assume they are not cops. This isn't to say that aren't patholigical liars. Of course, when they chewed up and spat out Sam Tractenberg, they coninue to stand by his lies about the IBT as a matter of personal prestige. If they would to admit they were wrong in saying such things, they would have to explain why they were peddling such lies for years and, god forbid, they may have to actually look themselves in the mirror. This would require actual principles as well as integrity (which they have none).

I think the group Reagrupamento Revolucianario is best described as political bandits and unprincipled combinatinism. They are more accurately described as an apolitical clique, rather than as any sort of legitimate political organization, in my opinion. Sam Trachtenberg, at least has the excuse of being unwell and untreated. The Reagrupamento Revolucianario clique is just cynical and dishonest and such pathological liars they don't even know they are lying. That being said, I really don't think either group is worth supporting.

Coletivo Lenin Articles Talking About the Fallout Between them and Sam Trachterberg and the Apolitical Clique of Torres and Icaro:

http://coletivolenin.blogspot.ca/2011/07/nossa-resposta-ao-documento-de-ruptura.html O Coletivo Lenin é destruído pelo revisionismo! (Portuguese)

https://translate.google.ca/translate?hl=en&sl=pt&u=http://coletivolenin.blogspot.com/2011/07/nossa-resposta-ao-documento-de-ruptura.html&prev=search The Lenin Collective is destroyed by revisionism!(English)

http://coletivolenin.blogspot.ca/2011/07/resposta-aos-companheiros-leandro-e.html Resposta aos companheiros Leandro e Rodolfo: Dois camaradas destruídos pelo seu sectarismo, dogmatismo e pela stalinofilia! (Portuguese)

https://translate.google.ca/translate?hl=en&sl=pt&u=http://coletivolenin.blogspot.com/2011/07/resposta-aos-companheiros-leandro-e.html&prev=search Reply to comrades Leandro and Rodolfo: Two comrades destroyed by their sectarianism, dogmatism and by Stalinophilia! (English)

http://coletivolenin.blogspot.ca/2011/07/nossa-resposta-ao-documento-de-ruptura.html Nota sobre o racha no Coletivo Lênin (Portuguese)

https://translate.google.ca/translate?hl=en&sl=pt&u=http://coletivolenin.blogspot.com/2011/07/resposta-as-mentiras-e-distorcoes.html&prev=search Response to the lies and distortions of children of Rodolfo and Leandro

Article by Sam Trachtenberg on his Expulsion from Revolutionary Regroupment:

http://www.regroupment.org/main/page_split_with_rio.html Revolutionary Regroupment statement on split with Pedro Abreu, Rodolfo Kaleb and Marcio Torres

Article by the Rio-Based Reagrupamento Revolucianario on Sam Trachtenberg's Expulsion:

https://rr4i.milharal.org/2015/11/19/statement-on-sam-trachtenberg/ Statement on Sam Trachtenberg

More Thoughts on Revolutionary Regroupment‏

As has been stated by the Bolshevik Tendency, Jason Wright had a job scanning letters (the horror). But this is actually one of the jobs postal worker's typically do. There are I fact jobs where teachers and security guards and/or cops are in the same building. There are security guards in hospitals. Does this mean nurses and healthcare workers are all cops? There are security guards on campus. Does this mean teacher's assistants, janitors and maintanence workers etc. at the university are all cops?

Revolutionary Regroupment (RR), now two separate groups (which are now fighting over who gets to keep the name), initially claimed that Jason Wright had a job as a clerical worker for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). When called on it they admitted that he IS NOT a cop and DID NOT work for DHS. But insted of admitting they lied through their teeth they merely resort to several contradictory explanations. Icaro Kaleb claims they never called Jason Wright a cop or member of DHS and that Jason supposedly wasn't forthcoming about his employment (i.e. shifting the goal post) . But on their website they dismiss they wrongdoing as a technical error (as if wrongfully smearing someone as a cop is as innocent as a typo). Clearly Revolutionary Regroupment (RR) can't keep their story straight.

Revolutionary Regroupment's (RR) reasoning goes like this, "YES we made malicious allegations against the other guy.‎ YES we were lying. YES we know are remarks are defamation and slander. But WE are the good guys and THEY ARE the bad guys. WE are the truthful guys and THEY the liars. You can trust us. We may be liars but we are honest and sincere."

Ironically, Sam and R‎R whine that the IBT has supposedly "tried to brand him 'insane'". And yet, Sam T. tried to brand me "insane". A while back he accused me of "flying off the hinges", "having angry outbursts", "making debacles", discrediting myself". So clearly self-awareness isn't a thing for RR, whether Sam T. in New York or three-person clique in Brazil. Hypocrisy, thy name is Revolutionary Regroupment.

‎https://rr4i.milharal.org/2012/03/02/on-the-international-bolshevik-tendencys-dodges-and-evasions/

Some Thoughts on My Correspondence with Icaro Kaleb of Reagrupamento Revolucianario

As for Kaleb's claim that they have "sufficient evidence" that Jason Wright had a job with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), they have yet to show this "sufficient evidence". Any video footage of Jason Wright talking to people at the Department of Homeland Security? Any video footage of him talking to confirmed members of DHS? Any photo evidence? If they had such evidence they probably would have shown it on the very website where they made that claim. They CLAIM to have "sufficient evidence" (read: we are just pulling stuff out of our ass) but have not shown it to me in our correspondence or on their website. There is a reason for this, the "sufficient evidence" they speak of doesn't really exist. It only exists in their deranged fantasy world. One they inherited from Samuel Trachtenberg, hook, line and sinker.

It is truly telling that they themselves admit that half the information they have been spreading about Bill Logan isn't even true and they know it and yet they see nothing wrong with spreading such information without qualification or explanation or any sort of disclaimer. As Leon Trotsky said, "Speak the truth. Say things as they are. Call things by the right names. Be true in little things as in big things." Clearly Icaro Kaleb and Reagrupamento Revolucianario deserve a huge "F" in Trotskyism, revolutionary politics and even basic honesty.

Correspondence with Steven Argue of the Revolutionary Tendency About Samuel Trachtenberg, Icaro Kaleb and Reagrupamento Revolucianario

Just so you know. I have banned Icaro Kaleb from several of our groups for snitch jacketing.

He has accused members of the IBT of having ties with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and regurgitated slanders from the Sparts. He basically fessed up that he didn't believe half of what he and his comrades have said about the IBT but still stands by it. It might make sense to check if he is a member of such groups as For Communism (Leninist-Trotskyist) and the Revolutionary Tendency. My suggestion is he be banned, unless he is willing to publicly repudiate the allegations he had admitted in private aren't as well as all of his cop-baiting allegations.

Kaleb was part of a splinter of Coletivo Lenin which fused with Samuel Trachbenberg's one-man group Revolutionary Regroupment. After four years, a nasty fallout erupted and Sam T. stole the groups email address and website (he changed the passwords without telling other members).

Sam T.'s erratic behaviour isn't new. He displayed similar behaviour in the IBT. If anything the, the IBT was MORE LENIENT with Sam then the Coletivo Lenin. Sam quit the IBT, he was expelled from Revolutionary Regroupment.

Sam behaved very erratically when he was in our Facebook group, the Marxist Internet Archive - Underground External Tendency. He sided David Walters a Robin Palmer when they defend ablest killer and fascist front-man Robert Latimer (a stance David Walters has since repudiated). He also made a mountain of personalize attacks against me such calling me a "liar", "flying off the hinges", "a bourgeois politician", a "laywer", a "labour bureaucrat", who accused me of having "angry outburst" and of "discrediting myself". This was BEFORE the rest of Revolutionary Regroupment decided to boot him.

I think it was mistake for the Coletivo Lenin splinter to fuse with Sam T. They have suffered the consequences but rather than learn from their mistakes or make an honest accounting of what went down they choose to stand by every slander and provocation that Sam T. had made before he left there group. This way they don't need to look themselves in the mirror or admit wrong doing.

It sort of reminds me of the Internationalist Group. They denounce every mistake the Sparts made after they were expelled in 1996 but ignored the cult-like internal workings, abuses and programmatic overtures before 1996 (in the 1970s and 1980s). They claim the ICL had a pristine record before 1996. They say such thing because they were essential components of the Robertson regime before their departure.

Myself, I find people (including on the left) who won't admit when they are wrong to be quite frustrating a waist of time.

As for Sam T.'s hostility toward Jason Wright and Tom Riley, who he has accused of having ties with the Department of Homeland Security, he has held such animosity before he left IBT. He has accused them of being out to get him and even insinuated that Riley had his arm up Wright's anus and his hand in Wright's brain. Sam T. in my opinion is extremely paranoid, irrational, malicious and dishonest.

It seems the Revolutionary Regroupment cadre in Brazil are no different. What is bizarre about it is Icaro Kaleb liked several of my posts, by the IBT, and had joined one of the groups I admin (which I added several IBT admin to). When I spoke to him via inbox, however, he quickly became very hostile. He basically called me a liar and seemed to imply that I was stupid.

Conrrespondence with Icaro Kaleb of Reagrupamento Revolucianario on the International Bolshevik Tendency and Samual Trachtenberg

Me

Hello. My name is Michael. I am a Trotskyist and a sympathizer for the Internationalist Bolshevik Tendency (http://www.bolshevik.org). It seems we are both Communist and with the Facebook group Class-Struggle Study Circles. Would you like to be facebook friends?

04:30

Icaro Kaleb accepted your request.

Icaro Kabel:

Hello Michael. How do you feel about this?

"At a 15 April 2010 local meeting it was suggested that a comrade who roughly fit my own description in terms of my limited relationship with Sam “befriend” him on a social media site in order to monitor him and relay information back to the leadership. I was the only person to comment on that point, stating that I would be the best candidate for such a job but that I don’t feel comfortable with it; that it felt dishonest and wrong. Riley merely shrugged and dismissed my objections by saying it wasn’t so bad and I shouldn’t have a problem with it."

https://rr4i.milharal.org/2010/07/17/1796/

09:00

Me:

I talk about Sam T. in my blog

http://spartacistwatch.blogspot.ca/

I have had run-ins with Sam T. myself. He was in my facebook group the Marxist Internet Archive - Underground External Tendency. We threw him out for numerous violations including slander, personalized attacks, ageism, ablesm and cop-baiting. I find him to be extremely malicious and dishonest as well as extremely paranoid. He often accuses people of being against him when they are clearly not. He has admitted to having O.D.D. which can be defined here.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oppositional_defiant_disorder#cite_note-7

Sam is an extremely talented individual for sure but also extremely troubled.

Kaleb:

Well, my question was not about Sam T. It was about the IBT conduct according to Brandon Gray. How do you feel about it?

Me:

Honestly, knowing what I know of Sam. I wouldn't be surprised if he made the whole thing up.

Kaleb:

This letter was written by Brandon Gray, a former IBT member in Toronto.

Me:

Did you speak to Brandon Gray yourself?

Kaleb:

It has been merely reproduced in our website (and we are no longer even associated with Sam T. as you certainly know). Yes, I communicated with him a few times years ago, when he left the IBT.

Me:

I honestly don't know specifics. I would really need to look into this. I have read that letter. I would need to talk to the IBT and hear there side of the story. I generally made a habit of not taking one side at it's word and not weighing in until I have all the facts.

I have however read the IBT's internal documents on Sam T. The IBT made considerable allowances with him. He basically refused to follow their rules and refused to work with people in the organization. He then opted to leave and denounce the IBT.

Sorry I didn't realized for a second I thought you had posted a link from the website Sam T. stole. My mistake.

Kaleb:

I don't know what selection on documents you have read. I myself have read a selection on documents sometime ago and that made me draw a completely different conclusion than yours. It convinced me that the IBT leadership was dishonest and corrupt. Especially when dealing with other left groups, which they treat as enemies.

*of documents

11:12

Me:

We may have to agree to disagree.

With all do respect, I think regurgitating the claim that Jason Wright works for Homeland is extremely dishonest and brands a person guilty until proven innocent. That seems to be on your website.

https://rr4i.milharal.org/2012/03/02/the-international-bolshevik-tendency-explains-its-demise-2/

I also noticed this.

"Logan was expelled by the Sparts for being a sociopath and lacking even the most rudimetary human decency. The Sparts actually produced three volumes dealing with his internal trial and his sociopath behaviour in Australia and britain. W he came back to NZ, they donated copies to all the public libraries, to warn everyone on the left here about him."

https://rr4i.milharal.org/2008/09/25/appendix-i-to-letter-of-resignation-from-the-international-bolshevik-tendency/

I actually have written on the ICL's claim on this matter.

http://spartacistwatch.blogspot.ca/2008/11/sparts-witchunt-against-logan-is.html

There is also this.

http://www.bolshevik.org/Pamphlets/Logan/Logan-Show-Trial-Contents.html

Here is more.

http://www.bolshevik.org/Leaflets/donovan.html

http://www.bolshevik.org/Leaflets/brock.html

In all honesty I think it was a serious mistake to side with Sam T. in the first place. We all make mistakes, including myself. But I think it is crucial to able to own one's mistakes. I really don't see that from this group. I think at the least. Revolutionary Regroupment needs to repudiate its support of the claims, Sam T., Philip Ferguson and the ICL made about Logan as well as the slander that Jason Wright works for the Department of Homeland Security.

I hope you don't see my statements as personal attacks and I am sorry if I come of as hostile but I think Sam T. has done a lot of unreasonable things concerning the IBT. I think you know by now that Sam isn't an easy person to reason with.

To be fair it isn't all Sam's fault he not only is dealing with mental health issues but he is also in the U.S. where health care is private and until recently they were denying healthcare to anyone with a pre-existing condition (which would be the case for Sam).

Kaleb: Michael, you're being dishonest. On Jason Wright: it was never claimed that he was a cop or an agent for Homeland Security, but rather that he was in a public position that was of significant "gray" nature (relating to Homeland officers on a co-worker level) which he should not have been advised to pursue by a leader of the organization (Riley). The IBT tried to hide it, as I have been shown sufficient evidence of. On Philip Ferguson: we do not advocate what he says in his post to alt.politics. We are interested in the quotes from the IBT, which show how the leaders (especially Logan) could conduct dishonest practices within the organization. We also think it describes well what happened to the NZ section of the IBT. On Logan: I've read many documents published by the SL. It was obviously a frame up. While the SL are hypocrites who did the same kind of thing (or worse) in the U.S., Logan cannot deny his actions. I don't think he is a "sociopath" (I'm no doctor btw). I just think he has conducted dishonest and bureaucratic manouvers in the iSt and the IBT. I have enough evidence for that. As you know (since you claim to have read the documents involving Sam T's departure) they have been complete assholes to the Argentines which wanted to become their section in Latin America. You must also be aware of the games they've played with the CL (of which I was part). We know it was discussed internally that they didn't want to fuse with the entire group because this would mean the CL would have significant weight internally to question Logan and Riley. So they tried to split our group while pretending to hold "fraternal relations" with it (which only us publicized - they never even acknowledged it to the public). I have read everything the IBT has published on the Logan trial, Michael. I don't know why you give me links for those. On Sam T.: I've collaborated with him for 4 years and he is not "insane" in any way the IBT described. You, btw, should be ashamed to be an "IBT supporter" knowing that the IBT has privately and publicly explored his depression as "mental illness". We have had differences with him on many tactical and organizational issues and he may be definetly difficult to work with, but we maintain basically all his assertions against the IBT. Just because they are true. There's nothing the IBT can do to change it. Truth is stubborn as they say. Who do you think you are to demand that we "repudiate" based accusations against the IBT? If anything this makes me even more disgusted. Are you acting on your own behalf or on the IBT leaders? (this is an honest question, since I don't know what is the level of your collaboration with them). In the latter case, this only proves they continue to engage in stupid and silly "tactics". I have nothing more to add to this. If you would allow, I would love to make this "conversation" public. I won't do it if you prefer not to. But in this case, just leave me (and my group) alone. We really have nothing to benefit from this and I honestly have more productive activity to engage on than discussing the IBT. It has always been a consensus in the RR that we don't need to worry about the IBT. We can just let it perish as the sick group they are. Unless they try to mess with us. In this case we will fight back.

Me: I see we are at the name calling state. Attacking my intelligence it pretty low. The IBT never tried to brand Sam as insane. They merely raised concerns about his behaviour. In my experience with Sam he is a very malicious and confrontation individual he has made numerous personal attacks against me. You say you don't call Logan a sociopath or Jason Wright a member of the Department of Homeland Security and yet they are posted on your website without qualification or explanation. With all do respect I think you and your group are behaving dishonestly. As for Phil Fergusan, in the dispute in question, the individuals who opposed Logan felt comfortable raising opposition to him and there decisions were partially implemented, plus they remained with the group for several years later.

An Update on David Walters

Well it seems David Walters has finally dropped his support for Robert Latimer. He posted this in a conversation,

"Michael is referring to an article in Workers Vanguard where the newspaper did a long piece on the case of a Canadian father who killed his extremely austistic daughter. The article made a very strong case in defense of the person. It was VERY convincing and not having read anything but the article I noted, as is FB venue, an informal agreement. Michael, on the other hand, believes this is a 'bloc'. There are no 'blocs' on FB. Michael actually had done a helluv a lot of research on this and the Sparts were wrong *factually* on both the case and Latimer, the name of the girls' father who was accused of murdering her. On the facts Michael was correct and thus it got me thinking about this whole issue. I don't "support" such actions nor do I "block" with anyone unless there is some sort of meaning to it behond these quite casual conversations on FB."

https://www.facebook.com/groups/communism.mlm/956232961077915/?notif_t=group_comment_follow

It took a while and a LOT of putting his feet to the fire but he has FINALLY dropped his support for Robert Latimer. Better late then never.