Alan Woods (political theorist)
| Alan Woods | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
23 October 1944 Swansea, Wales, United Kingdom |
| Nationality | British |
| Alma mater |
University of Sussex Sofia University Moscow State University |
| Occupation | Political theorist, activist, writer |
| Movement | International Marxist Tendency |
| Children | Lizzie Woods |
| Website | http://www.marxist.com |
Alan Woods (born 23 October 1944 ) is a Trotskyist political theorist and author. He is one of the leading members of the International Marxist Tendency (IMT), as well as of its British affiliate group Socialist Appeal. He is political editor of the IMT's In Defence of Marxism website. Woods was a leading supporter within the Militant tendency within the UK Labour Party and its parent group the Committee for a Workers' International until the early 1990s. A series of disagreements on tactics and theory led to the expulsion from the tendency of Woods and Ted Grant, who founded the Committee for a Marxist International (soon renamed International Marxist Tendency) in 1992. They continued with the policy of entryism into the Labour Party. Woods has expressed particularly vocal support for the Bolivarian Revolution in Venezuela, and repeatedly met with the socialist President of Venezuelan Hugo Chávez (in office 1999-2013), leading to speculation that he was a close political adviser to the president.
Woods was born into a working-class family in Swansea, South Wales and grew up in the Townhill and Penlan areas of the city. At the age of 16 he joined the Young Socialists and became a Marxist, becoming a supporter of the Trotskyist Militant tendency within the Labour Party. He studied Russian at Sussex University and later in Sofia (Bulgaria) and Moscow State University (MGU). Woods's work in Brighton for the Militant tendency established an important base of support at the university and in the town. He later moved back to south Wales, becoming the first regional full timer for the organisation. He, his wife, and two small daughters moved to Spain in the early 1970s where his well-known political stance placed him amongst those struggling against the Francisco Franco dictatorship, where he worked to establish the Spanish section of the Committee for a Workers' International (CWI). Woods speaks several languages, including Italian, English, Spanish, French, German and Russian. His daughter is socialist and trade union campaigner Lizzie Woods.
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