Ideas for Freedom is a weekend of socialist discussion, debate, and education hosted by Workers’ Liberty.
It will take place on 20-21 July at Camden School for Girls, Sandall Road, London, NW5 2DB. There is a free creche (register before 30 June) and crash accommodation on request. Saturday's talks run from 11am (registration) to 7pm. Sunday's talks run from 10.30am to 4.45pm.
Join us to discuss how we can win a more equal, just and freer world. How do we counter the threat from the far right? How do socialists organise to stop wars in Gaza, Ukraine and elsewhere?
Get your Advanced Early Bird ticket before midnight on 14 June: £40 waged, £20 low-waged and students, £8 unwaged. Day tickets and half-day tickets also available.
Online ticket (hybrid sessions): £5. Covers sessions starred in timetable below.
On Thursday 18 July, from 6pm: Walking Tour: Radical East End.
On Friday 19 July at 7pm: 100 years since Lenin's death: debating the legacy of the Russian Revolution. Workers' Liberty debates Steve Davies from the Institute of Economic Affairs.
Provisional timed agenda
Starred sessions are accessible online with an online ticket
SATURDAY 20 JULY
11:30-1:10
*Plenary: the fight for a workers’ government
Britain’s Tory government is a government of the rich, by the rich, for the rich. How can we win a government that governs in the interests of our class? The Labour government likely to replace the Tories at the next general election will present itself as more efficient, and perhaps slightly more humane, managers of capitalism than the Tories, rather than seeking to change society. How can we build an alternative? How do struggles on different terrains - in workplaces, in communities, and via electoral politics - intersect? John Moloney, Assistant General Secretary of the PCS union, Workers’ Liberty activist Katy Dollar, and other speakers will discuss the issues.
2-3:30
The left and a Labour government
Ending 14 years of Tory rule will be a step forward, but what kind of Labour government would replace them? How should the socialist left relate to the election campaign, and an incoming Labour government? What policies should we fight for? Alice Hazel from Workers' Liberty, Simon Hannah from Anti-Capitalist Resistance, and other speakers TBC will debate the issues.
The 1974-5 Portuguese Revolution through its visual art
On 25 April 1974, a military coup toppled the authoritarian regime in Portugal and sparked a vibrant popular revolution that lasted eighteen months. Emerging from the shadows of a stifling dictatorship, the Portuguese people, most for the first time, discovered new freedoms - among them, the freedom of expression. Alex Fernandes, author of The Carnation Revolution: The Day Portugal's Dictatorship Fell, tells the story of the Carnation Revolution through the visual art that emerged in and about revolutionary Portugal, with particular focus on the work of João Abel Manta.
The Dracula Myth Yesterday and Today: Ideology, Gender, Migration, Threats, and Fear
Bram Stoker’s Dracula, originally published in 1897, is a literary and cultural phenomenon. This presentation by John Cunningham will look at the Victorian background, but also consider the famous Tod Browning film (1931), starring Béla Lugosi, other Dracula adaptations and vampire literature and film.
Debating Marxist ecology
Workers’ Liberty believes the Marxist critique of capitalism can help us understand capital’s drive to despoil the planet and degrade its resources, and where the power to change this lies: in the hands of the working class. This panel will debate different perspectives on how to elaborate this Marxist ecology. All participants at Ideas for Freedom are welcome, but those with some prior engagement with the issues may find the session more accessible.
*Socialists and a united Ireland
How close are we to a united, 32-county Ireland? How does struggle around Irish unity connect to class struggles? Can Protestant and Catholic workers unite across sectarian divides? What rights could or should the Protestant minority in the north have within the framework of a united Ireland? Workers’ Liberty’s Micheál MacEoin and John McAnulty from Socialist Democracy will debate the issues.
3:30-3:45
Workers' Liberty fund appeal
3:55-5:20
*Women in Revolt! Curating the art of the feminist movement
The “Women in Revolt!” exhibition at Tate Britain, which ran from November 2023-April 2024 and showcased the art and cultural output of the feminist movement in Britain from 1970-1990, was, by item, the Tate’s largest exhibition ever. We are honoured to welcome curator Linsey Young to Ideas for Freedom to discuss the exhibition and its resonance for feminist struggle today.
Introduction to Revolutionary Socialism: What organisations do workers need to take power?
The organisations with any substantial social weight through which workers can currently attempt to assert their political and economic interests are trade unions, and the Labour Party, the political party historically based on them. Neither are adequate. How can we develop organisations workers can use to take power? Can we build a new, revolutionary, labour movement as an alternative to the existing one? Or do we need to transform our existing movement to make it fit to fight? Can workers take power through unions alone, or do we need political parties too?
Solidarity with Ukraine: left perspectives on the war
Ukraine is beleaguered, but continues to resist Russian invasion and conquest. This session will discuss socialist-internationalist perspectives on the war, including assessment and analysis of the current situation and discussion of how we can provide practical support to Ukrainian trade unionists and socialists. Speakers include Chris Ford, from the Ukraine Solidarity Campaign, and Michael Baker from Workers’ Liberty.
Solidarity with Chinese workers
China is the world’s second-biggest superpower, with enormous economic and political influence. How should socialists understand the Chinese regime, and how can we support the struggles of Chinese workers, and national and cultural minorities within China, for freedom, democracy, and equality? Chan Ying will lead a discussion.
Marxism and postcolonial theory
The best-stocked shelves in left academia feature “postcolonial theory” and “decolonisation”. Many theoretical currents offer colonial/ decolonial, or settler/ indigenous, as axes of analysis and struggle, in place of Marxist or Marxist-influenced ideas around social and economic class. Which are the better guides to liberation? How do post/decolonial theories relate to Marxism? This panel will feature a range of differing perspectives and aims to debate the issues. Speakers include Martin Thomas, Dr. Camila Bassi, and Dr. Matteo Rizzo.
5:35-7
*The legacy of the Tiananmen Square movement
In 1989, Chinese workers and students rose up to to demand both improvements to working conditions, and political demands for greater democracy; their struggle threatened the authoritarian regime, which brutally suppressed it. What can we learn from the struggle about the nature of the Chinese state, and the lessons for workers’ and democratic struggles in China and elsewhere today? Sara Lee from Workers' Liberty leads a discussion.
The lessons of the miners’ strike, 40 years on
In 1984-5, miners and their supporters throughout the working class fought a pitched class battle with a Tory government wielding the power of the state. The miners’ lost, but their defeat contains fantastically important lessons for anyone seeking to rebuild class power today. Jill Mountford, who was active during the strike as part of the Florence Colliery Women's Support Group, and John Cunningham, a former miner and NUM activists in the years prior to the strike, will lead the discussion.
The struggle for freedom in Iran
The past several years have seen waves of democratic struggle in Iran, including the “Women, Life, Freedom” movement for women’s rights, as well as numerous strike waves. At the same time, the regime has continued repression and its imperialist project across the region. What are the prospects for workers’, women’s, and democratic struggles in Iran today? Arash Azizi, Iranian socialist and academic, and author of the recent book 'What Iranians Want', will speak via Zoom.
How black workers brought down apartheid
Strike waves and unionisation drives by black workers in key industries such as mining were central elements in the struggles which brought down apartheid in South Africa, but are often overlooked in a story which focuses only on the ANC and external boycotts. Dan Davison will survey the history of black workers’ struggle for equality, and a member of Workers’ Liberty will discuss our predecessor organisation Socialist Organiser’s role in building solidarity with black workers’ independent unions.
Why Socialists Should Read Books
In a world where our consumption of information is increasingly mediated through social media, has it supplanted longer texts as the primary mechanism for the transmission of ideas including socialist ones? In this session Katy Dollar will argue that, however useful such platforms may be, collective and mutual education via reading and studying book-length texts is irreplaceable for developing consciously revolutionary ideas.
From 7:30 til late
Ideas for Freedom 2024 social at The Abbey Tavern, 124 Kentish Town Road, London NW1 9QB. (Head to the roof terrace!)
SUNDAY 21 JULY
10:30-12
The fight for reproductive freedom
Reproductive rights are under attack in many places throughout the world, including in Britain, where there has been an unprecedented increase in women facing criminal charges for “illegal” (out-of-term-limit) abortions. How can we build an international movement to fight for women’s right to choose? Speakers include Danielle Mayes, Workers’ Liberty.
Introduction to Revolutionary Socialism: Why the Working Class?
Different currents within radical politics give different answers to the question of what agency is capable of changing the world. Some look to relatively amorphous concepts such as “the people”, “the 99%”, or a “progressive alliance”. Workers’ Liberty believes that only the working class, acting for itself and organised through its own democratic unions and parties, can overthrow capitalism. This session explains why.
Drax: can workers “reclaim the power”?
From 8-13 August, a camp organised by climate activists will target Drax power station. Workers’ Liberty supports demands for social ownership of energy and a rapid transition to renewables. We also believe workers in the energy sector must be at the centre of any process of transition. This panel will discuss perspectives for the movement against Drax and the implications for climate activism in general.
*Socialists and the US Presidential elections
The 2024 presidential election will almost certainly see former president Donald Trump taking on the incumbent Joe Biden. Workers’ Liberty believes both the Republicans and Democrats are capitalist parties, and that to consistently assert their own interests, US workers and their unions need their own independent political voice. But in the immediate context of an election between Biden and Trump, should US socialists advocate a vote for Biden to stop Trump? A majority in Workers’ Liberty believe they should, with a minority of comrades disagreeing. This session will debate the issues.
1-2:30
*How can we transform our unions?
2022-3 saw the most significant upsurge in workers’ struggle in Britain for a generation, with millions of workers taking action. Many made gains, but the disappointing compromises that ended many disputes also highlighted major limitations in the trade union movement. How can we address these shortcomings to make our unions more democratic, combative and effective? This panel will feature speakers from the National Executive Committees of the Public and Commercial Services union (PCS) and Unison, and an activist from the National Education Union, all speaking in a personal capacity.
The fight for equality in Palestine and Israel
For years, Israel’s ruling political class insisted it could “manage the conflict” with the Palestinians, by keeping millions of people under occupation and blockaded without basic rights. The events of 7 October and since have brutally exploded that paradigm. Speakers include Palestinian socialist Rula Daood, National Co-Director of Standing Together, and Mushon Zer-Aviv from A Land for All, both in a personal capacity.
Introduction to Revolutionary Socialism: What are “transitional demands”? What is a “workers’ government”?
Workers’ Liberty believes in working-class revolution to overthrow capitalism. But a revolutionary movement can’t be built simply by declaring one is necessary. This session will look at the history, and current applicability, of “transitional demands” - changes workers can fight for to improve our lives in the here-and-now, whilst also helping us build up the power to transform society as a whole. The session will also introduce the idea of a “workers’ government”, a government that sees itself as governing in the interests of workers, just as our current governments see themselves as governing in the interests of business.
The world economy in 2024
Over a decade in from the 2008 financial crash, what is the shape of contemporary global capitalism? With US economic and political hegemony facing challenges from Russia, China, and other powers, some on the left see increased “multipolarity” as a positive step. Workers’ Liberty has argued that socialists should instead advocate for independent workers’ organisation against all ruling classes, rather than cheerleading for one geopolitical bloc against another. This talk by Martin Thomas, editor of Crisis and Sequels, a symposium of Marxist analysis of the 2008 crash, will discuss the trends.
2:30-4:15
“The left is dead, long live the left”?
Can the revolutionary left revive to become a mass force? How? What attitude do we need to our own history? The Platypus Affiliated Society says “the left is dead, long live the left”: is that the right approach? What can we take from “old” lefts to build a new one? Patrick Finan of Workers’ Liberty debates Rebekah P from Platypus on the past and future of the revolutionary left.
*The left in Israel, and the international left on Israel
How has the left inside Israel conceptualised the country’s origins, and in particular the state’s national oppression of the Palestinians? How have questions of nation and class intersected? And how have international left perspectives on Israel impacted the way the Israeli left sees itself and its tasks? Israeli socialist Uri Weltmann, National Field Organiser of Standing Together (speaking here in a personal capacity), and Workers' Liberty supporter Andrew Peak will introduce a discussion.
Poland after Law and Justice
Elections in Poland in October 2023 ousted the hard-right Law and Justice Party from government. Polish activists discuss how they are resisting it legacy, and attempting to build an alternative to the neoliberal government of Donald Tusk which replaced it? Polish socialist Anna Prasuła will lead the discussion.
Trans inclusion and equality in sport
Hostility to trans rights has become a key front in a right-wing culture war. One area in which this has played out is around the question of inclusion in sports, at both elite and grassroots levels. This talk from Joanna Harper will discuss the issues. Joanna published the first peer-reviewed study on the performance of transgender athletes and is the author of the book Sporting Gender: The history, science, and stories of transgender and intersex athletes.
Introduction to Revolutionary Socialism: What will socialism look like?
The major historical model of self-proclaimed “socialism” - the Stalinist states of the USSR, and surviving states modelled on them in China, Cuba, North Korea, Vietnam, and Laos - replicates all the features of capitalism at its most savage: hyper-exploitation of workers’ labour, a highly militarised state, and a near-total lack of basic social freedom. The socialism Workers’ Liberty fights for has nothing in common with this distortion. This session discusses what a socialist society based on common ownership, radical democracy, and individual and collective freedom might look like.
4:15-4:45
*Ideas for Freedom 2024 closing plenary
For all queries email: office@workersliberty.org