SATURDAY 22 NOVEMBER
11.30: Plenary: Fight the far right with socialist policies. Speakers including John Moloney Assistant General Secretary of the PCS union (p.c.)
11.45-1.10
Are Stalinist states an advance on capitalism? Workers’ Liberty debates Socialismo o Barbarie (Socialism or Barbarism)For most of the 20th century, states that called themselves “communist” or “socialist” were a major force in world politics. Today, the second-most powerful country in the world is ruled by a “Communist” party. What did these states represent in history, and what do they represent today? How does our attitude to them shape the kind of socialism we fight for?
Housing as a site of class struggle, with a tenants’ rights activist.As well as the relationship between worker and boss, other relationships also express class domination, including the relationship between landlord and tenant. This session will look at a 1938 rent strike in Stepney, East London, as well as discussing the contemporary housing crisis and how socialists can organise around the issue of housing.
Fighting for migrants’ rights. With Halaleh Taheri, Middle Eastern Women & Society Organisation (MEWSO), and workers facing visa-sponsorship revocation. With the far right setting the political agenda on immigration, and mainstream parties, including Labour, tripping over themselves to pander to them, this session will discuss how the labour movement can fight back for migrants’ rights.1949 and the legacy of Maoism, with Chan Ying76 years ago, an insurgency led by Chairman Mao took power in China, instituting a self-proclaimed “communist” regime there. Some on the left saw, and still see, that as a progressive event. Workers’ Liberty sees the Mao regime as a form of brutal totalitarian rule. This session, led by a socialist activist originally from China, will examine the history, and discuss the legacy of Maoism on the contemporary left.
1.10-2.10: LUNCH: vegetarian/vegan lunch available at the venue
2.10-3.30
What is “the left”?, with Patrick Murphy, Workers’ LibertyThe terms “left” and “right” in politics derive from seating arrangements in the National Assembly of late-18th century France, where more radical delegates generally sat to the left of the speaker’s chair, and more moderate ones to the right. Over 200 years on, what does it mean to be “left-wing”? What are we talking about when we refer to “the left”? What would a “left party” look like, and do we need one?
With Ukraine against Russian conquest, with Ukrainian workers against their bosses, with speakers including Ukrainian socialist activistsUkrainian workers continue to face a dual struggle, against the brutal Russian imperialist invasion of their country, and against their own ruling class’s attempt to use the war to reshape Ukrainian society further in the interests of oligarchs and the rich. Meanwhile, much of the international left has abandoned Ukraine, making excuses for Russia’s invasion. Hear directly from Ukrainian socialist activists about their struggles and the support they need.
A short history of the arms industry and campaigns against it, with Professor Catherine Fletcher, author of the forthcoming book ‘The Firearm Revolution’Arms manufacture and export is a major feature of the economies of many important capitalist powers. How did an “arms industry” develop, and how has it been opposed? Prof. Catherine Fletcher’s forthcoming book The Firearm Revolution looks at the role of guns in history and economics.
3.35-4.50
Resisting the Trump regime, with Dan La Botz, co-editor of US-based socialist journal ‘New Politics’ and Natalia Tylim of the Tempest Collective. Donald Trump’s regime in the USA is undertaking a radical effort to reshape both American society and the world economy. The rights of migrants, women, LGBT+ people, and others are under acute threat. How are workers’ and democratic movements in America organising to resist?
Marxists and the national question: does “self-determination” matter? Workers’ Liberty debates Lotta Communista (Communist Struggle)Workers’ Liberty believes national self-determination — the right for distinct national groups to live free from domination by foreign states — remains an important democratic demand, whilst emphasising the ultimately cross-class nature of national blocs and the need to seek workers’ unity beyond national boundaries. Lotta Communista, a left-wing current primarily active in Italy, takes a different view, seeing demands for national self-determination as a distraction from class struggle. This session will debate the different approaches.
Defending trans rights, with Natalia Cassidy and Kacey de GrootThe global far-right upsurge has made trans rights one of its wedge issues, seeking to push back the limited ideological and material gains for trans equality that have been made over the past several years. At the same time, some on the left and in labour movements promote a “gender-critical” feminism that sees trans rights as in conflict with women’s rights. Workers’ Liberty affirms trans equality and liberation; this panel will feature two trans activists discussing how to build the fight back we need.
4.50-5.35: break and fund appeal
5.40-7.00
How to beat the racists: workers against the far right, with Mark Osborn, editor of How to Beat the Racists and Justine Canady, Tower Hamlets Unison activist (pc) involved in local anti-fascist organising.The contemporary far right in the UK is able to mobilise over 100,000 people for street demonstrations in central London. Counter-protests organised by the left manage around a tenth of that. How can we change this? Mark Osborn, editor of Workers’ Liberty’s newly-updated pamphlet 'How to Beat the Racists' makes the case for an anti-racism and anti-fascism rooted in working-class unity.
Phyllis and Julius Jacobson and the Third Camp tradition, with Kent Worcester, co-editor of ‘Third Camp Socialism: A Phyllis and Julius Jacobson Reader’Throughout the 1930s, even Trotskyists who denounced Stalinism as oppressive and bureaucratic believed the USSR should be defended against western imperialism. From the late-1930s, a current emerged that rejected that view, arguing Stalinism represented a new form of class exploitation. They were for “neither Washington nor Moscow”, and emphasised the need for a “Third Camp”, based on independent working-class organisation. Phyllis and Julius Jacobson were leading writers and organisers within that tradition. Kent Worcester, the co-editor of a new anthology of their work, will discuss the legacy of the Jacobsons for socialists today.
Justice for Grenfell, with Paul Hampton, author of Culpable: Deregulation, Austerity and the Causes of the Grenfell Tower FireThe 2017 fire at Grenfell Tower, a residential high-rise in west London, killed 72 people, including 18 children. Paul Hampton, a researcher for the Fire Brigades Union and author of a new book about the fire, will discuss the political and economic choices that led up to the event.
Renewing socialist feminism, with Frieda Afary, author of ‘Socialist Feminism: A New Approach’ and CeCe Hyde ‘Women’s Fightback’ editorial boardWith women’s rights under attack in many countries, what kinds of politics and forms of organisation are needed to build a socialist-feminist fightback? Iranian-American activist and writer Frieda Afary and CeCe Hyde, member of the editorial board of Women’s Fightback, the socialist-feminist magazine published by Workers’ Liberty, discuss perspectives.
SUNDAY 23 NOVEMBER
11.00-12.00
Transforming our unions, with rank-and-file trade union activists2022-3 saw the largest sustained increase in workers’ action in Britain for a generation. Some workers made significant gains, but several major disputes ended in disappointing compromises. So far, it seems the strike wave has not led to a sustained revival in organisation and combativeness at workplace level. Why not, and how can we turn this around?
Railworkers 200: two centuries of rail workers and their struggles, with Janine Booth2025 is the 200th anniversary of the British railway network. That is two centuries of hard labour from railway workers, laying the tracks, building the trains and stations, digging the tunnels, maintaining and repairing the infrastructure, driving the locomotives, operating the signals, keeping passengers safe, providing information, selling tickets, feeding workers and passengers, dealing with emergencies and cleaning up after everyone else. Janine Booth’s new book, ‘Railworkers 200’, records two hundred years of railway workers and their struggles.
12-1.05: lunch
1.05-2.25
The fight for peace and equality in Israel-Palestine with speakers including Israeli socialist Asaf Yakir and British-Palestinian activist Jasr KawkbyIsrael’s genocidal war on Gaza has wreaked immense destruction, whilst the military occupation of the West Bank intensifies. In the wider region, reactionary forces such as the Islamic Republic of Iran and the monarchies of the Gulf states remain powerful, vying for regional influence whilst suppressing domestic opposition. How can socialists develop a politics of consistent solidarity that supports all struggles for democracy, equal rights, and workers’ power.
The Milei regime in Argentina, with Daniela L, Socialismo o BarbarieJavier Milei’s regime in Argentina is another component in the global far-right wave. How has Milei governed since coming to power? What resistance has his regime encountered? Argentinian socialist Daniela Lopez from Socialismo o Barbarie will lead the discussion.
Transitional demands for the climate, with activists from Heat Strike and Fare Free LondonClimate change is a reality. What political demands should workers fight for, both to reshape society away from fossil-fuel extraction, and to adapt our workplaces and communities to deal with the harms climate change is already causing? Heat Strike is a campaign to demand a legally-enforceable maximum workplace temperature; Fare Free London campaigns to make public transport in the capital free. Workers’ Liberty fights for a programme of “transitional demands” — demands that both represent material improvements in the immediate term, and point the way to a different kind of society, beyond the planet-devouring rule of profit.
The Sex Talk, the politics of sex and sexuality in the age of the sexual counter revolution, with members of the ‘Women’s Fightback’ editorial boardThe strapline for Women’s Fightback, the socialist-feminist magazine published by Workers’ Liberty, says we stand for “sex positive, trans-inclusive, class-struggle feminism”. Should we still stand for “sex-positive” feminism, despite a growing move away from it among many “fourth-wave” feminists? Gen Zers are having less sex than their grandparents, whilst governments are cracking down on porn. Are we all becoming prudes or is sexual liberation a con? Members of the Women's Fightback editorial board discuss the politics of sex and sexuality in the age of the sexual counter revolution.
2.40-4.00
What is left antisemitism? with Daniel Randall, author of Confronting Antisemitism on the Left: Arguments for SocialistsWorkers’ Liberty has long argued that antisemitism — the belief in a malign, socially-manipulative, world-shaping power that is coded as Jewish or “Zionist” — is not the sole property of the far right, and can appear in the context of other political perspectives, including on the left. This session will give an overview of the history of antisemitism on and of the left, and argue for a consistently egalitarian, democratic politics, rooted in class struggle, as the antidote.
Different modes of capitalism, with Martin Thomas, editor of ‘Crisis and Sequels: Capitalism and the New Economic Turmoil since 2007’After global neoliberalism, which had its heyday 1990-2009, is a new mode of capitalism emerging, more nationalist, protectionist, and state-interventionist? Marxists have discussed other “modes” – monopolistic, finance-capitalist, developmentalist, Fordist, “Golden-Age” – and many writers, periodically since the 1950s, have announced a new age of automation. Is Marx’s basic theory of capital still sound, and how can we understand the different regimes?
The Erdoğan regime in Turkey, with Pete Boggs, Workers’ LibertyTurkey has become an increasingly important regional-imperialist power under authoritarian president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. What does the Erdoğan regime represent? How does it fit into the global wave of right-wing, authoritarian nationalisms? And how have Turkish and Kurdish socialists and democrats organised against it?
Voices against Putin’s war, with Reuben Woolley and Simon Pirani, author of ‘Change in Putin’s Russia: Power, Money and People’ and editor of ‘Voices Against Putin’s War: Protesters’ Defiant Speeches in Russian Courts’How have Russian activists defied Putin’s regime? Simon Pirani, author of a new book collating speeches given in court by Russian dissidents, will present their perspectives, along with Reuben Woolley, who assisted with translation on the project.
4.00-4.20: Closing plenary and singing of the Internationale