All videos from our sessions are now available online – enjoy!
Monday September 26
Russia’s invasion of the Ukraine has quite rightly been condemned by most socialists and democrats. Putin is no friend of the working class – but neither are Zelensky or NATO. The expansionist policy of NATO has played a huge part in this conflict. Many fear that the war in Ukraine is just a preamble for bigger things to come: a confrontation between China and ‘the West’. Should socialists take sides in such a conflict? Or is there a third way?
Chair: Roger Silverman. Speakers: Craig Murray, Kevin Bean, Simon Pirani, Richard Sakwa
Time for the Left to discuss issues of race and racism in a new, practical way. We’ll be asking a number of questions that affect organisation:
– Are black sections the best way for the left to organise? Or do they separate black members from their comrades?
– Do black-only candidate lists increase diversity? Or are they patronising and foster careerism?
– What if somebody says something racist? Should they be thrown out immediately or is discussion a better way to deal with prejudice?
Speakers: Marc Wadsworth and Jackie Walker.
The New Labour faction of the Parliamentary Party has participated in the marketisation of our treasured NHS. No party is committed to protect it. What can UK socialists do to protect their greatest ever achievement. What are Labour’s plans for the health of the nation now it has shifted sharply to the right under Kier Starmer and the Shadow Cabinet?
Chair and speaker: Nicholas Csergo (Socialist Health Association). Speakers: Mary Whitby (health campaigner), Deborah Harrington (Public Matters), Professor David U. Himmelstein (CUNY School of Public Health) and others.
How should socialists respond to the climate crisis? Can this catastrophe be solved under capitalism? How can we even talk about a future society when our planet is so close to being destroyed? Our speakers are examining the relationship between the fight against climate catastrophe and the need to overthrow capitalism.
Chair and speaker: Elaine Graham-Leigh. Speakers: Matthew T. Huber, Jane Hammett (Save Oglet Shore campaign) and Ed Gommon (Zero Carbon Liverpool).
Discussing municipal socialism with the Liverpool Independents and other alternatives to Labour. Chair: Steve Walker (Skwawkbox). Speakers: Mandy Clare (councillor, Resist), Alex Mays (Breakthrough)
Tuesday September 27
Tony Greenstein introduces his new book
What is free speech: Should certain issues be ‘off-limits’ for the left? Is free speech an absolute right or are there limits for racists, homophobes etc? Is no-platforming a good way to deal with prejudice and mistaken ideas? Should we enforce ‘zero tolerance’ in working class organisations? Chair: Steve Walker. Speakers: Jackie Walker, Tony Greenstein, Esther Giles, Mandy Clare and Tina Werkmann
The neo-liberal economic experiment has failed. UK Labour offer more of the same, neo-liberal light that tinkers around the edge of a failed system whilst prices spiral and living standards decline for working people. What can socialists do to repair the damage? Chair: Kevin Bean. Speakers: Marxist economist Michael Roberts and Peter Kennedy (Socialist Theory Group).
The establishment press, the government and the ruling class are engaged in a brutal war against anything, and anybody who dares to question the increasingly unstable and irrational status quo. The brutal new policing bills, the antisemitism smear, campaigns against free speech in the education sector are part of this ‘war on woke’, which is designed to prevent the working class from getting organised. How do we resist? Speakers: Jackie Walker, Tony Greenstein, Asa Winstanley, Craig Murray and others.
Chair: Kevin Bean. Speakers: With Teddy Brown, Phil Maxwell (Art of Resistance) and Joan Burnett (Homotopia).
Chair: Dr Deepa Driver (legal observer in the Assange case, Haldane Society of Socialist Lawyers). Speakers: Stella Assange (human rights lawyer), Professor Iain Munro (expert on whistleblowers), Craig Murray and Ögmundur Jonasson (the Icelandic minister who refused to aide the FBI in framing Assange).
While the Forde Report confirmed that the Corbyn leadership was undermined by unelected Labour Party staff, it also points to a number of mistakes made by ‘our side’. What can we learn from this period? Why are so many on the left still implementing the witch-hunt? We’ll be investigating the civil war that was raging in the Labour Party during the Corbyn years and will be asking, ‘ is now time to leave the party’?
Speakers: Jackie Walker, Duncan Shipley-Dalton (Haldane Society of Socialist Lawyers) and Tony Greenstein.
Chair: Steve Walker (Skwakbox). Speakers: Ian Hodson (BFAWU), Dave Walsh (Liverpool Trade Unions Council), Tracey Hylton (PCS) and Mark O’Brien (UCU).
Wednesday September 28
Chair: Tony Rimmer (Liverpool 47 Councillors).
Speakers: Paul Astbury, Felicity Dowling and Harry Smith (Liverpool 47 Councillors), Dave Walsh (President Liverpool Trades Council), and Audrey White (Merseyside Pensioners).
A debate about our attitude to Labour under Starmer: Should we encourage socialists and trade unions to leave the Labour Party? Or should we continue our fight to change and democratise the party? Can we do both?
Chair: Felicity Dowling. Speakers: Dave Nellist (Socialist Party), Mandy Clare (Resist), Roger Silverman (Socialist Labour Network) and Kevin Bean (Labour Party Marxists)
With Ian Hodson, Audrey White, Kevin Bean
Do class politics still matter? Should we abandon concepts of left and right? Is the time right to build a new left party? What programme should the left fight for? These are the kind of questions we want to discuss in this session.
Chair: Lesley Mahmood (Merseyside Pensioners Alliance). Intro speakers: Steve Walker (Skwawkbox) and Ian Hodson (president, Bakers’ Union)