National demonstration against fascism and racism - Saturday 17 November

National unity demonstration against fascism and racism, 
Saturday 17 November, central London


We are experiencing the biggest rise in support for fascism, the far right, racism, Islamophobia and Antisemitism since the 1930s. In Britain fascists and racists are mobilising on a scale not seen for decades. We must unite against this threat.

The national demonstration is initiated by Stand Up To Racism, co-sponsored by Unite Against Fascism and Love Music Hate Racism, and is supported by the TUC, Shadow Home Secretary Diane Abbott and Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell amongst others.

The recent rise in attacks by the far right has created a real thirst for a mass anti-racist mobilisation in the spirit of the Anti Nazi League. Now is the time to take to the streets.

There is an urgent need to build a movement against racism and fascism. Help us mobilise for 17 November by joining Stand Up to Racism - for more details see here

International Socialism 158 and 159 now out

The latest issues of International Socialism is now out and also online - see here for more details and full contents, but highlights of issue 158 include Shirin Hirsch on Enoch Powell, Alex Callinicos on Karl Marx, Judy Cox on the fight for women's suffrage, Joseph Choonara on 'the political economy of a long depression', and material relating to 1968 on the fiftieth anniversary of 'the fire last time'...and highlights of issue 159 include a discussion of youth crime, class and capitalism, the recent UCU strikes, Prague 1968 among much else...

Marx@200 / Marxism 2018

Marx@200: Marx and the World Today

Saturday 19 May, 1-6pm

Birkbeck, Malet St, London, WC1E 7HX

Karl Marx was born in Trier, in today's Germany, in 1818. He developed a groundbreaking analysis of capitalism and argued for a workers' revolution to overthrow it. His ideas, contained in works ranging from The Communist Manifesto to Capital, would change the world.

But Marx was not just a thinker for the 19th or 20th centuries. This one-day conference will discuss how Marx's theories can be developed in order to make sense of the world today and transform it.

Sessions include: 

• Why Marx Matters: The Crises of Contemporary Capitalism
• Marx, Nature and the Anthropocene
• The Workers of the World Today
• Trans Rights to #Metoo, the Fight Against Oppression
• Marxism and Race: A Eurocentric Analysis? 
• Karl Marx: A revolutionary for today
• 
  

 Tickets are £6 waged/£3 unwaged - to book tickets see here

Marxism 2018 - a festival of socialist ideas - 5-8 July central London

If you were excited by Jeremy Corbyn's election as Labour leader, horrified by Donald Trump, want to challenge racism and oppression, desire action over climate change or are looking for an alternative to austerity and war then Marxism Festival 2018 is the place for you. Thousands of activists, campaigners, trade unionists, students, writers and academics will come together at over 130 different meetings.

Speakers include Ilan Pappe, Ghada Khami, John Bellamy Foster, Janet Alder, Alex Callicos and many others... Go to here for more details

https://marxismfestival.org.uk/

International Socialism 157 online

Sorry for the shocking neglect of this blog - and in the bicentenary of Marx's birth as well - its only with the current UCU strike over pensions that I am having time to get back around to updating this - just to say the latest issue of International Socialism journal is online, with pieces on Zimbabwe after Mugabe, Marxism, feminism and transgender politics, globalisation, the legacy of the 1917 Russian Revolution in colonial Africa, Eric Hobsbawm, and so on.  In terms of events coming up this year of interest, there are marches against racism taking place internationally on UN Anti-Racism Day on Saturday 17 March - which in the UK will be the first opportunity to tell Theresa May we don't want Trump visiting later this year - for details of the UK marches see here, while Marxism 2018 takes place in London from 5-8 July 2018.

From Tsar to Lenin (1937 documentary)

By way of celebrating the centenary of the October Revolution, check out this excellent 1937 documentary (narrated by Max Eastman, Trotsky's translator) on the Russian Revolution

International Socialism Journal #156

The latest issue of International Socialism is out, with articles on the centenary of the Russian Revolution including 'The orphaned revolution: the meaning of October 1917' by Alex Callinicos, 'Maxim Gorky and the fellow travellers' by Cathy Porter, 'The Russian Revolution and the British working class' by Pete Jackson, and a review article by the historian Steve Smith. There are also other pieces on Corbynism, racism in 19th century America and Marx’s Capital at 150 among other things - well worth checking out...

Celebrating 1917 - Saturday 4 November, London

Celebrating 1917

  Saturday 4 November 2017 • Central London • 10:30am-5:30pm

A one-day conference to debate and discuss the legacy of 1917 on the hundredth anniversary of the Russian Revolution.

Meetings:

Why Celebrate 1917?

• Dave Sherry, author of Russia 1917: Workers' Revolution and Festival of the Oppressed
• John Molyneux, author of Lenin for Today
• Sally Campbell, editor of Socialist Review

The Bolsheviks and 1917

• Kevin Corr and Gareth Jenkins, contributors to International Socialism

Culture and Revolution

• Cathy Porter, author of Alexandra Kollontai: A Biography
• Roger Huddle, editor of Reminiscences of RAR

The Festival of the Oppressed

• Judith Orr, author of Marxism and Women's Liberation

How the Revolution was Lost

• Esme Choonara, author of A Rebel's Guide to Trotsky

The Revolution and its Relevance Today

• Steve Smith, author of Russia in Revolution
• Alex Callinicos, author of Imperialism and Global Political Economy
• Amy Leather, national secretary of the SWP

Tickets are £10/£5 concessions.

To book your place at this conference phone 020 7840 5600 or see the link here

There are many other events and conferences taking place across the UK (and obviously also internationally) to mark the centenary obviously - for example in Preston on 13-15 October, in Glasgow on 28 October, and London from 9-12 November.

International Socialism #155 out now

The latest issue of International Socialism is out now, with analysis of the glorious general election of 2017 in Britain and also an interview with a French activist regarding 'the meaning of Macron'.  Other topics discussed include Podemos in Spain, the Russian Revolution at its centenary, and the state of the class struggle in Egypt and China - check out the full contents list anyway and consider subscribing if you do not currently...