Ideas for Freedom 2010: getting ready for class struggle

Submitted by martin on 13 July, 2010 - 2:22

Ideas for Freedom 2010, Workers' Liberty's weekend "summerschool" of socialist discussion and debate, took place on 9-11 July in Archway, North London.

* We will put up transcripts of the sessions as we type them up.
- "How do we stop the Tories' plans for schools?"
- "Israel-Palestine: what should the left say?" Debate with Workers Power
* Position the cursor over the pictures for descriptions.
* Our suggested background reading for individual sessions can be found at www.workersliberty.org/iff-read.

GETTING READY FOR CLASS STRUGGLE: A REPORT OF IDEAS FOR FREEDOM 2010

180 people attended Ideas for Freedom, the weekend of socialist discussion hosted by the Alliance for Workers’ Liberty on 9-11 July. In the context of a Tory government committed to a vicious offensive against working-class living standards, rights and organisation, the school was extremely lively, combining sharp theoretical debate with preparation for class struggle in the stormy period ahead.

Friday night film showing
IFF opened on the Friday night with a showing of Kala Tara, a film which tells the story of the Asian Youth Movement – a radical, secular, left-influenced movement of Asian youth which fought racism, police brutality and the far right, and supported workers’ struggles, in the 1970s and 80s. The discussion which followed focused on the political strengths and limitations of the AYM, why its model of politics has since given way to right-wing religious and communal politics among many Asian youth and how these issues relate to struggles against racism and religious reaction in Muslim-majority communities today.
Kala Tara deserves a wide distribution. We hope to work with other socialists, including left-wing, secular activists in the Bengali community, to organise a showing in East London in the not too distant future.

China - workers' state or brutal class exploitation? Paul Hampton debating the nature of Stalinism with Heiko Khoo of KarlMarx.netGetting ready for class struggle
A large part of the event was dedicated to discussions on how we fight the coalition government and the bosses’ offensive.
The opening plenary on Saturday was about the Tories’ planned assault on what is left of comprehensive education and how we can oppose it. Following speeches from Jean Lane (a teaching assistant and UNISON activist in Tower Hamlets), Liam Conway (secretary of Notts NUT) and Tali Janner-Klausner (London School Students’ Union), there was a good discussion which should help orient our teacher, student and other comrades in campaigning against the Tories’ plans. (For a transcript of the speeches from this session see here.)
Later in the day, Pat Murphy of the NUT executive and Paul Holmes, left candidate for general secretary of UNISON, began a useful discussion on how we get our labour movement fit to win this fight and others like it. And on Sunday young union activists Ruth Cashman (UNISON) and Becky Crocker (RMT) led a packed workshop on “being a revolutionary at work”, attended by a good mix of experienced trade unionists and young workers and students.
Throughout the event there were caucuses for comrades in various trade unions and industries, and a women’s caucus was held on Sunday lunchtime.

NUT executive member Pat Murphy, speaking alongside Paul Holmes, on how to make the labour movement fight the ToriesHow important are Labour Party structures? Pete Willsman of the Campaign for Labour Party DemocracyDebates
Workers’ Liberty prides itself on promoting a culture of debate – not only through the democracy of our own organisation, but with other currents and activists on the left. In contrast to the sterile sermonising and pseudo-debates of events like the SWP’s Marxism, Ideas for Freedom was characterised by thoughtful and lively discussion – and by a number of formal debates.
Unfortunately Compass withdrew from our planned debate on “Progressive or class politics?” at short notice; we hope to revive this plan at a meeting in the autumn. But we did debate Heiko Khoo of KarlMarx.net (recently expelled from the Socialist Appeal tendency) on the nature of Stalinism and the meaning of “Trotskyism” today; Pete Willsman of the Campaign for Labour Party Democracy and the Labour national executive committee on socialists’ attitude to the Labour Party; and Workers Power on Israel-Palestine. All these debates were useful, highlighting what is distinctive about Workers’ Liberty’s politics on questions such as national conflicts, Stalinism and orientation to the broad labour movement.

Introductions to Marxism
We continued our tradition of organising a number of “Introduction to Marxism” sessions, with comrades delivering introductory workshops on Marxists’ understanding of fascism; Trotsky’s theory of “permanent revolution” and the left’s misuses of it; whether revolutionaries need a political party; and Engels on the origins of women’s oppression. New and young comrades in particular were very positive about these sessions.

Israel-Palestine - Camila Bassi of Workers' Liberty debates Marcus Halaby of Workers PowerWorking-class culture? Jill Mountford's presentation on protest songs and 'persuasion songs'Other sessions
There was a very wide range of workshops and discussions at the school. Other sessions included
* The AWL’s Martin Thomas and Alfred Saad-Filho, Marxist economist and author of Marx's Capital and Anti-Capitalism: a Marxist Introduction, discussing the economics of the crisis;
* Janine Booth, author of Guilty and Proud of It on the Poplar council rebellion, doing a slide-show and presentation on how workers took on the last Liberal-Tory coalition, in the early 1920s;
* Elaine Jones on women in the Russian revolution;
* Jill Mountford’s presentation on the politics of protest songs;
* A discussion on whether capitalism is in decline, led by Martin Thomas.
* Dave Elliott, author of the Lucas Plan, and Workers’ Climate Action activist Stuart Jordan on working-class environmentalism;
* The origins of today’s student left in the 1980s and what student activists today can learn from them;
* Becky Shah of the Equality Trust on why inequality is growing.

We will aim to put as many speeches and contributions as we can up online in the next week or two.

After a speech from Sean Matgamna on how we can get ready for the class war which the Tories have already launched, and further discussion, we closed Ideas for Freedom by singing the Internationale.

Stuart Jordan chairs Ruth Cashman and Becky Crocker's session on being a revolutionary at workMax Munday's workshop on understanding fascism breaks into groups for discussionBuilding the AWL
We feel the event was a success. Attendance was up from last year, and despite a sharp increase in costs (last year’s venue was free), we made a substantial “profit” with the help of our bookstall - in addition to the £1,575 raised by our collection. (And thanks to Colin for the raffle of his paintings, which raised £55!) Four people joined the AWL, and many more expressed an interest in discussing joining; a relatively large number will now start working with us.
Ideas for Freedom is a showcase for Workers' Liberty as a tendency which is pretty much unique on the British left – a rational, democratic, clear-thinking Marxist organisation, committed to independent working-class politics, to vigour in debate and to a non-sectarian approach to other socialists and to the broad labour movement. Despite our small size, we believe that strengthening our organisation is essential to helping the working class win the battles that lie ahead. If you enjoyed the event, or are sorry you missed it, please consider working with us and, if you’re convinced, becoming an AWL member.

This website uses cookies, you can find out more and set your preferences here.
By continuing to use this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms & Conditions.