Socialist Action has published this compilation of talks from our latest Trotsky School: Education for Activists Conference. A PDF version is available online HERE.
This booklet contains the talks presented at the sixth annual Socialist Action Education for Activists Conference – two days of education, discussion and debate about key issues and the political alternatives facing humanity – held November 15-16, 2013 at the University of Toronto. We call the gathering a “Trotsky School”.! Why?! Because the ideas of Leon Trotsky, the co-leader with V.I. Lenin of the Russian Revolution 97 years ago, have great relevance and power in the context of the global crisis of capitalism today.! From the general strikes in Greece, Italy, France, and Spain, to the massive protests of the Quebec students’ movement, to the Idle No More indigenous peoples’ actions, to anti-pipeline demonstrations across North America, discontent with the business agenda is increasingly visible.
More people today are turning to the ideas of revolutionary Marxism for a scientific explanation of the ills of capitalism. Indeed, they want to know what to do about it. What better guide is there than the political method employed by the architects of the world’s first workers’ state?
At the conference we looked at history, political theory, economics, and we proposed a concrete programme for action.! We are proudly part of the working class. Workers are the vast majority of the so-called 99%.! But if the problem was just the 1% minority, the working class would have solved that problem a long time ago with a simple vote.! Unfortunately, there is a huge apparatus of control that keeps the capitalist class in power.
More people today are turning to the ideas of revolutionary Marxism for a scientific explanation of the ills of capitalism. Indeed, they want to know what to do about it. What better guide is there than the political method employed by the architects of the world’s first workers’ state?
At the conference we looked at history, political theory, economics, and we proposed a concrete programme for action.! We are proudly part of the working class. Workers are the vast majority of the so-called 99%.! But if the problem was just the 1% minority, the working class would have solved that problem a long time ago with a simple vote.! Unfortunately, there is a huge apparatus of control that keeps the capitalist class in power.
Divide and rule is their method. The challenge facing the working class is to unite – to unite across the lines of oppression.! Whether the basis of that oppression is race, gender, sexual orientation, language or national identity, we need to unite. But to do so in a good way, we need to develop and implement the programme and strategy required for working class victory.! By critically assessing political issues, past and present, such as we did at the conference, we can find the way forward.The conference theme was:! “Revolutionary Strategy”.! The sessions included:! “Security, Surveillance and the Strong State”, “How Revolutionary Youth Movements have changed the world”, “What is the Labour Bureaucracy – and What Should be Done about it”; and “The Democratic Party – Death Trap for U.S. Blacks – The case for Independent Labour/Black political action”.
These are all big questions.! We hope that you find the talks published here illuminating!
We welcome your feedback.
