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Podcast Series

Socialism Conference

The Socialism Conference is a four-day conference bringing together thousands of socialists and radical activists from around the country to take part in discussions about social movements, Marxism, abolition, working-class history, and the debates and strategies for organizing today. Every year, the Socialism conference aims to be a place where activists can share lessons from their struggles—from the BDS campaign for Palestine to the fight for gender liberation, from strike organizing and support to the struggle to stop the destruction of the planet, the fight against racism, and more. Socialism 2025 took place in Chicago over July 4th weekend, July 3-6. Recordings from many sessions at Socialism 2025 will be released here. Socialism 2026 will take place in Chicago, September 4-7, 2026. Learn more: socialismconference.org

Episodes

All Seasons Season 0
Nov 22, 2022
Season 0 Episode 0

Yes We Do Mean Smash the State: In Defense of Revolution

brian bean speaks in this session recorded at Socialism 2022. This session was sponsored by Rampant Magazine. https://rampantmag.com Contemporary capitalism exploits and degrades human beings around the world, relying on the violent power of states to create profits, guarantee the functioning of markets, and cheapen labor through violence. There is no way to build a liberated future for all of us without overthrowing capitalism, and that will mean confronting and dismantling the capitalist state, its prisons, policing, borders, and military. It’s time we talk about smashing the state. Learn more about the Socialism Conference at www.socialismconference.org. Buy books from Haymarket: www.haymarketbooks.org Follow Haymarket on Soundcloud for regular event recordings, book talks, political analyses and poetry readings: soundcloud.com/haymarketbooks
Nov 22, 2022
Season 0 Episode 0

Socialism at the Workplace

Ronnie Almonte, Paul Kirk-Davidoff, and Elizabeth Lalasz speak in this session recorded at Socialism 2022. This session was sponsored by NYC for Abortion Rights: https://abortionrights.nyc. Being a socialist at work means more than being the best builder of your union. Our horizon extends beyond the parameters of strengthening the union movement, our sights are on the full transformation of society, and based on a conviction that working class people have the capacity to win it all. How does this vision guide us as we face the daily grind of workplace organizing? Learn more about the Socialism Conference at www.socialismconference.org. Buy books from Haymarket: www.haymarketbooks.org Follow Haymarket on Soundcloud for regular event recordings, book talks, political analyses and poetry readings: soundcloud.com/haymarketbooks
Nov 21, 2022
Season 0 Episode 0

Revolutionary Organization Today: An International Perspective

Alejandro Bodart, Andreu Coll, and Natalia Tylim speak in this session recorded at Socialism 2022. Socialists from three continents discuss the ongoing necessity to build revolutionary organizations. Efforts from the last decades have faced sometimes terminal challenges, while a growing opening exists for Marxist politics, based in part on the impasse of recent broad party and reformist projects. What lessons should be drawn given that the need for revolutionary change internationally is making itself clearer by the day? Learn more about the Socialism Conference at www.socialismconference.org. Buy books from Haymarket: www.haymarketbooks.org Follow Haymarket on Soundcloud for regular event recordings, book talks, political analyses and poetry readings: soundcloud.com/haymarketbooks
Nov 21, 2022
Season 0 Episode 0

Learning from Organizing, Putting Knowledge to Work: Linking Analysis and Struggle

Gabriel Winant, Donna Murch, Mie Inouye, and Dan Denvir speak in this session recorded at Socialism 2022. This session was sponsored by n+1 Magazine. https://www.nplusonemag.com How do activists learn from struggles, and how do we put our analysis to work in our fights? This panel will feature an open-ended discussion of the relationship between intellectual work and organizing work, drawing on both historical examples and the experiences of participants. Learn more about the Socialism Conference at www.socialismconference.org. Buy books from Haymarket: www.haymarketbooks.org Follow Haymarket on Soundcloud for regular event recordings, book talks, political analyses and poetry readings: soundcloud.com/haymarketbooks
Nov 21, 2022
Season 0 Episode 0

In Defense of Socialist Planning: Why Socialism Requires Planning

Djamil Lakhdar-Hamina, Carlos Perez, and Donald Parkinson speak in this session recorded at Socialism 2022. This session was sponsored by Cosmonaut Magazine. http://cosmonautmag.com A major goal of socialists is to win the fight for democracy by extending democracy to the economy. Capitalism is a contradictory couple of the “free market” and the dictatorship of the workplace. The “free market” implies anarchy of production and production for profit but not human-welfare. The dictatorship of the workplace means the rigorous planning of the labor process and intense exploitation of labor. For Marxists, economic democracy means planning , the planning of the economy in a way to assure the welfare of human-beings and the health of the planet. So what is planning? How is it distinguished from market mechanisms of distribution? Can there be a “free market” in socialism? How does planning contribute to the goal of democracy? What will allow for planning i.e. the social and material conditions necessary to make planning feasible? This talk hosted by three members of Cosmonaut Magazine will hope to address these questions and more. The talk is divided into three parts: 1) Basics on Planning: Definition and Values 2)Market and Capitalism, Planning and Socialism 3) Social and Material Conditions on Planning: Technology and Social Organization Learn more about the Socialism Conference at www.socialismconference.org. Buy books from Haymarket: www.haymarketbooks.org Follow Haymarket on Soundcloud for regular event recordings, book talks, political analyses and poetry readings: soundcloud.com/haymarketbooks
Nov 21, 2022
Season 0 Episode 0

When We Fight: The Teachers Strike Wave in Retrospect

Yael Bridge, Daniel Denvir, and Jesse Sharkey speak in this session recorded at Socialism 2022. Find out more about the "When We Fight" documentary here: https://www.whenwefightmovie.com. Join Daniel Denvir, Yael Bridge, and Jesse Sharkey for a screening of When We Fight, a short documentary about the 2019 L.A. teachers' strike, and a conversation about the teachers' strike wave and its legacy as well as the state of teacher organizing today, as teachers, parents, and students experience the sharp edge of interlocking social crises. Learn more about the Socialism Conference at www.socialismconference.org. Buy books from Haymarket: www.haymarketbooks.org Follow Haymarket on Soundcloud for regular event recordings, book talks, political analyses and poetry readings: soundcloud.com/haymarketbooks
Nov 18, 2022
Season 0 Episode 0

When Chicago Fought Environmental Racism and Won

Oscar Sanchez and Carlos Enriquez speak in this session recorded at Socialism 2022. Earlier this year community members is Chicago's Southeast Side successfully pressured the city of Chicago to deny the operating permit that would allow a dangerous metal shredder to relocate to their neighborhood. In this talk we will reflect on how that victory was made possible. Learn more about the Socialism Conference at www.socialismconference.org. Buy books from Haymarket: www.haymarketbooks.org Follow Haymarket on Soundcloud for regular event recordings, book talks, political analyses and poetry readings: soundcloud.com/haymarketbooks
Nov 17, 2022
Season 0 Episode 0

A People's Guide to Capitalism: An Introduction to Marxist Economics

Hadas Thier speaks in this session recorded at Socialism 2022. In our new reality of abortion bans in half of the country, what is the To dismantle the economy of the 1%, we have to understand it. Marxism offers a radical economic theory that explains both the basics of how capitalism works (and doesn't work), as well as current predicaments: from inflation, to the anarcho-capitalism of cryptocurrencies, to the coming recession. Learn more about the Socialism Conference at www.socialismconference.org. Buy books from Haymarket: www.haymarketbooks.org Follow Haymarket on Soundcloud for regular event recordings, book talks, political analyses and poetry readings: soundcloud.com/haymarketbooks
Nov 17, 2022
Season 0 Episode 0

Beyond Thoughts and Prayers: Socialist Solutions to the Gun Crisis

Danny Katch speaks in this session recorded at Socialism 2022. Gun violence–from mass shootings to homicides to suicides–is on the rise, worsening an ongoing crisis and feuling a “law and order” backlash. This meeting will lay out how socialists can reject the failed “good guys vs bad guys” framework of both the NRA and police departments–and respond to the sometimes conflicting demands of public safety, decriminalization, non-violence, and self-defense. Learn more about the Socialism Conference at www.socialismconference.org. Buy books from Haymarket: www.haymarketbooks.org Follow Haymarket on Soundcloud for regular event recordings, book talks, political analyses and poetry readings: soundcloud.com/haymarketbooks
Nov 17, 2022
Season 0 Episode 0

Building Debtor Power in the Age of Finance

René Christian Moya, Lindsey Muniak, and Ami Schneider speak in this session recorded at Socialism 2022. This session was sponsored by the Debt Collective. https://debtcollective.org As wealth continues to concentrate at the top, people are increasingly forced into debt to make ends meet. What could a debtors movement achieve in our financialized economy? This session will consider recent economic trends, examine different forms of household debt and their interrelation, and explore how indebtedness creates the conditions for new forms of political organization. Learn more about the Socialism Conference at www.socialismconference.org. Buy books from Haymarket: www.haymarketbooks.org Follow Haymarket on Soundcloud for regular event recordings, book talks, political analyses and poetry readings: soundcloud.com/haymarketbooks