For decades the Communist Party of Australia was the most prominent organisation claiming to build a left-wing alternative to the Labor Party. Thousands of working-class activists inspired by socialist politics joined the Communists and helped to build the party into a major force on the left. However the Communist Party was stained by all the problems of Stalinism: support for authoritarian dictatorships, a reformist practice combined with a sterile Stalinised “Marxism”, and a hostility to genuine socialism from below. Ultimately it proved to be a barrier, rather than an instrument, for the building of revolutionary politics in Australia. For those of us wanting to build a socialist movement today understanding what went wrong with the Communist Party is vital.

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Fascism confronts us today not just as a dark chapter in twentieth century history, but as an emerging danger in our own times. It demands serious analysis, yet the explanation offered by mainstream thinkers is deeply unsatisfactory. Theorising fascism requires an understanding of the capitalist societies in which it emerges, the crises these societies produce and the class tensions inherent to them. This is the focus of the session.

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Most supporters of Palestine tend to view the issue in nationalist terms, as a struggle with the Palestinians and the broader Arab world on one side, and the Israeli state and its western allies on the other. Yet any serious look at the situation today, or at the history of the 20th century for that matter, shows that the Arab states have done nothing to seriously challenge Zionism or its Western backers. This talk will explore some of this history, and explain why Arab elites are not simply unreliable allies, but are actually complicit in the ongoing genocide of the Palestinian people.

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Indian politics is dominated by the personality of Narendra Modi. Since his re-election in 2019, there has been a steady erosion of democracy and an increase in state and mob violence towards India’s 195 million Muslims. But Modi, and the government he leads, cannot be understood without looking at the growth of the powerful National Volunteer Organisation (RSS), an extra-parliamentary fascist movement of 4 million active members. The RSS is rooted in Hindutva, an extremist Hindu nationalist tradition which has had links with European fascism since the 1920s. This session will discuss the politics behind the rise of fascism in India today.

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In the period of industrial capitalism, the nuclear family structure was enforced on working class populations to ensure a stable working class to be exploited. While women’s oppression existed before capitalism, capitalism reshaped it and used new structures to enforce it. Capitalism also created conditions for identities outside of the accepted sexual and gender norms, and oppressed LGBTI people on this basis. Mass movements against oppression and class struggle have helped to improve the conditions of women and LGBTI people. However, gender-based oppression is still baked into capitalism. This session will explore how capitalism constructs gender and sexuality and how we can fight for women and LGBTI liberation.

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Equal pay for women was only made law in 1974. The systematic underpayment of women for the same work as men was an important profit-making mechanism for the capitalist class - one which they weren't willing to give up without a fight. This session will it look at the industrial militancy, defiance and rebellions led by working class women and men, which paved the way for legal wage equality in Australia.

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Racism is a crucial component of the capitalist system. Racism stems from the slave plantations of the Americas - as Eric Williams explained, “slavery was not born of racism—rather racism was the consequence of slavery.” Racism has persisted beyond the abolition of slavery- used to justify colonialism, exploitation of migrant workers, imperialism and more. This session will discuss the roots of racism, how it persists and how it can be ended.

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Marxism 2024

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From the opium wars of the 19th century to the opioid epidemic of the 21st, capitalism's drive for profit has driven addiction and dependency on drugs for centuries. At the same time, the use of drugs has been regulated and criminalised by the state, as a means of social control and a pretext for political repression. This talk will explore the relationship between capitalism and drugs.

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The contemporary narrative of Jewish history is one of ghettos, pogroms, suffering, oppression – Jews as the eternal victims. But in the 1930s, Jewish political currents engaged with non-Jewish socialists in struggle: they fought fascists, engaged in tenants' strikes, formed defence groups, led mass demonstrations and linked up with the struggles of other oppressed groups. From New York to London to Warsaw, Jews engaged in class struggle and fought anti-Semitism as part of a wider left. Janey Stone, co-author of forthcoming book The Radical Jewish Tradition: Revolutionaries, Resistance Fighters and Firebrands, will look at the different political currents and how their strategies played out in this tempestuous decade.

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