Today's podcast is a discussion with Socialist Students national Organiser Adam Gillman, about the Youth Walkout against Trump campaign.

Go to www.socialiststudents.org.uk to get involved

Socialist Students press release

Buckingham Palace has booked in Donald Trump’s state visit to the UK for 17-19 September.

Already hundreds of students have signed up to walk out of their schools, colleges and universities on Wednesday 17 September – the day that Trump arrives in the UK – as part of the Youth Walkout Against Trump campaign.

The youth walkouts, initiated by Socialist Students, will be a protest against the chaos that Trump’s presidency represents for young people’s futures globally.

Students will be walking out to instead demand a future to look forward to – for free education, a decent job, and the guarantee of a high-quality and affordable home for all; for an end to climate crisis; and for a world free from war, oppression and exploitation.

With Trump’s visit taking place while Parliament is in recess, Keir Starmer and his Labour government will be hoping to escape the firing line of mass protests like those which Trump provoked during his first state visit to the UK in 2018.

But the Youth Walkout Against Trump campaign will not let Labour off the hook. Adam Gillman, Socialist Students national organiser,said: “By building the youth walkouts, we can send a powerful message to young people and workers in America that we stand with them against Trump – not with Starmer, who issued the invite for this state visit.”

TJ, a 19-year-old student in Leeds, said: “Labour has made cut after cut to young people’s futures while bosses make record profits. now they roll out the red carpet for oppressive leaders abroad. I am building for these walkouts to give young people a way to show Starmer’s Labour that this is not what the public voted for.”

Lauren from Wrexham said: “Trump’s visit to the UK is an opportunity to fight back; not just against him but the capitalist system he upholds, which puts the interests of big business above the lives of working-class people. These walkouts are a chance to stand up to Trump, as well as our government who welcome him with open arms, and all other leaders who uphold this corrupt system! That’s why I’m building the youth walkouts against Trump.”

Penelope, a college student from Preston, highlighted the common attacks facing students either side of the Atlantic: “Trump has cut funding to US universities, and has attacked students and staff standing up on issues like Palestine. Meanwhile Starmer’s government here raises universities tuition fees and continues the rampant underfunding of all levels of education. By walking out when Trump visits we are showing that young people everywhere have to fight for a decent education, in a capitalist world where none of our hard-won rights can be taken for granted”.

While the university term has come to a close, and schools and sixth forms break up next week, Socialist Students will be continuing to build the walkout campaign over the summer – including calling public youth meetings in towns and cities throughout the UK to discuss how young people can build the walkouts and get organised to win a decent future under this Labour government.

Today’s podcast is a discussion with Socialist Party General Secretary Hannah Sell, around the announcement on the 3rd July 2025 that Zarah Sultana MP was resigning from the Labour Party to, together with Jeremy Corbyn, “co-lead the founding of a new party, with other campaigners and activists across the country.”

The Socialist Party has been pushing for the trade unions to take a leading role in any new party, and supports the change.org petition launched by 25 current and former senior trade unionists titled: “Time for trade unions to take the lead in forming a new working class party”. Sign the petition here: https://www.change.org/p/time-for-trade-unions-to-take-the-lead-in-forming-a-new-working-class-party

There will be a national Zoom meeting to discuss the next steps for this campaign on the 21st July at 6:30pm. Register here: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/Ma5abmf1SCCE1_aGMZL2JA#/registration

Further reading:

Zarah Sultana MP leaves Labour and announces ‘co-founding a new party’

https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/140532/04-07-2025/zarah-sultana-mp-leaves-labour-and-announces-co-founding-a-new-party/

More Info - Click here for all your Socialist Party links: https://linkin.bio/socialistparty/

We need your help campaigning! The establishment political parties have the backing of the capitalist elites. We need to build a mass movement of working class fighters to take them on. Find out more details about your local campaigns and how you can help by filling in this form: http://www.socialistparty.org.uk/join

The Socialist Party has no big-business backers, so we rely on your donations to fund all our campaigns. Donate at https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/donations/donatejune2025/

Subscribe to our weekly paper, ‘The Socialist’, and our monthly magazine ‘Socialism Today': https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/subscribe-2/

While it was never true that LGBTQ+ liberation was an inevitability within the system of profit-before-all-else capitalism, the basis for that hope has suffered major blows in the last year. The pace of attacks can feel overwhelming. Donald Trump’s second term has begun with cruel attacks on LGBTQ+ rights in the US on a much bigger scale than in his first term.

In the UK, The recent Supreme Court ruling on the legal definition of a woman and the Cass review shows again how tenuous minority legal rights are in a system based on the exploitation of the majority by a small elite, who ultimately can only maintain their power through the methods of divide and rule. So how can we fight for LGBTQ+ rights in the teeth of these attacks?

Youth walkout against Trump

When Starmer went to the White House, he issued an invitation to Trump from the King. We don’t yet know the date of Trump’s visit, but we need to be ready to protest when he comes!

Trump has attacked the rights of women, LGBTQ+ people and other minority groups, and supports the mass deportation of migrants. He has bragged about helping billionaires get even richer, all while millions of Americans live in poverty.

Socialist Students is putting out the call for Trump to be met by a massive youth walkout on ‘Day X’ – the day he visits Parliament, which we will know closer to the time. We can start to prepare now, by organising meetings in our schools, colleges and universities on how we can protest and build the walkouts. Let’s get ready to show Trump that we reject him and his politics of exploitation and division!

https://socialiststudents.org.uk/youth-walkout-against-trump/

Read more:

Fighting for LGBTQ+ rights in 2025

An editorial in ‘The Socialist’ the weekly paper of the Socialist Party:

https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/140155/25-06-2025/fighting-for-lgbtq-rights-in-2025/

The Cass Review one year on

An article in Socialism today, the monthly magazine of the Socialist party:

https://socialismtoday.org/the-cass-review-one-year-on

More Info - Click here for all your Socialist Party links: https://linkin.bio/socialistparty/

We need your help campaigning! The establishment political parties have the backing of the capitalist elites. We need to build a mass movement of working class fighters to take them on. Find out more details about your local campaigns and how you can help by filling in this form: http://www.socialistparty.org.uk/join

The Socialist Party has no big-business backers, so we rely on your donations to fund all our campaigns. Donate at https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/donations/donatejune2025/

Subscribe to our weekly paper, ‘The Socialist’, and our monthly magazine ‘Socialism Today': https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/subscribe-2/

Hannah Sell, the general Secretary of the Socialist Party, discusses the chaos unleashed on the world economy by Donald Trump's ‘liberation day’ tariffs.

What is the logic of the massive tariffs introduced by Trump? Despite appearances, it is not simply a question of a crazy billionaire having got the keys to the White House. Trump reflects the decline of US imperialism, still the strongest power on the planet, but increasingly less able to set the framework for the world. During Trump’s first term and under Biden, tariffs and protectionist measures increased, in an attempt to protect US markets from its global rivals. ‘Liberation Day’, however, was on a qualitatively different scale. Trump and his co-thinkers had drawn the conclusion that it is necessary to launch an offensive ‘knock-‘em-down, drag-‘em-out’ economic fight to defend US capitalism against its competitors, above all China.

When the theatrics and fantastical hyperbole now associated with the Trump presidency are set to one side, the tariff war launched on April 2 boils down fundamentally to an attempt to appropriate to US capitalism a larger share of value from the world economy at the expense of its ‘trading partners’, “friend and foe alike” as Trump himself puts it.

Read more:

Trade wars and the workers’ movement

An Editorial of Socialism Today, the monthly magazine of the Socialist Party

www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/138333/01-05-2025/socialism-today-editorial-trade-wars-and-the-workers-movement/

Trump’s tariff turmoil

An editorial of the Socialist, the weekly paper of the Socialist Party

www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/137831/14-04-2025/trumps-tariff-turmoil/

More Info - Click here for all your Socialist Party links: linkin.bio/socialistparty/

We need your help campaigning! The establishment political parties have the backing of the capitalist elites. We need to build a mass movement of working class fighters to take them on. Find out more details about your local campaigns and how you can help by filling in this form: www.socialistparty.org.uk/join

The Socialist Party has no big-business backers, so we rely on your donations to fund all our campaigns. Donate at www.socialistparty.org.uk/donations/donatejune2025/

Subscribe to our weekly paper, ‘The Socialist’, and our monthly magazine ‘Socialism Today': www.socialistparty.org.uk/subscribe-2/

Dave Semple, Public and Commercial Service Union (PCS) national Vice president, speaking in a personal capacity, discusses the issues at stake in the upcoming union elections.

From 16 April, ballot papers will go out to PCS members to vote for a new National Executive Committee (NEC) and president. PCS organises workers in the civil service, in government agencies and other public sector bodies, and on outsourced government contracts.

Cabinet Office Minister Pat McFadden’s “radical reforms” and Rachel Reeves’s Spring Statement promise “the worst cuts since austerity” – a £2 billion axe to the civil service.

This includes 15% cuts to departmental budgets, tens of thousands of jobs to go, the abolition of NHS England with the loss of half the workforce, below-inflation pay rises, unsafe pensions, office closures, increased workload, and attacks on the working environment, including hybrid working.

And this catalogue was all promised before the onset of economic chaos and potential downturn following Trump’s tariffs.

Elections are taking place this spring in a number of unions – the first time under Starmer’s government. They are all an opportunity for members to elect a fighting leadership that will stand up to Starmer and lead a serious campaign to defend members.

Read more:

PCS must fight Starmer’s cuts

https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/137687/09-04-2025/pcs-must-fight-starmers-cuts/

The battle for the PCS

https://socialismtoday.org/the-battle-for-the-pcs

More Info - Click here for all your Socialist Party links: https://linkin.bio/socialistparty/

We need your help campaigning! The establishment political parties have the backing of the capitalist elites. We need to build a mass movement of working class fighters to take them on. Find out more details about your local campaigns and how you can help by filling in this form: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/join

The Socialist Party has no big-business backers, so we rely on your donations to fund all our campaigns. Donate at https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/donations/donatejune2025/

Subscribe to our weekly paper, ‘the Socialist’, and our monthly magazine ‘Socialism Today': https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/subscribe-2/

Sascha Stanicic discusses the recent German elections in February 2025, which saw a drop in votes for the ‘establishment’ parties, and an increase in support for both the leftwing Die Linke and the right wing Alternative für Deutschland (AfD).

Sascha is the federal spokesperson for– Sozialistische Organisation Solidarität (SOL) – the section of the Committee for a Workers International in Germany. The CWI is the international organization the Socialist Party is a member of, check out their website at https://www.socialistworld.net/

Read more:

Germany: Election disaster for establishment parties

https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/136297/05-03-2025/germany-election-disaster-for-establishment-parties/

The Left Party, Trump, Ukraine and the ‘Debt Brake’

https://www.socialistworld.net/2025/03/10/germany-the-left-party-trump-ukraine-and-the-debt-brake/

More Info - Click here for all your Socialist Party links: https://linkin.bio/socialistparty/

We need your help campaigning! The establishment political parties have the backing of the capitalist elites. We need to build a mass movement of working class fighters to take them on. Find out more details about your local campaigns and how you can help by filling in this form: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/join

The Socialist Party has no big-business backers, so we rely on your donations to fund all our campaigns. Donate at https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/donations/donatejune2025/

Subscribe to our weekly paper, ‘the Socialist’, and our monthly magazine ‘Socialism Today': https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/subscribe-2/

The National Organiser of Socialist Students, Adam Powell Davies, discusses the crisis facing higher education and Socialist Students' new national campaign Funding not Fees. Socialist Students is serious about fighting to end the uni funding crisis, by mobilising students to demand no course cuts, no job losses, and for free, fully funded education, fighting back against cuts and tuition fee rises.

Socialist Students has groups in university and college campuses all over the country, and students in many different political groups, including the Socialist Party, take part in fighting for what students need.

Read more:

Students: Build the resistance to uni cuts!

https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/136064/26-02-2025/students-build-the-resistance-to-uni-cuts/

Crunch time looms for higher education:

https://socialismtoday.org/crunch-time-looms-for-higher-education

More Info - Click here for all your Socialist Party link: https://linkin.bio/socialistparty/

We need your help campaigning! The establishment political parties have the backing of the capitalist elites. We need to build a mass movement of working class fighters to take them on. Find out more details about your local campaigns and how you can help by filling in this form: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/join

The Socialist Party has no big-business backers, so we rely on your donations to fund all our campaigns. Donate at https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/donations

Subscribe to our weekly paper, ‘the Socialist’, and our monthly magazine ‘Socialism Today': https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/subscribe-2

Today’s podcast is a discussion with former socialist MP Dave Nellist, the national chair of the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC). We will be discussing some of the main themes from this year’s TUSC conference, which had the heading ‘Fighting for a new party under the Starmer government. And what role for TUSC?’

If you are not yet a member of the Socialist Party and agree with the points raised here, then that’s a very good basis for getting in touch and finding out what being a member will mean for you. Fill in this form for more information: www.socialistparty.org.uk/join

Here is a list of socialist party branch meetings: www.socialistparty.org.uk/events

You can also read more of our analysis in our weekly paper 'the Socialist' and our monthly magazine 'Socialism Today,' Here is a link to subscribe: www.socialistparty.org.uk/subscribe-2/

The socialist party has no big business backers, all our campaign work is funded by donations from individual supporters. Make a donation here:

www.socialistparty.org.uk/donations/donatejan2025/

We also recommend checking out the Committee for a Workers International, the international organization the Socialist Party is a part of. With analysis of world events, and for those listening in other parts of the world you can get in touch to join the fight for socialism in your country, that’s www.socialistworld.net.

Today’s podcast is a discussion with Socialist Party General Secretary Hannah Sell, introducing the party’s new document on British perspectives produced by the National Committee.

This important document is being distributed to all members for reading and discussion ahead of the Socialist Party National Congress in March. At the Congress, the document will be debated with a vote of delegates from the branches.

There are many more points in it than can be discussed in one podcast! Socialist Party branches will be organising meetings nationally to discuss it and the chance to discuss it individually too. Here is a list of socialist party branch meetings: www.socialistparty.org.uk/events

If you are not yet a member of the Socialist Party and agree with the points raised here, then that’s a very good basis for getting in touch and finding out what being a member will mean for you. Fill in this form for more information: www.socialistparty.org.uk/join

You can also read more of our analysis in our weekly paper 'the Socialist' and our monthly magazine 'Socialism Today,' Here is a link to subscribe: www.socialistparty.org.uk/subscribe-2/

The socialist party has no big business backers, all our campaign work is funded by donations from individual supporters. Make a donation here:

www.socialistparty.org.uk/donations/donatejan2025/

The election victory of Donald Trump opens a new era internationally, and domestically in the United States. This election win is not merely a changing of the guard at the White House. Although the US has had right-wing presidents in the past, for example, Ronald Reagan, who presided over a neo-liberal onslaught, including brutal attacks on the trade unions, which he tried to cripple, Trump’s new regime will be of a different order in an entirely different world situation.

Trump’s win will have a decisive impact on the domestic situation and on the geo-political struggle unfolding between rival imperialist and capitalist powers. The working class and socialists must be prepared for the storm that is already crashing down on society to intensify in the coming months and years. In this episode of the podcast, socialist party general secretary hannah sell draws a balance sheet of what the election of Trump represents, and the prospects for working class struggle under his presidency.

To contact the Socialist Party about this podcast or to find out about becoming a member visit: www.socialistparty.org.uk

Check out the CWI, for analysis of world events, and for those listening in other parts of the world, get in touch to join the fight for socialism in your country, that’s www.socialistworld.net

Further reading:

Trumpism and its limits - the editorial of Socialism Today

Capitalist opponents of Trump are frightened that he could damage, or even destroy, the current international order – and the US state institutions – through which the US capitalist class rules. In opposing Trump, Marxists do not give one iota of support for the existing ‘world order’, or the Democratic Party government which maintained it on behalf of US imperialism over the last four years.

https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/133317/27-11-2024/socialism-today-editorial-trumpism-and-its-limits/

Trump’s election victory and the new world order - Analysis by the CWI

Like the COVID pandemic, the new Trump regime will act as a great accelerator on all of the existing trends, contradictions and conflicts currently unfolding under capitalism in its protracted death agony. World events will now be marked by ‘pre-Trump’ and ‘post-Trump’ benchmarks.

Trump’s victory represents the coming to power of a particularly right-wing nationalist, protectionist regime – one that will include aspects of Bonapartism, of repression, rule by presidential decree, and a further weakening of democratic rights for the American people.

https://www.socialistworld.net/2024/11/26/trumps-election-victory-and-the-new-world-order/