China, Iran, North Korea- sanctions, tariffs,protectionism, economic warfare,- Trump lunacy or are there more profound objective conditions creating these daily crisis , with their threat of new wars. The new phase of imperialim which we wil discuss will determine the political fate of the now emerging socialist movement, and of this generation.

Colonialism, settler colonialism, and the transatlantic slave trade are intertwined with the rise of capitalism. Anti-colonial and anti-imperialist struggle are essential to any possibility of socialist revolution. This talk draws out the genuine tradition of Marxist internationalism by going through the developing ideas of Marx and Marxists on colonialism, anti-colonial nationalism, and revolution—including “primitive accumulation,” mode of production, uneven and combined development, imperialism, and the self-determination of oppressed nations. The talk emphasizes, finally, anti-colonial and anti-racist voices that parallel and converge with the best practices of the Bolsheviks before the rise of Stalinism.

For a left so small, we hardly know each other. Ella Mahony (Democratic Socialists of America) and Jen Roesch (International Socialist Organization) talk to each other about their organizations’ work, and the opportunities for socialists today.

The questions of understanding and fighting racism, and Black liberation, are central ones for socialists in the US. At the moment, there is a set of conversations on the left about how socialists understand white privilege, and they are related to the question of where the fight against racism fits in the class struggle. Khury and brian will engage with those conversations and offer a perspective on why and how the fight for Black liberation is central to the struggle for socialism.

The opioid epidemic is ravaging large swathes of America—from once-thriving Rust Belt communities to inner cities. So many lives have been lost to this crisis that annual opioid deaths in the U.S. now outnumber deaths due to breast cancer, and American life expectancy has fallen two years in a row. Even as the Trump administration pushes more policing as the solution, the drug manufacturers who deliberately misled the public about opioids continue to rake in millions in profit from human misery. This talk will look at the social roots of the opioid crisis and what a real plan to tackle the crisis might look like.

What does it mean to resist as an active duty soldier in the 21st century? Socialist revolutions share a vibrant historical legacy with disaffected soldiers who have laid down their arms and refused to serve the interests of the rich and powerful. From the National Guardsman of the Paris Commune, to Vietnam veterans who marched to end the war, to the disaffected veterans of the so-called Global War on Terrorism today, a spark is always present that can burn the war machine down. Dissident veterans and former Army Rangers Rory Fanning and Spenser Rapone discuss their paths to resistance, and what socialism means to them.

The British and Dutch colonizers of South Africa built from the outset a society based upon the oppression and exploitation of the indigenous African population, where the latter were restricted from buying land outside of special “reserves,” given the worst jobs and legally considered “sojourners” in urban areas. In the late 1940s, the system of institutional Apartheid (separation) was created, where Blacks were forced onto fake “homelands,” required to carry passes, and subjected to a regime of extreme repression in order to sustain a system of racially-based labor exploitation. This talk will trace the rise of the resistance movement, from the ANC to the Black Consciousness Movement to the rise of a militant workers’ movement that was so central to apartheid’s demise. In the end, apartheid fell in a negotiated that established Black majority rule but stopped short at the kind of radical demands inherent in the anti-apartheid struggle.