For many attending the most pressing question was how to confront Zionism (Photo: Dave Gilchrist)
Over 3,000 people came together last weekend for Marxism Festival in east London.
Workers’ power to confront the horrors of the world was at its heart.
The festival opened with speeches from striking Institute of Cancer Research workers and Unite trade union members. They have just finished 13 days of strikes and are going out for four more weeks.
Striker Caitlin said, “Myself and colleagues drive and support some of the best new drug discoveries in the field and we were on strike for the first time in 117 years.
“We’ve been ignored trying to engage management.
“And so we’ve been forced into industrial action to force them back to the negotiation table.
“They never thought we’d do it—and we actually never thought we’d have to.
“But here we are, 13 days in and we’ve just served another four weeks.”
Debates at Marxism ranged from how to confront the rise of the far right, women’s liberation, to the attacks from the state on trans+ people and migrants.
There were also sessions on culture, such as a panel on Why Jazz Still Matters that discussed the political origins of jazz, how capitalism turns music into a commodity, and how cuts make it impossible for kids to learn music in schools today.
Yujeong, along with other members of Worker’s Solidarity, travelled over 18-hours from South Korea to attend the festival. They told Socialist Worker, “I came because I wanted to hear the experiences of people internationally.
“Specifically, their experience of the far right and fascists who are running rampant and how the left have successfully blocked them.”
Gerry Carroll is a member of the Northern Ireland Assembly for People Before Profit, a socialist organisation across Ireland. He explained that the historic anti-racist demonstrations in Ireland recently were only possible because of organised anti-fascists.
“The demonstrations weren’t a spontaneous miracle. Revolutionary socialists were at the heart of it.”
The debate about how we combat women’s oppression was vital. The meeting on the Epstein Files—What Causes Violence Against Women was packed.
Much of the discussion focused on why the victims of Jeffrey Epstein and his ruling class collaborators were overwhelmingly working class.
One speaker recalled the attitude of the police during the hunt for the Yorkshire Ripper in the 1970s. They didn’t care when it was sex workers being murdered.
Another speaker talked about the role off artificial intelligence in intensifying violent attitudes to women.
Contributions emphasised the need to tackle all forms of sexism and to fight for a different society.
In the meeting on Women and the Far Right, Sage from Women Against The Far Right Scotland (WAFR) in St Andrews, said, “The elite give the far right such a big platform, which means that WAFR needs to be as loud, as big, as noisy and as visible as possible.”
Author Alyssa Battistoni discussed the arguments around ecology in her book Free Gifts—Capitalism and the Politics of Nature. She said, “It’s impossible to understand the politics of nature today without understanding capitalism.”
For many attending the most pressing question was how to confront Zionism and the war machine and how we can achieve liberation for Palestine
In one session Rob Ferguson outlined why Zionism has played a beneficial role for the British empire and US imperialism.
He said, “The key focus for a strategy that can push imperialism back is to target our own state and arms industry.”
Anya, a Palestine activist from London, argued for a strategy that combines the radical tactics of direct action campaigns with a focus on taking on the British state.
Nida Jafri spoke on behalf of the Brize Norton 6, who are currently imprisoned over alleged vandalism of war planes. She slammed the authoritarian oppression pushed by Keir Starmer’s Labour government.
Pointing to Nigel Farage’s racist, inciting remarks Nida said, “Our collective rage is not cold.
“It is burning. It is precise and it is directed at the structures that demand our silent complicity.”
Everyday we’re told to accept this world. Accept low wages, war, crumbling services, racism and sexism.
Striking cancer researcher worker and Unite rep, Teige, responded to this. “We’re told this is just how the world works.
“Well, we’re on strike and we’re not going back till we win. That’s how the world works. We need to take the power back.”
“I see Marxism as an amazing gift, to be immersed in politics for four days. It allows us to go deeper into things and start to be able to think. In our daily lives we don’t really get to explore those ideas deeply enough and listen to people and learn from them.” — Natalie, Exeter
“I’m at Marxism because I’ve seen the state of the world, the state of our current politicians, the failures systematically that we’ve had over the last 20 years. I feel like this is the only way we can make a change.” — Fred, east London
“I n my country there was a spontaneous uprising that got co-opted by the right. So, I’m very curious about what strategies the left are thinking about in engaging the working class. Specifically, I am interested around the tensions between spontaneity and organisation.
“And I am interested in what can the tradition of revolutionary socialism contribute at this moment. I’m here wanting to meet a lot of different groups from across the world and to make those kinds of connections and learn how to grow and what’s needed.” — Zara from Canada, originally from Bangladesh
“I’m looking forward to keeping in touch with the current debates, to organise and to forge alliances in the fights ahead.” — Helena, Peru
“This is my fourth time at Marxism. And this year is particularly important on the anti-fascist front because the far right are on the rise across Europe and we need to organise and build international solidarity against them.” — Pavel, Czech Republic
A staffing crisis in the NHS
Health workers set to strike across four Manchester hospitals
Bus workers rejected an offer and came back out
