For anyone who hasn't signed up to Discord yet, or hasn't visited lately, here's what's coming up (apart from EC and various branch meetings).
Sunday 28 June 3.00pm BST
DANGEROUSWOMEN 3.00pm - GERMAINE GREER
‘In spite of a widespread feeling of complacency that suggests that the woman question is answered, and the battle is won, what started in the 60s as a movement for liberation has been sidetracked. What women have been duped into settling for is a spurious version of equality’ (Cover notes from *The Whole Woman*, 1999)
Tues 30 June, 3.00pm BST
The FAQ Workshop
HUMAN NATURE
The all-time favourite objection, with a million possible responses, but which ones are most likely to work?
Thursday 2 July, 3.00pm BST
The FAQ Workshop
WHAT ABOUT THE ARMY?
We don’t know what will happen during the revolution, but a huge factor is what the army does. How do we persuade people that the armed forces are not an insurmountable barrier to socialism?
Friday 3 July, 7.30 BST
FRIDAY NIGHT TALK
BLACK LIVESMATTER
Oliver Bond gives some background and analysis on the recent international protests.
Tuesday 7 July, 3.00pm BST
The FAQ Workshop
WHY AREN’T THERE MORE WOMEN IN THE SP?
Why is socialist politics apparently so gendered? What could we do to balance the scales? This is a question under active internal study in the Party, and the input of members could be crucial.
Thursday 9 July, 3.00pm BST
The FAQ Workshop
WOULD THERE BE LAWS?
Socialism can’t feasibly be a free-for-all where anyone can do just anything. Whether you call them ‘laws’ or simply ‘agreements’, there would have to be a framework of social codes, but how would it be determined and, more to the point, how would it be enforced?
Friday 10 July, 7.30 BST
FRIDAY NIGHT TALK
WHO WAS J POSADAS, AND DOES IT MATTER?
Bill Martin offers some salient facts on this curious 4th International character, including among other things his alleged fascination with UFOs and the idea that revolution could be started by aliens.
Sunday 12 July 3.00pm
DANGEROUS WOMEN (Discord) 3.00pm - MARGE PIERCY
Two of the three utopian socialist classics were written by women, and we look at the life and work of one of these, Marge Piercy, poet, feminist and author of *Woman on the Edge of Time (1976)*
Tuesday 14 July, 3.00pm BST
The FAQ Workshop
HOW MUCH MARXIST THEORY DO WORKERS REALLY NEED TO KNOW?
Anyone who has ever tried and failed to wade through Capital knows that this book was the biggest favour Marx ever did - for the capitalist class! If workers had to thoroughly learn Marxian economics to be real socialists, the revolution would be sunk before it left port. Just how much do workers need to know?
Thursday 16 July, 3.00pm BST
The FAQ Workshop
WHAT DO WE THINK ABOUT CHARITIES?
It takes iron discipline and a heart of flint to resist the lure of puppy-dog charity appeals, and socialists rarely have either. How can we square our political opposition to charities with our need to feel like human beings in an inhumane world?
Friday 17July, 7.30 BST
FRIDAY NIGHT TALK
HOW PARTY DEMOCRACY WORKS
This is to explain procedures and standing orders for Conference the next day and advertise the New Members handbook that will go out with the ballot.
Sat 18 July,10am – 5pm
SOCIALIST PARTY ANNUAL CONFERENCE
*Note – this is to be held on Zoom for convenience. Please ask Admin for special invite*
Tuesday 21 July, 3.00pm BST
The FAQ Workshop
THE JOY OF SECTS
Once mooted as a regular comedy column in the Standard, this left-train-spotter’s paradise is an endless source of potential fun, if we made the effort to follow it. What do you think, should we get all nosey and gossipy with the left wing, or stay out of their seamy and steamy little squabbles?
Thursday 23 July, 3.00pm BST
The FAQ Workshop
GOOD IDEA BUT IT’LL NEVER HAPPEN
The ultimate crushing retort, because it speaks to so many deep-seated convictions. But there are so many killer comebacks to this it’s worth compiling a list, so bring along your favourite.
Wednesday 22 July, 8.30 BST
SYLVIA PANKHURST
Paul Bennett talks about the renegade Pankhurst who had bigger ideas than just votes for rich women (Zoom meeting)
Friday 24 July, 7.30 BST
FRIDAY NIGHT TALK
HOW THEY SOLVED THE STREET HOMELESS PROBLEM (FOR A WHILE)
Mike F walks us through the Streets of London, and elsewhere.
Sunday 26 July 3.00pm
DANGEROUS WOMEN (Discord) 3.00pm - HARRIET TUBMAN
The astonishing story of the illiterate escaped slave who served as spy, armed scout and officer on the Underground Railroad during the American Civil War, and became one of America’s most famous icons of female black equality.
Tuesday 28 July, 3.00pm BST
The FAQ Workshop
JUST EAT (SHIT AND DIET): FOOD AND CLASS POLITICS
Workers are strongly encouraged to stay out of the kitchen and instead go for nutrition-free microwave meals, sugar-loaded treats and expensive take-aways, and then they’re made to feel bad for being self-indulgent and obese. Meanwhile healthy and ethical eating are seen as predominantly ‘middle class’ preoccupations. What can class-conscious socialists do to break through these mutually exclusive mindsets in order to deal with what is at base is a class issue?
Thursday 30 July, 3.00pm BST
The FAQ Workshop
6 THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT LENIN – A CHECKLIST
How many times have you wanted to trundle out a killer quote by Lenin which would hole your Leninist opponent below the waterline – only to find you can’t remember the quote or the source? Why don’t we put together a list of six of the best? Why not do Trotsky and Stalin too, while we’re at it?
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