16.08.2018

Who is speaking and when

Final timetable for Communist University 2018, 18-25 August

Communist University is the annual summer school of the Communist Party of Great Britain and is jointly sponsored by Labour Party Marxists. CU is different from the run-of-the-mill schools put on by other left groups, in that plenty of time is allocated for contributions from the floor. Controversial debate is positively welcomed and, needless to say, there are no one-minute time limits. Moreover, critical thinking is encouraged, as can be seen by our impressive list of speakers.

Marcel Van der Linden: Senior researcher at the Institute of Social History in Amsterdam and a member of the editorial board of the Karl Marx/Friedrich Engels Gesamtausgabe (MEGA). Renowned for his global approach to working class history, he has written many important books, including Workers of the world: essays toward a global labor history (Leiden 2008) and Western Marxism and the Soviet Union: a survey of critical theories and debates since 1917 (Chicago 2009).

Moshé Machover: Born in Tel Aviv in 1936, he has been active in and written extensively on Middle Eastern politics. In 1962 he co-founded the Israeli Socialist Organisation, Matzpen. He was a lecturer in mathematics at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and, having moved to London in 1968, he was reader in mathematical logic at King’s College London and then professor of philosophy at the University of London. Together with Shimon Tzabar and others, comrade Machover established the Israeli Revolutionary Action Committee Abroad. In 2017 he was summarily expelled from the Labour Party on false charges of ‘anti-Semitism’, but was rapidly reinstated following a groundswell of support within the party.

Hillel Ticktin: He is emeritus professor of Marxist studies at the University of Glasgow and edited the journal Critique for 34 years. Originating as a journal of Soviet studies, Critique’s initial aim was to analyse the empirical reality of Stalinism. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union it has become a more general journal of socialist theory. Comrade Ticktin’s articles have featured regularly in the Weekly Worker.

Yassamine Mather: Acting editor of Critique, she is an Iranian socialist who joined the Fedayeen Minority. She worked in Kurdistan, becoming editor of the organisation’s student monthly journal Jahan. She was on the coordinating committee of Workers Left Unity Iran and has been a central figure in Hands Off the People of Iran. At Glasgow University she was deputy director of the Centre for the Study of Socialist Theory and Movements.

Chris Knight: Research fellow at the department of anthropology, University College London, his books include Blood relations: menstruation and the origins of culture (Yale 1991). He has developed a ground-breaking theory of human culture. He regularly contributes to the Weekly Worker.

Camilla Power: A social anthropologist and senior lecturer at the University of East London, she combines Darwinian and behavioural ecology with hunter-gatherer ethnography. Her fieldwork has been with Hadza hunter-gatherers in Tanzania, where she researched gender ritual.

Michael Roberts: Working in the City of London as an economist, he has closely observed the machinations of the global financial system from the dragon’s den. He regularly discusses this from a Marxist perspective on his blog, The next recession (https://thenextrecession.wordpress.com).

Tony Greenstein: A political activist for all his adult life. His main areas of work have been Palestine solidarity, anti-racism and anti-fascism. Tony is a founding member of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign and Jews for Boycotting Israeli Goods. Expelled from the Labour Party as a result of the rightwing ‘Anti-Zionism equals anti-Semitism’ campaign, he has recently authored A history of fighting fascism in Brighton and the south coast. Another regular Weekly Worker contributor, he also features in The essentials of philosophy and ethics (London 2006).

Lawrence Parker: Author of The kick inside: revolutionary opposition in the CPGB, 1945-1991 (2007), he specialises in the history of the ‘official’ CPGB. His latest work, Communists and Labour: the National Left Wing Movement 1925-1929, has just been published.

Jack Conrad: The founding editor of The Leninist, first published in November 1981, he is also a long-standing member of the CPGB Provisional Central Committee. He has contributed numerous articles to the Weekly Worker and written a number of books and pamphlets - the latest being the second edition of Fantastic reality, a study of Marxism and the politics of religion.

Mike Macnair: A member of the CPGB’s PCC and author of Revolutionary strategy (London 2008), he is currently working on a second edition. Based at the University of Oxford, his political speciality is Marxist theory, its application to understanding law as a social and historical phenomenon, and the ‘limits of law’.

Anne McShane: Has a long history of involvement in the workers’ movement, both in Britain and Ireland. She has stood in a number of elections in Britain, for the CPGB and the Socialist Alliance. Today she is active in Cork, where she continues to struggle for a united revolutionary party in Ireland.

Peter Manson: Editor of the Weekly Worker and member of the PCC, he has, as a regular visitor to South Africa, specialised in his own articles on the struggles of the working class in that country - in particular, on the South African Communist Party.

James Harvey: A Labour Party activist and supporter of Labour Party Marxists, he takes a particular interest in Irish politics. He has written several articles on the current situation in Ireland for the Weekly Worker, amongst other important topics.

Goldsmiths University, Loring Hall, St James’s, London SE14 6NW. Follow signs to Communist University 2018. Tel: 07484 141344

Saturday 18th

Registration and access from 12:30pm

2pm-4.15pm: Trump, Brexit, Corbyn and communist strategy. Jack Conrad.

4.45pm-7pm: The global crisis of the labour movement. Marcel Van der Linden.

Sunday 19th

10am-12.30pm: The relevance of Marx’s economic theories today. Michael Roberts.

2pm-4.15pm: The Marx-Engels Gesamtausgabe (MEGA):a progress report. Marcel van der Linden

4.45pm-7pm: The first five-year plan and Soviet women. Anne McShane

Monday 20th

10am-12.30pm: Gender equality made us human. Camilla Power.

2pm-4.15pm: Through what stage are we passing? Hillel Ticktin.

4.45pm-7pm: Communists and Labour - the National Left Wing Movement 1925-1929. Lawrence Parker

Tuesday 21st

10am-12.30pm: Russia and the west: what is going on? Hillel Ticktin.

2pm-4.15pm: Twenty years since the Good Friday Agreement. James Harvey.

4.45pm-7pm: How to lose a debate with Noam Chomsky. Chris Knight.

Wednesday 22nd

10am-12.30pm: Labour theory of value for the 21st century. Moshé Machover.

2pm-4.15pm: Trump and the Middle East. Yassamine Mather.

4.45pm-7pm: The dead end of intersectionality. Mike Macnair.

Thursday 23rd

10am-12.30pm: Populism, nationalism and the new/old politics in Europe. James Harvey.

2pm-4.15pm: Velimir Khlebnikov: prophet and poet of the Russian Revolution. Chris Knight.

4.45pm-7pm: The slow coup against Jeremy Corbyn. Tony Greenstein.

Friday 24th

10am-12.30pm: South Africa: what next for the SACP? Peter Manson.

2pm-4.15pm: The Tory interpretation of history. Mike Macnair.

4.45pm-7pm: The new Israeli basic law, ‘Nation-state of the Jewish people’, and its unintended effects on the US Jewish community. Moshé Machover.

Saturday 25th

10am-12pm: Quantum computing. Yassamine Mather.

1pm-3.15pm: The place of the Soviet Union in history. Jack Conrad.

3.30pm-4pm Evaluation of Communist University.