29.07.1999
CU’99
Party notes
We print below the full timetable for this year’s Communist University. Of course, this may still be subject to changes.
This year’s school reflects some of the main areas of Party work and intervention over the past period - the politics of the Balkan war, the fight against nationalism, the USSR and the struggle for genuinely communist method, for example. If previous years are anything to go by however, a dominating theme will emerge during the course of the week.
Last year, we continually returned to the pivotal question of the USSR with sharp disagreements between a Party majority and a minority. Assessing the school last year, I commented that further study and thought on the question by both sides might lead to convergence or a further divergence. However, in contrast to the characteristic fears expressed by a Trotskyist guest, this process did not signify some ‘pre-split’ scenario. The debate on this thorny question - sharp and discourteous as it was on occasion - actually helped to bond our ranks. Whatever side comrades took, they are aware that there is only one organisation on the British left that could conduct such a fundamental discussion openly, in front of friend and opponent alike.
In other words, the open expression of this sharp difference was a living manifestation of the spirit of Partyism. No comrade left the school with the view that our organisation should be cleaved apart along theoretical lines.
Our school’s programme is thus organised to highlight differences, to allow for controversy and the sharp clash of opinion. This is not to satisfy some mindless belligerence on the part of the organisers. We know that this is the best way for all comrades to learn.
More details of this year’s school are on the Party website. We look forward to meeting and debating with comrades.
Mark Fischer
national organiser
Saturday July 31
4.30pm-4.35pm Aims and methods of CU’99 - Stan Kelsey
4.35pm-7pm The fight for democracy and socialism in Iran - Organisation of Revolutionary Workers of Iran
Sunday August 1
10am-12.30pm Scargillism- Dave Osler
Lunch - 12.30pm-2pm
2pm-4.15pm The left and Labour - Bob Pitt
Teabreak - 4.15pm-4.45pm
4.45pm-7pm The left and the Balkans war - International Bolshevik Tendency
Monday August 2
10am-12.30pm The Welsh road to socialism - Cymru Goch
Lunch - 12.30pm-2pm
2pm-4.15pm The break-up of Yugoslavia - Mark Fischer
Teabreak - 4.15pm-4.45pm
4.45pm-7pm The politics of the Northern Ireland peace process - Jack Conrad
Tuesday August 2
10am-12.30pm Gay liberation and single-issue campaigns - Peter Tatchell and Royston Bull
Lunch - 12.30pm-2pm
2pm-4.15pm The USSR: what class ruled? - Alliance for Workers’ Liberty
Teabreak - 4.15pm-4.45pm
4.45pm-7pm Marxism, prediction and science - Phil Sharpe
Wednesday August 4
10am-12.30pm Can green politics save the world? - Green Party
Lunch - 12.30pm-2pm
2pm-4.15pm GMOs - Marion Haldane
Teabreak - 4.15pm-4.45pm
4.45pm-7pm The bourgeois revolution - Revolutionary Democratic Group
Thursday August 5
10am-12.30pm The decline of capitalism - Hillel Ticktin
Lunch - 12.30pm-2pm
2pm-4.15pm Institutional racism - Peter Manson
Teabreak - 4.15pm-4.45pm
4.45pm-7pm Why the collapse of the USSR was not foreseen - Hillel Ticktin
Friday August 6
10am-12.30pm Left unity in Europe - Bård Sanstad, editorial board Venstre Om (Norway)
Lunch - 12.30pm-2pm
2pm-4.15pm The left and Europe - Anne Murphy and Alan Thornett (Socialist Outlook)
Teabreak - 4.15pm-4.45pm
4.45pm-7pm Is communism a utopia? - István Mészáros
Saturday August 7
10am-12.30pm Livingstone and the left - Michael Malkin
Lunch - 12.30pm-1.30pm
1.30pm-3.30pm Building a new broad left party - Nick Long
Evaluation of school - finish by 4pm