Tomás Ó Flatharta

Some convergence on the radical left is occurring in England and Wales. https://www.timetomutiny.org/. https://socialistresistance.org/

INITIAL STATEMENT, INVITATION, & PROGRAMME

Anti-Capitalist Resistance

A Weekend School:
Saturday/Sunday 12/13 September 2020

The radical left faces major challenges following the defeat of Corbynism and the consolidation of a new Labour leadership under Starmer. We also face a resurgent far right following Brexit, an unprecedented economic crisis, and the existential threat of climate chaos. Many left organisations and activists, inside and outside the Labour Party, are uncertain of the way forward. This is a moment of reflection and potential realignment. We must learn the lessons of the past and apply them in creating new socialist organisation fit for purpose in the 21st century.

The aim of this weekend school is to analyse the political situation we face and to consider launching a new, united, anti-capitalist organisation in England and Wales. (The political situation in Scotland is very different, though we wish to work closely with Scottish anti-capitalist organisations.)

What we stand for

We seek revolutionary transformation to meet the compound crisis of ecological disaster, economic collapse, social decay, grotesque inequality, mass impoverishment, growing militarisation, and creeping authoritarianism.

• We are internationalists, ecosocialists, and anti-capitalist revolutionaries. We oppose imperialism, nationalism, militarism, racism, misogyny, and homophobia. We stand in solidarity with all the oppressed at home and abroad, and we support all struggles from below against the system.

• This means: 1) we oppose Brexit as a British form of nationalism and racism; 2) we support the right of oppressed peoples to challenge colonialism and forms of apartheid and to struggle for self-determination; 3) we support a united Ireland and Scotland’s right to independence.

• We favour mass resistance to neoliberalism and work inside existing mass organisations like the trade unions and the Labour Party, but we believe that grassroots struggle is the core of effective anti-capitalist resistance, and that the emancipation of the working class will be the act of the working class.

• We reject forms of left organisation that focus exclusively on electoralism and social-democratic reformism. We oppose the top-down model of ‘democratic-centralist’ organisation. We favour a pluralist and internationalist organisation that can learn from struggles across the world. We are democratic revolutionary socialists who aim to build a united organisation rooted in the struggles of the working class and the oppressed and committed to debate, initiative, and self-activity.

We will be hosting online meetings in the run-up to the weekend school. The conference itself will comprise two sessions on Saturday afternoon (12 September) and two on Sunday afternoon (13 September). There will be plenty of time for discussion at both pre-meetings and weekend-school sessions. The final session on Sunday afternoon will have a workshop format for pooling ideas about working towards establishing Anti-Capitalist Resistance.

The aim of the weekend school is for supporters of the idea of Anti-Capitalist Resistance to set up an initial structure that would develop into a democratic political organisation. This would be done at a formal conference of supporters to be held early in 2021. This conference would agree a programme, constitution, and national coordinating committee for the new organisation.

Conference registration will require participants to commit to the aim of establishing a united, non-sectarian, anti-capitalist organisation based on the principles stated above.

Open discussion meetings

18.30-20.00
Thursday 30 July
The Working Class and the Oppressed

18.30-20.00
Thursday 13 August
The Ecological Crisis and the Ecosocialist Alternative

18.30-20.00
Thursday 27 August
Nationalism and Internationalism in the Era of Brexit and Trump

18.30-20.00
Thursday 10 September
What Does Democracy Mean for Anti-Capitalists?

Weekend school sessions

Saturday 12 September

14.00-15.30
Analysing the World Capitalist Crisis

16.00-17.30
Understanding the New Working Class

Sunday 13 September

14.00-15.30
Building Resistance to Disaster Capitalism

16.00-17.30
Next Steps: towards a new Anti-Capitalist Resistance organisation

ACR Co-ordinating Committee
Neil Faulkner
Rowan Fortune
Simon Hannah
Joseph Healy
Phil Hearse
Fred Leplat
Liam McQuade
Sarah Parker
Susan Pashkoff
Simon Pearson