We record some of the lead-offs (and summations) at our public meetings. See some of them below. Some are uploaded to our youtube channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEulxSbkgXokYEl5gEYbHXw/

Upcoming meetings here

Public meetings

Introductory speeches in a meeting of the same name by Janine Booth and Dinah Murray, August 2020. Sadly, Dinah recently died (July 2021). Many autistic activists have noted the great contribution she made and legacy she leaves as an autistic academic-activist.

Can Marxism help us to understand autistic experience in modern capitalism?

Janine Booth lead a discussion on this subject, asking can Marxism help us to understand autistic experience in modern capitalism? And how might Marxism inform our struggles for equality and liberation?

Dinah Murray talks about the impact of capitalism on autistic people, attempts of bosses to specifically exploit autistic people, and more..

See this article and video here: https://www.workersliberty.org/story/2017-03-29/marxism-and-autism-article-and-video

Marxism and autism | Janine Booth and Dinah Murray | Workers' Liberty

A discussion of what modern slavery is and how it is used by conservative (and other) politicians to further and justify their anti-migrant policies

Video: https://youtu.be/uVabDXy6Qyg

Solidarity

The Tories, Immigration and Modern Slavery — with George Wheeler

Geoengineering and carbon drawdown: thinking through climate futures, with Holly Jean Buck, author of "After Geoengineering: Climate Tragedy, Repair, and Restoration", and Zack Muddle, Workers' Liberty. Introductory and concluding speeches from a discussion by the same name at Ideas for Freedom 2021. 

More on this topic: https://workersliberty.org/geoengineering-readings

Video of this: https://youtu.be/QneXgpw_A-U

Holly Jean Buck and Zack Muddle — Geoengineering & carbon drawdown: thinking through climate futures

No To War - Solidarity with Ukraine

Intro and summation speeches from a meeting of the same name, Monday 1 March, 2022. Speakers:
• Denys Pilash from the Socialist group Sotsialny Rukh in Ukraine.
• Chris Ford from Ukraine Solidarity Campaign.
• Dale Street from Workers Liberty.

Putins invasion of Ukraine is to force Ukraine to be part of Russia sphere of influence at the very least and may even be about snuffing out Ukraine as an independent nation full stop. This is a naked example of brutal imperialism.

Socialists, the trade union movement and Democrats need to oppose this war and support the Ukrainian peoples right to self determination and self defence.

We will also be discussing the practical way we can support the Ukrainian community here in Britain.

https://workersliberty.org/ukraine

This is the link for people to signup and keep in touch with Workers Liberty: 
http://www.workersliberty.org/signup
Sotsialniy Rukh on fb https://www.facebook.com/social.ruh
Taras Bilous' letter https://commons.com.ua/ru/letter-western-left-kyiv/

Денис Пілаш:	Here is a list of different organizations and charities which work to help Ukrainians in their anti-imperial war against Russia:
The Social Movement — The Social Movement is a left-wing public organization. The money donated to them will go to support refugees, civilians and also Ukrainian trade unions.
Their requisites:
For UAH
4246001000888754
Longo-Maï coop — this coop in Zakarpatia oblast is evacuating children from Vrubivka village in Luhansk oblast. They helped them for a long time and they even made a summer theater camp for them last year. Last week Vrubivka school was shelled by russian forces, so they are helping children to get to safety. They are ready to take in more refugees, considering the latest development in the Russo-Ukrainian conflict. Their requisites:
For UAH
4441114451067639 (Кошан В’ячеслав Антонійович, Монобанк)
For EUR:
Beneficiary
IBAN
UA 20 322001 00000 2620 6306 3111 62
Account No
26206306311162
Receiver
KOSHAN VIACHESLAV, 90440, Ukraine, reg. Zakarpatska, district. Khustskyi, to
01:25:13	Денис Пілаш:	Khustskyi, town. Nyzhnie Selyshche, st. Tsentralna, build. 53
Account with Institution 
Bank
JSC UNIVERSAL BANK
City
KYIV, UKRAINE
Swift code 
UNJSUAUKXXX
@solidarnistinua — this is a newly created anarchist mutual aid org. Their mission statement is following: 
"Hello! We are supporters of horizontal society, solidarity and cooperation from different cities of Ukraine. Today we have united in the volunteer project "Operation Solidarity" in order to jointly help all healthy forces of society to counteract imperialist aggression against our country. We plan to collect humanitarian aid and fundraising in favor of territorial defense fighters and in support of all grassroots initiatives that unite people in confronting a common threat. We also plan to help refugees, host social events and spread the practices of equal decision-making and direct democracy."
Their requisites:
UAH 5375 4141 1919 7571
EUR 5375 4199 0742 1968
USD 5375 4188 1104 6176
@solidarnistinua — their Telegram channel

To donate to AWL 
https://www.workersliberty.org/donate

Signup to keep in contact and find out what the AWL are doing
http://www.workersliberty.org/signup
Message to share from Labour Campaign for Free Movement in response to the situation - open the borders & welcome refugees https://www.labourfreemovement.org/russia-ukraine-welcome-refugees/

https://workersliberty.org/sub
https://workersliberty.org/join-awl

No To War: Solidarity w/Ukraine | Sotsialny Rukh, Ukraine | Ukraine Solidarity Campaign | AWL

"What is the state?" an introduction by Matt Cooper. This is part of "The ABCs of Marxism" series of meetings, and also session 1 of 5 in "The state, crime, prisons and the police" series of meetings. Upcoming meetings in both series and beyond can be found at https://workersliberty.org/c19-online

Part 2: https://soundcloud.com/workers-liberty/crime-and-policing-2-of-5
Listen, download, subscribe to Workers' Liberty audio at: https://workersliberty.org/audio

"'Theoretically,' there is no denying that the state is the organ of class domination, or that class antagonisms are irreconcilable. But what is forgotten or glossed over is this: if the state is the product of the irreconcilable character of class antagonisms, if it is a force standing above society and 'increasingly separating itself from it,' then it is clear that the liberation of the oppressed class is impossible not only without a violent revolution, but also without the destruction of the apparatus of state power, which was created by the ruling class and in which this 'separation' is embodied."

Lenin one of the leaders of the Russian Revolution wrote this in The State and Revolution in 1917. Is that the only or even final word on what the state is?

"What is the state?" — 1/5 in The state, crime, prisons and the police

“Left Unity: is Momentum fit for purpose?” introductory speech by Ruth Cashman, trade unionist and Labour Party activist, and Momentum NCG candidate. Future meetings: https://workersliberty.org/c19-online

Video: https://youtu.be/dil6nKoHSYI

See https://www.facebook.com/RuthCashmanforMomentumNCG

Meeting hosted by Lewisham and Sheffield Workers' Liberty. Mentioned articles in discussion: 
https://theclarionmag.org/2020/06/02/forward-momentum-drops-democratically-agreed-left-policies
https://workersliberty.org/story/2020-04-25/anti-trans-feminists-blinkered-tories

Left unity: is Momentum fit for purpose? with Ruth Cashman

Mark Osborn and Sacha Ismail discuss the history of the Civil War, British workers' mobilisation and the lessons for the internationalist, anti-racist left of today. Introductory speeches from a meeting of the same name. Upcoming meetings: https://www.workersliberty.org/c19-online . All audio: https://workersliberty.org/audio

**Timeline**
1850s
US politics convulsed by issue of slavery; breakdown of old party political system, rise of Republicans; armed clashes over whether Kansas will be slave or free state

1859
Abolitionist John Brown attempts to lead slave uprising at Harpers Ferry, Virginia

1860
November: Republican Abraham Lincoln elected President
December: South Carolina secedes from US

1861
Six other Southern slave states secede, Confederate States of America formed, soon grows to eleven states
April: Civil War begins, slaves start to flee to US army
August: US Congress passes first anti-slavery war measures
November-December: Trent crisis seems to threaten US-British war December: British workers’ meetings in support of US begin

1862
Summer: Congress, led by Radical Republicans, pushes US policy in more radical anti-slavery direction
Second half of year: Wave of workers’ meetings in Lancashire
22 September: Lincoln issues Emancipation Proclamation promising to free slaves in Confederate states
November: Recruitment of black soldiers begins tentatively
31 December: Great meeting at Free Trade Hall in Manchester, meetings in London

1863
1 January: Emancipation Proclamation comes into effect, recruitment of black soldiers massively accelerates
26 March: “Monster” workers’ meeting at St James’ Hall, London

1864
September: Foundation of International Working Men’s Association
November: Lincoln re-elected

1865
April-June: Confederacy surrenders
14 April: Lincoln assassinated by Confederate sympathiser
December: Thirteenth Amendment to US Constitution ratified, slavery abolished throughout US

1867
“Radical Reconstruction” begins in US, enfranchising ex-slaves; Reform Act enfranchises over a million British workers


**Recommendations, referenced by the speakers**
Pamphlet: https://www.workersliberty.org/node/25435
Article: https://www.workersliberty.org/story/2017-07-26/workers-against-slavery-us-civil-war-first-international-and-british-working-class
Pull-out: https://www.workersliberty.org/index.php/revolution-black-liberation-workers-liberty-342
Article: https://www.workersliberty.org/story/2019-12-03/trump-blocked-putting-harriet-tubman-20-note-why
"Beyond Equality" by David Montgomery
Glory (1989 film)
Sacha mentioned "Forced Into Glory" by Lerone Bennett Junior, which gives the case against Lincoln, but he thinks it is one-sided

**Description**
 The American Civil War of 1861-5 was the most important event in US history, and one of the most important in world history. The victory of the North liberated four million black slaves and abolished slavery, although the movement it unleashed did not defeat racism.

In Britain, despite hardship caused by the war, the working class rallied to Lincoln and abolition, and Karl Marx wrote for a New York paper about the pro-North mobilisations in London and the textile towns of northern England. These mobilisations helped pave the way for a new growth of the British labour movement and for the emergence of the International Working Men's Association (the First International).

Marxists on the US Civil War and the fight against slavery

A panel debate with speakers: Ruth Cashman from Workers' Liberty, Neil Faulkner from Mutiny, and Kady Tait from Red Flag. Introduction and summation speeches only. See upcoming debates from Workers' Liberty: https://workersliberty.org/c19-online

As protests against police brutality and racism continue, alongside struggles over the government's mishandling of the pandemic, and with massive job cuts set to follow, and the climate crises, what should class-struggle socialists say and do? How can we revive workplace organisation and militancy, and confront the global wave of right-wing nationalism of which Trump, Johnson, Bolsonaro, Modi, Netanyahu, and others are a part? Where next for the left?

This panel brings together speakers from three different revolutionary socialist groups to discuss the issues, with plenty of time for questions and discussion from the floor. 

Write up of the debate: https://www.workersliberty.org/story/2020-07-13/whats-way-forward-revolutionary-left
Video: https://youtu.be/oVd0iFA2_tw

Workers' Liberty: https://workersliberty.org/
Mutiny: https://www.timetomutiny.org/
Red Flag: https://www.redflagonline.org

Towards a new revolutionary left? Panel debate with Workers' Liberty, Mutiny, Red Flag

The AWL has long argued for Marxists to intervene in the Labour Party to politically shape it, despite many obstacles of organisation and ideology, particularly during the Blair years. What is the basis for that argument, and how has the Corbyn period reshaped the Labour Party to make it an instrument for socialist organising? What are the limitations of the Corbyn project? And what does the prospect of a Starmer-led Labour Party mean for class struggles ahead?

Intro to the meeting of the same name, from April 2020, by Cathy Nugent. Upcoming meetings: https://workersliberty.org/c19-online

Part of the ABCs of Marxism series of meetings. More at: https://www.workersliberty.org/abcs-marxism
Related reading:
https://www.workersliberty.org/story/2010/06/15/labour-party-perspective
https://www.workersliberty.org/story/2017-07-26/organise-labours-newcomers-remake-party
https://www.workersliberty.org/story/2020-03-11/left-opposition-starmer
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Aa4IkIrW9I&list=PL6axvxELjd0gjNYHKiuMs7xQ0OdYSTcZg

Marxist ABCs: Marxists and the Labour Party

"Religion... is the opium of the people", wrote Marx in 1843. What did Marx and Engels say about religion? How should Marxists and socialists think, talk and act about religion today? Introductory speech by Kate in a talk: 'Opium of the people': Marx on Religion. All upcoming meetings here: https://workersliberty.org/c19-online

All audio: https://workersliberty.org/audio
Video: https://youtu.be/tkYVbmxuqRY

Marxism and religion — intro talk — "Opium of the people"

Brazil is now one of the epicentres of the novel coronavirus pandemic. The far-right Bolsonaro government's irrational response to the pandemic has triggered political turmoil. The Black Lives Matter movement has organised against widespread racism and police violence in Brazil. A Workers' Liberty activist from Brazil discusses the political background to current events. Introductory speech from June 28 2020 meeting.

Video version: https://youtu.be/cLK0ax23ZEA
Future events: https://workersliberty.org/c19-online
All audio: https://workersliberty.org/audio

Brazil and the pandemic — intro speech

"Minnie Lansbury - a different sort of Labour councillor", intro speeches with Janine Booth, author of 'Minnie Lansbury: suffragette, socialist and rebel councillor', and Selina Gellert, the great niece of Minnie Lansbury — from a meeting by the same name. Upcoming meetings at: https://workersliberty.org/meetings 
Video version: https://youtu.be/Cer7PeO0Nb4

Janine's books: https://fiveleaves.co.uk/product/minnie-lansbury-suffragette-socialist-rebel-councillor/ and https://www.janinebooth.com/writing/guilty-and-proud-it-poplars-rebel-councillors-and-guardians-1919-25
Two videos by Janine Booth: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fr8zC24zVOk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h8IFbUlmCDA

Janine Booth will speak about this inspiring working-class woman. The daughter of Jewish immigrants to London's east end, Minnie was one of the Poplar Labour councillors who carried out extensive reforms in the interests of the borough’s working class and, when the council began to struggle financially, led a mass campaign for poor boroughs to receive more funding. Defying the Tory-Liberal coalition government, she went to prison as a result, along with 29 other councillors. They won!

She was a member of both the Labour Party and the Communist Party inspired by the Russian Revolution.

Before that she was a suffragette, a campaigner for the rights of war widows, orphans and disabled ex-servicemen.

The Poplar council which took on the government in 1921 was very different from Labour councils today and Minnie Lansbury was very different from virtually all our Labour councillors. We can draw great inspiration from her story – what lessons can we learn for our struggles now?

Minnie Lansbury — A different sort of Labour councillor — intro speeches

A speech by Dan Davison, a labour activist and sociology PhD student at the University of Cambridge, for a talk on C.L.R. James and the Haitian Revolution held in July 2020. Future meetings: https://workersliberty.org/meetings
Read online: https://workersliberty.org/story/2020-08-26/black-jacobins-haitian-revolution-against-slavery
All audio: https://workersliberty.org/audio
Cyril Lionel Robert James (CLR James) was born in Trinidad in 1901. He wrote his first book, a novel called Minty Alley in the 1920s (published in 1936), while a school teacher in Trinidad; the book is a critique of class and colonialism, and indicated a lifelong interest in integrating race and class struggles.
James, spent six years in the UK before the Second World War, joining the ranks of British Trotskyism. In 1938 he travelled to the US at the invitation of the American Socialist Workers’ Party and stayed for 15 years. In the same year The Black Jacobins was published.
James left the Trotskyist movement in 1951 and from that time, until his death in 1989, James had a long and varied socialist and literary “career”, remaining a Marxist but also heavily influenced by Pan-Africanism.
The Black Jacobins is the story of the Haitian Revolution of 1791-1804, focusing on the life and leadership of the ex-slave leader Toussaint L’Ouverture. It is also a history of European colonialism, the slave plantation system, the huge sugar factories of the French colony of San Domingue (the eastern half of the island that is now Haiti).
Slave resistance came first in the form of flight to the mountains and forming of maroon band. But the French Revolution created a political conflict in the colony, one of many dimensions, including of whites against the French monarchy, of the free people of colour as well as the slaves.
One ex-slave Toussaint Breda, later Toussaint L’Ouverture (meaning opening to liberty) joined up with the expanding slave army in the mountains; they created a disciplined fighting force. What happened next is a complex story of shifting alliances, increasing radicalisation, the end of slavery, and a war for independence.

The Black Jacobins: the Haitian revolution against slavery — intro speech

The 1945 Labour Government - an introduction by Mark Catterall to what lead to the election victory and what socialists today can learn from it. From a meeting in May 2020. Upcoming meetings: https://workersliberty.org/meetings

Video: https://workersliberty.org/story/2020-09-07/video-1945-labour-government-causes-and-lessons

The 1945 Labour Government: Causes and lessons — intro

Introductory speeches from a meeting of the same name, which outline the complex events that led up to the war, left responses and legacies of the war. 
Sarah Correia is a researcher at LSE, researching memories of the Bosnian war. Martin Thomas talks about the response of much of the left at the time.
A recent interview on this topic with Sarah Correia: https://workersliberty.org/story/2020-09-09/bosnian-war-25-years-later
And an article by Martin Thomas: https://workersliberty.org/story/2020-09-09/left-and-bosnia
December 2020 marks 15 years since the end of the Bosnian war. In 1992 after Bosnia and Herzegovina declared independence, a Serb-backed military assault took place, bringing ethnic cleansing, rape and destruction of mosques.
Under the banner of “peace” and opposing Western intervention many on the left sided with, or failed to oppose, the Serb nationalists. Workers' Liberty argued an international arms embargo should be lifted so that the Bosnians could defend themselves.
This meeting will outline the complex events that led up to the war, the left responses and the legacies of that war.

Remembering the Bosnian War, with Sarah Correia and Martin Thomas

Camila Bassi delivered this talk at the AWL online meeting on 30 August 2020. For all AWL online meetings go to: https://workersliberty.org/meetings

A similar article is For Workers’ Climate Action (4th Ed.), part 7. More, a paper version of the booklet, and a contents list, at workersliberty.org/climate-pamphlet

The outbreak of SARS Coronovirus 2 or COVID-19 proceeds an escalation of recent epidemics and proto-pandemics: notably, H5N1 or Avian influenza, SARS, MERS, Swine flu, Ebola, and Zika. Camila tells the story of HIV/AIDS and SARS to explore the nexus between capitalist political economy, nature, and emergent infectious diseases; concluding that, without radical change to how we organise and run our world, our future will be locked into this deadly trajectory.

For a transcript of the talk and the full set of references, please see Camila's blog here: https://anaemiconabike.com/2020/08/19/on-global-capital-not-abiding-limits-and-a-history-of-pandemics/

Video: https://youtu.be/zSSbkGbBCpA

The quote during the pause is:
“PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti, Jan 26 – An American‐owned company here is buying blood plasma from impoverished Haitians who need the money and exporting 5,000 to 6,000 liters of it every month to the United States. […] Hemo Caribbean is owned by Joseph B. Gorinstein, stockbroker with interests in New York and Miami. He has a 10‐year contract with the Haitian Government that was negotiated with President Francois Duvalier, who died last April. Werner H. Thill, the company’s technical director, said that the Haitian Government received no money from Hemo Caribbean. Reliable sources here say that the principal agent between the Government and Hemo Caribbean was Luckner Cambronne, the Minister of Interior and National Defense, who is said to be one of the most influential persons here. […] Mr. Thill says that applicants are rejected if they are known to have hepatitis, but he adds that he is not especially concerned about those who may slip through the screening process with venereal disease or malaria. The freezing process used on the plasma “kills those bacteria,” he says. The Haitians, many in rags and without shoes, crowd into Hemo Caribbean six days week from 6:30 A.M. to 10 P.M. They spend about an hour and a half to two hours in screening and actually giving blood. […] The plasma is frozen and shipped to the United States by Air Haiti, Mr. Cambronne’s airline.”
The New York Times, January 1972

Global Capital And Pandemics Workers' Liberty, with Dr Camila Bassi — intro — & pt. 7 WCA, 4th Ed.

RMT activists Janine Booth and John Pencott offer their views on fighting the wave of job cuts that face the rail industry. These were the opening remarks at an online meeting held on 16 July 2020, hosted by Tubeworker and Off The Rails, bulletins written by and for Tube and rail workers respectively and published by Workers' Liberty. Tubeworker: https://workersliberty.org/tubeworker
OTR: https://workersliberty.org/rails
Video: https://youtu.be/PtNKvZE07HQ
All audio: https://workersliberty.org/audio

Rail Workers Discuss Fighting Job Cuts, with Janine Booth and John Pencott

Intro speeches from 15 December on "After the US election, which way for the left?" by Ruth Cashman; Thomas Harrison, New Politics Editorial Board (personal capacity); and Robert Cuffy, Guyanese socialist based in New York, member of DSA and the Socialist Workers Alliance of Guyana. 

From a meeting of the same name, future meetings at: https://workersliberty.org/meetings
All audio: https://workersliberty.org/audio
Video of this meeting: https://workersliberty.org/story/2020-11-21/video-after-us-election-which-way-left-ruth-cashman-robert-cuffy-and-tom-harrison

A discussion on the results of the US election and tasks facing class struggle socialists.

Trump and the Republican Party continue to resist the result of the US election; what impact will they have?

We heard about what the left and social movement activists are doing to defend US democracy and develop class struggle responses to the pandemic, jobs and social crisis.

What does the left say about Biden, as the "lesser evil" in the election. What are the longer-term tasks and prospects for the left?

After the US election, which way for the left? With Ruth Cashman, Robert Cuffy, and Tom Harrison

Sweeping cuts are now taking place and are expected in local authorities across the UK, but neither Labour nor the left are prepared for this. If Labour does not take up the fight it will have much less chance of winning back working-class voters, and importantly, saving the jobs and services we all rely on.

Josh Lovell, a Labour Party councillor (in opposition) discusses the history of past battles in local government going back to the 1970s, and how we can apply lessons learned from those struggles today.

From a meeting of the same name, on 4 October. All meetings: https://workersliberty.org/meetings

Video on several platforms: https://workersliberty.org/story/2020-11-25/video-fighting-council-cuts

The referenced other talk, more focussed on Covid-19: https://soundcloud.com/workers-liberty/josh-lovell-covid-19-and-fighting-council-cuts?in=workers-liberty/sets/public-meetings

Fighting council cuts — with Josh Lovell, Labour Party Councillor

Tubeworker and Off The Rails - two rank-and-file bulletins published by Workers' Liberty - hosted an online meeting on 19 November 2020. These are the two opening speeches, from TWU Local 100 Fightback's John Ferretti and Vermont socialist Traven Leyshon. 

Videos: https://workersliberty.org/story/2020-12-10/video-us-rail-workers-struggles-wake-presidential-election
Future meetings: https://www.workersliberty.org/meetings
Tubeworker: https://workersliberty.org/tubeworker
Off The Rails: https://workersliberty.org/rails
All audio: https://workersliberty.org/rails

US rail workers' struggles in the wake of the Presidential election — Intro speeches

Workers’ Liberty fights for socialist revolution, for the labour movement to militantly assert working class interests. Follow us! Find out more, and get involved at https://workersliberty.org • fb.me/workersliberty • twitter.com/workersliberty