Tories and Blairites defend capitalism

Fight the right

Fight for socialism

Uber drivers on strike on 9 October - part of a new wave of workers fighting back, photo by Paula Mitchell

Uber drivers on strike on 9 October – part of a new wave of workers fighting back, photo by Paula Mitchell   (Click to enlarge: opens in new window)

Sarah Sachs-Eldridge, Socialism 2018 organiser

Mass protests and upheavals are coming in Britain. That might seem like a somewhat audacious statement given the surface calm. It might appear that the mass movements of other times and other places are not on the agenda here. But they are.

After ten years of capitalist crisis – and the heart-breaking homelessness, poverty pay and service annihilation that accompany it – socialist ideas are making a comeback.

This was evidenced by the support for Jeremy Corbyn’s anti-austerity manifesto. It has been shown by the way in which, against enormous obstacles, Uber drivers have organised strike action (pictured above). These are the heat lightning flashes in anticipation of storms to come.

But Jeremy Corbyn is hamstrung by the Blairites, the ‘Backstabbing Tendency’, who are doing everything they can to limit Labour’s appeal and who are preparing to threaten, in the future, an anti-austerity Labour government.

Socialism 2018

The Socialist Party is hosting a major festival of political discussion and debate – needed by all of us who want to build resistance to the Tories and the Blairites and to win for the working class.

Socialism 2018 will not only reflect mass indignation at austerity but the protests and struggles already taking place against it and the ideas that can help turn that anger into a mass force.

If you are a billionaire or a banker or a boss of a multinational, this might be something you can afford to pass on. If not, get yourself there.

The keynote speakers will include, among others, Peter Taaffe, the former editor of the Militant – predecessor of the Socialist. Militant and the working class defeated Thatcher, not once, but twice.

First Liverpool city council built 5,000 homes and created jobs in the teeth of Tory austerity. Secondly the 18-million-strong movement of mass non-payment destroyed the poll tax and ultimately saw Thatcher removed from power.

These events demonstrate the enormous potential power of the working class to win.

At Socialism 2018, we will chart a way forward for working-class people and youth desperately looking for an alternative.

We are preparing for the coming events by offering up a programme and a way forward for the battle, not only against capitalism but for socialism in the 21st century.

Come to Socialism 2018

A weekend of discussion and debate on socialist ideas to change the world. 10 and 11 November. Central London.