The YCL is excited to announce our second ever Harry Pollitt School which will be held on the weekend of April 6th and 7th 2024!
Named after the legendary Communist Party leader, our weekend school for communists, trade union militants, students, and workers will be an opportunity to learn, socialise, exchange views, and help build the struggle for socialism in Britain!
Harry Pollitt School is open to anyone interested in Communist politics, so you don’t have to be a member of the YCL or Communist Party to join. The school carries on the Communist dedication to strengthening Britain’s labour movement through the political education we need for real, on-the-ground organising.
Book your place for the biggest Marxist-Leninist educational event in the country!
Tickets now on sale!
This year’s Harry Pollitt School will be on the weekend of the 6-7 April, 9am-6pm at the Irish World Heritage Centre, 1 Irish Town Way, Cheetham Hill, Manchester, M8 0AE.
The full timetable and activities can be found below. The School is set to feature talks, workshops, and panel discussions with communist speakers from Britain and all around the world, as well as leading trade unionists, community organisers, communist thinkers, and more.
The timetable also includes film screenings and a communist walking tour of Manchester. There will also be a social event on Saturday night and plenty of time for meeting other comrades from across Britain.
Comrades travelling from Scotland, Wales, or further afield are encouraged to make their own transport arrangements as soon as possible, but the venue is easily reachable from the centre of Manchester by car, tram, or bus.
This year’s Harry Pollitt School is looking to be bigger, better, and more militant than ever, so make sure you join us for another great weekend of revolutionary education and action!
Places are limited, so book your tickets now!
Tickets are now on sale for £10 (unwaged), £20 (waged), or £30 (solidarity).
We have tried to make the School as cheap as possible but please get in contact if the cost looks like an issue.
The full timetable and more information can be found below.
To book online, visit the Eventbrite page or contact marxisteducation@ycl.org.uk for more information.
Day 1 Talks and Workshops
1. Anti-Communist Lies and How to Expose Them
Kenny Coyle, Author of “Lies, Damned Lies, and Anti-Communism”
In this talk, Kenny Coyle addresses some of the biggest lies about communism to equip participants with the tools to explain communist history and ideas to friends, family, or the public. From Stalin and Mao’s “cults of personality” to the “dictators” of north Korea and Cuba, Coyle sets the record straight without avoiding hard questions about socialist mistakes.
2. Introduction to Marxism-Leninism
Eben Williams, YCL Education Officer
Marxism-Leninism is unlike any other theoretical framework in that it is an evolving, scientific theory whose successful application has sparked socialist revolutions all around the world. This beginners’ workshop will tackle the basic ideas of Marx and Lenin, including areas of philosophy, economics, and politics, the nature of the state and the Communist Party, how capitalism works, and how we can move beyond it.
Fiona Edwards, No Cold War
What is the relationship between Latin America and China, and what can the Latin American Left learn from China’s economic miracle? In this talk, Fiona Edwards looks at the position of Latin America in relation to the New Cold War against China.
4. How the EU Fell in Love with the Far Right
David Broder, Historian of Fascism in Europe
Author of “Mussolini’s Grandchildren, Fascism in Contemporary Italy”, David Broder examines the history of European fascism and explores how, despite its liberal pretences, the European Union has always been more than happy to work with fascists for profit.
5. Patriotism and Internationalism: Should British Workers Hate Their Country?
James Crossley, Marxist Historian
Can patriotism play a progressive role in Britain? Can we be both patriots and internationalists in an imperialist country? And how does the far right weaponise patriotism to trick workers to act against their own interests? In this workshop, James Crossley looks at the influence of Lenin on this question and applies his theories to the situation in Britain today.
6. The Nations of Britain: “Independence” and the National Question
John Foster, Communist Historian and Former CPB International Secretary
In the last twenty years, nationalist and independence movements and parties like Plaid Cymru in Wales and the SNP in Scotland have seen an increase in power and influence. John Foster, author of the pamphlet “Nations and Working-Class Unity in Britain”, explores the contributions of Marx and Lenin to the “National Question” and how we can apply them to Britain today.
7. Trauma and Emotions in the Murder Capital of Europe: A New History of Neds and Ned Culture
Gavin Brewis, Marxist Historian and Criminologist
In this workshop, Gavin Brewis explores the consequences of neoliberalism for the working-class youth in Glasgow at the turn of the millennium. With a fresh, Marxist perspective around systemic violence and social murder, Gavin shows how the systemic oppression affected but also energised this population of disenfranchised youth who were able to survive and resist in an environment of hostility.
8. Against the Technophobic Left: Organising for the 21st Century
Danny Scott, Director of Operations at Jarrow Insights Workers’ Cooperative
In this workshop, Danny Scott looks at the historical relationship between communists and cutting-edge technologies in organising, exploring Leninist and Taylorist approaches to technology, and the relationship between scientific management in production and scientific socialism. What are the ideas pushed by Silicon Valley billionaires about technology and how do we
as communists and working-class activists reclaim the best of these principles, while creating new methodologies, workflows, and organisational practices to equip our class against theirs?
Day 1 Panels
1. Towards A Multipolar World: The End of U.S. Hegemony
Berkan Çelebi, YCL International Officer
Carlos Martinez, Author of “The East Is Still Red”
Fiona Edwards, No Cold War
Leninist Komsomol of the Russian Federation (Zoom)
Student Federation of India
Communist Party of China (Zoom)
After World War II, the United States of America displaced the British and European empires as the most powerful imperialist force on the planet. Today, the US is in decline, and a new alliance of current and former socialist states and colonies, led by socialist China, is rising to tip the balance of power. This panel will feature communist speakers from Britain and the BRICS nations to discuss the new world order and the prospects of a socialist future.
2. Fighting for Our Homes: The Class War Against Landlords
Alex Price, ACORN Board
Jordan Phacklea-Cullen, Former ACORN Board and CPB
Ruaraidh Dempster, CPB Edinburgh Campaigns Officer
Emily Donnelly, YCL National Organiser
The communist struggle against landlords has a long history, and in the past decade, tenant and community unions have seen a resurgence across Britain. In this workshop, tenant union organisers teach you how to organise your block and explore the history of communist organising in the housing struggle in Britain right up to the present day.
3. For the Defence of Trade Unions and the Strike: A Communist Strategy
Alex Gordon, RMT President
Helen O’Connor, GMB Organiser
Nick Troy, Unite Hospitality
Stephanie Martin, UNISON Organiser
Gawain Little, Trade Union Activist
4. London Recruits: The Secret Fight Against Apartheid
Georgina Andrews, YCL General Secretary
Steve Marsling, London Recruit
In this panel, Steve Marsling discusses his experiences as a young communist travelling to South Africa to fight apartheid. With new apartheid regimes provoking condemnation throughout the world, what is the role of communists in the fight against imperialism and genocide today?
Day 2 Talks and Workshops
1. Marxism vs. the Grindset
Freddie R., YCL Membership Officer
Are communists anti-work? Can we all get rich quick? In this workshop, we explore neoliberalism in the age of TikTok hustlers and Andrew Tate, discuss a new battleground for left-wing ideas, and discover how we can all escape the matrix once and for all. The future of work is at stake!
2. Reform or Revolution? Anti-Communism and the Labour Party
Darren Turner, CPB Suffolk Branch Secretary
“The dominant Labour Party leaders, Attlee, Bevin, and Morrison, like MacDonald, Snowden, and Thomas before them, have nothing in common with Socialism or the interests of the working people. Their outlook and practice reflects that of the Tories and the wealthy ruling class whose interests they serve. They are in reality only a left-wing of the Tories, like the old Liberal Party.” Harry Pollitt, Introduction to Britain’s Road to Socialism (1951).
In this workshop, former Labour councillor Darren Turner will tackle the anti-communist and imperialist history of the Labour Party, Marxist conceptions of social democracy, reformism, and entryism, and, based on personal experience, how communists should relate to the Labour Party today.
Robert Griffiths, CPB General Secretary
Once a powerful force in the British labour movement, the late 20th Century saw a decline in the Communist Party of Great Britain, mirroring a decline in the Soviet Union and the international communist movement more generally. As this progressed, an influx of wrong ideas managed to take hold of the CPGB, precipitating its collapse in 1991.
Communist Party leader and author of “The Gleam of Socialism: Britain’s Communist Party, 1920-2020”, Robert Griffiths looks at the legacy of the CPGB, its achievements and mistakes, and how, with hard learned knowledge and experience, we can build a modern and revitalised communist movement for the 21st Century, ensuring that the same mistakes are never repeated.
4. Why the Labour Theory of Value is Right and How to Use it to Run Socialism
Paul Cockshott, Marxist Economist
Renowned Marxist thinker and author of “How the World Works: The Story of Human Labor from Prehistory to the Modern Day”, Paul Cockshott introduces the Labour Theory of Value and explores how, with new technologies, Marxist economics can be the foundation of future socialist societies.
5. Red Journalism: Communist Propaganda in the Digital Age
Kate Woolford, Challenge Editor
Ben Chacko, Morning Star Editor
In this workshop, Challenge and Morning Star editors discuss the importance of Marxist-Leninist publications and the need to support alternatives to the capitalist press. What was the Leninist theory of propaganda and how do we use it to raise the revolutionary consciousness of the people? And what challenges do we face reaching a working-class audience in the 21st century?
6. James Connolly, John McLean, and the Democratic Republic
Grant McDonald, YCL Scotland Education Officer
This workshop will compare the writings of these two socialist leaders during their respective revolutionary situations and present two Marxist positions on the democratic republic. It also compares the two figures as individuals, addresses the pitfalls of nationalism and reformism, and looks at the two-stage revolutionary process and the National Question in Scotland and Ireland.
7. Combat Liberal Feminism: Against Pimps, Porn, and Postmodernism
Robyn Martin, YCL Scotland Women’s Officer
“Women will only become free and equal in a world where labour has been socialised and where communism has been victorious.” Alexandra Kollontai
In this workshop, the YCL Women’s Officer for Scotland looks at the ways in which the modern Left has abandoned women, how liberal feminist trends have worked to normalise or even glorify the commodification of women and girls within the labour movement, and how we can find our way back to a truly revolutionary politics that understands the connections between sex and class.
8. Archiving the Revolution: Working-Class History and Culture
Matt Dunne, Marx Memorial Library and Worker’s School
Matt Dunne, archivist for the Marx Memorial Library, introduces participants to their enormous collection and many educational events. How do we archive the history of our movement and how is history relevant to the struggle today?
9. The Rentier City: Class War in the Shadow of the Towers
Isaac Rose, Greater Manchester Tenants’ Union Organiser and Author
In cities across the world, gentrification and the housing crisis are facts of life. But how did we get to this point? And is there any way we can fight back? Over the last thirty years in Manchester, corporate developers, rentier capitalists, and boosterist politicians have reshaped the city in their image, replace its working-class communities, public spaces, and affordable housing with skyscrapers, luxury developments, and a private rental market that creates wealth for rentiers and impoverishes everybody else.
In this talk, Isaac Rose, author of The Rentier City: Manchester and the Making of the Neoliberal Metropolis, unveils a larger story of the relationship between capital and our cities, between rentier and rentee, and gives us a blueprint of how to fight back against rentier capitalism and take back control of the cities we live in.
10. The Class War on the Streets: Building Community Power and Resisting the Law
0161 Community
Human and Civil Rights Solicitor
As capitalism becomes increasingly unstable and fewer people feel represented by liberal democracy, more people will be looking to the streets and their communities for the tools to create change. 0161 Community is a Manchester-based intiative looking to promote a strong, unified, Mancunian working-class identity and support and empower Manchester’s youth through on-the-ground organising work. This workshop looks at how 0161 coordinates community resources to build working-class power, and how we can do similar at home.
They will also be joined by an expert in human rights and protest law to look at the crackdown on the right to protest and how we can resist. After all, the revolution will be on the streets, not parliament!
Day 2 Panels
1. Victory to Palestine! Liberation in Our Lifetimes!
Berkan Çelebi, YCL International Officer
Nader Awaad, Lebanese Communist Party
Arwa Hashash, Palestinian People’s Party Youth and Student Officer
Aqel Taqaz, Palestinian People’s Party International Department
The last year has seen a horrific upsurge of violence in Israel’s determination to wipe out the nation of Palestine, openly exposing the brutality of US and Israeli imperialism in the Middle East, as well as the cruelty and cowardice of Western political leaders in the imperialist parties. Despite this, the Palestinian people have stood up and showed revolutionary resistance in their courage to save their homeland. This panel will look at how we can support the fight for a free and sovereign Palestinian state within our lifetimes.
2. Capitalism Defeated: Socialist States and the Revolutionary Process
Micaela Tracey-Ramos, YCL Central Committee
Aymee Diaz Negrin, Second Secretary for Political Affairs at the Cuban Embassy
Communist Party of China (Zoom)
Leninist Komsomol of the Russian Federation (Zoom)
Vince Lisztes, Workers Party of Hungary (Zoom)
What is a revolution and what does socialism look like in practice? How did policies like universal employment, housing, healthcare, and education change the lives of people living in socialist countries? And what problems need to be overcome as a country overthrows capitalism and works to socialise production on the road to full communism?
In this panel, comrades from current and former socialist countries across the world discuss their nations’ revolutionary histories and describe society’s potential when workers actually manage to take power from capitalists and landlords and put their economies in the service of the people.
Activities
Working-Class History Walking Tour
Jude P, YCL Manchester
A guided walking tour of inner-city Manchester exploring the history of working-class struggle woven into the heritage of the city. Attendees will take a 14-minute tram from the Heritage Centre to Victoria Station. Once arriving, the tour will bring to life the history of housing conditions, mills, sites of protest, as well as connections with struggles internationally in the first industrialised city in Britain.
Saturday Social
At the end of Saturday, comrades from across Britain will have the chance to unwind at a social organised by the YCL’s Manchester branch with food, drinks, and live music.
