Xiaohongshu
- Hosted by Platypus Affiliated Society
The question of a specifically Leftist political party seems once again to be on the table - most recently spurred by Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana’s launch of “Your Party” and the recent by-election success of the Greens under the leadership "Left populist" Zack Polanski. The “party” question has been raised several times already in the 21st century: the neo-anarchism of Occupy; Left Populist movements in Greece and Spain; as well as the Sanders and Corbyn electoral campaigns for social democracy. These too point to a deeper history of the question of politics for the Left: Chartism and the emergence of the “proletarian party”; the conflict between anarchists and Marxists in the First International on the question of social vs. political action; the mass social democratic parties centralised in the Second International; Lenin’s vanguard “party of a new type”, up to the counterculture and social movements of the New Left. It may seem like it has never not been “party time” - and when it hasn’t, “the struggle continues” elsewhere, indefinitely…
What does it mean to have a political party for the Left? Toward what ends?
Who or what should we look back to for inspiration?
What is there to learn from recent political defeats?
How would a new party differ from the Labour Party?
Does the Left need politics?
Join us next Wednesday for a panel discussion featuring representatives of the Green Party, Your Party, academics and more.
Come with any and all questions, there will be an open Q&A at the end.