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Podcast Series

Socialism Conference

The Socialism Conference is a four-day conference bringing together thousands of socialists and radical activists from around the country to take part in discussions about social movements, Marxism, abolition, working-class history, and the debates and strategies for organizing today. Every year, the Socialism conference aims to be a place where activists can share lessons from their struggles—from the BDS campaign for Palestine to the fight for gender liberation, from strike organizing and support to the struggle to stop the destruction of the planet, the fight against racism, and more. Socialism 2025 took place in Chicago over July 4th weekend, July 3-6. Recordings from many sessions at Socialism 2025 will be released here. Socialism 2026 will take place in Chicago, September 4-7, 2026. Learn more: socialismconference.org

Episodes

All Seasons Season 0
Dec 11, 2024
Season 0 Episode 0

Settler Colonialism: An Introduction

Sai Englert speaks in this session recorded at Socialism 2024. This session was sponsored by Pluto Books. Rich with their unique histories, characteristics, and social relations, Indigenous struggles across the world are connected by the shared enemy they face: settler colonialism. In this session, Sai Englert argues that settler colonial forms of domination and accumulation played a central role in the emergence of capitalism, and remain crucial in its reproduction and stabilisation today. Defeating settler colonialism is therefore also key to destroying the capitalist system as a whole. The next Socialism Conference will be held in Chicago, July 3-6. Learn more about the Socialism Conference at www.socialismconference.org. Buy books from Haymarket: www.haymarketbooks.org Follow Haymarket on podcast platforms for regular event recordings, book talks, political analyses and poetry readings!
Dec 11, 2024
Season 0 Episode 0

Cooperatives, Socialized Power, and the Reproduction of Economic Alternatives

Jonah Olsen and Hialy Gutierrez speak in this session recorded at Socialism 2024. We will discuss the radical potential and challenges of cooperatives to transform conditions both within their walls and within the communities in which they are embedded. We argue that, through practices responsive to and rooted in community context and socialist relations, cooperatives can contribute to community resilience and the reproduction of economic alterity. The next Socialism Conference will be held in Chicago, July 3-6. Learn more about the Socialism Conference at www.socialismconference.org. Buy books from Haymarket: www.haymarketbooks.org Follow Haymarket on podcast platforms for regular event recordings, book talks, political analyses and poetry readings!
Dec 11, 2024
Season 0 Episode 0

Unbuild Walls: Borders, Prisons, and Abolition

Silky Shah, Harsha Walia, and Amna Akbar speak in this session recorded at Socialism 2024. This session was sponsored by Detention Watch Network. As calls to abolish ICE, prisons and policing, and borders gain urgency in the U.S. and abroad, so too does the need to understand how these systems necessitate and sustain each other. Silky Shah and Harsha Walia, in conversation with Amna A. Akbar, will unpack why global migrant justice efforts require a PIC abolition analysis, and how this relates to bordering, migration, and capitalism more broadly. The next Socialism Conference will be held in Chicago, July 3-6. Learn more about the Socialism Conference at www.socialismconference.org. Buy books from Haymarket: www.haymarketbooks.org Follow Haymarket on podcast platforms for regular event recordings, book talks, political analyses and poetry readings!
Dec 11, 2024
Season 0 Episode 0

From the Death Chambers to Cop City: How the South is Pushing Back Against State Violence

Furonda Brasfield, Michelle Smith, Tiara Cooper, and Cherrell Brown speak in this session recorded at Socialism 2024. This session was sponsored by Noose to Needle - 8th Amendment Project. The South leads the way in racial oppression and injustice. This panel will explore how Southern organizers are fighting state sanctioned violence and murder and promote collective liberation by working across various issues including: police killings, mass incarceration, death penalty, rights for incarcerated persons, and expansion of the police state. The next Socialism Conference will be held in Chicago, July 3-6. Learn more about the Socialism Conference at www.socialismconference.org. Buy books from Haymarket: www.haymarketbooks.org Follow Haymarket on podcast platforms for regular event recordings, book talks, political analyses and poetry readings!
Dec 11, 2024
Season 0 Episode 0

Carewashing: Carcerality Disguised as Social Welfare

Mon Mohapatra, Victoria Law, Tracy Rosenthal, and Beatrice Adler-Bolton speak in this session recorded at Socialism 2024. This session was sponsored by Death Panel. This session will explore how the rhetorics of “care,” support, and empathy are often deployed to expand and reinforce carcerality—to make carcerality appear innocuous, or even an expansion of social welfare and public health. Mon Mohapatra, Victoria Law, and Tracy Rosenthal will discuss how to evaluate and identify programs that disguise carcerality under the pretense of “care” and how carewashing can be resisted. The next Socialism Conference will be held in Chicago, July 3-6. Learn more about the Socialism Conference at www.socialismconference.org. Buy books from Haymarket: www.haymarketbooks.org Follow Haymarket on podcast platforms for regular event recordings, book talks, political analyses and poetry readings!
Dec 11, 2024
Season 0 Episode 0

Assembly and Territory: Building Popular Power in Los Angeles

David Albright, Magdaleno Rosales, Ines Alcazar speak in this session recorded at Socialism 2024. This session was sponsored by LA Tenant's Union. What kinds of formations and practices do tenants unions need to develop in order to become deeply-rooted in poor and working-class immigrant neighborhoods? Members of the largest dues-funded tenants union in the country will discuss their organizing models and experiments in two rapidly gentrifying neighborhoods of L.A., South Central and Koreatown. The next Socialism Conference will be held in Chicago, July 3-6. Learn more about the Socialism Conference at www.socialismconference.org. Buy books from Haymarket: www.haymarketbooks.org Follow Haymarket on podcast platforms for regular event recordings, book talks, political analyses and poetry readings!
Dec 11, 2024
Season 0 Episode 0

Treatment Not Trauma: Organizing for Public Care in Late Capitalism

Rossana Rodríguez, Verónica Tirado, Eric Ramos, and Jonathan Nagy speak in this session recorded at Socialism 2024. This session was sponsored by 33rd Ward Working Families. A talk about the fight for structures of care in Chicago from the perspective of government workers delivering direct services, from the Alderperson who leads the fight for Treatment not Trauma and from movement folks who lead the way, making demands and fighting alongside electeds to get care for all. The next Socialism Conference will be held in Chicago, July 3-6. Learn more about the Socialism Conference at www.socialismconference.org. Buy books from Haymarket: www.haymarketbooks.org Follow Haymarket on podcast platforms for regular event recordings, book talks, political analyses and poetry readings!
Dec 11, 2024
Season 0 Episode 0

Liberating Abortion: Claiming Our History, Sharing Our Stories, and Building the Reproductive Future

Renee Bracey Sherman, Regina Mahone, and Brittany Mostiller speak in this session recorded at Socialism 2024. Lawmakers have weaponized abortion restrictions against people of color since the 1800s, creating cycles of poverty and perpetuating racist and xenophobic stereotypes. Join Renee Bracey Sherman and Regina Mahone for a discussion on their research about why abortion liberation is key to building our collective power—and a socialist future. The next Socialism Conference will be held in Chicago, July 3-6. Learn more about the Socialism Conference at www.socialismconference.org. Buy books from Haymarket: www.haymarketbooks.org Follow Haymarket on podcast platforms for regular event recordings, book talks, political analyses and poetry readings!
Dec 11, 2024
Season 0 Episode 0

Not in Our Names: Organizing Against Supremacy and Towards Solidarity

Rebecca Vilkomerson, Alissa Wise, Beth Howard, and Pranay Somayajula speak in this session recorded at Socialism 2024. A powerful source of resistance to systems of domination and violence comes from within the very communities that are used to justify and uphold those systems. The past decades have seen impactful solidarity organizing of Jews against Zionism, Hindus against Hindutva and white people against white supremacy and Christian nationalism. Join organizers from these movements as they share lessons and discuss strategies and challenges of solidarity organizing. The next Socialism Conference will be held in Chicago, July 3-6. Learn more about the Socialism Conference at www.socialismconference.org. Buy books from Haymarket: www.haymarketbooks.org Follow Haymarket on podcast platforms for regular event recordings, book talks, political analyses and poetry readings!
Dec 11, 2024
Season 0 Episode 0

Marxism, Domination, and Freedom: Toward a Politics of Socialist Emancipation

Tom Ladendorf and Miikka Jaarte speak in this session recorded at Socialism 2024. Marx’s critique of political economy puts forward groundbreaking theories of freedom and unfreedom that are crucial for understanding capitalism and the capitalist state. We argue that socialists today should take up Marx’s critique of the market and his analysis of the dominating power of capital and capitalists. The next Socialism Conference will be held in Chicago, July 3-6. Learn more about the Socialism Conference at www.socialismconference.org. Buy books from Haymarket: www.haymarketbooks.org Follow Haymarket on podcast platforms for regular event recordings, book talks, political analyses and poetry readings!