Socialism

Today’s podcast is a discussion with Socialist Party General Secretary Hannah Sell, around the announcement on the 3rd July 2025 that Zarah Sultana MP was resigning from the Labour Party to, together with Jeremy Corbyn, “co-lead the founding of a new party, with other campaigners and activists across the country.” The Socialist Party has been pushing for the trade unions to take a leading role in any new party, and supports the change.org petition launched by 25 current and former senior trade unionists titled: “Time for trade unions to take the lead in forming a new working class party”. Sign the petition here: https://www.change.org/p/time-for-trade-unions-to-take-the-lead-in-forming-a-new-working-class-party There will be a national Zoom meeting to discuss the next steps for this campaign on the 21st July at 6:30pm. Register here: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/Ma5abmf1SCCE1_aGMZL2JA#/registration Further reading: Zarah Sultana MP leaves Labour and announces ‘co-founding a new party’ https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/140532/04-07-2025/zarah-sultana-mp-leaves-labour-and-announces-co-founding-a-new-party/ More Info - Click here for all your Socialist Party links: https://linkin.bio/socialistparty/ We need your help campaigning! The establishment political parties have the backing of the capitalist elites. We need to build a mass movement of working class fighters to take them on. Find out more details about your local campaigns and how you can help by filling in this form: http://www.socialistparty.org.uk/join The Socialist Party has no big-business backers, so we rely on your donations to fund all our campaigns. Donate at https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/donations/donatejune2025/ Subscribe to our weekly paper, ‘The Socialist’, and our monthly magazine ‘Socialism Today': https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/subscribe-2/

Hannah Sell, the general Secretary of the Socialist Party, discusses the chaos unleashed on the world economy by Donald Trump's ‘liberation day’ tariffs. What is the logic of the massive tariffs introduced by Trump? Despite appearances, it is not simply a question of a crazy billionaire having got the keys to the White House. Trump reflects the decline of US imperialism, still the strongest power on the planet, but increasingly less able to set the framework for the world. During Trump’s first term and under Biden, tariffs and protectionist measures increased, in an attempt to protect US markets from its global rivals. ‘Liberation Day’, however, was on a qualitatively different scale. Trump and his co-thinkers had drawn the conclusion that it is necessary to launch an offensive ‘knock-‘em-down, drag-‘em-out’ economic fight to defend US capitalism against its competitors, above all China. When the theatrics and fantastical hyperbole now associated with the Trump presidency are set to one side, the tariff war launched on April 2 boils down fundamentally to an attempt to appropriate to US capitalism a larger share of value from the world economy at the expense of its ‘trading partners’, “friend and foe alike” as Trump himself puts it. Read more: Trade wars and the workers’ movement An Editorial of Socialism Today, the monthly magazine of the Socialist Party www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/138333/01-05-2025/socialism-today-editorial-trade-wars-and-the-workers-movement/ Trump’s tariff turmoil An editorial of the Socialist, the weekly paper of the Socialist Party www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/137831/14-04-2025/trumps-tariff-turmoil/ More Info - Click here for all your Socialist Party links: linkin.bio/socialistparty/ We need your help campaigning! The establishment political parties have the backing of the capitalist elites. We need to build a mass movement of working class fighters to take them on. Find out more details about your local campaigns and how you can help by filling in this form: www.socialistparty.org.uk/join The Socialist Party has no big-business backers, so we rely on your donations to fund all our campaigns. Donate at www.socialistparty.org.uk/donations/donatejune2025/ Subscribe to our weekly paper, ‘The Socialist’, and our monthly magazine ‘Socialism Today': www.socialistparty.org.uk/subscribe-2/

Sascha Stanicic discusses the recent German elections in February 2025, which saw a drop in votes for the ‘establishment’ parties, and an increase in support for both the leftwing Die Linke and the right wing Alternative für Deutschland (AfD). Sascha is the federal spokesperson for– Sozialistische Organisation Solidarität (SOL) – the section of the Committee for a Workers International in Germany. The CWI is the international organization the Socialist Party is a member of, check out their website at https://www.socialistworld.net/ Read more: Germany: Election disaster for establishment parties https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/136297/05-03-2025/germany-election-disaster-for-establishment-parties/ The Left Party, Trump, Ukraine and the ‘Debt Brake’ https://www.socialistworld.net/2025/03/10/germany-the-left-party-trump-ukraine-and-the-debt-brake/ More Info - Click here for all your Socialist Party links: https://linkin.bio/socialistparty/ We need your help campaigning! The establishment political parties have the backing of the capitalist elites. We need to build a mass movement of working class fighters to take them on. Find out more details about your local campaigns and how you can help by filling in this form: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/join The Socialist Party has no big-business backers, so we rely on your donations to fund all our campaigns. Donate at https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/donations/donatejune2025/ Subscribe to our weekly paper, ‘the Socialist’, and our monthly magazine ‘Socialism Today': https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/subscribe-2/

Today’s podcast is a discussion with former socialist MP Dave Nellist, the national chair of the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC). We will be discussing some of the main themes from this year’s TUSC conference, which had the heading ‘Fighting for a new party under the Starmer government. And what role for TUSC?’ If you are not yet a member of the Socialist Party and agree with the points raised here, then that’s a very good basis for getting in touch and finding out what being a member will mean for you. Fill in this form for more information: www.socialistparty.org.uk/join Here is a list of socialist party branch meetings: www.socialistparty.org.uk/events You can also read more of our analysis in our weekly paper 'the Socialist' and our monthly magazine 'Socialism Today,' Here is a link to subscribe: www.socialistparty.org.uk/subscribe-2/ The socialist party has no big business backers, all our campaign work is funded by donations from individual supporters. Make a donation here: www.socialistparty.org.uk/donations/donatejan2025/ We also recommend checking out the Committee for a Workers International, the international organization the Socialist Party is a part of. With analysis of world events, and for those listening in other parts of the world you can get in touch to join the fight for socialism in your country, that’s www.socialistworld.net.

The election victory of Donald Trump opens a new era internationally, and domestically in the United States. This election win is not merely a changing of the guard at the White House. Although the US has had right-wing presidents in the past, for example, Ronald Reagan, who presided over a neo-liberal onslaught, including brutal attacks on the trade unions, which he tried to cripple, Trump’s new regime will be of a different order in an entirely different world situation. Trump’s win will have a decisive impact on the domestic situation and on the geo-political struggle unfolding between rival imperialist and capitalist powers. The working class and socialists must be prepared for the storm that is already crashing down on society to intensify in the coming months and years. In this episode of the podcast, socialist party general secretary hannah sell draws a balance sheet of what the election of Trump represents, and the prospects for working class struggle under his presidency. To contact the Socialist Party about this podcast or to find out about becoming a member visit: www.socialistparty.org.uk Check out the CWI, for analysis of world events, and for those listening in other parts of the world, get in touch to join the fight for socialism in your country, that’s www.socialistworld.net Further reading: Trumpism and its limits - the editorial of Socialism Today Capitalist opponents of Trump are frightened that he could damage, or even destroy, the current international order – and the US state institutions – through which the US capitalist class rules. In opposing Trump, Marxists do not give one iota of support for the existing ‘world order’, or the Democratic Party government which maintained it on behalf of US imperialism over the last four years. https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/133317/27-11-2024/socialism-today-editorial-trumpism-and-its-limits/ Trump’s election victory and the new world order - Analysis by the CWI Like the COVID pandemic, the new Trump regime will act as a great accelerator on all of the existing trends, contradictions and conflicts currently unfolding under capitalism in its protracted death agony. World events will now be marked by ‘pre-Trump’ and ‘post-Trump’ benchmarks. Trump’s victory represents the coming to power of a particularly right-wing nationalist, protectionist regime – one that will include aspects of Bonapartism, of repression, rule by presidential decree, and a further weakening of democratic rights for the American people. https://www.socialistworld.net/2024/11/26/trumps-election-victory-and-the-new-world-order/

In this episode of the podcast Josh Asker the editor of 'The Socialist,' explains the tactics and strategies needed to build a mass movement against the far right. Socialism 2024 Get your tickets for socialism here: www.socialism.org.uk Do you want to be part of building the socialist opposition that we need to end austerity, poverty, climate crisis, racism and discrimination, and war? Taking place on Saturday 9 and Sunday 10 November, the Socialism 2024 weekend will arm you with the ideas to fight back under the Starmer government against the capitalist system it defends. Socialism 2024 will be taking place only days after Rachel Reeves’ autumn budget which will show Labour’s plans to make the working class pay for the crisis of the capitalist system while the rich get richer. Join hundreds of trade unionists, students, community campaigners, and those who just want to find out about socialist ideas to discuss and debate ideas to change the world. The centrepiece of the event will be the main rally on the Saturday evening where you will hear from leading socialists. There will be over 40 workshops running throughout Saturday and Sunday on all sorts of topics. And there will be closing rallies on the Sunday afternoon. Smash racism The large counter-protests on 7 August pointed to the potential to build an anti-racist movement. We must challenge attempts by racists and the populist and far right to take advantage of the anger at Starmer’s attacks on living standards. The workshops in this theme at Socialism 2024 are an opportunity to look at the ideas needed to do that and include: You can’t have capitalism without racism: The origins of racism and the struggle to end it today Capitalism and Islamophobia After the riots: the role of the trade unions in a Community Defence Stewards organisation Further Reading: Lessons from the Fight against the Far Right: The working class has a long history of mobilising to resist attempts by far-right forces to attack and intimidate our communities. The Socialist Party and its predecessor Militant has a long history of taking part in those struggles, including at times playing a leading role. In all these struggles, the fight to stop the far right is completely bound with the fight for a socialist alternative, and mobilising the working class to fight for decent jobs and homes, fully funded services, and all our communities need. https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/130801/02-10-2024/lessons-from-the-fight-against-the-far-right/ The first lightning flashes – and what to do One month after Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour party was ‘swept to power’ by a paltry 20% of the electorate – the lowest support base of any government since the introduction of universal male suffrage in 1918 – violent protests and riots, instigated by far-right groups, broke out across the country. For those trapped in asylum-seekers’ hostels or mosques under brutal attack from gangs of rioters, the experience was terrifying. More generally, many Black, Asian and Muslim people feel that their safety is increasingly under threat. Tell Mama, a monitoring group tracking Islamophobic hate crimes, reported a five-fold increase in threats to Muslims compared to the same time last year. https://socialismtoday.org/the-first-lightning-flashes-and-what-to-do

133. Trade Union Congress 2024 If the trade unions were to take the first steps towards building a political alternative it could rapidly build into a mass force to challenge Labour, the populist and far right, and to fight for the socialist change we need. So far, the union leaders have stubbornly resisted such an initiative. But in this changed political landscape, more and more workers will inevitably come into direct conflict with Starmer’s pro-capitalist government as it is compelled to attack them under the impact of economic crisis. Even those union leaders who are today buying into and sowing the illusions of Labour being the workers’ friend will find it difficult to resist the impact of the stormy events to come. In this Episode of the podcast, Rob Williams, the socialist party’s industrial organiser, discusses the upcoming Trade Union Congress which is taking place on the 8th-11th September in Brighton and what industrial and political strategy the Socialist Party is putting forward within the workers movement. To contact the Socialist Party about this podcast or to find out about becoming a member visit: www.socialistparty.org.uk Check out the Committee for a workers International, for analysis of world events, and for those listening in other parts of the world, get in touch to join the fight for socialism in your country, that’s www.socialistworld.net Further reading Trade unions must fight New Labour austerity As things stand, Reeves is planning a ‘blood and tears’ budget on 30 October. No extra money for local councils facing ‘bankruptcy’ – sacking more workers and decimating more libraries, children’s centres and other services. Nothing to resolve the crisis in the universities. Forcing more children into poverty by refusing to scrap the two-child benefit cap. The horror list goes on. But the message that union leaders should be taking from the first few weeks of this Labour government is that when working-class people organise and fight back through strike action they can win. If given a determined lead, workers in the public sector will be confident that they can fight to win increases that go much further towards restoring what they lost under austerity, while defending public services for everyone. https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/129342/28-08-2024/trade-unions-must-fight-new-labour-austerity/ The first lightning flashes – and what to do The summer riots have brought a new immediacy to the task facing the workers’ movement of building a new, mass vehicle for its political representation, and the debate on the way to achieve this must be urgently stepped up. But to put things in proportion, just weeks into the new situation of a Starmer premiership, they are but the first lightning flashes of the wild and stormy weather to come which will further enormously develop the conditions needed to realise the goal. https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/129342/28-08-2024/trade-unions-must-fight-new-labour-austerity/