Mark Steel joins rs21 political weekend

Mark Steel will be joining our Question Time panel “How do we organise to transform the world?” on Saturday 29 March as part of rs21’s political weekend.

Mark, a regular columnist in the independent and left-wing comedian, will be introducing his ideas on the power of protest. He will be joined by Sara Bennett from rs21 on the case for revolutionary organisation, Mike Gonzalez, returning from Latin America, on the lessons from Venezuela, and a speaker from the Middle Eastern revolutions.

The rs21 political weekend will debate the situation facing revolutionary socialists in the 21st century. The weekend will take place at Goldsmiths College, London on Saturday 29 and Sunday 30 March. Other participants include:

• Neil Davidson, author of How Revolutionary were the Bourgeois Revolutions?, on Understanding neoliberal capitalism
• Nina Power, author of One Dimensional woman, joining a panel on Marxist approaches to sexism, racism and oppression
• Ian Birchall, biographer of Tony Cliff, on Lessons of Leninism
• Estelle Cooch, former deputy editor of the Socialist Review, on Social Reproduction: what it is and why it matters
• Dan Swain, author of Alienation: an introduction to Marx’s theory, on What is revolutionary leadership?
• Lucia Pradella, from the Historical Materialism journal board, on Precarity in Europe
• Jonny Jones, former deputy editor International Socialism Journal, on Anti politics: Responses to Austerity from Occupy to Russell Brand

The weekend is a chance to discuss the big questions facing us. Mainstream politics is beset by a crisis of legitimacy yet no clear alternative has emerged. We hope that by asking the right questions the revolutionary socialist and Marxist movement can begin to shape that alternative. We invite participation from anyone interested in how we change the world.

Please support the event by registering online. Join the Facebook event to keep up to date with additions to the timetable.

The panel discussions:

• Neoliberal capitalism and the state of struggle
• Marxist approaches to racism, sexism and oppression
• Revolutionary organisation and the working class

Workshops include:

• Social reproduction: what it is and why it matters
• Social movements and united fronts today
• Shifts in reformism and reformist consciousness
• What is revolutionary leadership?
• Marxism at the margins: intersectionality and identity
• Anti-politics: responses to austerity from Occupy to Russell Brand
• How should revolutionaries organise?
• Racism, new and old
• Neoliberalism’s impact on the working class