Socialism Conference
Socialism Conference
Haymarket Audio
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
Migrant Sex Workers Against Fascism: Lessons from 150 Years of Resistance
Chanelle Gallant, Elene Lam, Emi Koyama, and Yves Tong Nguyen speak in this session recorded at Socialism 2025. Travel bans, ICE abductions and deportations of green card holders are nothing new for migrants in the sex industry. But their lives and struggles also offer us a blueprint for resisting surveillance, criminalization and the “good immigrant” vs “bad immigrant” division. Instead they inspire us to transform fear and uncertainty into creativity, power, empathy and noncompliance. The next Socialism Conference will be held in Chicago, September 4-7, 2026. Learn more about the Socialism Conference at www.socialismconference.org. Buy books from Haymarket: www.haymarketbooks.org
Nov 20, 2025
42 min
All Our Movements in this Together
Silky Shah, Eman Abdelhadi, Mariah Parker, Mikaela Loach, and Scout Bratt speak in this session recorded at Socialism 2025. Amid relentless authoritarian attacks and power grabs, it will take all our movements to bring down the oligarchs and build a different kind of future. Join us for the Socialism 2025 final plenary as we confront a pivotal political moment and ground ourselves to come out stronger on the other side.The next Socialism Conference will be held in Chicago, September 4-7, 2026. 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!
Nov 9, 2025
1 hr 7 min
Bottom Up for Liberation: An Anti-Imperialist Strategy for our Movement
Sal Ami, Rebecca John, Carl Redwood, and Sara Roschdi speak in this session recorded at Socialism 2025. This session was sponsored by Bottom Up for Liberation.We are an emerging cadre formation of social movement leftists, growing out of the LeftRoots process. Too often internationalism is an obligatory footnote to local and electoral struggles--but for us, anti-imperialism is essential to our daily and long-term work to win ecofeminist socialism, from our communities to the world.The next Socialism Conference will be held in Chicago, September 4-7, 2026. 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!
Nov 9, 2025
37 min
The Struggle for Collective Liberation: Class, Oppression, and the Politics of Resistance
Jesse Sharkey, Eric Maroney, and Donna Murch speak in this session recorded at Socialism 2025. This session was sponsored by Spectre Journal.In order to build an effective resistance to Trump’s intensified attacks, we must combine the fight against oppression—including against the right's racist attacks, and its transphobia—with the struggle to build resistance to exploitation in the workplace. In this panel, we will discuss attacks by the right and the Trump administration, and strategies to fight back that effectively combine struggles against exploitation and oppression.The next Socialism Conference will be held in Chicago, September 4-7, 2026. 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!
Nov 8, 2025
52 min
Caregiving Toward Abolition: Workshop and Story Circles
Nadine Naber and Maya Schenwar speak in this session recorded at Socialism 2025. Caregiving is an integral part of movements for liberation. In this moment of rising fascism, it's especially crucial to uplift this care work, including care for children. Supporting young people and each other in concrete, material ways, day to day and hour to hour, is an essential component of resistance. In this workshop, we will engage with these themes, informed by the anthology We Grow the World Together: Parenting Toward Abolition. We'll also offer an opportunity to be part of a circle in which we'll share stories of caregiving in a supportive space.The next Socialism Conference will be held in Chicago, September 4-7, 2026. 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!
Nov 8, 2025
33 min
Lessons from Below: Learn from/with Palms Unhoused Mutual Aid (PUMA) and Build your own Abolitionist Network of Care
Ndindi Kitonga speaks in this session recorded at Socialism 2025. Palms Unhoused Mutual Aid (PUMA) is an abolitionist network of care based in Palms, Los Angeles, CA. This interactive workshop is designed for those interested in building their own networks. We will offer insights and missteps from our work at PUMA. We will also explore libertory practices towards community care that centers unhoused and precariously housed persons. The next Socialism Conference will be held in Chicago, September 4-7, 2026. 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!
Nov 7, 2025
44 min
Fighting Fragmentation: Building Cross-Sectoral Social Movements
Felix T., Bri M., and Yasser Munif speak in this session recorded at Socialism 2025. This session was sponsored by Black Rose/Rosa Negra Anarchist Federation.Movement organizations often hesitate to engage beyond their immediate focus. This panel highlights organizers who expanded their efforts—a tenant union opposing a police training facility and a labor union joining the fight for a ceasefire in Gaza—demonstrating the power and necessity of a transversal approach to collective action.The next Socialism Conference will be held in Chicago, September 4-7, 2026. 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!
Nov 7, 2025
53 min
Hope at the Edge of the Abyss: The Case for Revolution
Natalia Tylim and David McNally speak in this session recorded at Socialism 2025. This session was sponsored by Tempest Collective.Amid genocide, Trump’s authoritarian onslaught, climate catastrophe, and the threat of fascism—we are living at the edge of capitalism’s abyss. This meeting will make the case for why revolution is not only necessary, but also why mass struggles of working class and oppressed peoples make it possible. Our approach to the immediate and defensive struggles of today is inseparable from our insistence that ending this nightmare requires the revolutionary transformation of society.The next Socialism Conference will be held in Chicago, September 4-7, 2026. 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!
Nov 6, 2025
40 min
Debate and Discussion: Socialists, Independent Politics, and the Democratic Party
Howie Hawkins, Bennett Carpenter, Ashik Siddique, Lee Wengraf speak in this session recorded at Socialism 2025. This session was sponsored by Solidarity, Groundwork DSA, and Tempest.Socialists have historically taken quite different postures toward engagement with the Democratic Party. For some, it is the only existing avenue to mass influence and a necessary means to block growing fascist influence in elected positions. For others, the Democratic Party is an institutional barrier to the advancement of social movements and a key factor creating the conditions for growing fascism in the US. Join us for a comradely debate among socialists from various points of view.The next Socialism Conference will be held in Chicago, September 4-7, 2026. 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!
Nov 5, 2025
47 min
Putin’s Anti-War Political Prisoners in Russia
Ksenia Kagarlitskaya, Boris Kagarlitsky, Grusha Gilaeva, and Simon Pirani speak in this session recorded at Socialism 2025. This panel examines Putin’s repression of critical voices, those who have publicly opposed his war of aggression against Ukraine. Boris Kagarlitsky, the well-known Marxist critic of Putin's regime, is currently serving a five year sentence in a penal colony for "justifying terrorism" – a charge stemming from a satirical comment about the Crimean bridge explosion. While Kagarlitsky’s case has drawn international attention, many other leftwing critics remain imprisoned in obscurity, often held in appalling conditions.The next Socialism Conference will be held in Chicago, September 4-7, 2026. 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!
Nov 5, 2025
58 min
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