Marxism 2014 Roundup

UPDATE - VIDEO OF OPENING RALLY NOW UP!

Opening Rally (pic from Socialist Worker)

Marxism is always a big event for anyone on the revolutionary left, but this year's was particularly good. Maybe it's because it's been a long year, maybe it's because we had a brilliant piece of national strike action the day before, maybe it's because there were some really brilliant talks and a high level of politics in the discussions.

In short, there are a lot of reasons Marxism 2014 was brilliant. In fact, it was a real wrench to leave before the end, but the world of exploitation was calling.

Running the Fringe Gauntlet to get to the picnics ...

Mmm, picnics

John Pilger, Darcus Howe, Gareth Peirce and Matt Foot prepare to discuss the legacy of our comrade Paul Foot

Branch Secretary's Picks of the Weekend

As always at Marxism, I only saw a fraction of the talks that I wanted to, but my top 5 highlights were:

• Miners Shot Down, a film about the massacre of 34 miners by the South African police in 2012. Whilst harrowing the film does an excellent job of demonstrating how the capitalist class and the state colluded in creating the situation, without editorialising. Very powerful.
• Still The Enemy Within, another film about miners, this time covering the 1984-5 Miners' Strike that almost brought down Thatcher. Lots of excellent contributions from miners and footage that is still disturbing 30 years on. A powerful indictment of the state, neoliberalism and the police.
• What is happening in Ukraine? I knew very little about the situation in the Ukraine and its political context before this meeting, and after half an hour of Rob's talk I feel like I have at least a general idea and have scratched at the surface a bit. Here's the intro from the talk - the whole thing will be on the SWP Youtube channel soon (see the link in the 'Useful Sites' list to the right of this article).

• Drugs, Gangs and Racism the speaker, Dean, did an excellent job of analysing the roots of gangs in our society and their roots in class society. There were excellent contributions from many people who work with vulnerable young people and even a surprise political rehabilitation of Ross Kemp!
• Challenges for the left in Britain Today. Charlie Kimber gave an excellent analysis of the situation after the 10th July strikes and outlined a series of priorities for revolutionaries going forward, from standing up to UKIP, pushing for further strike action, encouraging confidence and militancy from activists prepared to fight and the need to be outward facing and working wherever possible with groups where we can establish common ground, from the Freedom Riders to the People's Assembly.

What were your impressions of Marxism this year? Were you able to stay all the way through? Comments below the line please!