Support the Big Ride for Palestine!

The Big Ride for Palestine raises awareness and solidarity with Palestine. Last Sunday it came through Derby and SWP comrades were some of those who went out to show their support - with one comrade feeling fit enough to join the ride for part of the way!

To find out more about The Big Ride you can visit their website here or their Facebook page here.

Update #92

This entry has been updated to reflect changes in the next public meeting.

A short update this week, to let you know about our next branch meeting in September.

Public Meeting

The SWP is a party of activists who know that we need to understand the world to be effective in our actions. Our meetings have a discussion about key issues: economic, political, historical and cultural; as well as planning for events and activities.

We are pleased to announce that our next meeting will be an

East Midlands SWP Joint Meeting!

Wednesday 31st August

7 pm

International Community Centre, 61b Mansfield Road, NG1 3FN.

Our guest speaker will be Joseph Choonara, a leading member of the Socialist Workers Party. This is sure to be a big and exciting event - see you there!

Can't make our meetings?
If you want to find out more about us, meet some of our comrades, sign up to any of our petitions, find out about campaigns we are involved in, buy our paper or get hold of some of our other literature, why not come along to the campaign stall on Saturdays?

Find us on St Peter's St from 12 pm!

Jeremy Corbyn in Derby

On Tuesday, Jeremy Corbyn came to Derby to hold a rally. It was a big success, getting hundreds of people out in the middle of the day in a working week.

 Jeremy and the other speakers spoke about the need to end austerity, scrap the anti-trade union laws, involve workers in the running of industry, renationalise the railways and free education from the grip of the market.

All these would represent real gains for the working class in this country and we wholly support Corbyn in trying to achieve these aims. He also represents growing confidence in the working class and a combative mood to take on neoliberal capitalism.

In the SWP we support Jeremy. We absolutely support him and the policies that he represents against the right-wing Parliamentary Labour Party coup which would represent very few members of the party, offer very little in gains for the working class and  do nothing for the confidence of workers to challenge the bosses and the ruling class.

However, we do not think that Corbynomics offers any serious challenge to the capitalist system and do not think that parliamentary politics is an effective substitute for working class self-emancipation. Corbyn's election offers the prospect of real improvements in workers' lives, which is why we support him, but is not itself going to resolve the problems created by the system under which we live. For more detail on this position, there have been several articles in recent issues of Socialist Worker, Socialist Review and the International Socialism Journal. A good overview by Alex Callinicos is here: Two Faces of Reformism.

Somewhere between 800 and 1000 people came out to hear a progressive, inclusive, anti-racist message and there was clearly a lot of enthusiasm for Corbyn's politics. It's a great indication of the will to fight back against the Tories and the desire for a better world for all of us.

There was also a stall from the Stand Up To Racism campaign which is growing well in the city. It was fantastic to be at another large, inclusive event in the city alongside other anti-racist campaigners where broad anti-racist politics are welcome.

We will be discussing Corbyn and the Labour Party at our next public meeting on Thursday 8th September, 7 pm, West End Community Centre, Mackworth Road, Derby (next to Britannia Mill). It's the burning question for everyone on the left so bring your voice to the debate!

Marxism 2016 - It's Not Too Late!

This year's Marxism Festival was full of fantastic meetings on every topic under the sun, but if you couldn't make it, don't despair!

Many of the meetings were filmed, and most of those videos have now been uploaded to our Youtube channel. You can find the playlist here:



In addition, those meetings which weren't filmed were all recorded. Get your year's supply of socialist meetings on MP3 from our Bandcamp page here!

Make sure you don't miss out on announcements about next year's festival - bookmark the official festival page https://marxismfestival.org.uk/

Marxism Festival is a one-of-a-kind event, the largest in Europe. Join thousands of lefties for 5 days of meetings, gigs, films and much, much more!

If you like what you see and hear at Marxism, why not come along to our branch meetings and consider joining us? The SWP is at the heart of the struggle, but we need to be as big as possible to be as effective as possible!

As our rulers try to force more sexism, racism, austerity, poverty, inequality and more wars onto us we have a world to win.

Update #91

A short update this week, to let you know about our next branch meeting this Thursday.

Branch Meeting

The SWP is a party of activists who know that we need to understand the world to be effective in our actions. Our meetings have a discussion about key issues: economic, political, historical and cultural; as well as planning for events and activities.

Thursday 4th August
7 pm
West End Community Centre on Mackworth Road (next to Britannia Mill).

Can't make our meetings?
If you want to find out more about us, meet some of our comrades, sign up to any of our petitions, find out about campaigns we are involved in, buy our paper or get hold of some of our other literature, why not come along to the campaign stall on Saturdays?

Find us on St Peter's St from 12 pm!