A week is a long time in politics it was once said. A week ago a fun time was being had by many at the Socialist Party’s Summer School. The theme was populism.

There was lots of time in between the interesting and educational talks to catch up with old comrades and to meet new ones.

Oscar Wilde said he could resist everything but temptation. The temptation to purchase books and other things proved too great for many of us.

A games activity started out as competitive between several teams but in the spirit of true socialism ended up in a collective effort to solve the Bletchley Park level quiz.

One of the highlights of the weekend, among many, was the interesting display of t-shirts worn, by the males, on a Marxian theme.

The t-shirt pictured has the message in  Catalan that in life choices have to be made, fence sitting is not an option, sides have to be chosen. The wearer, like the rest of us, chose socialism.

We look forward to repeating the positive experience again next year.

Talks will be streamed through the SPGB’s Zoom channel. To connect to a Zoom meeting, click https://zoom.us/j/7421974305

Friday 21 August
7.15pm—8.45pm
Populism As A Keyword

Words change meaning, and have contested meanings (especially political words). This talk will look at the origin of the word ‘Populism’, showing how it has roots in particular movements, moments and practices that defined it at birth and have shaped its evolution into the word we use now. The talk will range from the Wizard of Oz to the Beatles, and will then come back to try and understand what populism means today.

Speaker: Bill Martin

Saturday 22 August
10:00am—11:30am
Rage Against The Dying Of The Right

The rise of populism and fascistic politics is undeniable. But should world socialists be too pessimistic? Beneath the waves of fascistic performative politics tectonic changes in class consciousness appear to be happening. This talk will try to look at populism as an insight to what really matters: the state of global working class consciousness.

• Are we being ‘gaslit’ about the strength of populism?
• Is this really a new era? Or the same old authoritarianism of capitalism, just without the pretence?
• To what extent is the working class around the world genuinely embracing conservative or nationalistic views?
• Is the rise of the far-right actually a desperate tactic by a ruling class running out of ideas?
• Is this just a temporary tech-driven anomaly (subsidized by billionaires and driven by outraged algorithms) which humanity will soon learn to overcome?

Speaker: Brian Gardner

2.00pm—3.30pm
In Search Of Left-Wing Populism

Most populist parties are right-wing (Reform UK, Fidesz in Hungary), but it has been suggested that populism could also apply to left-wing organisations (such as the Greens, maybe, or Podemos in Spain). An article in Jacobin suggested that left populists ‘have prioritized a defense of popular over national sovereignty’; this would be in contrast to national populism, an ideology which prioritizes ‘the culture and interests of the nation’ (Eatwell & Goodwin).

We will explore claims such as these and look at how standard populist positions could apply to the left, such as the division between the people and the elite, and opposition to pluralism. Is populism really such a vague notion that it can include a wide range of views?

Speaker: Paul Bennett

7.15pm—8.45pm
Red-Brown Politics In Russia And Beyond

Post-Soviet Russia has witnessed the emergence of a distinctive ‘red-brown’ political ideology, blending Soviet and Stalinist themes with ideas from the nationalist or neo-Tsarist far right. As early as 1996, the leader of the official Communist Party of the Russian Federation was speaking of Russia’s innate imperial destiny and endorsing the old Tsarist slogan ‘Orthodoxy, autocracy, popularity’ (the last word here could also be translated ‘nationality’, or indeed ‘populism’).

The left / right synthesis began in the Russian opposition, among figures like the ‘National Bolshevik’ novelist Eduard Limonov, the ‘patriotic’ general Albert Makashov, and perhaps above all the writer and newspaper editor Aleksandr Prokhanov. But aspects of it have subsequently been borrowed by the Kremlin’s propaganda operations, for audiences both inside Russia and abroad. And attempts to do something similar have been made in other countries (even, to a limited extent, in Britain): ‘populists’ of left and right have been invited to sink their differences and join forces against the ‘globalist elite’. This talk will provide an introduction to the ‘red-brown’ worldview: was Stalin a saint? Will he yet come back from the dead to redeem his people? And could any of it catch on here?

Guest speaker Edmund Griffiths

Edmund Griffiths is the author of Aleksandr Prokhanov and Post-Soviet Esotericism (2023): “a veritable map of ideological trends and fads in a disoriented […] society” (Slavic Review)

Sunday 23 August
10.00am—11.30am
Should / Could Socialism Be Populist?

Populism is any political message that’s popular, regardless of merit or political orientation. Ideas become popular when they resonate with how people think. And just how do they think? In Thinking, Fast and Slow (2011), psychologist and Nobel prize-winning behavioural economist Daniel Kahneman identifies two modes of thought. System 1 is fast, heuristic and emotional. System 2 is slow, effortful, logical and dispassionate.

In the whirl of everyday life, says Kahneman, people get by with System 1 thinking. But that’s highly vulnerable to manipulation by populist politicians. We generally explain the socialist case in the language of System 2 thinking, because we need people to understand it, not just react emotionally to it.

Which gives us a problem. If socialism is ever to succeed, it must first become popular, and to do that, it must contend with System 1 thinking. People won’t listen to us if we don’t speak their language. Is a populist socialist approach possible? What would it even look like?

Speaker: Paddy Shannon