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Summer lecture series 2022
Online and Onsite lectures - Trade Unions and the Labour Party: The Influence of Economism, Imperialism and Syndicalism commencing 12 July
This series of three lectures/discussions, delivered by Alex Gordon and Mary Davis, will analyse the historic relationship between British trade unions and the Labour Party. It will examine the development of the uniquely labourist form of British social democracy and question why, unlike other European countries, this has led to reformism rather than Marxism as the dominant creed of the British Labour Movement. This analysis will be placed in the context of comprehending the role of British imperialism and the mass penetration of its racist and eugenicist ideology. Following this we will look at today’s debate relating to the trade union/Labour Party link and assess this in terms of an understanding of economism from both right- and left-wing perspectives. Finally, we assess the limits of economism and other impediments to the essential task of the development of class consciousness in the fight to end capitalist exploitation and oppression.