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Podcast Series

Socialism Conference

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

Episodes

All Seasons Season 0
Oct 4, 2025

Political Education 2: Slavery, Colonialism, and Primitive Accumulation

This session was sponsored by B-REAL Academy, Center for Political Education, Claudia Jones School, KC Defender, Highlander Center, and W.E.B. Du Bois Movement School.

Capitalism has never been just an economic system, but has instead always relied on the use of violence, law, and the state in a process Marx described as "so-called primitive accumulation," which reaches its height in colonialism and slavery. This participatory workshop will provide an introduction to this concept and its ongoing relevance, and guide a collective mapping of its relevance for the present.

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!

Oct 4, 2025

Political Education 1: Basics of Materialist Analysis

This session was sponsored by B-REAL Academy, Center for Political Education, Claudia Jones School, KC Defender, Highlander Center, and W.E.B. Du Bois Movement School.

Marxism isn't just about applying concepts to the world, it's about analyzing the world around us in a materialist way: looking at the way things are made, where and how people live, and who holds the power. This workshop will provide an introduction to materialist analysis before guiding participants in activities geared toward analyzing contemporary reality to ask what we're up against and how we can fight it.

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!

Oct 3, 2025

Green Social Housing

Maria Gabrielle, Renette Bradley, Matthew Nursey, and Nicole Murray speak in this session recorded at Socialism 2025. This session was sponsored by DSA.

Rent is through the roof! Join tenant and housing organizers to discuss how tenant power and publicly-owned municipal social housing can solve the cost-of-living crisis.

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!

Oct 3, 2025

How Worker-to-Worker Organizing Can Transform America

Eric Blanc and Jasson Perez speak in this session recorded at Socialism 2025.

At a bleak moment in US politics, the labor movement provides a rare source of hope. What are the main lessons of the bottom-up unionization surge that has swept the United States since 2021? And how can this grassroots labor momentum be continued under the new Trump administration?

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!

Oct 2, 2025

Hubert Harrison: Forbidden Genius of Black Radicalism

Brian Kwoba and Robin D.G. Kelley speak in this session recorded at Socialism 2025.

Hubert Harrison, the “father of Harlem radicalism,” blazed a trail for Black organizers in the Socialist Party. His Liberty League of Negro Americans catalyzed the rise of Marcus Garvey and the largest international organization of Black people in history. And he defended free love. Because of his radicalism, however, Harrison’s visionary legacy has been erased from popular memory. Until now.

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!

Oct 2, 2025

This is the Human Race Speaking: Reviving the Bandung Spirit in a Multipolar World

Pranay Somayajula speaks in this session recorded at Socialism 2025.

As U.S. empire decays and the world order becomes increasingly multipolar, internationalist solidarity is more important than ever before. In this talk, Pranay Somayajula will discuss the worldmaking legacy of the Third Worldist movement, and argue for the re-centering of genuine anti-imperialism as a core pillar of the Left's radical agenda.

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!

Oct 1, 2025

Showdown in Germany: The Left Party and the Fight Against Fascism in 2025

This session was sponsored by Marx21 Germany.

In the March elections, the Left Party made a surprising comeback. At the same time, the far-right AfD is now leading in the polls - especially among workers and low-income voters. With the new Merz government pushing austerity and militarization, the urgent question is: how should the left in Germany respond to this political landscape?

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!

Oct 1, 2025

Mask Off Maersk

Roua Daas and Lea Kayali speak in this session recorded at Socialism 2025. This session was sponsored by the Palestinian Youth Movement.

After almost 20 months of an ongoing U.S.-backed genocide, we have seen that the government will not enact an arms embargo, but with organization and coordination, the people will.

Our demands:

1) Stop transporting military cargo complicit in the genocide of the Palestinian people

2) Terminate all contracts that support war and genocide

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!

Sep 30, 2025

The Proletariat Has No Homeland: Property and the Surplus Class

Tracy Rosenthal, Marques Vestal, and Beatrice Adler-Bolton speak in this session recorded at Socialism 2025. This session was sponsored by Death Panel.

Discussions of “surplus populations” often fixate on labor markets; those cast out of work, left idle, or deemed unproductive. This session explores how the state organizes surplus not just through production, but through property and confinement. From land enclosures to the prison-industrial complex, the management of “surplus” has always been a question of containment, racialized abandonment, and carceral exile. Drawing on histories of displacement, abolitionist thought, and housed and unhoused tenant organizing, the discussion will examine surplus not as a demographic misfortune, but as a structural necessity of capital, and as a flashpoint of resistance. What emerges is not a question of productivity but of place—who is allowed to belong, and who must be removed to keep property regimes intact.

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!

Sep 30, 2025

Reproductive Justice, Family Policing, and Abolition

Josie Pickens and connease warren speak in this session recorded at Socialism 2025. This session was sponsored by the upEND Movement.

Since chattel slavery, state violence has regulated reproduction, evolving into institutions like family policing, which disproportionately targets marginalized communities under the guise of child protection. Using a reproductive justice framework, this session examines how surveillance, punishment, and control in family policing perpetuate reproductive oppression, undermining autonomy and justice.

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!