In July 2024, 3,500 people took part in the Marxism Conference in London. Among them were a group of over 50 people from Germany, mainly in and around the German organisation Sozialismus von Unten (SVU) and/or theleftberlin.
The conference started on 4th July, the day of the British election, where the ruling Conservatives suffered a crushing defeat. The main victors were Keir Starmer’s Labour Party (although Labour received fewer votes than in the previous 2 elections when the party was led by Jeremy Corbyn). An unprecdented 5 independent pro-Gaza MPs were elected, including Corbyn, who had been banned from standing for Labour.
The other main victor at the election was Nigel Farage’s right wing Reform party. Because of the peculiarities of British election logic, Reform did not win many seats, but they are poised to pounce if and when Keir Starmer’s Labour break their minimal election promises. The rise of the international far right was one of the two topics which dominated many of the discussions at the Conference. The German delegation was able to report from the recent attempt to close down the AfD Conference in Essen.
The other topic was Palestine solidarity. On the Saturday afternoon, Conference took a pause so that we could all attend the 100,000 strong Palestine demo. Many of the delegates from Germany were surprized, not just by the size of the thing, but also by the relative lack of police presence. Marching through London gave us a sense of our power.
When we returned from the demo, the next session was supposed to feature Corbyn talking about radical poetry. He was severely delayed, as he’d also been demonstrating and had stopped to chat with the many journalists wanting to talk to him. Once he arrived, he read the room, threw away his poetry speech for another time, and talked about his extraordinary electoral success and the challenges facing the British and international Left.
The room was full, and many people were stuck outside, so Corbyn went into the hallway and repeated his speech. Whatever criticisms one might have about some of his strategical decisions, Corbyn and the other independents are acting as a lightning rod to channel the opposition to a Starmer government which has already finished its honeymoon period.
theleftberlin was also able to organise a stall selling t-shirts and tote bags, making a total of €1000. Half of the profits will go to people in Gaza, the other half to supporting our activities in Berlin (including this website). We were also able to chat and make links with other international activists who visited our stall.
As well as the several discussions on Palestine, the far right, and the elections, there were meetings on everything from a new graphic novel about Toussaint L’Ouverture and the Haitian slave revolt to the politics of disco. After the conference, I asked some of the people there about their experiences. You can see some of their answers below.
