Summer School 2026

If ‘populism’ is taken to mean politics popular with the majority pitched against an elite minority, should socialists aim to make socialism ‘populist’? Certainly socialists work to make socialism popular globally with the majority, but without pandering to notions that would negate its revolutionary goal. This means being opposed to ideas that might attract wide support in the short term yet actively undermine the socialist case.

Because ‘populism’ remains ill-defined, it gets applied to a right wing group such as Reform UK, or a left wing organisation like Your Party. In the USA, Donald Trump’s Republican Party can be termed ‘populist’ as might Bernie Sanders’ variety of leftism, and similar examples are found in Europe and elsewhere. Is ‘populism’ simply reformism repackaged for the 21st century?

The Socialist Party’s weekend of talks and discussion will explore how the concept of ‘populism’ has developed, why it attracts support and what this tells us about capitalist society.

Our venue is the University of Worcester, St John’s Campus, Henwick Grove, St John’s, Worcester, WR2 6AJ. Book full cost (including accommodation and meals Friday evening to Sunday afternoon) for £150 or at the concessionary rate of £80. Bookings will close on 19th July or before.

E-mail enquiries to spgbschool@yahoo.co.uk.

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

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

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

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

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)

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Further details will be confirmed before the event