Summer School 2026

[Mike Foster]

2026’s Summer School on the theme of Populism will be held in Worcester on 21st – 23rd August. For more information, and to make a booking, visit https://www.worldsocialism.org/spgb/summer-school-2026/ Details of the weekend’s talks will be announced in due course.

[Mike Foster]

I’m pleased to announce the first of the talks at this year’s Summer School on Populism, being held in Worcester on 21st – 23rd August. Paddy Shannon will be speaking on ‘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?

For more information, including about making a booking, visit https://www.worldsocialism.org/spgb/summer-school-2026/

[h.moss@swansea.ac.uk]

Sounds great.

[Mike Foster]

Here are details of another talk at August’s Summer School on the theme of Populism. Bill Martin will be speaking on ‘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. This talk will range from the Wizard of Oz to the Beatles, and will then come back to try and understand what populism means today.
For more information about the event, including how to make a booking, go to https://www.worldsocialism.org/spgb/summer-school-2026/

[Mike Foster]

Here are details of another talk at this year’s Populism-themed Summer School. Brian Gardner will be speaking about the following:

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?

Other sessions will be announced soon. The event is being held in Worcester on 21st – 23rd August, and more information can be found here: https://www.worldsocialism.org/spgb/summer-school-2026/

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