**

*Working-class political education: what to do?*

This is a participatory conference for change-makers (academics, trade 
unionists and community activists) on working-class/trade union 
education, politics and organising.

*Critical Labour Studies <http://criticallabourstudies.org.uk/>* is 
hosting a *two-day conference on 7-8 July 2018 in London* looking at 
working class and activists’ political education. It is doing so in 
partnership with the Ella Baker School of Transformative Organising 
<https://mailchi.mp/28cf4bf7a488/letsgetthispartystarted?e=d35f3eccf6> 
and supported by Unite the union. By political education, we do not mean 
teaching people to recite political dogma, or to adopt a particular 
line, but rather equipping people with the ability to analyse, for 
themselves, the politics of any given situation that they are 
experiencing or seeking to change.

In the light of the political polarisation taking place across advanced 
industrial economies there has quite simply never been a time when 
literacy on political economy is more necessary for working class 
activists. Unfortunately, we have seen a long-term decline in that 
political education. Trade unions, once the ‘universities’ of the 
working class, have been in sharp decline for decades and few now 
prioritise working class education – even the ‘skills based’ training on 
representation and advocacy is now under threat as a result of funding 
cuts.

But to effectively change a system, the labour movement needs to equip 
people to analyse its strengths and weakness, and develop strategic 
initiatives designed to maximise the opportunities for success. It also 
needs to be able to counter those dominant narratives that demobilise 
people, where people believe that nothing can be done, or that poor 
people are feckless, or that immigrants are to blame for the ills of 
society.

*The conference will be made up of practitioner and academic speakers 
and workshops and will explore what we can do, as a working-class 
movement, to create a new wave of radical education to genuinely equip 
people to become leaders in their trade unions and communities. *

The combination of Britain’s largest trade union, the Ella Baker School, 
and the rigour of academia, as well as (we hope) numerous groups who are 
in the front line of change making today, means this will be no ordinary 
conference. It will combine a series of plenary sessions with speakers 
from different but complimentary backgrounds. It will involve workshops 
and breakout sessions and it will be an opportunity to showcase some of 
the new educational materials developed by the Ella Baker School, which 
are already becoming a popular open source resource.

A number of themes have already emerged, but we are open to further 
suggestions (see below):

*• The rich history of independent working-class education*

 From the very early stirring s of the working-class movement, even 
before mass literacy, papers like the Chartist’s Northern Star were 
focal points of organisation and consciousness raising. Formal study 
groups gave rise to institutions such as the Workers Education 
Association and Ruskin College who are still with us today, but now 
highly dependent on (some would say beholden to) state funding. But how 
did they, and others such as the Plebs League emerge, reach an audience 
and sustain themselves?

*• Is there a working-class pedagogy (theory of learning)?*

As state education of our children becomes increasingly preoccupied with 
rote learning and testing, the ideas of Paulo Friere, with the focus on 
the classroom as being a place to create knowledge rather than merely 
transfer it, are finding a new audience. But what is the essence of 
student centred and experiential learning? To what extent is Friere’s 
vision being ritualised rather than practiced? How do you create a 
culture of co-operative learning, and more importantly how can we 
develop programmes that can be effectively cascaded by volunteer 
educators? Finally, what is the relationship between classroom learning 
and direct experience of change making?

*• Intersectionality, the missing link in working class education?*

For many years Marxism was criticised for being blind to anything but 
class exploitation. Oppression in the form of racism, sexism, etc. was 
seen primarily as capital’s way to divide and rule and to create 
opportunities for super-exploitation. With the publication of /Beyond 
the Fragments/ in 1979, the idea that there might be a specifically 
female experience of oppression and exploitation under capitalism found 
a wide resonance within an emerging socialist feminist movement and 
complemented the many contributions of Pan-African Marxists. 
Intersectionality, the theory that in an oppressive and exploitative 
society, various elements of our given identity, such as class, race, 
sexual orientation, disability and gender, are complexly interwoven, and 
that consideration of the nature of those complex inter-relationships 
are essential to an understanding of our lived experience, should not be 
controversial. So how can we constructively engage with the insights of 
both Marxism and intersectionality?

*• Trade unions and political education*

In 1972, the Government implemented the Donovan Commission’s 
recommendations on industrial relations reform. The Commission’s stated 
objective was to reduce unofficial action and restrictive practices, 
many would argue its real objective was to rebalance power away from 
working-class communities. It led to the first enactment of unfair 
dismissal law, and, for the first time, state funding for trade union 
education (soon amended to a requirement that the training was 
skills-based rather than political). The introduction of regulatory 
norms reduced the necessity for militant trade unionism to protect 
workers from victimisation (reducing the political education that arose 
from direct experience) and reduced the level of political analysis 
taught by trade unions (traditionally the universities of the working 
class). This accompanied with the deindustrialisation that has occurred 
over the same period has weakened, objectively and subjectively, the 
traditional base of working-class militancy and political education.

*• Political education and community-based organising*

Most community-based organising includes a commitment to training, 
including ‘power mapping’, but given the high level of dependence on 
both charitable and state funding in this sector, how easy is it for 
them to really ‘speak truth to power’? Meanwhile, Jane McAlevey has 
recently argued that the reliance on the ‘Alinsky Model’ (underplaying 
the insights of both militant trade unionism and the African American 
Freedom movement) and his opposition to ‘ideologies’ has undermined the 
ability of community organising initiatives to deal effectively with 
power. Is she right, and if so, is there any wriggle room? And finally, 
what can we learn from (and indeed, what can we offer) the new wave of 
activist groups such as Sisters Uncut, and Black Lives Matter?

*• Understanding what resources exist, exploring what is missing and how 
do we ‘get to scale’*

Over the last 40 years, the opportunities for working class communities 
to engage in political education have dwindled. But the need for 
working-class people to develop the ability to independently analyse the 
world around them has never been greater. Some trade unions still run 
political schools, but their reach is limited. A few, often small, 
voluntary-led organisations do focus on working class history and 
politics, but are not always well-networked, which means there are 
probably more gaps than there is coverage. So, what does need to be done 
to return individual political analysis (and agency) to working-class 
communities? And to what extent do the numerous ‘community organising’ 
projects develop their members’ political analyses?

*We are inviting contributions from academics, educators and activists 
from trade unions and community groups *

We need your help to make this event a success. We want historical 
analysis, current insights and specific action plans. We are therefore 
looking for potential contributors with suggestions for round table 
discussions, themed sessions and workshops.

*If you would like to suggest a session, or to contribute to one of the 
above, then please email Jane Holgate setting out what you would like to 
do: [log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]> *

*Attendance/registration details*

There is a sliding scale of registration fees: if your employer is 
paying, or you are sponsored by your trade union or other group, then 
the cost is £75. If you are self-paying then the cost is £37.50. If you 
are unemployed or on a low income, then you can still attend, as we have 
reserved a number of places for those who cannot afford to pay.

The registration fee includes, tea/coffee/biscuits during both Saturday 
and Sunday. Lunch on Saturday, and dinner as part of an evening social 
on Saturday.The conference begins on Saturday 10am-6pm and finishes at 
1pm on the Sunday. You will be responsible for organising your own 
accommodation, but if you are unemployed, on low income we may be able 
to help source a room for you.

*To register for the two-day conference*(7-8 July 2018 at Unite the 
Union, Theobald’s Road, Holborn, London) visit: 
https://goo.gl/forms/29A9r7N2DH7BvdRU2

Registration will be on a first come, first served basis and there is a 
maximum of 100 places.

-- 
Professor Jane Holgate
Professor of Work and Employment Relations

Work and Employment Relations Division
Leeds University Business School
31 Lyddon Terrace (room 2.05)
University of Leeds LS2 9JT

email: [log in to unmask]
Mobile: 07960 798399