The 2026 Committee for a Workers’ International (CWI) Summer School opened on Thursday 30 July with a plenary discussion on “Revolution and Counter-Revolution in this Age of Capitalist Crisis”, introduced by Tony Saunois, CWI Secretary, with a reply from Bob Labi from the International Secretariat. The discussion continued throughout the afternoon and focused on the world perspectives facing the workers’ movement in the current period of capitalist instability.
The School in Berlin brought together around 180 comrades and guests from Europe, North America, Latin America, the Middle East, South Asia, South-East Asia and Africa, with the largest delegations coming from England & Wales and Germany. Countries represented included Austria, Chile, England & Wales, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Romania, India, Ireland, Malaysia, Nigeria, Scotland, South Africa, Sri Lanka, United States. Also present were guests from the Socialist Struggle Movement from Israel/Palestine.
Friday’s programme consisted largely of workshops covering a wide range of political, economic and theoretical questions. Sessions examined the crisis of Trump’s second presidency in the US, the role of BRICS+ and the rise of new middle powers, the changing world economy and prospects for capitalist crisis, and the deepening crisis in Nigeria and the relevance of the Permanent Revolution. Other discussions addressed the current stage of the struggle for women’s rights, perspectives for South and East Asia, Zionism, the Bund, the state of Israel and the Nakba from a Marxist standpoint, developments in Latin America, eco-socialism and environmental debates on the left, Pan-Africanism and Marxism, and the war in Ukraine together with the programme Marxists should adopt. A theoretical session on dialectics and materialism also explored contemporary debates around quantum theory and Slavoj Žižek’s new book Quantum History.
On Saturday 1 August the school returned to plenary sessions. The morning focused on the class struggle in Europe, with International Secretariat comrade Hannah Sell providing the introduction and Niall Mulholland replying. The afternoon plenary was devoted to the national question in Israel/Palestine and the CWI’s programme, with contributions from Judy Beishon and Niall Mulholland of the International Secretariat alongside guest speakers from Socialist Struggle Movement in Israel/Palestine and comrades from several sections speaking during this rich discussion.
Historical, political and organisational questions
Sunday’s workshops ranged across historical, political and organisational questions. Topics included Cuba and the threat of counter-revolution, the European Union in a multipolar world, the war on Iran and its implications for class struggle, democratic rights and new forms of repression and Bonapartism, the Chinese Revolutions of 1927 and 1949, left populism and developments within the European left, LGBTQ+ liberation, the rise of the populist and far right together with Marxist positions on immigration, the consequences of artificial intelligence and Big Tech for capitalism and the working class, the anniversary of the Soweto Uprising, methods of building the revolutionary party through recruitment and integration, and the struggle to transform the trade unions and combat bureaucracy.
The school concluded on Monday 3 August with a plenary discussion on China: Class Character and Perspectives, introduced by CWI Secretary Tony Saunois and replied to by Philip Stott, from the International Secretariat. The final session was devoted to the struggle for a revolutionary socialist international, introduced by Sean Figg, International Secretariat, and drawing inspiring contributions from representatives of several CWI sections, including Germany, Malaysia, England and Wales, and Nigeria.
Overall, the 2026 Summer School was a rich arena of Marxist discussion and debate, raising the political understanding of all those who attended, and reflecting the democratic traditions of the CWI. The School discussions will now be reported back to all the CWI sections and groups.
Articles based on a selection of the plenary sessions and workshops will be published on the socialistworld.net.