Important Update: The conference location has been moved to U.C. Berkeley, Evans Hall!

The country and California are in the midst of the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. Talk of an economic recovery for Wall Street belies the reality facing millions of working people who face work speedups, cuts in wages and health benefits, and layoffs. The California budget crisis is being resolved on the backs of the working class with steep cuts to education, health care, and other social services—even as Democratic and Republican politicians increase subsidies to large corporations, most of which pay no taxes, by $9 billion!

There is a way out of the crisis, and it depends on the ability of workers, students, and all oppressed people to organize themselves into a grassroots opposition to the pro-business agenda in Sacramento. Join us for the Northern California Socialist Conference, where activists from the entire Bay Area will come together to discuss the challenges we face and debate the way forward.

The evening panel will feature LGBT activist and author Sherry Wolf on What’s Next in the Fight for LGBT Liberation, as well as reportbacks from other activists from the National Equality March for LGBT equality in Washington, D.C.

Scroll down for the full schedule.

Download the flier.

Tickets: $20 - $50 sliding scale.

Register at the conference or online:

Full Schedule

Saturday, November 14th

9am - 10am

Registration

10am - 10:30am

What is Socialism (Cameron Sturdevant)

11am - 12:30pm Session 1

Can Labor Win? (Larry Bradshaw)
Explaining the Economic Crisis in California (Deborah Goldsmith)
Lenin's Political Thought (Andy Libson)
The Socialist Strategy for the Liberation of the Oppressed (Dana Blanchard)

12:30pm - 2pm Lunch Break

2pm - 3:30pm Session 2

Student Struggles: Then and Now (Alex Schmaus)
Race and Racism in the U.S. (Sid Patel)
Trotsky's Fight Against Stalinism (Elizabeth Terzakis)
Is Revolution Possible in the U.S.? (Jeff Boyette)

4pm - 5:30pm Session 3

What Happened to Obama? (Lance Selfa and Rose Aguilar)
Afghanistan: Good War or Quagmire? (Jeremy Tully)
What is Dialectics? (Jessie Muldoon)
What Would Socialism Look Like? (Ragina Johnson)

5:30pm - 7pm Dinner Break

7pm - 9pm

Fighting the Budget Cuts in California, featuring:

• Adrienne Johnstone, United Educators of San Francisco*
• Blanca Misse, UC Berkeley Student Worker Action Team*
• Kathryn Lybarger, UC Berkeley AFSCME Local 3299*
• Professor Gopal Balakrishnan, UCSC Department of History of Consciousness, editorial board of the New Left Review*

Sunday, November 15th

11am - 1pm

History of the ISO (Todd Chretien)

1pm - 3pm

LGBT: We have only begun to fight! Report back from the DC National Equality March and next steps for the movement, featuring:

• Sherry Wolf, steering committee of the National Equality March* and author of Sexuality and Socialism
• Seth Fowler, organizer with One Struggle, One Fight, steering committee member of the National Equality March, and organizer for Equality Across America
• Whitney Walton, organizer with One Struggle, One Fight and youth organizer for the National Equality March
• David McElhatton, organizer with One Struggle, One Fight, Gender Diversity Project at CCSF, and organizer for the Transgender Caucus at the National Equality March

3pm - 5pm

Haymarket Books Social

*Organization listed for identification purposes only.