Successful Toronto Trotsky School
2008Barry Weisleder 2008-12The page as the paper published it (Wayback Machine) →
From the paper's own web edition, recovered from the Internet Archive: the text as the paper put it online, not machine-read. The printed issue of December 2008 is not held.
by Barry Weisleder / December 2008
Thoughtful, timely, quality presentations. Stimulating discussions. Over thirty people attended, with an average of about 22 per session, during the November 14-15 educational conference at the University of Toronto. The topics addressed were: “How Marx became a Marxist”, “Introduction to Marxist Economic theory”, “Is Trotsky’s Marxism relevant in the 21st Century?”, and “The Revolutionary Party in the Struggle for Socialism”. Enjoyable social gatherings occurred each evening at a nearby pub. One long time contact joined SA-Canada. Other friends and contacts drew closer. We sold a pile of literature, one new subscription to the monthly paper, plus one renewal.
Socialist Action youth comrades learned a lot. Together they planned to intervene collectively at an NDP youth conference the next weekend. An NDP Socialist Caucus display table at the ONDY gathering sold close to $80 worth of buttons and literature.
The success of the Toronto Trotsky School is largely attributable to Chicago SA comrade Adam Shils' superb presentations on Marx and Trotsky, his iconclastic humor, and inclusive style. Tom Baker drew accolades for bringing economic theory down to earth, and helping to explain the unfolding global crisis. Discussion on the revolutionary party wrapped things up nicely. It concretized how theory and practice can unite.
Much thanks goes to SA-US for pioneering the idea of Trotsky Schools. How can we not do this again?