The New Party Podcast

In the first of a short series of episodes exploring the topic of community organising, Sonali Bhattacharyya joins Tom to discuss anti-raids organising in Waltham Forest. How does a group form? What else in the wider ecosystem needs to be considered and engaged with? What works? What makes it sustainable and effective? Sonali talks generously and honestly about what she has learned and what we can all learn and do. The need for anti-raids organising is particularly acute at this moment, and there is much in this discussion that shows how interconnected and important other forms of community organising are in making this ground-level work effective. There is a lot of insight into the practicalities and what makes things work which listeners will find useful in their own activity.Links mentioned in the episode:Anti-Raids Network https://antiraids.net/Everybody to Kenmure Street (doc) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Everybody_to_Kenmure_StreetSuburban Socialism by Oliver Durose https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/696636/suburban-socialism-by-oly-durose/Defend The Community Organising Unit: Activists into Organisers by Tom Williams https://newsocialist.org.uk/activists-organisers/

In this episode we revisit Your Party via two previous guests who were involved in organising within the party to learn about what has happened and what we might want to do next.Max Shanly wrote some of the most influential arguments ahead of the founding conference and produced actual working documents that added a level of development much less often reached. These things and further organising led to being deeply involved with groups that formed the Grassroots Left slate in the CEC elections. But after the slate associated with Corbyn and the party's bureaucracy won out the party has taken a different direction. Max talks about what has happened and what should be next.The After PartyTowards a New Model Left PartyAndrew Hedges' was also very involved in organising around YP, albeit from some different positions, but also ended up looking beyond Your Party. After having studied and written up a critical account of the Green Party he has subsequently joined it, along with other socialists, seeing it as a more productive place to be. He takes us through the reasoning along with assessments of the Labour Party, the wider landscape, and with a maintained critical eye on the Green Party itself.Contingency, contradictions and change in the Green Party of England and WalesNaomi Wimborne-Idrissi's CEC report, mentioned in the first half:Full CEC Meeting Report - 12th April

This is the final episode of this series with Tom Gann exploring how Marx understood class, and how we can understand class. There is a lot covered in this interesting and useful discussion, including thinking about the complexities of working class groups interests or needs in relation to those of groups in the global south; the role of cheap food in the British class system; what happens with permanent increased costs of energy and other essentials; remembering that action precedes consciousness; and what to do with the middle and upper classes. Get stuck in!Check out our guest Tom's co-publication and writing here:https://newsocialist.org.uk/

It's not simply humanity that is dominant in shaping the world and the climate, it's Capitalism. This might seem like an obvious statement to our listeners, but in this episode Jason W. Moore shows how deep ideas counter to this go and have been absorbed by many of us concerned with acting on the climate crisis. Even the term 'climate crisis' can be understood so much better, and the history and processes that Moore explains teaches us a lot about the current situation and what we can do about it. Why did imperialism need to create 'nature'? Why do myths about overpopulation persist? What caused the end of Feudalism? What roles do gender, race, class and soil play in the dynamics of our world, and the web of life? How are current events shaping the re-alignment of responses to a fundamental change in climate systems? Answers to these questions and lots more to think about, and do.Jason's website:https://jasonwmoore.com/New Socialist interview mentioned:https://newsocialist.org.uk/be-comrades-web-life-conversation-jason-w-moore/

Palestine, in fundamental ways, is not exceptional. And by understanding why this is the case we can organise and act in the best ways to liberate Palestine. In this episode we are very grateful to be joined by Rafeef Ziadah, Adam Hanieh and Robert Knox to talk about how to understand the situation of Palestine within the larger structures that shape the world today. Global capitalism, imperialism and the racialisation inherent to these systems. Palestine is a class society. Israel is a capitalist settler-colony. Imperial forces are driven by and use political-economic forces. Their book Resisting Erasure: Capital, Imperialism and Race in Palestine provides material analysis that shows how what underlies what is happening in Palestine relates to the wider region and to our own positions in other parts of the world. This helps us connect our organising in society, our unions and our parties with what is taking place in Palestine. And it prevents us from abstracting and exceptionalising what's happening in Palestine in ways that miss the real forces at play, that mystify our relationship to what's happening and that are racist. It's often said that Palestine teaches us, and Rafeef, Adam and Robert help us understand what we should learn, and what we can then know to do.Resisting Erasure: Capital, Imperialism and Race in Palestineby Adam Hanieh, Robert Knox and Rafeef Ziadahhttps://www.versobooks.com/en-gb/products/3410-resisting-erasure?srsltid=AfmBOorDNdwtPMgAAwwWOWokQ6Vqqh3YU2o0K4n-a4O81kOfKW5gj0CwThe Oslo Illusion https://jacobin.com/2013/04/the-oslo-illusion/

In this episode we are joined by Jen Forbes of The Many, the Corbynite slate standing for the Your Party co-leadership. As the leadership elections are happening this week, we learn about a significant section of the party, and potentially a significant section of the UK left, in this open and enlightening conversation. What kind of 'socialist' could Your Party be with The Many facilitating its development? Are Marxist and anti-capitalists welcome? What might happen to existing proto-branches? What are ideas behind the grouping and how did it come together? Is electoralism the dominant function? What will community organising mean? And what might Corbyn's role be? All these things and much more. A comradely meeting on which we can act and build. Thank you Jen.https://www.themany.uk/

In the second part of this mini-series, Tom Gann takes us through the Marxist analysis that says the working class is not actually a majority. What are the ways of understanding class that lead to this common assumption and how might activists think about building a mass party? How else might people and different struggles in society be understood and what are the relationships when you throw a party into the mix? Was Marx wrong about class? And what about the theory around value and labour that Marx was using to conceive his interpretations of class and what drives a potential revolution? Gann helps us understand and explore these things with his generous and engaging contributions.You can read the New Socialist here: ⁠https://newsocialist.org.uk/⁠And follow Tom here: https://x.com/Tom_Gann

How do we act to respond to the climate crisis in the context of a climate movement that has long-lasting organisations with limited impact and others that have had more immediate mass impact but burnt out quickly—is a party the way forward? Chris Saltmarsh has been thinking about and studying this for a long time, and was at the centre of a key recent attempt to organise climate activism with party politics with Labour for a Green New Deal. He gives us insight into the politics and practice of organised climate activism in the UK in recent times and explains why he set-up Eco-Socialist Horizon to engage with the formation of Your Party and why he is standing on the Grassroots Left slate for the governing body. This episode explains a lot, from climate justice to eco-socialism to conjunctional analysis, and covers the Green Party, XR and Green Capitalism. It's good stuff.Eco-Socialist Horizon https://linktr.ee/Eco_Socialist_HorizonThe Eco-Socialist https://theecosocialist.co.uk/about-2/

This deep dive episode gets theoretical about class. In this first part of three, writer and editor at the New Socialist Tom Gann takes us through what Marx meant by class and what the working class is in Marxist terms. With statements about Your Party 'being a working class party', and saying that the Green Party is not, we have to engage with what this might actually mean. This is an episode that requires closer listening. There is a lot in here that people newer to this area of theory can follow and use in thinking about class right now, as well as layers that can be further explored. Further episodes will explore further.You can read the New Socialist here: https://newsocialist.org.uk/ And follow Tom here: https://x.com/Tom_Gann

'Tis the season for seeing friends and family and thinking about the year gone by—so this episode does both of these things. Friend of the pod Tom Greenwood joins Tom and Kallum to guide us through the sect groups of the left that many of us will have come across but not have really understood. The Your Party founding process brought some of these groups to more prominence this year than many will be used to. They are an active and often mysterious feature of left politics for many who choose to get involved. Here we learn more about the Good, the Bad and the Ugly of far-left sects: the Trots; the SWP; Comrade Delta; Tankies; the acronyms; the newspapers; Leon Trotsky himself; the differences; the tactics. Who are they and why are they like that? Get your bearings so that you can be more streetwise in your activism. Merry Christmas!

Thinker, teacher and professor, and Labour Party member Jeremy Gilbert talks through the UK electoral landscape and where coalitions could be built. Why is Progressive Alliance of the left including centrist parties necessary and what would it take to build one? What is the actual history of the left in coalition with centrists and what made liberals support the left in the past? What will happen to the Labour Party and how should the Greens and Your Party relate to other parties? Corbyn's mistakes, what being a member of a party really means and do we need a socialist secret service to allow Andy Burnham to make his revolutionary turn? This, from Jeremy Gilbert, is a typically fascinating and insightful addition to the series that provides us with a perspective and history with which to judge the party landscape and what we do within it.

Housing is fundamental to society and will be key to anything a new party of the left could achieve. So we need to understand how we got to the current situation of the housing crisis and the ways that the dynamics and causes can be undone, and which parties are in which positions to do anything about it. Council housing, class and a fair amount of well aimed cursing—Owen Hatherley guides us through the current landscape.

For this episode we are joined by two activists who have been involved with groups organising at Your Party's founding conference to talk about what happened on the conference floor, and beyond. Thanks to Chloe Braddock of the Democratic Socialists and Andrew Hedges of Democratic Bloc we have some deep and engaged analysis of what happened, what we've now got and what happens next. From two key active groups both organising for fundamental member democracy in the party, they also share differing ideas and principles that are popular directions for what the party becomes in the next stages of development. As well as the drama this hour or so will help people who are involved, or want to be, to know better what they can do next.Follow Chloe here: https://x.com/Dykeocletian?s=20And Andrew here: https://x.com/Andrew_Hedges_?s=20

Hau-Yu Tam and Robert Magowan talk us through the history and conditions which led to Greens Organise and what the aims and activities of the group are now. We get a generous insight into the kinds of work taking place and the thinking behind it all. What was happening in the Greens during the time of Labour being led by Milliband and Corbyn? What is the vision for the UK Green Party and how to get there? How can the UK party avoid the pitfalls of other Green parties getting into power and how are GO preparing for the Green Party winning potentially many more elected positions? How can the party be changed and what form will it take? What part should comms play in party politics? Are their factions in the Green Party? Is it a socialist party, and what does that even mean? If you are interested in getting involved, and want to know who you will be getting involved with, this episode will give you a lot of knowledge and experience to work with, and is very relatable for anyone who has been politicised and wanted to get active in the last ten years.Greens Organise website: https://greensorganise.uk/Adam Ramsay's article on the political history of the party mentioned in the episode: https://novaramedia.com/2025/11/13/the-inside-story-of-how-the-green-party-turned-red/

Everything you need to know for helping to shape a new left party in the UK: for the uninitiated to the experienced activist, and potentially for those who can be won over. Juliet Jaques, Rosa from the Trans Liberation Group and Josie from New Socialist take us from the essentials to the dynamics that make the UK political landscape what it is, and to the Trans Liberation Group that offers a direct way of being involved right now. In this enjoyable and interesting conversation our guests give us a sharp, streetwise and comprehensive knowledge, with some added dips into some theoretical grounding. Get involved with the Trans Liberation Group here: https://transliberationgroup.org.uk/Hear more from Rosa on Your Party here: https://whatthetrans.com/ep144/Juliet referred to Trans Media Watch, here: https://transmediawatch.org/

What was it like writing the economic policy for the 2017 and 2019 Labour Party manifestos? And what must people thinking about a new party think about? In this episode a rare type of insight provides a somewhat novel understanding of party politics in discussions happening at the moment. And about how we should be thinking about economics in the context of our current situation. Mary Robertson, deeply and thoughtfully, describes the technicalities of economic policy, the theory and the wider vision and practicalities that are necessary, and talks with Tom about being involved as activists in one of the most poignant moments of Corbynism.

Ideas, debate, history and what it's like to be involved. Andrew explains more about the Democratic Bloc group and their ideas, working on shaping the new left party, but also more broadly why open debate with factions is important for the democratic health of organisations. He talks about what it's been like with factions working together recently and what it's like to get involved with Your Party's assemblies, (if they exist and are accessible to you). Along with insight into being active in what exists of the current founding process, Andrew talks about some interesting history of the Labour Party, unions and the Green Party that tells us something about what we need to build this time, and where the Green Party might be heading. Lots more too, in another packed episode.More on DemBloc here: https://www.dembloc.com/

[Apologies for the edit pasting error at around 1:14:11.]Archie has done a lot of work trying to understand what's going on with Your Party, and sought to report this for others to understand. With other writers at Prometheus, he has also provided a platform for ideas and writing about what a new party could be—some pieces are linked below. This ranging discussion starts with a timeline of Your Party (up to our conversation on 21st Oct) and some of the BTS, revealing more of the story of how we got here and who has been involved. It continues to cover the nature of political reporting in the movement and looks at the groups and wider organising happening around and alongside the founding. There's lots to help with the question of what is to be done, and where you might do that.Articles by Archie:Leaders Who Don't Leadhttps://prometheusjournal.org/2025/07/10/leaders-who-dont-lead/Who's Party is it Anyway?https://prometheusjournal.org/2025/09/09/whose-party-is-it-anyway/Your Party’s Messy Public Breakdown Shows It Has Big Questions to Answerhttps://novaramedia.com/2025/09/25/your-partys-messy-public-breakdown-shows-it-has-big-questions-to-answer/Article introducing the majority of the groups preparing for the Your Party founding conference:https://prometheusjournal.org/2025/10/22/peoples-front/United proposal from Your Party groups:https://prometheusjournal.org/2025/10/13/for-a-member-led-socialist-party/

A rich deep-dive into imperialism and internationalism, and the history of how the British state and the Labour Party have related to global power, and how they do so today. How socialism must be truly internationalist. David provides useful context and complexity to the kind of policy a New Party could have and what it could do in power. And how the form of the party also plays a role in ensuring that a party in power will follow through.

Vik Chechi-Ribeiro talks about unions and their relationships to parties, movements and the state; including how they could relate to a new left party.

[Apologies for the less than perfect sound on this one. It's OK to listen to and the content is really good.]Max Shanly explains how a new party can be democratically controlled by its members. There is often a lot of talk about things being democratic and member-led, but how do you actually do it? Max has done a lot of important work writing about how this could actually be done and talks through the ideas and principles here. How would these actually work? How could members and organised groups shape the new party? Do union leaderships get too much power with traditional relationships with parties? How do branches have autonomy and money? Lots more, too, with someone who has made important early serious contributions to the shaping of Your Party and played a key role in activating people across the left.Read Max's writing here:Towards a New Model Left Partyhttps://medium.com/@maxshanly/towards-a-new-model-left-party-5947dc71b727Building From Below https://medium.com/@maxshanly/building-from-below-2f9a47fe5ce6Drafting the Futurehttps://medium.com/@maxshanly/drafting-the-future-adbce6f51aa4And more...https://medium.com/@maxshanlyhttps://prometheusjournal.org/2025/07/28/building-from-below-a-democratic-roadmap-towards-a-new-model-left-party/Follow Max :https://x.com/maxshanly