Tithi Bhattacharya

Karl Marx said that all human society was built on labour – the physical and mental work through which we transform the world around us. For generations, Marxists have seen struggles over work as central to any kind of revolutionary movement: campaigns for higher wages, fewer hours, and better labour conditions. Struggles to transform everyday life were often seen as separate, and sometimes less important.

But a divided understanding of the world leads to divided movements, with labour struggles and liberation campaigns keeping their distance from each other. Today, activists from a range of campaigns see the need for a joint understanding of how exploitation and oppression are constituted together, and demand unity in the struggles against them.

Building on the work of activists and writers involved in movements for women’s liberation, trans liberation, and against racism, Marxists are developing ideas such as Social Reproduction Theory to break down these divisions. Our life outside of waged work is filled with labour – mental, physical, emotional, which often takes place behind closed doors in our homes. Not just the bare material needs of eating, sleeping and housing, but the work of crafting ourselves into skilled and curated individuals who can then enter the labour market as valuable commodities.

Join this one day conference to explore the interface of Marxist ideas, Social Reproduction Theory and struggles aimed at transforming everyday life outside of traditional work: education, women’s liberation, against racism in our cities and borders, and against the pervasive neoliberal pressure of personal branding.

“The revenge of every day life…” is a one day conference that will bring together anti-capitalists from a range of revolutionary perspectives to discuss how capital is changing the world around us, and how to fight back.

£20 solidarity – £10 waged – £5 unwaged
Childcare available

Speakers (more to be confirmed)

• Tithi Bhattacharya
• Colin Barker
• Neil Davidson
• Kate Bradley
• Amy Horton
• Mark Bergfeld
• Ruth Lorimer
• Anindya Bhattacharyya
• Mona Dohle

Timetable

10:00am An introduction to social reproduction theory
11.15am Workshops: Education • Health and care • Urban space
12.45pm Lunch
13.45pm Workshops: Women’s strike • The production and reproduction of ourselves • Pensions and investments
15.15pm Break
15.45pm What does social reproduction theory add to Marxism? Where does it take us?