About the IIRE Youth Schools

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These two-week, generally trilingual English-Castilian-French summer schools for leaders of progressive youth organizations have become a regular annual event. They offer a short but intensive introduction to social theory, applied to discussions of issues in e.g. European anti-racist organizing.

There is every reason for alternative educational facilities for young people like the ones we provide at the IIRE. Mainstream educational systems are hardly focussed on critical intellectual stimulation, let alone on learning and thinking about strategies to change the world. Moreover, the involvement of young activists in all our discussions is crucial if we want to grasp the enormous pace at which social and political change happens.

That is why the IIRE, organises it's annual Youth Schools, as part of a tradition which started in 1994 when we decided we needed to do more to help young activists learn from other generations, as well as the other way around. The end of 'really existing socialism' in the Soviet Union and its satellites had triggered new discussions about the viability of alternatives for capitalism; the dominance of neoliberalism seemed unending; and all the different currents and tendencies of the left found themselves in crisis. The situation posed new questions, not only for young activists, but also for all who were concerned with strategies for changing the world. Today, the challenges posed by the new youth movements and the deepening of the capitalist crisis make this school a crucial meeting point for the new generations of activists.

On this page, you can find recordings of different lectures given during these courses. You can find more recordings on our YouTube channel.

Lectures for Youth School 2012

Introduction to our critical Marxism (2012)	Alex Merlo
Introduction to our critical Marxism (2012)	Alex Merlo
The global ecological crisis (2012)	Marijke Colle
The global economic crisis (2012)	Catherine Samary
Women’s oppression, autonomous women’s movement (2012)	Marijke Colle
Imperialism and permanent revolution in the 21st Century (2012)	Peter Drucker
The crisis in Europe, far right movements (2012)	Alex de Jong
New movements of resistance, USA (2012)	Michael Marchman
The crisis in Asia (2012)	Alex de Jong
Building broad parties and the Fourth International (2012)	Penny Duggan

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No 78. Palestine and Marxism
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Revolutionary Activism in the 1950s & 60s. Volume 1. Canada 1955-1965
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