Study courses
Here you can find a wealth of resources to learn or teach about Workers' Liberty and socialist ideas.
Workers' Liberty 101 and the Communist Manifesto
Guidance on training in practical skills
Resources to supplement reading
Capitalism: how it works
Historical materialism
Workplace and trade union organising
The revolutionary socialist party and the working class
Workers' government and transitional demands
Democracy, state, and revolution
Women's liberation
Racism
Fascism
The Russian Revolution and its fate
Stalinism, and the fight against Stalinism
Europe
Israel/ Palestine
Ireland
Capitalism as a world system; imperialism
Consistent democracy on national conflicts; fighting antisemitism
Anarchism
Socialists and war
British labour history and the Labour Party
History of the AWL
Marx and Engels
Lenin
Trotsky
Luxemburg
Gramsci
More resources from Workers' Liberty week schools
We have a introductory study course (2023) for all interested in Workers' Liberty and all new members. Get all the books discounted here, with a printed copy of the study guide (PDF here, docx file here). This is based on the books Can Socialism Make Sense?, Democracy, direct action, and socialism, and The left in disarray; plus Why Socialist Feminism? and Two Nations, Two States.
Six Marxist texts study course (6 sessions)
Communist Manifesto: study notes
Two texts for new readers on what we mean by workers' rule and by socialism: America under the workers' rule
What a Socialist America will look like, by James P Cannon
Old first education programme (2011) based on the AWL pamphlet "We Stand For Workers' Liberty" (12 sessions)
The Bolshevik-Trotskyist Tradition
AWL's short "first six months" reading list for activists
Old AWL first political education course (34 sessions).
Guidance on training in practical skills
Resources to supplement reading
Films with a socialist political dimension: some of these can be viewed online (check with Google)
Socialist political cartoons of the mid-20th century, dealing with class struggle, Stalinism, war, racism, imperialism, and more.
Capitalism: how it works
Study course on Marx's Capital (12 sessions) plus discussion stuff from the 2020 Zoom run of the course
A 19 part video series on Capital Volume 1 is also available
Karl Marx's Capital, volume 1, abridged by Otto Ruhle: or click here to buy that as a booklet
"150 years of Capital": Powerpoint presentation
Workers' Liberty 3/59: pull-out on "150 years of Capital"
Wage-labour and profit: PowerPoint presentation
Notes on Marx's Wages, Price, and Profit
Wage Labour and Capital: discussion points
AWL day school 2007: Marx's Capital
Note on the word "valorize" in Fernbach's translation of Capital
Marx on capitalist crises - Brisbane Workers' Liberty study course, 2000
Marx's Grundrisse - Brisbane Workers' Liberty study course, 2006-7, and Zoom study course, 2020-1, plus 15 PowerPoints from 2020-1 course, collated into a single pdf
Capital tutors' school, for people leading sessions in the course on Capital
Older 11-session study course on Marx's Capital (11 sessions) plus supplementary notes (pdf)
The booklet What is Capitalism? Can it Last? includes: What is capitalist crisis? by Colin Foster; Keynes, the educated bourgeois, by Martin Thomas; and more. Download text as pdf here.
Historical materialism: what is it? Short explanations by Marx and Engels
Anti-Dühring (Engels): discussion points
The Poverty of Philosophy: notes for study sessions
Theses on Feuerbach: background notes. See also this summary of who Feuerbach was and what his ideas were and Engels' "Ludwig Feuerbach": notes and talking points.
Workplace and trade union organising
Marxism and Trade Unions (6 sessions)
AWL day school 2005: Marxists and the trade unions
Working class and trade unions: Marx and today - Brisbane Workers' Liberty study course, 2005-6
Working class and trade unions: Marx and today - Brisbane Workers' Liberty study course, 2005-6
Notes and discussion points on Beverly Silver's Forces of Labor - Brisbane Workers' Liberty study course, 2005
The working class in globalised capitalism - Brisbane Workers' Liberty study course, 2003
Study guide to "Teamster Rebellion", by Farrell Dobbs
The book Plundering London Underground, by Janine Booth, includes material to prompt educational discussion on political representation, the Labour Party, capitalism/profit/etc, transitional demands, trade unions.
Reading pack on "New unionism: how workers can fight back", from a 2012 dayschool
The booklet What is Capitalism? Can it Last? includes: The Minority Movement, by Stan Crooke. Download text as pdf here.
Democracy, state, and revolution
Socialism and Democracy: a debate with Michael Foot (AWL pamphlet)
State and Revolution, by Lenin: notes for a study course
Women's Oppression, Feminism and the Left (collection of readings)
Trotsky on the united front against fascism in Germany: discussion points
The Russian Revolution and its fate
The Russian Revolution: when workers took power
A book published by Workers' Liberty in 2017. Buy online here.
Power point on the events of 1917
Power point reviewing the key issues in the revolution
Trotsky's History of the Russian Revolution: notes from Zoom study course 2020
The fate of the Russian Revolution
Buy the book online in paper and ebook formats here.
Study guide to The Fate of the Russian Revolution volume 1
The Fate of the Russian Revolution volume 2: The two Trotskyisms confront Stalinism
Buy the book online in paper and ebook formats here.
Download a study guide here.
History, traditions, and ideas of the AWL: London AWL study course, 2008-9. See also chronology and texts from an AWL week school on AWL history, 2009.
Stalinism and the fight against Stalinism
Socialism, Revolution, and Stalinism: Nottingham study course
AWL day school 2007: "Socialism vs Stalinism: twelve debates"
Stalinism study course (10 sessions: partial notes)
Revolution Betrayed: study notes, plus discussion items from the 2020 Zoom study course based on those study notes
What Now?, from The Third International After Lenin (Trotsky): discussion points
Workers' government and transitional demands
The booklet Marxist Ideas to Turn the Tide contains: The heroic period of the Communist International, by Al Glotzer; The 4th Congress of the Comintern, a university of Marxism, by Paul Hampton; Conditions for revolution, by Leon Trotsky; The United Front, by Leon Trotsky; The workers' government, by Clara Zetkin; The myths of anti-Trotskyism, by Alfred Rosmer; The nature of our action program, and What is an action program, by Sean Matgamna; and more. Download text as pdf here.
The booklet What is Capitalism? Can it Last? includes: What is a workers' government?; The Bolshevik-Trotskyist tradition, by Sean Matgamna; The Minority Movement, by Stan Crooke; and more. Download text as pdf here.
"Workers' government": what it means
Capitalist crisis and workers' plan: London AWL study course, 2008-9
Socialists and Europe: N E London AWL study course, 2012
AWL day school 2006: Israel-Palestine
AWL day schools 2008: globalisation, imperialism, political Islam, Israel-Palestine
Discussion/study notes on Workers' Liberty 3/45 ("Trotskyists debate Ireland"
Capitalism as a world system, imperialism, globalisation
AWL day school 2005: globalisation and imperialism
Marxism and Imperialism study course (7 sessions)
AWL day schools 2008: globalisation, imperialism, political Islam, Israel-Palestine
AWL four-day school 2014: Marxism and imperialism
The booklet What is Capitalism? Can it Last? includes: Reassessing imperialism; and more. Download text as pdf here.
Consistent democracy on national conflicts; fighting antisemitism
Marxism, national questions, and nationalisms: Agenda and reading for day schools, 2018
The booklet What is Capitalism? Can it Last? includes: Includes: The truth about BDS, by Harry Glass; What is the Muslim Brotherhood? by Clive Bradley; Reassessing imperialism; and more. Download text as pdf here.
Pamphlet: Left anti-semitism: what it is and how to fight it
Pamphlet: Arabs, Jews, and socialism: Socialist Debate in the 80s and 90s on Israel and Palestine
Pamphlet: Two nations, two states: Socialists and Israel-Palestine
The War and the International (Trotsky): discussion points
The revolutionary socialist party and the working class
AWL day school 2006: revolutionary party
"Apparatus Marxism: impoverished twin of academic Marxism"
Lessons of October (Trotsky): discussion points
Rosa Luxemburg's "The Mass Strike": discussion points
Notes on James P Cannon's three "party" books
- The Bolsheviks as they really were, by Pierre Broué
- Propaganda and agitation: what they mean. Excerpts from AWL publications, and Plekhanov's classic discussion
Notes on Lars Lih's commentaries
- Review by Paul Hampton of Lenin Rediscovered
- Notes from Brisbane Workers' Liberty study group on Lenin Rediscovered
- Timeline used by Brisbane study group
- Review by Paul Hampton of Lenin
- Interview with Lars Lih
Gramsci study course (six sessions)
Notes on the "Selections from the Prison Notebooks" (Gramsci)
Gramsci's Prison Notebooks - notes from Brisbane study course initiated by Workers' Liberty, 2008
Notes on Pierre Broué, "The German Revolution 1917-1923"
British labour history and the Labour Party
AWL day school 2007: Labour Party
British working-class history from 1832 to today (8 sessions)
Marxism, anarchism, and syndicalism (from AWL week schools December/January 2007/8)
Workers' Liberty and the politics of anarchism (articles and debates)
Study course on Marx's Capital (12 sessions)
Karl Marx's Capital, volume 1, abridged by Otto Ruhle
Capital tutors' school, for people leading sessions in the course on Capital
Notes on Marx's Wages, Price, and Profit
Wage Labour and Capital: discussion points
AWL day school 2007: Marx's Capital
Note on the word "valorize" in Fernbach's translation of Capital
Historical materialism: what is it? Short explanations by Marx and Engels
Anti-Dühring (Engels): discussion points
Socialism: Utopian and Scientific (Engels)
Marx's "18th Brumaire": background notes
The Poverty of Philosophy: notes for study sessions
Communist Manifesto: study notes
Marx's Grundrisse - Brisbane Workers' Liberty study course, 2006-7
State and Revolution, by Lenin: tutor notes for a study course
What Is To Be Done?, by Lenin: study course, study guide, background reading. See also:
- The Bolsheviks as they really were, by Pierre Broué
- Propaganda and agitation: what they mean. Excerpts from AWL publications, and Plekhanov's classic discussion
- Notes on Lars Lih's Lenin Rediscovered
Lenin (4 sessions)
Trotsky: outline for discussion session (by Paul Hampton, from AWL winter school November 2009)
A selection of key writings by Trotsky, with notes and discussion points
The War and the International (Trotsky): discussion points
The New Course (Trotsky): discussion points
Lessons of October (Trotsky): discussion points
What Now?, from The Third International After Lenin (Trotsky): discussion points
Trotsky on the united front against fascism in Germany: discussion points
Revolution Betrayed: study notes
Trotsky's History of the Russian Revolution: notes from Zoom study course 2020
Rosa Luxemburg's "The Mass Strike": discussion points
Gramsci study course (six sessions)
Notes on the "Selections from the Prison Notebooks" (Gramsci)
Gramsci's Prison Notebooks - notes from Brisbane study course initiated by Workers' Liberty, 2008
PowerPoint for a discussion on Gramsci, January 2021
More resources from Workers' Liberty week schools
AWL week school 2007. Sessions: 1. Skills; 2. Why the working class?/ How to do educationals; 3. Marxism and Economism; 4. Marxism, Anarchism, and Zapatism; 5. The National Question and Israel-Palestine in Particular; 6. Debating and arguing
AWL week school 2010: Sessions: 1. Practical skills; 2. Why the working class?/How to do educationals; 3. Marxists and the Labour Party; 4. The revolutionary party; 5. Marxism and anarchism.