This will be the first event in Victorian Fabians’ Autumn Series for 2020 exploring ‘Socialism, Centrism and The Climate Emergency’.
The world is rushing towards the climate precipice. At the same time, we are seeing precarious work, stagnant wages, unaffordable housing, increasing poverty and outright homelessness in the richest nations on earth. In Australia and elsewhere, life has become increasingly nasty for many people, especially the young, with the prospect of being worse off than their parents and growing up to ecological disaster. While a tiny minority has become massively wealthy and, with that wealth, massively powerful.
In the face of all this, is centrism still the only way for progressive movements to win government and to deliver for the vast majority? Or do we now need to embrace socialism to repair the results of the neoliberal decades? Is socialism indispensable for dealing with the climate emergency? Can the Australian labour movement embrace it and succeed?
Some in the progressive movement are uneasy talking about socialism. They prefer "democratic socialism" or "social democracy." What, if anything, is the difference between them?
What is socialism anyway?
In this event we ask our keynote speaker, Bill Mitchell, to consider the ways that socialism has been understood in different times and places and we ask him:
- How did we get to where we are?
- What is your vision for the way forward?
- To what extent is this a socialist vision?
- What is socialism to you?
- Do we need it to address the climate emergency?
- What are the obstacles and how might they be overcome?
Speaker: Professor Bill Mitchell
Bill Mitchell is a leading thinker on political economy and Modern Monetary Theory, much in demand in Australia and overseas. He is Professor of Economics and Director of the Centre of Full Employment and Equity (CofFEE) at the University of Newcastle, NSW.
In his book Reclaiming the State, with Thomas Fazi, Mitchell shows how, despite the ravages of neoliberalism, the state still contains resources for democratic control of a nation's economy and finances, and he develops an ambitious but feasible left political strategy for the 21st century.
