From July 25-30, over one hundred Marxists gathered in Kiel, Germany, on the Baltic coast, for International Socialist Alternative’s International School. Participants attended from Brazil, Britain, Canada, Germany, Nigeria, Sweden, Taiwan, the United States, and elsewhere. Dozens more attended on Zoom, including members and supporters in Quebec, Turkey, Sri Lanka, France, and Chile.
The 2026 ISA World School was marked by a very high level of participation in all the discussions. New members and veteran Marxists alike were eager to grapple with the rapidly shifting world situation, beginning with a World Perspectives plenary discussion titled Trump’s reactionary offensive deepens capitalist crises – class battles incoming. In their introductions, Anna Barnett and André Ferrari, members of ISA’s International Political Committee (IPC), noted the number of historic events that had taken place since the previous year’s school.
So far this year, we have seen the reactionary Trump administration’s kidnapping of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and its disastrous war on Iran, but also the successful citywide general strike that forced ICE to retreat from its militarized occupation of Minnesota. In Britain, the past year has witnessed the promising rise and ignominious collapse of Your Party, while in Bolivia, mass struggles of workers and peasants have fought against fuel price increases. The dizzying pace of events is no accident, but rather a symptom of the underlying tectonic shifts taking place in society as the world adjusts to a new era of inter-imperialist global conflict.
International Socialist Alternative is unique on the revolutionary left for our understanding that the central axis around which global events in this period revolve is the inter-imperialist rivalry between the United States and China – and that these are two imperialist powers in decline. Both these crisis-ridden rival superpowers fear direct conflict in the short term, and seek to maintain the status quo while fighting off domestic opposition. But, like cornered tigers, it also means that both these and other flailing regimes around the world are desperate, and prone to rash moves and overreach.
This has already led to a new era of war and preparation for war, with the highest number of live armed conflicts underway since WWII. These conflicts in turn ramp up the global militarist arms race, with governments around the world moving to militarize in preparation for war. War propaganda is ringing alarm bells about potential new fronts in Europe, the Middle East, and the Western Pacific. Part and parcel with militarization, the ruling class is ideologically shifting to the right, embracing far-right movements that call for a return to “traditional values”, and attempting to roll back gains for oppressed people which were hard won through struggle.
But the preparation for war between imperialist powers contradicts the instinctive opposition to war of the international working class. So the ruling class is turning back to nationalism, which it can use to sell the necessity for militarization as well as tarnish strikes and struggles against oppression as “unpatriotic”.
Yet workers and youth are once again testing their strength, with mass movements challenging or even toppling governments in Eastern Europe, across the African continent, and in Latin America.
Per-Åke Westerlund, another IPC member, gave an inspiring reply to the discussion. He emphasized that history has proven again and again that the far right cannot be defeated by allying with sections of the pro-capitalist establishment. This strategy always leads to the far right returning even stronger in the long run. The only time the far right has been beaten is by a united front of independent working-class forces fighting for a program that meets the needs of the working class today, and that takes up demands for democratic rights and for the liberation of all oppressed people.
Target-Smashing Finance Appeal
One of the highlights of the school was the target-smashing finance appeal led by Caroline Vincent from the England, Wales and Scotland section and Rosemary Wonnell from the US. Members pledged donations in-person and over Zoom, bringing the total contributions up to €42,218.06, with more donations to come as the appeal continues in national sections. The incredible financial sacrifices that comrades were willing to make show the level of political confidence they have in our analysis and program and our goal to build the revolutionary socialist international that is so necessary in this dangerous and volatile era of world history. Consider making a donation to support ISA’s work around the world.
Over a Dozen Commissions
Across two full days, participants broke into smaller groups for focused discussions on specific topics. These discussions were organized by theme, starting with commissions on war and imperialism. These commissions discussed the Marxist theory of imperialism and a program against war and militarism, the ongoing wars and genocide in the Middle East, and the threat of armed conflict around Taiwan and the Western Pacific region.
Commissions on the “pink tides” in Latin America and deep crises in Africa dove into greater depth discussing the situation in regions at the forefront of neo-colonial exploitation and inter-imperialist competition. Participants shared experiences and lessons from Your Party in Britain and Die Linke in Germany, where ISA members have intervened to fight for independent fighting political forces of the working class.
Historical and theoretical commissions included studying Iran’s stolen revolution of 1979, and the role of the general strike in the struggle for workers’ power. Particularly relevant was the discussion on a Marxist program to fight climate catastrophe, as record-breaking heatwaves swept the world even as comrades held these discussions. Building commissions discussed different aspects of building a revolutionary socialist political organization, from developing our papers and publications, managing finances, to the work of Marxists in trade unions.
We also held two evening commissions. The first of these was a meeting of women and trans comrades on the threat of the right to women’s and trans rights and how the feminist movement should respond. The meeting included discussion on the global offensive by the far right against reproductive rights, attacks on trans rights, the rise of the manosphere, as well as on ISA’s unique socialist feminist analysis which can help build a counter-weight to these attacks. We also held a youth meeting on building ISA’s youth work today, where young members exchanged experiences of work among students and young workers around the international. Both meetings had enthusiastic participation, and highlighted the importance of oppressed people and youth developing as leaders within the socialist movement.
Building the Forces of Revolutionary Marxism
The school ended with a plenary discussion led by Connor Rosoman from the International Committee on what kind of organization is needed to carry through the historic tasks of the international working class in this era, and how it must be built. In the first place, such an organization must be built on a foundation of political clarity around the critical trends in the development of global capitalism and the international class struggle. The regular discussion of World Perspectives by all ISA members is an important part of this. The last World Congress of ISA also committed the international leadership to produce a new written “Program of the International” in order to clearly lay out the tasks of the leadership of the revolutionary working class in our era. This work has only just begun and will be continued.
While mass struggles of the working class are stronger and more frequent now than in the neoliberal era, a key piece still missing is the political rearming of the working class. A fundamental weakness of heroic mass movements in the last period has been the absence of an understanding of the need for political organization and leadership around a clear revolutionary program. This can only be addressed by the experience of struggle and the intervention of determined conscious revolutionaries, who defend the necessity of the working class taking power on its own behalf rather than giving it over to a supposedly more “progressive” faction of the ruling class.
With ISA’s modest forces, we cannot claim to be the revolutionary political leadership of the international working class today – far from it. But we do believe such an organization is necessary, and that our program has a crucial role to play in its formation. Further we believe that the analysis and methods of the ISA will be key to the success of an international socialist revolution.
ISA doesn’t content itself with merely having the correct ideas and analysis. Our national sections must test and apply this analysis through actual participation and experience of the workers’ movements and movements against war and oppression today.
This point was clear at the school itself as participants were actively dealing with and coordinating responses to events that took place during the week. This included intervening in a protest in Kiel called in solidarity with the victims of an attack on Berlin Pride which killed one woman and injured 29 others. Between sessions of the school, participants from the United States were developing materials and organizing interventions into the largest protests against racist police brutality since the George Floyd uprising taking place in Madison, Wisconsin, after police officers murdered 38-year-old Corey Ruiz.
Back in the building plenary discussion of the school, participants reported on and shared lessons from the work in their national sections. This included comrades from England, Wales, and Scotland’s efforts in leading a combative Pride protest in defiance of Reform UK’s new administration in Kirklees, West Yorkshire, and the re-emphasis of work in Die Linke in Germany following an influx of new young members during the last election. Participants from the United States reported on their work in the movement against the reactionary campaign of deportations and murderous violence at the hands of ICE. Comrades from Nigeria reported on their work against extreme corruption and austerity, and shared lessons of building a revolutionary international in neo-colonial countries, highlighted by the fact that two thirds of the Nigerian delegation were denied visas by the racist European Union immigration system.
The discussion reviewed successful work of the past year including the launch of an anti-militarism campaign with a speaking tour with 14 meetings across the globe. The release of issue 3 of ISA’s journal International Marxism, “Which Way Forward for the Left,” is another step forward which will be built on in the coming year.
Elan Axelbank from the International Committee replied to the building discussion emphasizing the need to draw out the main trends and learn the key lessons in the experience of the class struggle around the world in order to put forward an international program for socialist revolution. This is in sharp contrast to many other revolutionary groups, whether Stalinists or self-described internationalists, who compromise their program to adapt to the “unique circumstances” in each country. History is rich with positive and negative lessons from failed and successful revolutions. It is the task of genuine revolutionary Marxists to act as the historical memory of the working class.
Onwards to Socialist Revolution
As the world lurches from one crisis to the next and the ruling class prepares for inter-imperialist war, the urgent need for a mass revolutionary socialist organization is clear. The tasks before us are great and there is very little time. But what is needed is haste, which is not necessarily synonymous with speed. The only international worth building is one that is strong enough to withstand the great tests of history, including wars and revolutions. The goal of events like this is to prepare our members to play the role of revolutionaries capable of Marxist thought and action as the time calls for it. The 2026 ISA School will be looked back on as an important step along the path of developing the next generation of revolutionary socialists.
