Upcoming courses and events

February 15, 2026

Toronto, ON

Curious about socialism? Interested about if it is really possible and taking a sober look at the problems it will face? Want to discuss how to begin affecting change right now?

In these uncertain and dangerous times, The Leo Panitch School for Socialist Education is a space to listen, discuss and challenge the contemporary relevancy of socialism.  

The School’s flagship course, Introduction to Socialism, is designed for both those experienced activists always looking to learn more, and those newer to socialist ideas and full of questions. It will not only provide a unique venue for collectively tackling important topics, but also a welcoming space where any question relevant to socialist organizing, no matter how basic or advanced, can be raised and discussed.

Instead of providing precise definitions and historical readings, the course will focus on understanding the structures of capitalism in order to challenge it and begin building a better world. We will rely on the ideas and lived experience of participants to enhance the presentations, examples, and collective discussions that make up each session.

Over 8 weeks we’ll explore topics such as what and who is the working class, what makes socialism different, how we can overcome political barriers, how socialists can approach elections and winning reforms in the existing state, what role trade unions and political parties have played for working class struggles, and much more! 

When: Sunday afternoons at 2pm February 15 – April 5
Where: Downtown Toronto – Venue to be shared with registrants
Who: Anyone and everyone curious about socialism or wanting to dive into a deeper discussion!

Not able to attend every session in person? No problem! Recordings will be made available to those who might have to miss a session or two throughout the course.

Feel free to reach us with any questions at info@leopanitchschool.ca. 

January 23, 2026

College Street United Church, Toronto ON

Big Tech firms dominate the global economy. But what value do they actually produce? In Cybernetic Circulation Complex: Big Tech and Planetary Crisis (Verso, 2024), Nick Dyer-Witheford and Alessandra Mularoni argue that the role of firms like Amazon and Google, Palantir and Uber, is in the speeding up and automation of the circulation of commodities. Big Tech aims to subject everything from advertising and shopping, to logistics and financial services to the level of control and predictability that capital has secured in industrial production.

But there is a way out of the multiple crises that Big Tech has helped precipitate. If we are to break their grip on the global economy then it’ll take more than just antitrust legislation or reducing individual time online. What is required instead is a new, ambitious and comprehensive program of democratic collective planning that can move us beyond capitalism and benefit life on earth over profit. 

“Techno-feudalism is obsolete. The future is digital degrowth. This book proves it.”
–  Kohei Saito, author of Slow Down

The Leo Panitch School for Socialist Education is honoured to host the authors of the book for the Toronto launch of this exciting new book! All are welcome to join us for this timely discussion as we grapple with how to challenge the Big Tech firms that are quickly cementing their control over international commerce and policy. 

We would like to acknowledge the vital support of the Jackman Humanities Institute and the Digital Labour Working Group at the University of Toronto. 

Please stick around after the evening’s program for complimentary refreshments and to continue the discussion. A number of books will be available at a special discounted price!


Accessibility
College Street United Church is accessible to mobility devices via the Bathurst side entrance. The church features accessible gender-neutral washrooms and level access throughout. We kindly ask all participants to refrain from wearing scents or perfumes. Any questions regarding accessibility, participation, or programming can be directed to info@leopanitchschool.ca.

January 31, 2026

Friends House, Toronto ON

The Leo Panitch School for Socialist Education is very pleased to present a special screening of The Day Iceland Stood Still. 
 
What if every woman simply took the day off? The Day Iceland Stood Still is a film that answers that question. In Iceland, on October 24, 1975, women walked out and stopped working. 90% of the women of Iceland refused to work, cook, or take care of the children. They brought their country to a standstill and catapulted Iceland to the “best place in the world to be a woman” today. 

Join us for the  launch of the 2026 season of FIlmSocial socialist film screenings! The first screening of the year will be a very special one as we gather for a screening of the incredible 2024 film The Day Iceland Stood Still from celebrated documentarians Pamela Hogan and Hrafnhildur Gunnarsdóttir. We’re very excited that we’ll also be hearing from the filmmakers directly via video message. 

The film will be presented in Icelandic and English with English subtitles. Following the film there will be a discussion on the themes of the film and what political lessons us in Canada in 2026 can learn from the women’s strike in Iceland. Please feel free to stick around for refreshments as we celebrate another year of FilmSocial!

Leo Panitch School events  are always presented free-of-charge. This is only made possible through contributions from our participants and supporters. We encourage those who are able to consider making a cash donation at the event or becoming a monthly donor via leopanitchschool.ca/donate. 

Accessibility Information

Friends House is accessible to wheelchairs via the automatic door at the back, north east entrance off of the parking lot, and via the automatic door at the Meeting Room entrance at the front on the west side of the house, from Lowther Ave. More accessibility information can be found here. 

Please do not hesitate to contact us at info@leopanitchschool.ca with any questions or concerns regarding accessibility at this event.

February 5, 2026

College Street United Church, Toronto

Amazon workers in Coventry, England have won breakthrough wage gains through years of strikes and organizing at the global giant. Now, a new book documents these achievements, and the militant, grassroots methods the workers and their GMB union employed to build worker power.

Organizing Amazon: Building Worker Power Under Conditions of Fragmentation, Precarity and Regimentation offers a rich case study of the factors contributing to the union’s successes and setbacks. It provides a practical organizing model applicable beyond Amazon, offering strategies to engage the workforce, sustain support and develop leadership.

We are incredibly honoured to host the author of the book Tom Vickers, and longtime labour activist Jonathan Rosenblum, as well as two workers from the Coventry facility for the first stop on their North American organizing tour. The evening will feature a discussion of the lessons to be learned from the campaign in Coventry and what strategies will be needed for the Canadian labour movement to begin challenging the Amazon behemoth.

We would like to thank our friends at the Digital Labour Working Group at the University of Toronto for their support of this event.
Please stick around after the evening’s program for complimentary refreshments and to continue the discussion.

Featuring…

Tom Vickers is Associate Professor of Sociology and Director of the GMB-NTU Work Futures Research Observatory at Nottingham Trent University. He has been engaged with movements resisting capitalism exploitation and oppression for more than two decades.

Jonathan Rosenblum is a long-time union organizer and writer. Based in Seattle, Washington, he is Activist in Residence at the Center for Work and Democracy (Arizona State University) and is a part-time Amazon delivery driver. He is a member of the National Writers Union, has published dozens of articles about organizing, and is the author most recently of the book, We’re Coming for You and Your Rotten System: How Socialists Beat Amazon and Upended Big-City Politics. (OR Books)



Accessibility
College Street United Church is accessible to mobility devices via the Bathurst side entrance. The church features accessible gender-neutral washrooms and level access throughout. We kindly ask all participants to refrain from wearing scents or perfumes. Any questions regarding accessibility, participation, or programming can be directed to info@leopanitchschool.ca.

February 12, 2026

Friends House, Toronto

Join us as we celebrate the launch of Notes Toward a Digital Workers Inquiry, a brand new book full of first-hand accounts from the tech sector’s resurgent labor movement as artificial intelligence gains ground in every facet of our lives. 

As tech billionaires align with Trump, they are also launching a renewed assault on labor through artificial intelligence and alienating tactics. But for now, it still takes workers to make fortunes for the bosses, and collective action is again on the rise. Previously thought to be “unorganizable,” these workers are part of a North American movement that is reaffirming faith in collective revolutionary action through new methods of organizing, new ways of association, and a new synthesis of traditional labor activities with original research. 

To capture this growing class consciousness, the Capacitor Collective has conducted ten illuminating interviews with platform workers and organizers whose efforts align traditional motives with new tactics in a text that shakes up the worker inquiry tradition and imagines new ways to produce knowledge with and for the movement. 

All are welcome to hear directly from the contributors to the book about the findings of this important work and to discuss what lessons can be taken forward by activist-researchers, organizers, and workers alike. The book is available now from Common Notions Press!



We would like to thank our friends at the Digital Labour Working Group at the University of Toronto for their support of this event.
Please stick around after the evening’s program for complimentary refreshments and to continue the discussion. 

Featuring…
The Capacitor Collective is a research collective dedicated to digital worker inquiry rooted in labor organizing within and against digital capitalism. The collective includes: Enda Brophy, Julie Chen, Alessandro Delfanti, Brian Dolber, Lilly Irani, and Tamara Kneese. 


Accessibility
Friends House is accessible to wheelchairs via the automatic door at the Meeting Room entrance at the front on the west side of the house, from Lowther Ave. We kindly ask all participants to refrain from wearing scents or perfumes. Any questions regarding accessibility, participation, or programming can be directed to info@leopanitchschool.ca.

February 27, 2026

College Street United Church, Toronto

All are invited to join us for the annual Leo Panitch Winter Lecture! We are honoured to welcome esteemed author and academic Adam Hanieh back to Toronto to deliver this year’s talk.  This event marks the fourth edition of the school’s annual lecture, held in the memory of the late Leo Panitch. 

Adam Hanieh will discuss how understanding oil’s place in world capitalism is key to grasping geopolitical dynamics and global finance, reviving vital climate struggles, and challenging the structural interests underpinning the system itself. He will also explore the connections between our fossil-fuel centred world and the contemporary politics of Palestine and the wider Middle East.

At a time when the world’s attention is being pulled in myriad directions by ongoing genocide, threats of war, economic instability, and rising authoritarianism, the role that resources such as oil play in global politics often go under-noticed. Amidst this chaos,  governments and capital are massively expanding fossil fuel investment, leaving us to face a worldwide ecological crisis that is set to only hasten in the coming years. 

Oil itself is woven into the fabric of this  modern world in obvious but also surprising ways. Much more than an energy source or transport fuel, oil has a foundational place in all aspects of contemporary life – no challenge to the fossil fuel industry can be effective without taking this fact seriously. Oil greases the wheels of global capitalism. The world’s oil and gas trade is also rapidly changing, bringing with it shifting economic interdependencies across the Middle East and East Asia. 

 
When – Friday 27 February – doors open: 6:30pm, talk starts 7pm, social to follow
Where – College Street United Church – 454 College Street, Toronto ON
How – Advance registration required. Free/PWYC – donations accepted with gratitude.
Space is limited! Make sure to save your spot today!


Those in attendance are warmly invited to gather after the lecture to socialize and continue the discussion. Complementary refreshments will be on offer. Beverages, merch, and literature will be available with all proceeds going to the LPSSE’s educational programming!
 

Featuring
Adam Hanieh is Professor in Development Studies at SOAS, University of London, and Director of the SOAS Middle East Institute. He specialises in the political economy of energy, oil, and capitalism in the Middle East, and is the author of Crude Capitalism.




Additional speakers, participating organizations and cosponsors to be announced in the coming weeks! 

Would your org like to support this event? Please contact us at info@leopanitchschool.ca



Accessibility
College Street United Church is located at College and Bathurst in Toronto. The building is wheelchair accessible and features multiple accessible, gender neutral washrooms. 

We kindly ask all attendees to refrain from wearing scented products at Leo Panitch School events. 
Any questions or requests regarding accessibility, participation, or programming can be directed to info@leopanitchschool.ca. 

January 29, 2026

College Street United Church, Toronto

*PLEASE NOTE THAT THE MEETING DATE HAS CHANGED TO JANUARY 29*

Building on our first successful meeting in November, we’re forging ahead with our sectoral-wide organizing strategy in the higher education sector. Our second organizing meeting, which will be held on January 29th, is focused on creating a Solidarity Pact for higher education workers. Sean Smith – a former activist and organizer with the Toronto Airport Workers Council – will be joining us to discuss what a solidarity pact is, how Toronto Airport Workers used it as an organizing tool, and how we can develop something similar to build our collective power across the education sector. 

The purpose of January’s meeting is threefold: (1) understanding what a Solidarity Pact is and how it can help us develop unity across the sector; (2) begin constructing our own Solidarity Pact; and (3) strategize ways we can use our Solidarity Pact as an organizing tool across the higher education sector. 

For this next meeting, we ask that you bring a friend/coworker in the education sector and feel free to forward the registration page to any higher education worker who you think would be interested in getting involved. See it as a mini structure test! 

Where: College Street United Church, 502 Bathurst Street, Toronto
When: January 29th – Refreshments at 6:30pm, event start at 7:00pm
How: Registration required – Register here