Upcoming courses and events

March 1, 2025

Trinity St. Paul’s United Church, Toronto, ON



You are warmly invited to join us for the 2025 edition of the Leo Panitch School for Socialist Education’s annual winter lecture! We are overjoyed to be welcoming Nicole Aschoff to deliver this year’s lecture.  This event marks the third edition of the school’s annual winter lecture, held in the memory of the late Leo Panitch. 

Artificial intelligence will bring the final destruction of good jobs. Soon all jobs will be subject to elimination or degradation! Or so we are told. This technologically determinist vision, while pervasive, ignores the power of working people to shape the future.  
 
What exactly is artificial intelligence? And how is it being used to restructure work? More importantly, how can ordinary people fight for, and win, control in the workplace?
 
This wide-ranging discussion will examine the modern landscape of work, drawing on the lessons from the past to better prepare for the struggles over automation and artificial intelligence ahead.  
 
When – Saturday March 1 – Doors: 7:15pm, Start: 7:30pm.
Where – Gymnasium, Trinity St. Paul’s United Church, Toronto. 
How – Register for free via tickettailor.
 
Nicole Aschoff is an educator, writer, and editor. She is author of The Smartphone Society: Technology, Power, and Resistance in the New Gilded Age and is currently Publishing Director of Verso Books. Her work can be found at nicoleaschoff.com.

Discussants
Sam Gindin was research director of the Canadian Auto Workers from 1974–2000 and is a member of the Socialist Project. He is co-author (with Leo Panitch) of The Making of Global Capitalism (Verso), and co-author with Leo Panitch and Steve Maher of The Socialist Challenge Today, the expanded and updated American edition (Haymarket).

Tori Fleming is a PhD student at York University as well as a member of the Socialist Project and Canadian Union of Public Employees Local 3903. Her research focuses on Amazon’s infrastructures of surveillance where she analyzes the ways in which the surveillance of workers informs the surveillance of customers. 




Accessibility

Trinity St. Paul’s United Church is located next to Spadina Station in downtown Toronto. All main floor rooms and washrooms are wheel-chair accessible via an entry ramp.

We kindly ask all attendees to refrain from wearing scented products. Wearing a mask is optional but encouraged at Leo Panitch School events. Masks will be made available for all who may need one. 

Any questions regarding accessibility, participation, or programming can be directed to info@leopanitchschool.ca

Register

February 15, 2025

Centre for Social Innovation – Annex, Toronto



The Leo Panitch School for Socialist Education is thrilled to announce the official launch of the new book Against the People: How Ford Nation is Dismantling Ontario!

The election of the Doug Ford–led Progressive Conservatives unleashed an aggressive and undisguised market fundamentalism. Ford’s government has taken the assault against the social welfare state, labour and environmental protections to new and unprecedented heights. Maintaining a permanent era of austerity has not only steadily reduced the public sector as a proportion of the provincial economy but has also reduced the social protections available to Ontarians.

Against the People is the first book of its kind to provide an in-depth look into the devastating policies of the Ford government across a wide range of public policy issues: from health care, municipal, education and judicial restructuring, to economics, arts, labour, environmental, housing and Indigenous lands. Written by on-the-ground experts and focused on the Progressive Conservatives since coming to power in 2018, this book showcases the politics of dismantling a province.
The Leo Panitch School for Socialist Education is pleased to be hosting this launch event with the support of the book’s publisher, Fernwood Publishing, and the Department of Politics and Public Administration at Toronto Metropolitan University. 


When – 18 February – 7pm 
WhereCentre for Social Innovation – Annex, 720 Bathurst St. Toronto 
How Register for free here


Featuring the book’s editors:

Bryan Evans is a professor in the Department of Politics and Public Administration, Toronto Metropolitan University, and is a member of the Steering Committee for the Ontario office of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. His research focuses on political economy and public policy.

Carlo Fanelli is an associate professor of Work and Labour Studies, York University. He is the author of Megacity Malaise: Neoliberalism, Labour and Public Services in Toronto, co-author of From Consent to Coercion: The Continuing Assault Against Labour, and editor of Alternate Routes: A Journal of Critical Social Research.

Also featuring the following authors to speak to the issues raised in their respective chapters: 
Chris Chandler Schools for Sale
Katherine NastovskiUnequal Ontario
 William PaulRiding the Gravy Train
Venai RanigaManufacturing a Fiscal Crisis
Maria RioWhy Are People in Ontario Hungry?
Mark WinfieldLocking in Unsustainable Development


As an upcoming provincial election grows nearer, we hope you’ll join us to discuss this remarkably timely and important book!



Accessibility
The event space at the Centre for Social Innovation – Annex is on the first floor of the building, down a short flight of stairs at the south entrance. Wheelchair/level access can be found via a small lift directly inside the main doors. Further accessibility information can be found here. If you have any concerns regarding accessibility at this event, please don’t hesitate to contact us. 

Any questions regarding accessibility, participation, or programming can be directed to info@leopanitchschool.ca

Register here

April 5, 2025

Online – Zoom



Unions and social movements today are operating in a very challenging situation. There is great economic uncertainty, the worsening impact of climate change and a global situation marked by the growing threat of conflict and war. Right-wing forces are increasing in strength, with Trump now in power in the US, Poilievre poised to do so in Canada. When workers strike or communities under attack take to the streets, it seems that victories are much much harder to win and past gains more difficult to defend.

It’s in light of these developments that the Leo Panitch School for Socialist Education is thrilled to announce the Winter 2025 edition of the Fighting to Win course!

This course will grapple with these questions by looking at the forms of exploitation and oppression that exist in society and the means by which the power structure acts to limit and contain our struggles. It will consider the political perspectives, strategies and forms of organization we need to fight to win in the present context. This is not a ‘how to organize’ course, as important as these are. It is intended for activists who realize that the methods of struggle that were developed at an earlier time need to give way to more powerful and effective forms of social resistance.

Instead of lengthy lectures, each session will involve in-depth and participatory group discussions of the issues under consideration. The knowledge and lived experiences of those participating will be a vital part of the course. This will be true both for longtime organizers and for those just now dipping their toes in the world of activism.
 
The sessions will run on Saturdays at 12Noon EST exclusively over Zoom. The course will be conducted in English.

Participants from all over the globe are warmly invited to apply!

To allow for broader participation, the course is being offered free of charge for all participants. However, donations from those who can afford to contribute will be gratefully accepted.

Apply here

February 15, 2025

To be announced

Stay tuned for the announcement of the latest edition of our flagship “Introduction to Socialism” course!