Marxism brings together activists, radicals, rebels, students, unionists and revolutionaries from across the world for a weekend of debate and discussion of contemporary radical politics, history and theory.

Speaker Index

is a revolutionary from Argentina and a member of the 

Movimiento Socialista de los Trabajadores 

Frente de Izquierda y de Trabajadores – Unidad

 (FIT-U) an important electoral alliance of revolutionary socialist parties. 

Federico Moreno

Roz Ward is a socialist who has gained national attention as the founder of the Safe Schools program. Her dedication to fighting for LGBTI rights has remained throughout relentless attacks on her and the Safe Schools program from conservative personalities and media, and she even faced a  controversial dismissal from her position at La Trobe University in Melbourne. She was only reinstated after a successful public campaign. Roz was of course part of leading the marriage equality campaign for years until the demand was finally won, and has said “I will never give up fighting for a more free and joyful world”. 

Roz Ward

Dr. Gary Foley is a legendary Aboriginal activist, writer, actor, teacher, storyteller and historian. He is Director of the Aboriginal History Archive at Victoria University.

In 1972, he was one of the founders of the Aboriginal Tent Embassy in Canberra. Foley quickly came to the attention of ASIO and was heavily surveilled for years. He continued to be involved in every major struggle for Aboriginal rights, participating in the 1982 Commonwealth Games protest, the 1988 bicentennial demonstrations, the successful campaign to save Northland Secondary College in Melbourne in the early 1990s, and the protests that stopped the Jabiluka uranium mine later that decade. A keynote speaker at consecutive Invasion day demonstrations in Melbourne as well as Black Lives Matter demonstrations, Foley is also an outspoken supporter of refugee rights.

He has a vast body of written work, from his PhD on the history of Aboriginal organisations and struggles in Redfern in the late 1960s and early 1970s through to his website:

 Foley is currently building what will be the biggest ever archive of Aboriginal history. Rather than sitting on dusty shelves, these materials are being compiled as a resource for future generations of radicals.

Dr Gary Foley

Brian Bean is a socialist organiser and writer based in Chicago, a member of the Tempest Collective, part of the Rampant Magazine editorial collective. He is author of 

Their End Is Our Beginning: Cops, Capitalism, and Abolition

 from Haymarket Books. He will join us via Zoom link for Marxism 2026

Brian Bean

Rizal A is a cadre of Socialist Union and currently serves as the National Coordinator of the Socialist Youth Organization in Indonesia. 

Rizal is currently involved in building national consolidation and campaigning to demand the immediate release of around 600+ political prisoner related to the August Uprising 2025. He is also involved in the fact-finding team that investigated the August 2025 crackdown. 

At the Marxism Conference 2026, Rizal will share the presentation on the roots of August Uprising 2025. Patterns of Indonesia’s youth movement and state's response. And dynamic and history of the organized labor and Left related to August Uprising 2025.

Rizal A

Ilan Pappe is an Israeli historian and socialist activist. He is a professor with the College of Social Sciences and International Studies at the University of Exeter, director of the university's European Centre for Palestine Studies, and co-director of the Exeter Centre for Ethno-Political Studies.

Ilan Pappé

Zak Borzovoy

Chris Miclos is a member of the NPA Révolutionnaires in France. He has been active in the Paris region for 15 years. 

Chris Miclos

Cassie Hespe

Liam Kruger

Luke Hocking

James Gallagher

Erin Russell

Amy Lamont

Chris Anderton

Penelope Scacciante

Riley Conway

Clare Francis

Madeline Curkovic

Rory Donnelly

Simone McDonnell

Danica Rachel

Amaya Castro Williams

Clara da Costa-Reidel

Deaglan Godwin

Aidan Hawe

Amelia Christie

Kaye Broadbent

Marty Hirst is a long-time member of Socialist Alternative and its predecessor organisations having first joined the International Socialists in 1976. Over 50 years, Marty has been a union militant and an activist in many left-wing social movements. He is a retired journalist and academic. Marty’s latest book 

There’s no good news: Journalism, crisis, and philosophy of praxis

, was published by Routledge at the beginning of 2026.

Marty Hirst

Lucas Brunning-Halsall

Alevine Magila

Sam Pietsch

Nick Reich

Daniel Taylor

Cherish Kuehlmann

Kosta Rologas

Jos Downey

Tully McEwen

Alicia Griffiths

Connor Knight

Yasmine is a socialist activist in Sydney and is the National Union of Students Education Officer for 2026. She is the national co-convenor of Students for Palestine.

Yasmine Johnson

Kevin Murphy teaches Russian history at the University of Massachusetts Boston. His 

Revolution and Counterrevolution: Class Struggle in a Moscow Metal Factory

 won the 2005 Deutscher Memorial Prize. He will speak over zoom about the Decists.

Kevin Murphy

Anderson Bean is a North Carolina-based activist, a member of the Tempest Collective, editor and contributor of the book 

Venezuela in Crisis. Socialist Perspectives

 from Haymarket Books, and author of the Communes and the 

Venezuelan State: The Struggle for Participatory Democracy in a Time of Crisis

Anderson Bean

Germán P. Montañes is a member of Anticapitalistas from the Spanish state. Graduate in Political Science and International Studies, he has been an active member in the student movement in 2019-2022, and also in the solidarity movement with Palestine. He also writes in diverse media, especially 

Germán P. Montañes

Purity Machogu is a member of the Permanent Revolutionary Congress in Kenya. She is one of the leaders of its women’s front and a former leading student activist.

Purity Machogu

Jordan van den Lamb AKA purplepingers is a 28 year old lawyer, unionist and advocate for renters. He also makes silly little videos on tiktok and uses his platform to passionately contribute to political discourse (and Married at First Sight — equally important).

He’ll be running with Victorian Socialists for parliament in the next federal election.

Jordan van den Lamb

Louisa is a socialist, unionist and housing activist who has worked in tenancy law for more than 15 years.

Louisa Bassini

Martin Barker is a socialist and long time housing activist. He works in Sydney as a tenants advocate and has written for Red Flag on Australia's housing crisis.

Martin Barker

Bella Beiraghi is a member Socialist Alternative and one of the University of Melbourne Student Union Education Officers. Beiraghi has been a driving force behind the work of Students for Palestine, including the headline-grabbing student strikes, and she has helped to lead the weekly Palestine demonstrations as a member of Free Palestine Melbourne.

Bella Beiraghi

Eddie Stephenson

Megan Guy

Reem Yunis

Owen Marsden-Readford

Carter Chryse

Jack Mansell

Shirley Killen

Brendan Laws

Oskar Martin is a Bundjalung and Kamilaroi socialist and the current Indigenous Representative on the Students' Council at the University of Melbourne Student Union. He is involved in campaigns connecting the struggles of all oppressed and working-class people against capitalism.

Oskar Martin

Kelly Cvetkova

Liz has been a socialist activist for the last 25 years. She is a workplace delegate in the Australian Education Union and organiser of Socialists in Schools. She has fought to get refugees out of detention and win them permanent protection through protest and direct action. Liz was the Victorian Socialists 2022 state election candidate for the Western Metropolitan region, and organised protests of thousands in solidarity with those who lost abortion rights following the overturning of 

Liz Walsh

Joel Geier has been active in the US socialist movement since the 1960s. He has written on many topics, including world crisis, Marxist economics, social movements, and the soldier's rebellion during the Vietnam War. He will speak over zoom about the history of the American far left.

Joel Geier

Kevin Lin is an activist and researcher on China's labor movement, and works to build international labor solidarity. He has been writing about labor struggles, Chinese state and capitalism for publications such as Labor Notes, Jacobin, New Politics and Red Pepper. Kevin is also the managing editor of Asian Labour Review, which publishes analysis on workers' struggles across Asia. He is a co-editor of 

The China Question: Toward Left Perspectives

China from Below: Critical Analysis & Grassroots Activism

 (Gongchao 2023), and a co-author of the forthcoming 

China in Global Capitalism: Building International Solidarity Against Imperial Rivalry

Kevin Lin

Tom Sullivan

Shovan Bhattarai

Tim Arnot is a longstanding socialist and trade unionist, recently involved in fighting for COVID-safety at work. 

Tim Arnot

Liam Parry

Oula Shihan

Ella Marchionda

Emma Black

Cat Rose

Ruby Healer

Monica Sestito

Steph Price

Emma Dynes

Ryan Laws

Julien Macandili

Briana Symonds-Manne

Janey Stone’s mother sought refuge in Australia from Polish antisemitism in the 1930s. A lifelong socialist, Janey was active in the Women’s Liberation and anti-Vietnam War movements and a committed unionist. Janey is the author, with Donny Gluckstein, of 

Janey Stone

Robert Narai is a longstanding socialist activist and writer. Along with involvement in a variety of campaigns, Robert has written widely for Red Flag and the Marxist Left Review. His recent writing, featuring exhaustive interviews with those involved, has focused on the revolution in Myanmar, and includes the long form article '“Until the end of the world”: Myanmar’s unfinished revolution'.

Robert Narai

Jess Lenehan is a longstanding socialist and anti-fascist activist in Melbourne. She has played a prominent role in the Campaign Against Racism and Fascism and many other groups. She writes often for 

 newspaper and is currently the campaigns coordinator for the Victorian Socialists.

Jess Lenehan

Vinil Kumar

Elly is a long-term socialist and Secretary of New South Wales Socialists. She is an editor of Red Flag newspaper

Eleanor Morley

Omar Hassan is a socialist activist and editor of 

. He has played a prominent role in a wide variety of left-wing campaigns, including the movement against the far right, for refugee rights and the environment. 

Omar Hassan 

. His articles on Indigenous politics and history have been published in Red Flag, Marxist Left Review, Revolution Socialism in the 21st Century and Arena Quarterly 

Jordan Humphreys

Losing Santhia: Life and loss in the struggle for Tamil Eelam

The Art of Rebellion: Dispatches from Hong Kong

Ben Hillier

Liz Ross is a long term socialist who has written widely on Australian politics and the Australian labour movement. Her works include 'Revolution is for us: The Left and Gay Liberation in Australia', 'Dare to struggle, dare to win! Builders Labourers fight deregistration, 1981–94' and 'How capitalism is costing us the earth'.

Liz Ross

Nick Everett

Chloe is an activist and host of Socialist Alternative's podcast 

Chloe Rafferty

Kim Bullimore is a long-time socialist, political activist and anti-racist campaigner. A Murri woman and an active campaigner for Australian Indigenous rights, Kim is also involved in campaigns for and human rights and other social justice issues.

Kim Bullimore

Lewis Todman

Katie has been a delegate for the library at the University of Melbourne for the National Tertiary Education Union for just over a decade. She has been involved in numerous campaigns to save jobs, around Enterprise Bargaining and to defend working conditions. She is also an historian and archivist, undertaking a phd on women in the Australian metal trades. She has written several articles for the 

Katie Wood

Liam Ward is a Melbourne-based revolutionary socialist, a lecturer and fim-maker. Most recently he has been a founding member and key activist in 'NTEU Fightback', a rank-and-file centre that waged an electrifying opposition to the national union's agenda of pay cuts, concessions and capitulations amid the deep crisis in the higher education sector.

Liam Ward

James Plested

Alexis Vassiley

Tom Gilchrist

Hersha Kadkol

Mick is a founding member of Socialist Alternative. He writes for Marxist Left Review and has authored many books including 

Mick Armstrong

Grace has organised protests against the transphobic far right, successfully disrupting the speaking tour of anti-trans activist Posie Parker and shutting down a neo-Nazi gym in Melbourne's west. She is a member of Socialist Alternative's National Executive and co-ordinates our group's campus work around the country.

Grace Hill

Luca Tavan

Lily is an activist from Newcastle where she organises a student socialist club and climate campaigns

Featured Speakers

Ilan Pappé

Professor of History and political scientist

Dr Gary Foley

Legendary Aboriginal activist

Purity Machogu

Permanent Revolutionary Congress (Kenya)

Federico Moreno

MST (Argentina)

Chris Miclos

NPA Révolutionnaires (France)

Kevin Murphy

Socialist historian and prize-winning author (USA)

Anderson Bean

Tempest Collective (USA)

Germán P. Montañes

Anticapitalistas (Spain)

Jordan van den Lamb

AKA purplepingers

Joel Geier

Active in the US socialist movement since the '60s

Kevin Lin

Activist and researcher on China's labour movement

Brian Bean

Tempest Collective (USA)

Janey Stone

Socialist publisher and historian

Rizal A

Socialist Union (Indonesia)

Roz Ward

Safe Schools founder

Eleanor Morley

Editor of Red Flag newspaper

Yasmine Johnson

NUS Education Officer & SfP national co-convenor

Jordan Humphreys

Author of Indigenous Liberation and Socialism

Kim Bullimore

Political activist and anti-racist campaigner

Marty Hirst

Associate Professor in Journalism (retired)

Mick Armstrong

Veteran socialist

Grace Hill

Socialist Alternative campus convenor

Liz Walsh

Socialist and refugee activist

Omar Hassan

Editor of Marxist Left Review

Chloe Rafferty

Host of Red Flag Radio