History

It all begins with an idea. Left Forum was founded in the 1960s as the Socialist Scholars Conference (SSC) by Bogdan Denitch, Stanley Aronowitz, and others in an effort to create a space for radical thinking. The Socialist Scholars Conference was a broad effort to create a forum in which to present theoretical and historical work in a mostly scholarly format, but for an audience reaching far beyond academic circles.

The conference was re-founded in 1981 by the leading personalities of The Democratic Socialists of America (DSA)—and it moved to a venue within the City University of New York (CUNY). In this period, the conference grew to an average of 1,500–2,000 attendees a year, approximately 300 to 400 speakers, and about 50 exhibitors including book publishers, university presses, journals, and organizations. By this point, the conference had up to 200 panels and had taken on the function of being the largest annual gathering of the left in North America. 

The Socialist Scholars Conference Becomes Left Forum

After the 2004 Socialist Scholars Conference, the organization changed its name to Left Forum due to a split among organizers on the board. The 2008 conference took place at Pace University, which had provided Left Forum nearly unlimited space. Organizers were able to make the conference grow to its largest size ever, with over 3,000 attendees and more than 200 panels. Left Forum 2012 built on the mobilizations of the Occupy movements throughout the country and brought activists from across the globe. The conference theme, Occupy the System: Confronting Global Capitalism, was a reflection of the movement. Film producer and activist Michael Moore spoke that year and a year later (2013), when the conference centered on the twin crises of mobilizing for ecological and economic transformation.

In 2014, the conference moved again and celebrated its tenth anniversary at a beautiful new conference center at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, continuing there until 2018. The 2014 Left Forum achieved record attendance for the third consecutive year with ~5,000 people in attendance. The 2014 conference was organized around the theme of Reform and/or Revolution: Imagining a World with Transformative Justice. Speakers included Harry Belafonte, Angela Davis, Cornel West, Immortal Technique, David Harvey and Kshama Sawant. 

The theme for 2015 was No Justice, No Peace: Confronting the Crises of Capitalism and Democracy. One panel was moderated by Phil Donahue, who lost his TV show on MSNBC in 2003 for opposing the Iraq War. The plenary speakers included Glen Ford, Alicia Garza, Rev. Osagyefo Sekou, Medea Benjamin, Immortal Technique, M. Adams, Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, and Ashley Franklin.

The 2016 conference’s theme was Rage, Rebellion, Revolution: Organizing Our Power. Popular topics included Bernie Sanders, the 2016 presidential elections, and the way forward. Plenary speakers included Medea Benjamin, Chris Hedges, Kshama Sawant, Jill Stein, Amy Goodman, and Slavoj Žižek.

Looking Toward the Future

Left Forum has plans in the works to expand its activities and gradually build its work to a year-round basis beyond the annual conference(s). Several potential projects include a regular series of smaller events which will focus on current events and topics that are relevant and important to the left, as well as popular education classes, study groups and other projects to be determined.