EU Views: Richard Seymour
Name: Richard Seymour
Nationality: UK
Occupation(s): Writer, broadcaster and journalist, currently based in London.
Connection to Europe: Born in Northern Ireland, Richard Seymour lives and works in London, UK. The author of several books including Corbyn: The Strange Rebirth of Radical Politics (Verso Books, 2016), he recently completed a PhD in sociology at the London School of Economics.
Date of interview: October 17, 2016
In this episode, Olya and Sandra talk to Marxist writer Richard Seymour. Seymour discuses the pathologies plaguing Europe owing to the crisis of capitalism and the ensuing sovereign debt crisis and the need to rethink the laws of social and economic life on which Europe is based. He talks about the importance of beginning, not with a blue-print, but in the anti-utopian style of Marx, building capacities for socialism in the present that can address some of capitalism’s worst tendencies. The transition to a socialist Europe, he argues, will require the convergence of several types of power. He concludes by saying that “we need to talk about movement building, party building and how we can work with the state even when the state is working against us.”