Teach-In On Socialism: Exploring Theory and Practice

Hosted by:
Alan Schulman – UFT / Retired Teachers Committee (RTC), Delegate Assembly Representative
Professor Richard Wolff – Teacher, Lecturer, Author, Founding Director of Democracy at Work

When:

Saturday, December 10, 2025
1:00 – 3:00 PM (EST)

Where:

Judson Memorial Church 55 washington Square S, New York, NY 10012

Why Attend?

When the UFT Retiree Advocates, leading the fight to save our Medicare Coverage, organized for and won 300 seats in the UFT Delegate Assembly, it ended 65 years of UNITY/UFT censorship of discussion and curricular availability of anything Socialist or critical of Capitalism. During a prolonged DA discussion of the mayoral candidates, one, running as a Democratic Socialist, who the DA and the UFT eventually endorsed for Mayor, came with a tag of Democratic Socialist. it was clear that 65 years had left most retirees with little or no understanding of the evolution of cooperative and socialist economies over the last 2 generations globally and in the United States. The Socialist Education Educators Caucus welcomes you to our first effort at setting a baseline for discussion of Socialism 2025.

This event is not a debate and not a political endorsement. Instead, it is an opportunity to:

• Explore the framework and real-world applications of socialist and cooperative economic systems worldwide and in the United States.
• Discuss what these ideas mean for UTF Retirees, in service staff, and all New York City municipal labor retirees.
• Begin developing curriculum for K-16 public and CUNY schools for the future we’re all heading for.

About the Speakers

Professor Richard Wolff

• Professor Emeritus of Political Economics, UMass Amherst
• Lecturer & Author of Understanding Socialism
• Founding Director of Democracy at Work (D@W)
• Currently teaching at The New School, Manhattan

Alan Schulman

• Retired Special and International Projects Coordinator, Alternative Superintendency and the New York City Department Of Education
• Former Director, Highbridge Freedom Academy
• English Teacher, COSA, and Student Government Advisor, George Washington HS
• Founder, Umoja High School at The Door
• DoE Post 9/11 Representative to the UN Crisis Intervention Team & DowntownRebuilding Planning Group

Who Should Attend?

• 70,000+ UFT/RTC retirees
• 37,000+ UFT in-service staff
• All UFT Delegate Assembly representatives
• All Municipal Labor Union Retirees

Get Involved & Attend 7-session Curricular Development Follow-up:

1. The Universe and the Earth’s Environment – What we now know 2025
2. The history and Political Economics of Slavery
3. The history and Political Economics of Feudalism
4. The history and Political Economics of Capitalism
5. Cooperative Economics and Socialism
6. What have we learned
7. Creation of a Curricular-Development Taskforce

Join us as we scour the world’s Public School Systems for models in public education we might learn and build from. Our first cohort will include - Finland-China-France-Cuba-Zimbabwe-Bolivia-Japan.

Join with us, The Socialist Education Educators Caucus (SEEC) as we join with other public school stake holders in building out a scope and sequence of learning that actually teaches reality, whose purpose is to prepares our youth for the future we all can live with.

For more information, please Contact Alan Schulman at AlanSchulman7@gmail.com