THIS Saturday, June 12, activists, MPs and trade unionists will come together for Arise’s annual event featuring the best of the left’s ideas. 

This year, the festival — taking place online — is dedicated to discussing “Socialist solutions to the crisis: taking on the Tories and building a fighting Labour left.”

And what a timely intervention the conference will be. 

After nearly 18 months of an unprecedented public health crisis, an ongoing climate emergency and an economic collapse which saw the economy contract by a quarter and which has generated a crisis of unemployment, the circumstances that drew over half a million people to the Labour Party in the Corbyn leadership years haven’t dissipated — but they have deepened.

Explaining the importance of the event, Richard Burgon, MP for Leeds East and secretary of the Socialist Campaign Group of parliamentarians, said: “I’ll be attending the online Arise Festival on Saturday because it’s vital we continue to argue the case for socialist solutions to the crises, joining with all those fighting against the Tories — on the policing crackdown Bill, on the continuing struggle for racial justice, for climate justice, international justice and peace, for fair pay and conditions, for public services, for defending pay and rights in workplaces and with all those who fight for a world which is organised in the interests of people, not profit.”

The event will make the case not only joining those struggles, building them and organising with all those who want to fight the Tory agenda; but becoming the torchbearer for that flame of resistance in the Labour Party, battling to have those ideas heard and demanding democracy in our movement so that the call of resistance — from the women on Clapham Common, the campaigners against Coulston or the policing crackdown, those campaigning against climate catastrophe, or the trade unionists battling against fire and rehire or to make up a decade of lost pay in the NHS — find expression not only on the streets of our towns and cities, or in our workplaces, but in the Palace of Westminster and our political institutions. 

The Tories have used the Covid crisis to enrich big business with lucrative outsourcing contracts while three million people have been left completely without any kind of support and many on furloughed wages have been paid less than the minimum — let alone a living — wage.  

Unemployment is set to hit 2.2 million by the end of the year and the government has cut universal credit as the number of people claiming it soars. 

Join our speakers in the first session of the day to hear the alternative — a socialist economic strategy needed to serve people, planet and public services.

Our second session will tackle democracy in our own movement and in particular bring together numerous different parts of the Labour left, such as Momentum, the Labour Representation Committee, the Campaign for Labour Party Democracy and Tribune — to discuss how we take on Keir Starmer’s attacks on democracy and left policies. 

The steady retreat rightwards from the policies of our 2017 and 2019 manifestos have seen a corresponding crackdown on democracy in our party, including the suspension of the whip from Jeremy Corbyn. 

In this session, our speakers will set out why the Labour leadership should be attacking the Tories, not the left, and discussing what we can do to advance the struggle for democracy in our party. 

In the fourth session, we’ll be discussing how to build the movements for resistance, from Black Lives Matter to the struggle to Kill the Bill. 

Despite the public health crisis, in the last 18 months we’ve seen an inspiring wave of protest and action. 

Our speakers will be discussing how we bring that energy into the party and build the fight against the Tories on our streets, in our communities and in our workplaces.  

From global pandemic to climate emergency to worldwide refugee crisis, it’s clear that the key challenges we face are international. 

As Boris Johnson announces an increase in Britain’s nuclear arsenal, tensions grow in the south Pacific, and the Israeli government continues to flout international law and commit human rights abuses in Palestine, our next set of panellists will debate how we respond to the multiple global crises we face with a plan for peace, solidarity and international justice.

Finally, the day will close with a call to arms, taking the fight to the Tories and championing solutions to the crises that put people before profit.

Now is the time for the left to rally, come together and fight for the socialist solutions we know are the only way to address the major challenges we face. We look forward to seeing you at the festival tomorrow.

Tomorrow’s festival of resistance will feature speakers from across the movement: parliamentarians such as John McDonnell, Diane Abbott, Richard Burgon, Bell Ribeiro-Addy, Shami Chakrabarti and Jon Trickett; campaigns such as We Own It, Stop the War Coalition, Palestine Solidarity Campaign, NHS Workers Say No, and The People’s Assembly Against Austerity; left media such as Labour Outlook, the Morning Star and Tribune; and Labour left groups such as Momentum, the Labour Representation Committee, and the Campaign for Labour Party Democracy. It takes place from 11am to 5.30pm and you can attend all, one or however many sessions you like throughout the day.

Register at mstar.link/AriseFestival2021.