South African Communist Party has shared the press statement of The Conference of the Left. The conference, which was held from May 29 to May 31, 2026, was entitled “Building a Left Movement for Working-Class and Popular Power.” In the declaration of the conference, the groups that are taking part committed to rebuild the organized power of the poor and working class.
Conference of the Left adopts Declaration for Working Class and Popular Power
The Conference convened with the participation of political parties, trade unions and federations, community and social movements, co-operative and solidarity economy formations, youth and women’s formations, student organisations, faith and religious formations, traditional leadership structures, progressive intellectuals, international solidarity organisations, and fraternal continental and global organisations of the Left.
The Conference declared that South Africa is currently experiencing a severe structural crisis that is exacerbated by capitalism, neocolonialism, imperialism, monopoly power, patriarchy, racism, austerity, unemployment, hunger, inequality, social violence, ecological destruction, and the incomplete transformation of society that occurred after 1994.
The task of the present moment is defined as defending democratic gains while advancing beyond the limits of the 1994 settlement towards economic democracy, social ownership, land justice, working-class power and socialism.
The Conference adopted the position that the struggle for popular power must be anchored in the leadership of the working class as it is the decisive social force capable of confronting monopoly capitalism, reorganising production, defending democratic gains and leading society towards a future beyond capitalism.
The Conference further affirmed that the strategic goal is a society based on social ownership, democratic economic control, wealth redistribution, equality, solidarity, ecological sustainability, peace, and the full liberation of workers and the poor.
The Conference called for a South African Cuba Solidarity and Anti-Blockade Bill and reaffirmed its unwavering support for Cuba. The conference rejects the use of unilateral sanctions, destabilization, and war threats against Cuba and other sovereign nations as methods to induce hardship, undermine sovereignty, and impose regime change.
The Conference resolved to establish a Council of the Left as a permanent coordination mechanism. However, it is made cleat that the Council is not a new party and it will not contest elections in its name. Existing formations' autonomy will not be superseded or replaced. It will oversee the coordination of campaigns, political education, mass mobilization, policy development, research, communication, and implementation.
The Conference adopted a first-phase Programme of Action organised around eight clusters:
1. Economic transformation, work, and livelihoods.
2. Cost of living, public services and social protection.
3. Land, restitution, redistribution, and local democratic economies.
4. Public health, NHI and social reproduction.
5. Social violence, community safety and working-class unity.
6. Climate justice, energy sovereignty and the just transition.
7. Internationalism, Pan-Africanism, peace and anti-imperialist solidarity.
8. Review of the 1996 Constitution, state power and democratic transformation.
Each cluster must have a working group, responsible formations, clear timelines, allocated resources and twelve-month measurable outcomes.