Socialist Alternative’s National Congress took place in Blackpool on the 21-22 March.
By Chris Thorley
It was an energetic event, with lots of members taking part who hadn’t attended a congress before. It was noticeably larger and was more politically clarifying than the previous year, with over £3,000 raised in our Fighting Fund appeal.
We began with a session on World Perspectives, led off by Anna Barnett from the US section of International Socialist Alternative (ISA). Marxists are unique in beginning our congresses by debating global politics, economics and international relations. We do this because, as one member put it, “if we attempt to talk about national events without first understanding the international context they take place in, it is like having blinkers on”. The purpose of perspectives is not to predict the future, but to better understand processes taking place globally.
Deepening inter-imperialist conflict
Trump’s war on Iran was a dominating issue for the discussion. Besides its horrifying human consequences in the region, this war something that affects a lot of other global processes.This latest and most explosive development is part of a trend towards escalating war and militarism globally, with a dramatic intensification of inter-imperialist conflict. Anna quoted French socialist Jean Jaures, who said “capitalism carries war within it just like clouds carry rain”. The Iran war carries huge dangers globally, with attacks on oil fields and desalination plants in the Gulf creating enormous economic, humanitarian and environmental catastrophes.
However, there is also the potential for social explosions. In the US, we have seen a courageous mass fightback against Trump and ICE, where Trump was forced into a partial retreat from Minneapolis after a general strike in the city. As several people pointed out in the discussion, the Italian general strike over Gaza and the Minneapolis general strike show that the tool of the political strike is back on the table. There was also important discussion of the school strikes against conscription in Germany and the Gen Z revolts.
British capitalism in crisis
The next session of congress was on British Perspectives. We discussed how British capitalism is particularly at risk from the economic consequences of the Iran war due to its overreliance on oil and gas imports and the general weakness of its economy. We had discussed at last years’ congress the terminal decline of the two traditional main parties – Labour and the Tories – with Reform reaping the benefits. This process has only been accelerated over the last year. Labour are lurching from crisis to crisis, and Keir Starmer is unlikely to survive the May elections. But whoever replaces Starmer will remain unable to significantly alter the direction Labour is going in.
Since our 2025 congress, we have also seen the birth of Your Party (YP), launched by Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana, and the reinvention of the Greens with the election of Zack Polanski. When we met in Blackpool in 2025, YP didn’t exist, but we were anticipating its birth. No one could reasonably have been expected to predict just how bumpy the launch of YP has been.
Despite this, Socialist Alternative has been able to play a role in YP far greater than our size. This has included us playing an important role in a successful demonstration in Huddersfield to help ‘launch’ the party in the north on 18 October, as well as a successful Socialist Alternative mobilisation to the party launch conference in November.
Union struggle
The trade unions were also crucial part of this discussion. Most significantly, the election of left-wing candidate Andrea Egan to the General Secretary of UNISON opens up new possibilities for developing the fightback in the public sector.
Other Socialist Alternative members gave reports of work within the trade unions. This included an inspiring announcement that UNISON members in Ash Field Academy in Leicester had voted by a strong majority to take strike action over the victimisation of their union rep, Socialist Alternative member Tom Barker. Zarah Sultana also gave her support to the Reinstate Tom Barker campaign at a recent rally in the city.
Party building
The second day of the congress focused on party building. Reports from branches across the country gave a good picture of how we were able to use our local YP and trade union work to expand the organisation, both in numbers and in our politics.
In West Yorkshire, our comrades have built on years of dedicated and patient work in the community fighting cuts and closures, launching the People’s Alliance for Change and Equality (PACE), which will be standing in May’s elections in Kirklees. We also discussed how Socialist Alternative is building for the Together Against Racism demo on 28 March, along with other May election campaigns in Salford and Walthamstow. During this discussion, it was also announced that Zarah Sultana MP will be speaking at our Revolutionary Ideas event in Liverpool on 7 November.
This article is only a small taster of the energy and political clarity on display at our 2026 Congress. If you are inspired by what you read here, you should join Socialist Alternative!
