South African Communist Party

South African left forces convene the Conference of the Left to build working-class unity

Tuesday, 19 May 2026: From 29 to 31 May 2026, South African organisations of the left will converge at the Birchwood Hotel in Boksburg for a national Conference of the Left, convened under the theme “Building a Left Movement for Working Class and Popular Power”.

The Conference of the Left is collectively convened by organisations of various forms that identify with political aims and objectives conventionally associated with the leftist political tradition. The conference is the pinnacle of the varied efforts of the forces of the left to realise positive outcomes from their diverse and sustained struggles over time. These struggles, undertaken individually and collectively, have been instrumental in creating conditions for this conference as a common political platform of the left to address critical issues facing the working class and the people as a whole.

The Conference of the Left is not intended to form a new political party, nor is it to impose ideological uniformity. Its purpose is to strengthen coordination, unity in action, political education and organised struggle among diverse left, working-class and popular formations.

This conference arises from the urgent material conditions confronting the working class in South Africa, the African continent and the world. In the South African context, these conditions are epitomised by deepening unemployment, poverty, inequality, austerity, privatisation, and the continued domination of monopoly capital over the economy despite the democratic breakthrough of 1994. The conference will pay particular attention to conditions of the people characterised by the gradual erosion of their progress through market orthodoxy and neoliberal dominance. The Conference of the Left convenes on the understanding that the crisis facing South Africa is fundamentally a crisis of capitalism and that only organised working-class power can chart a strategic way toward genuine liberation and socialism.

The democratic breakthrough of 1994 dismantled the formal institutions of racial domination. It extended political rights, opened representative institutions, and initiated a period of social provision that improved the material conditions of millions. However, it did not dismantle the economic foundations of inequality. The ownership remained concentrated in the same hands. Productive capacity remained orientated toward extraction and export. Finance capital retained its grip on investment and macroeconomic policy. This is the objective context within which the Conference of the Left becomes necessary and indeed urgent.

The organisations that form part of the conference come from various corners of the country and vary in their nature, spheres of operation and organisational forms. To epitomise this diversity, the conference will be composed of political parties, non-governmental organisations, community organisations, trade unions, trade union federations, youth and student organisations, legacy organisations, think tank organisations of the left and invited individuals and institutions. Some international organisations and speakers have also been invited to the conference.

These organisations and individuals, while diverse and wide-ranging in their nature, are united by a shared perspective about the nature of the South African political and economic crisis and the urgent need to collectively devise new means to confront this national crisis as defined. The Conference of the Left is therefore not merely a discussion forum. It is a strategic moment in rebuilding working-class unity and sharpening the offensive against monopoly capital.

The South African Communist Party, working together with various revolutionary organisations, has played and continues to play a coordinating and convening role for the Conference of the Left.

At a strategic level, the process of convening of the Conference of the Left is driven by a steering committee that is composed of representatives from various organisations that are part of the conference. The steering committee is responsible for formulating and continually refining the conference agenda, considering and approving key actions related to conference arrangements, discussing and processing the political content to serve as a guide and framework for the discussions, and overseeing the overall preparation and proceedings of the conference when it convenes.

The working class remains the primary social force at the centre of the Conference of the Left, and its objectives are at the centre of the conference’s agenda.

The central task of the conference is to lay the foundations for a Left Popular Front capable of uniting the working class, the poor and progressive forces in sustained struggle against capitalist exploitation and for socialist transformation. In that spirit, the conference and its declaration will ensure the sustainability of the political programme of the conference and its objectives.

We call on all progressive and revolutionary forces to support this historic initiative as part of the broader struggle for a socialist South Africa.

Admission to the conference remains open but limited and shall close on 20 May 2026.

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ISSUED BY THE SOUTH AFRICAN COMMUNIST PARTY,
FOUNDED IN 1921 AS THE COMMUNIST PARTY OF SOUTH AFRICA