Change doesn’t just come from above, but a government committed to socialist policy can deliver massive gains for working class people and the planet, and electing socialists to office provides a platform for our ideas and can impact the lives of millions. While the new leadership of the Labour Party may not represent our values like the old, with its links to the labour movement and with its rich history of socialist struggle, a transformed and democratised Labour Party is our best chance of delivering meaningful change in government.

Momentum is the biggest network of socialists in the Labour Party and our role is to elect socialist candidates at the local and national level, to work with the Socialist Campaign Group, trade unions and Labour left organisations to push for radical policy, and to spearhead the campaign to democratise the Party. Our ambition is to help deliver a socialist Labour Government, and after a decade of damaging Tory rule the stakes could not be higher.

With the triple pressure of COVID-19, climate change and austerity, Momentum can’t afford to sit on the sidelines while our communities suffer. We will work with trade unions, tenants’ unions, anti-racist groups and civil society organisations to build support and capacity for their struggles. Local Momentum groups will also lead their own campaigns, aiming to win victories on issues critical to working class people while building deep support for socialist ideas.

Momentum will act as a bridge between extra-Party struggle and Labour, helping to channel the demands of social movements and working class communities into the Party’s policy platform, while encouraging our members to get involved in trade unions and community struggles. This is the long-term work needed to build a democratic movement for socialism in a way that canvassing cannot.

But, there is reason to have hope. As a nation-wide socialist movement, we have the solutions and skills to make Britain a country for the many, not the few. And we’re ambitious about what society would look like.

1. Redistribute wealth to properly fund public services and infrastructure

Britain’s foundations currently rest on structural inequality and injustice. The wealthy don’t pay their dues and corporations avoid paying taxes, whilst ordinary taxpayers subsidise criminally low wages through the benefits system.

Momentum backs Labour’s vision to redistribute wealth and power away from the few and to the many, through closing tax loopholes and increasing taxation among the country’s highest paid.

With more funds available to government, we could invest in public services and infrastructure. From our NHS to our schools, those at the frontline will get much needed relief. We could give our public sector workers the pay they deserve and create high-quality jobs in the areas which need them the most.

To solve the housing crisis for once and for all, government could invest in building high quality, secure social housing to meet current and future housing needs. And in the meantime, those facing homelessness would get proper support to access a safe home.

2. Strive for equality and empower the many not the few

At the moment, major corporates, large employers and the super-rich are disproportionately powerful. They discriminate, put profit before people and don’t properly protect our environment.

Workers should be given more rights and better protections. They should be given the freedom to organise in their workplaces to fight injustice and improve working conditions for all.

Our planet should be our priority. We should invest in sustainable industries and get tough on companies that damage our environment and our health.

Outside of employment, we could build a society free from all types of discrimination, through strengthening the rights of oppressed and minority groups. Whether it’s boosting our welfare safety net for people with disabilities, or tackling racist hate crime, Britain needs to own up to its inequalities and change them for good.

3. Roll back privatisation and make services accessible to all

It’s a myth that privatisation saves the government money and drives up quality. Whether you’re forced to get pricey trains to work, or are fretting about your gas bill, most of us know we’re getting a bad deal.

Labour’s approach of undoing the costly and ineffective privatisation of our railways, energy sector and public services, means we’d get better, more accessible services which don’t take households to the edge every month. All profits will be reinvested back into our services rather than lining the pockets of shareholders.

We are committed to supporting those struggling to keep valuable public services alive – and to ensure that under a future Labour Government, they will thrive. Take a look at our Christmas 2017 film produced with the CWU, in defense of vital postal services.