If you agree with what Rise stands for, and if you are ready to get organised to build a better world, sign up to explore how you can best help support and build Rise.
Rise is committed to transforming society through building independent working class power. Rise was established by a network of working class activists, trade unionists and socialists. Here you can read about some of the basic principles that inform our politics and what we do, and if this chimes with you, get in touch and get involved. We have a world to win.
Rise is an organised network committed to transforming society through building independent working class organisation and institutions. We recognise that the current social system is fundamentally stacked against working class people, and the only way to change this system is to organise a social and political force that can take on the rich and their servants in the state, media and mainstream political parties. Rise was established by a network of working class activists, trade unionists and socialists.
Rise focuses on building independent working class power. This means that we immerse ourselves in community campaigns around housing, mutual aid, anti-racism and more. We also organise in our workplaces and trade unions, building rank and file trade union consciousness and power. At present, Rise does not contest or engage in electoral politics. Instead, at any given election we may support and campaign for genuine independent socialist, communist and community candidates.
We in Rise recognise that the problems facing us, the working class, result from the nature of the system we live in. As such, Rise is committed to the fundamental transformation of the world – to breaking with the decaying capitalist system and building a new social order that supports human flourishing for all.
To do this, we need organisation. Rise aims to play the part of providing a focal point for rebuilding working class power and consciousness in Britain, with a view to developing, in time, a mass party that is composed of and works in the interests of the working class.
We recognise that our present social system inevitably produces inequality, misery and war, based on the exploitation of the working class – so Rise stands for the socialist transformation of society, to serve the needs of the vast majority of people in an equitable, just and sustainable way.
We recognise that this system of exploitation, oppression and war is an international one – so Rise is an internationalist organisation, committed to solidarity amongst working class and oppressed peoples the world over. Rise is an anti-war organisation and stands in solidarity with national liberation movements around the world.
We recognise that the forms of oppression experienced by people within the present system are multifaceted, and that none of us are free unless all of us are free – as such, Rise is committed to actively fighting all forms of sexism, racism, ableism, or discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity. We know that only a working class united in all its rich diversity can deliver the new, better world we need.
We understand that one of the biggest threats facing humanity today is the headlong rush into climate breakdown, driven by a system of insatiable greed – as such, Rise is an eco-socialist organisation. We will work with all existing groups, deploying a range of tactics, to challenge the destructive logic of the present system, and to build an environmental movement centred on and led by the working class.
We recognise that one of the main sources of power for the working class is their collective power in the workplace – as such, Rise works within existing unions to organise and support workers fighting for their rights. We also recognise the limitations of existing trade unions, and as such Rise will always work to support and develop militant, rank and file trade union activities and structures, to better equip workers to fight and win.
We understand that the present state and system of elections serves, ultimately, to protect and reproduce the social system we need to break with – as such, Rise does not prioritise elections. Nor do we disparage or dismiss them – we will work constructively with any and all socialist or community groups engaging in electoral work, with a view to developing a strong, independent voice for the working class.
We recognise that the present system is made to seem inevitable by our existing institutions of education and media – as such, Rise places an emphasis on developing political education, both internally to strengthen and clarify our organisations analysis, and externally to popularise ideas to challenge the common sense of the status quo and change the world.
We know that nothing will be achieved unless we, the working class, are organised into a cohesive force – as such, Rise will work to build its own membership and network of activists, but also work constructively with other socialists in trade unions and elections.
Capitalism, which dominates every aspect of our lives, is in terminal decline, it will limp from crisis to crisis, each one more devastating than the last.
It is clear to everyone that our society does not work for us all. Working class people, who produce the wealth, and without whom nothing works, have seen their wages, living standards and quality of life collapse. At the same time, the wealth of a tiny minority in society grows without restraint.
The Origins and Importance of May Day. On this May Day we send fraternal greetings and solidarity to the struggling working classes around the world and re-commit ourselves to the pursuit of working class liberation, socialism and world peace.
If you agree with what Rise stands for, and if you are ready to get organised to build a better world, sign up to explore how you can best help support and build Rise.
