The world stands at a critical juncture. Imperialist wars are expanding under the leadership of a hegemonic United States, and capitalism—mired in what I believe is a terminal crisis—has exhausted its capacity to offer alternatives. It has deployed every strategy at its disposal to divert and divide ordinary people. Together, imperialism and capitalism have produced a climate crisis that threatens the very existence of human beings and the planet we inhabit. In such a moment, a united left movement is not merely desirable; it is the only force capable of upholding humanity.
Left unity, in my view, can be forged around nine core agendas that speak directly to the needs of working people across the world.
First, absolute opposition to wars and conflicts. War does not simply kill and maim idealistic young people from working-class families; it destroys the conditions for sustainable livelihoods. It weakens labour protections, marginalises the poor under the guise of emergency, and empowers ruling elites to govern through authoritarian measures. It drives up the cost of everything—from food to banking—draining the wealth of the working poor. Wars are cowardly strategies by governing classes to domesticate populations, suppress wages, and enforce compliance in the name of security. There should be no ifs, ands, or buts when opposing them. Left unity can champion world peace only by opposing all forms of war and conflict manufactured by imperialism to serve corporate capitalism.
Second, we must confront fascism and the far right. The advance of fascist and far-right forces destroys social harmony and working-class unity by spreading reactionary nationalism, religious extremism, and cultural chauvinism. Yankee imperialism, racialised colonial capitalism, and corporate mass media provide the oxygen these forces need. This alliance is fundamentally hostile to working people. Therefore, left unity must treat the fight against fascism and the far right as part of its historic legacy.
Third, an uncompromising commitment to science and secularism. Science and secularism are central to building a liberal, democratic, diverse, and inclusive society—one where reason is equipped to fight reactionary forces. The right-wing onslaught against science and secularism spreads misinformation and obscurantist dogmas that legitimise inequality and discrimination based on gender, race, ethnicity, sexuality, class, and caste. Science is the antidote to the pseudoscientific culture propagated to domesticate the masses under the guise of tradition. Secularism, backed by science, can defeat these forces. Left unity must promote critical thinking and an intellectual tradition that questions everything, without surrendering to the fraudulent claims of cultural relativism and its Eurocentric strategy of divide and dominate.
Fourth, we must protect the environment and reverse the climate crisis. Capitalism overexploits nature in its relentless pursuit of accumulation. The monetisation of the environment and the commodification of nature breed the climate crisis, in which the working poor always suffer the most. Natural calamities are neither purely natural nor simply man-made; they are products of capitalist exploitation that destroys environmental balance. Capitalism and environmental sustainability cannot coexist. Working-class opposition to capitalism is therefore central to protecting the planet.
Fifth, we must stand with all marginalised people and groups. Capitalism marginalises, dispossesses, and deprives the working poor on the basis of status, class, race, gender, ethnicity, caste, sexuality, religion, and region. These multiple layers of exploitation are integral to the system. Fragmentation along identity lines weakens the struggle against capitalism, which manufactures these very divisions. The left must organise within specific contexts of exploitation while forging unity among all marginalised sections.
Sixth, the expansion of public infrastructure and services. Public housing, health, education, employment, industries, banking, roads, transport, and communication are essential for human welfare. Capitalism destroys these to create markets for private profit, producing alienating and dehumanising conditions where access depends on purchasing power. Privatisation is a denial of public welfare, designed to work against working people. Left unity must focus on expanding public welfare to secure dignity, safety nets, and the protection of basic human needs within a framework of decentralised democracy.
Seventh, an unwavering commitment to individual freedom, democracy, and justice. Capitalism peddles an American dream in which individual freedom means consumer freedom, and democracy is reduced to voting in elections that serve bourgeois interests. Market-led democratic politics and its illiberal culture destroy both genuine freedom and justice. The criminal nature of bourgeois democracy is a denial of freedom for the people. Left unity requires a state and government that promote individual freedom, equality, and justice within a decentralised democratic framework designed to serve the people.
Eighth, we must learn from people. Too often, left leadership treats working people as children in need of guidance, forgetting to learn from their ideas, interests, and views before conceptualising struggle. Class consciousness comes from work; working people are already conscious of their exploitation. Bureaucratic hierarchy and detached leadership do not breed confidence. Leadership must come from the workers' collective, not from outside it. Collective learning breeds collective consciousness, collective struggle, and collective emancipation. We must learn from people before developing principles, policies, and strategies.
Ninth, defend peace, people, and planet. In all situations, left unity must defend these three pillars at all costs. Capitalism, through its regimes of plunder, actively threatens peace and destroys the harmony between people and the planet. This is not accidental; it is an integral strategy of domesticating human labour and nature in pursuit of limitless profit. The struggle against this barbaric system is central to protecting and promoting the coexistence of people, peace, and planet.
These nine agendas, in my view, can form the basis of left unity—the call of the hour in the face of a choice between survival and extinction. A united left alone can defeat the capitalist and imperialist designs that hold people and the planet captive. Armed with a united front strategy built around these core principles, we can provide the ground for an emancipatory struggle capable of ensuring peace, prosperity, and the coexistence of peoples.
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*Academic based in UK
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