IT IS socialism or barbarism and we choose socialism, Zarah Sultana told Your Party’s founding conference at the weekend.

In a barnstorming and intransigent speech, Ms Sultana said “the working class must control this party as one day it should control the country” and “replace capitalism with socialism.”

Her remarks echoed those of the party’s co-founder Jeremy Corbyn to delegates the day before, when he pledged that the party would offer “a radical socialist alternative” to the “fake populism of Reform.”

Pledging “real socialism, real social justice” the former Labour leader urged the party to “come together and be united — division and disunity do not serve the people we need to represent.”

“This is our opportunity, this is our time,” he said, seeking to draw a line on a turbulent few months for the party since he and Ms Sultana announced its formation in the summer.

Ms Sultana expressed her “admiration and respect for Jeremy Corbyn. He gave us hope when he became leader of the Labour Party but now we are building something new.”

She acknowledged the party’s troubled birth and said “some of that is my fault and I am sorry,” but launched a full-on attack on the party’s central organisation for “unacceptable and undemocratic” bans and exclusions.

Referring to a summer of media attacks, legal threats and other skullduggery she declared “I will not stand for it” to stormy applause.

Her speech came after delegates had backed her position on two contentious issues — having a collective rather than individual leadership and allowing members of other socialist parties to join the party.

The removal of passes from some delegates on the eve of conference led Ms Sultana to boycott proceedings on Saturday.

Mr Corbyn also pledged “to learn from our problems, learn from our mistakes.”

Both the party’s co-founders sent out a message of solidarity with the Palestinian people.

Mr Corbyn said “it is not war, it is genocide we have been witnessing” in Gaza, “and our government is complicit in this,” remarks greeted with a standing ovation and chants of “free, free Palestine.”

And Ms Sultana pledged the party would “stand with Palestinians until every inch of their land is free. A single democratic state — from the river to the sea — with equal rights for all. 

“We must ensure that there is a day of reckoning for those who have enabled genocide,” she added, declaring herself once more “a proud anti-zionist” to enthusiastic support in the hall.

Independent Alliance MP Shockat Adam was also a standout conference star, delivering a powerful speech tackling Islamophobia head-on.

“As the country mourned the heinous deaths of three innocent girls in Southport, a call to arms was announced by people who called themselves patriots on everyone who looked different, the immigrant, the Muslim, the black person, and if they were all three then bingo. 

“That unleashed a frenzy in many other parts of the country, which has been relentless. mosques were attacked and hotels were threatened to be burnt down.

“The far right in Europe has been in ascendancy for some time now, but many in this country thought we were immune from the vitriol, the polarisation, the hate. 

“They are no longer knocking on our door; they have taken a seat not only on our breakfast shows on our airwaves but in Westminster itself. They aim to sow division and scapegoat minorities, and many are now openly Islamophobic.

“This is an existential crisis for many Muslims in this country.”

He also pleaded for unity in the fractious party, telling delegates “as long as we work on the principle of mutual respect, non-discrimination, and tolerance of people’s beliefs, religious or otherwise, we can make this work.

“If we cannot unite and if we let our differences consume us, we will fail, and we will have let down our young and our future. We will not be forgiven,” he warned.

The conference rebuffed efforts to remove references to socialism and to the central role of the working-class in the party’s foundational political declaration. 

And it voted to retain the name Your Party going forward, the option winning with 37 per cent of votes cast against Popular Alliance, For the Many and Our Party.

Results combined votes cast by delegates in the hall and those cast by party members online.