CLASS is the Centre for Labour and Social Studies.

Its launch event is on 26 May, about which they say:

Rooted in the trade union movement, Class will be developing new ideas for challenging times.

Our first high-level seminar will aim to energise debate around jobs and growth in the UK. With Britain in recession and the tide turning against austerity in Europe, we will be developing the economic and social arguments against austerity and for growth.

Speakers will include:
- Prof Costas Lapavitsas, SOAS
- Prof Mariana Mazzucato, University of Sussex
- Owen Jones
- Ann Pettifor, PRIME
- Len McCluskey, Unite the Union
- Prof Malcolm Sawyer, Leeds University Business School
- Richard Murphy, Tax Research UK
- Dr Stephanie Blankenburg, SOAS
- Angela Mason, Fawcett Society
- Seumas Milne, Guardian
- Zoe Williams, Guardian
- Tim Roache, GMB
…with more to be announced

The seminar will feature three sessions on the themes of 'growth not austerity', 'an active government in the economy' and 'a fair economy'.

Sessions will be looking at active industrial policies and the role of the state, the economic case for pursuing growth policies and not austerity, financial reform and regulation, the need for progressive taxation and policies to tackle inequality in the new economy.