A strain people are willing to stand for (6)
I believe the answer is:
anthem
'willing to stand for' is the definition.
I can't judge whether this defines the answer.
'a strain people' is the wordplay.
'a' becomes 'an'.
'strain people' becomes 'them' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should believe this answer much more).
'an'+'them'='ANTHEM'
'are' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for anthem that I've seen before include "The man for a rousing song" , "Internationale?" , "The man for a patriotic song" , "Church choral piece" , "Solemn song" .)