Why I joined the Socialist Party

To join the struggle to save the NHS

Marching to save the NHS, 4.3.17, photo Mary Finch

Marching to save the NHS, 4.3.17, photo Mary Finch   (Click to enlarge: opens in new window)

Tom Hunt, Mansfield Socialist Party

I am an NHS nurse and have been for over 37 years.

Despite the blood, sweat, and poverty I can say hand on heart I love my job just as much now as when I started.

I have seen the service eroded under both Tory and Labour governments. My mother was a nurse and that generation fought for what we have today and I joined the struggle to save this wonderful legacy.

I firmly believe that a democratic mass workers’ movement is the only way we’re going to save this service. However, I understand that this cannot be done in isolation and in fact all our services and things we hold dear can only be carried forward by the removal of the capitalist system.

I’ve not been in the Socialist Party for that long, about a year and a bit. I’ve been to meetings and helped out with Socialist Party campaign stalls. And my education has begun. My new year’s resolution was to educate myself on the Russian revolution with it being its centenary.