17 – 18 November 2007
University of London Union, Central London
Last November I attended the Socialism 2006 event hosted by the Socialist Party. All my life I have been around socialist ideas and for a number of years I have considered myself a socialist, but I had never been to an event like Socialism before.
Michael Wrack, Hackney Socialist Party
The sessions I went to were on the future for Britain after Blair, Hugo Chavez, and a historical session about the Black Panthers. I chose these as it was a mixture of different topics that I already knew a bit about, had my own opinions on and wished to find out more about.
I found each introduction very informative, taking my basic knowledge of the issues and expanding to a more in-depth level while still being easily understood. This allowed for a good debate and discussion when it was opened up to the floor. I was pleasantly surprised to see that most people there had similar views to my own, but many with a deeper understanding than myself.
As well as the discussion sessions I attended the Rally for Socialism, where I heard a number of inspiring speeches from a range of speakers involved in struggles from a local to international level. I found the whole event to be very interesting and it was an enjoyable change to be surrounded by people who viewed the world in similar ways to me.
I decided I wanted more discussions like those I had experienced, so asked to be introduced to any Socialist Party members in my local area.
A few weeks later I attended a local branch meeting and soon after decided to become actively involved and join the party. I would strongly recommend attending this year’s event, whether you are involved in local campaigns in your workplace or school, or if you are just interested in learning more about socialist ideas.
