Swindon Pride – “Can I vote for you?”
Scott Hunter, Swindon Socialist Party
The event attracted hundreds of people of all ages, including many young LGBTQ+ people, and their supportive families.
When we introduced ourselves as members of the Socialist Party, a common response was: “Can I vote for you?” The complete alienation from the main capitalist political parties was a recurring theme in our discussions.
We found an excellent response amongst the crowd. Many people – especially youth – liked our programme for LGBTQ+ rights, and how these struggles could be linked to a broader movement for the socialist transformation of society.
Naturally, the LGBTQ+ youth we talked to were also concerned about housing, the NHS, jobs and education. The front page of the Socialist – ‘Health before profit: Kick private vultures out of the NHS’ – got a good response from several NHS workers at the event.
We had no trouble raising the idea of a new mass workers’ party, because the idea was already popular! And there were plenty of opportunities to talk about the Trade Union and Socialist Coalition (TUSC), and what can be done to put up an electoral challenge to the Tories and Starmer’s Labour.
We distributed hundreds of leaflets, raised £109 for our campaigns, including 34 people who bought a copy of the Socialist.
London Black Pride
Jay Coward, South East London Socialist Party
2023 has brought an unsettlingly high number of prominent attacks on Black LGBTQ+ people. Because of this, however, the reception to the Socialist Party’s demand at London Black Pride for a political alternative and a new mass workers’ party, was overwhelmingly positive.
Throughout the seven hours we spent there, it was a regular occurrence for queues to build up at the Socialist Party stall of people wanting to talk to us. We took the details of 87 people that wanted to know more about the Socialist Party.
We raised over £100 for our campaigns from donations, including from 40 people who bought a Socialist paper. And two people bought ‘Socialist Democracy’ – the paper of our sister party in Nigeria, the Democratic Socialist Movement.
The openness, eagerness and positivity of Black Pride showed that, along with hurt and insecurity, there is an ever-growing willingness to fight back and support for what the Socialist Party is fighting for too.
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