William Downs, Birmingham Central Socialist Party
After attending various Socialist Party Scotland meetings at university, and coming into contact with members canvassing for a ‘Yes’ vote in the Scottish Independence Referendum (indyref), I eventually decided to join the Socialist Party after being given a leaflet during a Black Lives Matter demo in Birmingham.
I had become disillusioned with mainstream politics over a long period of time: Blair’s illegal war in Iraq; the false promises for more devolution from Cameron, Miliband and Clegg just before indyref, which were trashed by Cameron the morning after the result; workers being forced to bail out the banking system during the 2007-08 global financial crisis; Corbyn’s treatment by Labour; the growing inequality witnessed during Covid; all pointed to a broken capitalist system.
For me, the most pressing political concern is the environment. The environmental destruction brought upon the planet will not be solved in a capitalist system. BP, Shell, ExxonMobil, Chevron, and ConocoPhillips, as well as the American Petroleum Institute, knew that using their products led to climate change, but then spent decades misleading the public.
This crisis cannot be left to market forces. Instead, climate catastrophe can only be averted by socialist policies to nationalise the big energy companies and industry under democratic working-class control and management.
The Socialist Party’s core values align with my own, most importantly, that socialism must be realised on an international basis. By joining the Socialist Party you will meet like-minded people who believe in fighting for an economic system that will provide peace, justice, and a prosperous future for generations to come. To reach these goals, inaction and apathy are not an option. Join the Socialist Party today.
