We’re struggling, but together we can fight back

Desdemona Stott, Swindon Socialist Party

As a transgender woman, I watched as Keir Starmer said that Gender Recognition Certificates would be ‘useless’ under his administration, days before receiving one myself.

Desperation is the word I’d use to characterise my choice in the last election. I found myself voting for the Green Party, even if the politics of the party as a whole left me less than happy.

Why is that?

Struggle is a word we see a lot in the modern world. People are struggling with the cost of living, their mental and physical health.

Unfortunately, this language is largely pacifying. But in a socialist context, struggle is used as an act of class action, solidarity, even strength.

To say that restructuring my understanding of struggle as a word has helped me massively, would be an understatement.

I am struggling uphill, regardless of class or politics. At least as a Socialist Party member, the struggle takes form, and gains greater meaning.

I fight for my own preservation and that of my kin. But I will also fight tooth and nail for all of us to be free from the shackles of capitalism.

I thank you all for the struggle already hard fought, and I thank you in advance for the further struggle. The working class will be victorious.