‘William H’, new member of the Socialist Party
As a professional footballer and also a member of the Socialist Party, the experience of going from my workplace to a totally different environment can feel contradictory.
One is filled with expensive cars, media attention, and wealthy individuals. The other is about supporting and fighting for the most exploited and oppressed, building a future that guarantees all of our society has a good, healthy, and respectable standard of living, free from poverty.
From an early age, I loved playing football, and became really talented. The exploitative and unjust distribution of wealth always bothered me. I could not live without actively engaging in a fight for a revolutionary change, once I realised the extent to which this system damages everyday people.
Exploitative industry
Achieving my childhood dream of becoming a pro footballer, is always something I will be proud of. But, early in my career, I realised that I cannot sugarcoat that I am a benefactor of an exploitative industry that is ridden with capitalism’s traits to its core.
Countless are the examples of clubs owned by wealthy oligarchs, simply using them to extend their monetary domination. It left me in a state of guilt and complicity.
The changes needed in our society are echoed very strongly with the ones needed within the football industry – filled with greed, a strong belief in meritocracy, and a severe lack of empathy for the most suffering individuals. Often my fight in both spheres ends up overlapping.
Since joining the Socialist Party, I began reading my Socialist newspaper at the club. It surprisingly sparked conversations amongst players, curious what I’m reading, and asking ‘what is socialism?’.
I joined the Socialist Party because the system that we live under, capitalism, must be eradicated. A system where the labour of the working class is consistently exploited at the benefit of an extremely wealthy minority, who hoard our society’s wealth, and leave millions in dire poverty, starvation, and homelessness across the world. If a footballer can come to this realisation and join the struggle, then I’m sure anyone can.
First time attending Socialist Party congress was eye opening
We belong to a broader national and international movement. But that can be easily forgotten when we go about our day-to-day local campaigning, fighting within our own small spheres of influence, week after week, month after month, and not often connecting our own smaller fights with the broader struggle.
But congress enabled me to actually experience, see, and feel just how I am part of a much bigger and broader movement. Hearing from members up and down the country, and across the world – all aligned with myself in a fight for a socialist revolution – filled me with inspiration and motivation.
Hearing testaments of fellow socialists on their struggles and victories is uplifting. It enables us all to share and learn from our shared experiences, all discussing how best to improve our party, and how to use this key event to uplift each other, and our world-changing ambitions.
Read ‘Socialist Party Congress: Building and strengthening the forces of Marxism in the new era’
