Socialist Party members fighting the cuts in Carlisle (Click to enlarge: opens in new window)
Sarah Sachs-Eldridge, Socialist Party national organiser
The fear and gloom that descended in the aftermath of the election will only intensify as Cameron installs a raft of Thatcherites on the new Tory government front bench.
He and they will plan to take Maggie’s market policies to their logical conclusion – wiping out the welfare state, crucifying the trade unions, and privatising everything in sight to the enrichment of the already super-rich.
Never was a bold socialist opposition more needed and never was Labour more utterly unable and uninterested in providing it. Playing the blame game in the pages of the press appears to be the pursuit of choice for aspiring Labour leaders. The talk about ‘aspiration’ seems to start with their own careers – and end there. There has not been a word about opposing Tory austerity from that quarter.
Elections
Socialists stood in the election to offer a 100% anti-austerity choice and socialist policies. The Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition programme – including nationalisation of the banks under democratic control, for a £10 an hour minimum wage, and a huge programme to build council housing – offered a real alternative.
Now we ask everyone who agreed with those ideas to get actively involved in the struggle to resist Tory austerity and to join the Socialist Party.
We are committed to continuing to build an independent working class political voice, to preparing anti-austerity action in the unions, including defence of the right to strike, of working
among young people to build organised resistance, and putting forward a clear socialist alternative to cuts and capitalism.
Every improvement to the lives of working class people must be fought for, and every attack resisted – and we believe that the organised working class has the potential power to stop the cuts and transform society. The Socialist Party fights for socialism – a democratic society run for the needs of all and not the profits of a few.
What does it involve?
What does it mean to join the Socialist Party? First of all agreement with our general ideas, which we welcome discussion on and which many will have encountered during the election campaign.
We ask all members to make a financial contribution – membership dues – to the running of our party. The super-rich who pour funds into the pro-capitalist parties have no interest in giving us any.
And we ask members to read, buy and sell our paper and to participate in the life of the party as much as possible.
