Why you should join the Socialist Party today

photo Helen Pattison (Click to enlarge)

Sarah Sachs-Eldridge, Socialist Party national organiser

You should join the Socialist Party to help build the powerful movement for socialist change we all need.

Everyone probably knows someone involved in some sort of campaigning. From backing Jeremy Corbyn in the Labour leadership, to fighting cuts and privatisation of public services, to solidarity action with our sisters and brothers across the conflict-riven world, and many other important issues.

But in the face of a world in crisis, all establishment politicians seem capable of is inaction - hand-wringing at best. This is because they exist to defend the status quo. There is a tiny minority for whom the status quo is ideal - the super-rich.

As the Wall Street Journal put it: "Whatever the world's economic and market turbulence last year, one group has held up well: billionaires." The combined wealth of the world's billionaires increased by 5.4% to a record $7.7 trillion, and the world's billionaire population grew by 6.4% to 2,473 in 2015.

Real earnings in Britain have declined more than 10% since the financial crisis began in 2007. In the US in 2012, the richest 10% received more than half of all income - 50.5%, the largest share since record-keeping began in 1917!

Statistics like these are replicated across the world. The working class and middle class are forced to pay for the crises of the profit-motivated capitalist system.

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So instead of accepting that austerity and poverty for billions are a fact of life, people are increasingly prepared to take action for change. In Britain the main front of this battle is currently the civil war over the future of Labour. The incident around Virgin boss Richard Branson shows what it's all about.

When Jeremy Corbyn called for renationalisation of the railways from the floor of an over-crowded, over-priced, privatised train, for most it was a no-brainer.

But to the fat cats who run the railways for profit and their ilk, a Corbyn-led government elected on commitments to renationalisation and ending austerity spells disaster. Maintaining Labour as a pro-privatisation, pro-1% party is what is behind the attempted coup.

In defending the bosses' and the bankers' interests, the Blairite plotters have also attacked the Socialist Party - as reported in the establishment media. This is not accidental, but crucial to their attempts to weaken the movement that has arisen.

The Socialist Party has a record of convincing people of socialist ideas and the need for organised, united working class struggle. This is not by 'arm-twisting' as Labour deputy leader Tom Watson scandalously declared, but by offering an explanation and a way to fight.

The Socialist Party has a record that attests to our confidence in workers to fight and to win based on the conviction that a socialist alternative is possible.

For example, Militant, the Socialist Party's predecessor, led the 18-million strong campaign against the Poll Tax which brought down Thatcher.

The Militant leadership in Liverpool City Council in the 1980s refused to make cuts, redundancies and closures. Instead, it organised a mass campaign which resulted in the Thatcher government providing millions of pounds, allowing it to build 5,000 council houses and create thousands of jobs.

As part of the anti-Corbyn coup, the Labour Party 'compliance unit' is excluding people. We don't exclude anyone who agrees with our basic ideas and is ready to join the fightback with us - that includes Labour members. After all, we want to be part of a democratic and federal Labour Party in the fight against austerity and for socialism.

So if you agree with what you read in the Socialist, what we say in meetings, how we link up with people to organise resistance - don't let there be any barriers. Join us today.

Visit socialistparty.org.uk/join, call 020 8988 8777 or text your name and postcode to 07761 818 206

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Finance appeal

The coronavirus crisis has laid bare the class character of society in numerous ways. It is making clear to many that it is the working class that keeps society running, not the CEOs of major corporations.

The results of austerity have been graphically demonstrated as public services strain to cope with the crisis.

The government has now ripped up its 'austerity' mantra and turned to policies that not long ago were denounced as socialist. But after the corona crisis, it will try to make the working class pay for it, by trying to claw back what has been given.

The Socialist Party's material is more vital than ever, so we can continue to report from workers who are fighting for better health and safety measures, against layoffs, for adequate staffing levels, etc.
When the health crisis subsides, we must be ready for the stormy events ahead and the need to arm workers' movements with a socialist programme - one which puts the health and needs of humanity before the profits of a few.