Why we joined the Socialist Party

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I want to fight against the injustice of capitalism

I come from a single-parent household where my mum worked two jobs to scrape by. I was a latchkey kid and I barely saw her.

My family is Northern working-class. I always felt an unnatural malaise when thinking about the situation we were in.

My granddad worked the docks in Hull. He was actively involved in numerous strikes and would tell me his tales.

I remember being fascinated by the idea that workers' discontents can be shared and turned into collective action.

My political kindling came quite late. It was at college where I met my sociology tutor, Harrison.

He was a young, twenty-something, Marxist. He said some unsavoury things about the Con-Dem coalition.

He made me realise that our future will be bleak if we do not do something about it. He gifted me one of his copies of the Communist Manifesto and recommended me endless reading material.

At Newcastle University I witnessed politics in action. Some women on my course spearheaded an anti-tampon tax campaign. The black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) Society put together numerous workshops and seminars, and even got Akala to do a 'history of black music' lecture in a packed-out hall.

I was astounded that people I knew were impassioned and mobilised a movement, while studying. Seeing and learning about the concerns of others, and how some of these campaigns were mobilised, pushed me to get more active.

I came across the Socialist Party in Newcastle when I attended strikes by university lecturers and train drivers. I did my own reading on Militant (Socialist Party's predecessor), and bought the Socialist whenever I was at the Monument statue in Newcastle on a Saturday.

I had been a Corbyn loyalist. After the 2019 election, I knew that there would be a Blairite renaissance and had no intention of shifting my politics to suit a blue-shaded Labour Party.

I joined the Socialist Party because I want to further my education and understanding of the injustice of capitalism, and to fight against it. I know this is something I cannot do alone.

Connor McDonnell, East London Socialist Party

Hopes dashed, until I joined Socialist Party

I had been a Labour Party member on and off since the mid-1980s. I left when Tony Blair scrapped Clause 4, committing Labour to nationalisation, and rejoined under Ed Miliband.

When Jeremy Corbyn was elected I had hope. Unfortunately, my hopes were dashed, and I left the Labour Party two weeks before Keir Starmer's election.

I looked around and decided the Socialist Party was for me. Two reasons: I agree with the aims of the Socialist Party, and I knew excellent comrades already in the Socialist Party from my activity in civil service union PCS.

It is the best thing I could have done. Since joining I have been involved more actively in a few months than in years in the Labour Party.

At last I feel at home surrounded by socialists fighting for the same aims and objectives. I would urge any non-members to seriously consider joining and building a strong Socialist Party for all workers. Solidarity.

Dave Rees, Birmingham North Socialist Party

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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.