Why I joined the Socialist Party - to fight for the future of the working class

GMB union members in Asda have rejected attacks on pay and conditions, photo Sheffield Socialist Party, photo Sheffield Socialist Party (Click to enlarge)

David Murray, Mansfield Socialist Party

As an Asda worker I have seen first-hand the capitalist drive to pursue profits before the wellbeing of people, reflected in more work piled upon shop-floor colleagues. Skeleton staffing has seen colleagues leave in droves and never replaced. Benefits and rights have been pared back as colleagues are forced onto swingeing new 'flexible' work contracts. And since the beginning of the Covid crisis, colleagues have been forced to work with minimal protection in teeming stores as Asda's bosses have pocketed super-profits.

When Jeremy Corbyn was elected leader of the Labour party in 2015, I joined hoping to help deliver the new mass party that seemed to have come into existence as an embryo within the shell of the old Labour Party. What followed in the next five years was a stark lesson in the impossibility of transforming Labour - with its machine firmly in the hands of the Blairites - into a party willing to stand with the working class against the bosses.

After Labour went down to a crushing defeat in the 2019 general election, I couldn't help but look for an alternative. When Corbyn came to Mansfield after the 2017 election I attended his rally. On the way out I encountered local Socialist Party members who had set up a stall, and fell into a conversation with them. It was apparent that we shared a lot more in common politically than I did with most of the people in the Labour Party.

Over the next couple of years I would often see the Socialist Party campaign stall in Mansfield town centre. Outside of the big cities and university towns, most socialist groups seem to be limited to a quiet Facebook page. These socialists seemed different. Not afraid to talk to the public and make their argument, even when it meant standing in a freezing and windy town centre in February. We aim to be part of the "fabric of a working-class community", a Socialist Party member explained to me.

The decision to join the Socialist Party was easy. The consistent belief in the need to build a mass party of the working class, to organise in the trade unions, and to root ourselves in working-class communities has given me hope.

And so, to those who are tired of watching the 'official' left backpedal in the face of spurious attacks from the right, and to those who understand that the task at hand is for the working class to build power for ourselves, and in our own interests. I would say join the Socialist Party to fight bosses and to fight for the future of the working class.

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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.