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Socialist Party

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From: The Socialist issue 1029, 13 February 2019: Universal Credit out - Tories out

Search site for keywords: Socialist Party - Reading - Glasgow

Why I joined: "why is their life so different from mine?"

Sasha out campaigning with Reading Socialist Party (Click to enlarge)

Sasha Zhukov, Reading Socialist Party

Well, I guess it all starts from when I was growing up in care in Glasgow.

I had always seen what wealthy people have, and what went through my mind was: why can't we have this for everyone? Why do some people have more than others, and why is their life so different from mine?

By my late teens I just saw the world as being unfair, and 'justice' being dished out by the rich ones who think they're better than the rest of us. I became a member of an anti-fascist group.

It was when I was in college for the second time, to study animal care, that a good friend of mine mentioned that what I was saying was the same as Karl Marx. I asked her, "who the bloody hell is he?"

She told me to read the Communist Manifesto, so I did. It turns out I had been thinking a lot of what Marx was saying all those years ago.

When I left Scotland, I saw myself as a Marxist, someone who keeps seeking truth in the world. I moved to Reading.

But I went to ground, and felt I was lost - until, at Reading Pride, I was given a flyer for the Socialist Party.

I looked into it. This was a way of expressing my ideas about everyone getting a fair hand in life. I was welcomed by the Reading branch with open arms, and was fascinated by my first meeting of the party.

Now I stand on campaign stalls with my new comrades, to fight the austerity of this blood-hungry government.

It was a new way to fight for me, someone who had been accustomed only to force, to letting fur fly. So thank you for taking the time to read this story from a Glasgow boy.

Join at socialistparty.org.uk/join

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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.