Link to this page: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/issue/1058/29656

From The Socialist newspaper, 2 October 2019

Now is the moment to join the Socialist Party

photo Kevin Parslow (Click to enlarge)

Have you been reading the Socialist and thinking about joining the Socialist Party? Now is an excellent time to join.

While the fog of confusion swirls as the Brexit deadline approaches, the capitalist establishment is in crisis. The need for Corbyn to take the fight to the capitalist class and their representatives - the Tories, Blairites and anti-worker politicians of every type - is urgent.

We hope you find the articles in the Socialist useful in cutting through the confusion to the real processes of change in society, which are sometimes hidden below the surface. Our socialist analysis and fighting strategy represent the condensed experience of Socialist Party members campaigning across the country with Marxist ideas.

We have recently reprinted our short pamphlet 'The Case for Socialism - Why you should join the Socialist Party'. This lays out what we fight for and why we need you to join us.

We've also reprinted a leaflet on our record in struggle. Leading 18 million people to beat Thatcher's poll tax. Showing how working-class struggle can create jobs, homes and services on Liverpool City Council. And fighting to get rid of the Tories and build a mass party of the working class.

If you're interested in joining or getting hold of this literature, tell your local seller of the Socialist or contact the Socialist Party national office.

Why I joined the Socialist Party

I wanted a way to get out and make change

In my early teen years, like many of my friends, I had almost no political bearing. Most of my information came from my parents' reluctant support for Tony Blair's New Labour.

By the time of the 2012 US elections, I'd developed my own basic stances, which largely boiled down to 'Labour and Democrats good, Tories and Republicans bad'. It wasn't a fully formed understanding, but it shifted me slightly from the 'centre' and got me sliding slowly left.

In the few years that followed, I started to 'find myself' a bit more. I explored aspects of sexuality and gender which opened my eyes, not just to the struggle of LGBTQ+ people, but all oppressed people.

I found online communities of like-minded people who helped me feel safe and secure in my newfound identity. I met people who were politically engaged, and from them I started to learn about what was going on in the world - the things that made me angry.

I learned how much of a constant struggle fights for rights are, how at every turn people in power who hate us will take every opportunity to push back on progress. I learned how unfairly wealth is controlled in our society - with a small handful of incomprehensibly rich people, who seldom have to lift a finger, propped up by borderline slave labour, especially in the neocolonial countries.

And I learned how some of the biggest oil companies in the world knew for longer than I've been alive that their actions were destroying the environment, but they suppressed the information and continued because it kept making them money.

It was here I realised that capitalism needed to go.

Learning this did not feel good. The world seemed to be getting worse, and I couldn't effect change. I was unable to vote yet, and I was constantly stuck in interminable online discussion which seemed to affect nothing. All I wanted was a way to get out and to try to make change.

Then, in 2018, I went to Newcastle Pride, and I saw the Socialist Party's stall - I didn't even know there was such a thing as a socialist party - and I put down my name. As soon as I got involved, I felt welcomed and valued, and like I could finally make a difference, no matter how small.

I will fight to make it happen. That is why I joined the Socialist Party.

Why I'm re-joining the Socialist Party

It's time to stand up and be counted in the struggle

I first wrote in to the Socialist on 18 November 2015. Nearly four years ago. I wrote about the terrible practices on building sites, and how Robert Tressell's classic socialist novel The Ragged-Trousered Philanthropists really resonated with me.

Nearly four years later, I found myself no longer a member of the Socialist Party.

I have had three children whose futures I am constantly worried about. I have moved numerous times, down to slum landlords whose properties are never fit for habitation yet charge extortionate rates. And I have watched disabled family members struggle under Tory cuts.

I am still a decorator and have been working nationwide. Everywhere I go is the same.

The same low quality standards to meet crazy targets to maximise profits for big business. The same disregard for health and safety as it is an inconvenience to quick progress on site.

The same dirty, dusty, mouldy, wet and cold working conditions. And the saddest of all, watching men aged 65-plus still forced into hard labour to make ends meet.

I have come to realise I can no longer bury my head and hope everything goes by me. The last few weeks' events in parliament have made me realise that more than ever I need to stand up and be counted.

I need to re-join the struggle and do what I can to help. It's time for me to join the Socialist Party again and stay for good this time, or I am forever to be a ragged-trousered philanthropist.

Donate to the Socialist Party Coronavirus crisis - 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.

Our 'fighting coronavirus workers' charter', outlines a programme to combat the virus and protect workers' living conditions.

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. Please donate here. All payments are made through a secure server. My donation £ Your message: Click here to read our full appeal statement

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In The Socialist 2 October 2019:

What we think

Capitalist elite split - fight for a government in the interests of the working class

40 years on: Mandatory reselection more vital for Labour than ever

Brexit

Is a workers' Brexit deal possible?

Fresher's fairs

Freshers fairs 2019: Students impatient for change and determined to fight

News

Battered Boris must go... and all the Tories with him!

Nationalisation only way to safeguard jobs and skills at Wrightbus

Labour's mass social housing pledge

Them&Us

Workplace news

Royal Mail dispute: Workers determined to fight bosses' injustices

PCS general secretary election - Support Marion Lloyd

Bromley libraries strikers proved right

Hull: Construction workers' walkout forces employer to back down

Crown Paints dispute - union senior steward speaks out

End low pay - support Salford Royal security workers' action

Karro Foods victory Hull

International socialist news and analysis

Catalonia independence movement two years on

Egypt: Street protests challenge Trump's favourite dictator

Socialist Party reports and campaigns

Socialism 2019: An unmissable event

Now is the moment to join the Socialist Party

Financing socialist struggle

Reader's opinion

The Socialist inbox

Active and strong member of Socialist Party reaches 80

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