Proud To Be A Socialist

I've not always been political - like so many others I would try and avoid politics and save any arguments, but the last General Election ignited something within me that made me come alive and begin questioning how our society operates.

Having grown up as a teenager during the Thatcher years not understanding why miners were on strike or why it mattered if The Sun moved to Wapping. I was ignorant to the struggles workers were facing as I left school, not realising I was one of those struggling workers. Instead of going to university I had opted to work for £50 a week at a supermarket because my mum and I needed the money. Thatcher promised us that if we worked hard we could improve our lives but instead millions were thrown on the dole queue or forced into a YTS (Youth Training Scheme) while the yuppies got rich as she privatised our utility services.

I remember the excitement when New Labour swept to power in 1997, workers were told 'things can only get better' - according to the official music track for the election. Tony Blair seemed like a nice chap compared to bland John Major but workers would soon discover what New Labour was. Any socialist ideas were sucked out of the party as it had transformed into New Labour and what we were left with was a 'nicer' Conservative Party! The utilities stayed privatised and more of our public services were carved up and handed to the private sector for them to make money from it instead of provide a service. The anti-union laws were left unchanged as New Labour shifted ever more to the right.

The General Election of 2010 got people talking politics and I questioned who should get my vote this time. Would I vote for the party that had tried to privatise the public service I work for or was there another party out there for me? It was at this point I had read a link on a friends Facebook page from the Socialist Party. The points they raised stirred my curiosity and so I began to look into what the Socialist Party stood for. I'll be honest, at first I didn't agree with alot of what they were saying but the more I read, the more clearer the page became. I could now see that the Socialist Party stood for workers like me and were daily involved in the struggles I go through as a public sector worker.

 I voted for the Socialist Party in the General Election and soon got myself involved with the party. I want to see society run differently, and that means this rotten capitalist system based on greed instead of need has to go. Labour might have dropped 'new' from the title but sadly it no longer truly represents the working class, instead it's leader condemns workers who defend their pensions and Labour councillors pass on Tory cuts without one single voice of opposition.

In 2011 I had the honour of standing as a candidate in the area where I live and I hope to do the same again in 2012. I am proud to be a socialist who stands up for working class people. It is only by standing up for what we believe in can we hope to gain our aspirations. We need a new mass workers party that will be the voice for the workers, young people and vulnerable - I believe it is the Socialist Party