Join the Socialist Party!, photo Socialist Party

Join the Socialist Party!, photo Socialist Party   (Click to enlarge: opens in new window)

Alex Brown, Sheffield Socialist Party

Some of our readers may be too young to remember the 2008 financial crash – but you will certainly have felt the effects. Fast forward 12 years to 2020 and there’s another global crisis, the coronavirus pandemic, which is made so much worse by the capitalist structure of the world’s economies.

It’s worth taking a moment to reflect on how events on the global stage ripple down to your workplace, to your housing estate, or to your educational setting. The bankers and the ultra-rich elite who cause the damage never want to pay to put things right. Why would they?

Labour

Here in Britain, the Labour Party has given up every inch of progress it made under Corbyn. And let us remember, while Jeremy Corbyn’s anti-austerity policies offered hope to millions, his leadership failed to transform the Labour Party… the capitalists in the party maintained control, as they have for decades.

The Labour Party is no longer a working-class organisation, and it certainly isn’t socialist. This is why the Socialist Party is part of the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition – a vehicle for anti-austerity candidates at the ballot box. Labour simply cannot provide this; even their left candidates are handcuffed to the right-wing bureaucracy, who represent the interests of your boss and your landlord.

The pandemic has led more and more people to realise that capitalism is rotten, and that tweaking round the edges is pointless. That’s one reason that the Socialist Party is growing – here in Sheffield we have new faces at each and every weekly meeting. The Socialist Party understands that under capitalism a tiny minority of people – the capitalist class – control society including the economy and our democratic structures. That tiny minority will never let us vote all of their wealth and power away. Again, ask yourself, why would they?

Transform society

Yes, it’s absolutely correct for socialists to stand in elections, to fight for immediate improvements in living conditions. But that is just one strand, woven into the long-term fight for socialism. That fight will be won by understanding how society can be transformed, and then building a movement capable of forcing through that change! Those forces will be built in workplaces and our trade unions, on the estates, in communities and on the campuses.

The Socialist Party has a proud history of building movements which win. We are an experienced party that fights on all fronts. We are a party that understands the need for class-based analysis. We are a party that has absolute confidence in our class – the working class. The time is now! Join the Socialist Party and join the fight back!