I used to have this defeatist idea that no matter what we did we wouldn’t be able to change anything.
The only option I saw was to vote left and hope that these parties kept their promises to make things better for the working class.
In the last Spanish elections I supported Podemos, who in coalition with PSOE (the equivalent to the Labour Party in Spain) were able to form a government. Even though they’re probably the “best” option if you’re going through a parliamentary method, things haven’t substantially changed, so it’s clear that this is not enough.
The main problem is that people have no mechanism to make sure that parties deliver the promises they made. We’ve seen it with the “anti-austerity” promises that the Tories made. We all knew it was – and excuse my language – utter bullshit.
Changes need to come from the bottom up. We may get some victories under capitalism but they’re always going to be threatened under a system that just benefits the ruling class.
I considered joining SA a while ago but decided not to for a combination of reasons – busy schedule, not being sure at the time if socialism was the answer, but, specially, thinking that I wasn’t clever enough and therefore had nothing to offer. I stayed as a supporter, went to some meetings and made donations.
After International Women’s Day and the murder of Sarah Everard I decided I wanted to get active, do something about all the things that were making me angry, and help to build a socialist movement.
I also realised that we all have something to offer. Being a member of SA is not about being well read and able to give a good speech – it’s about wanting to learn and do something to change this system.
