As a student in high school, I always struggled to know what to do with my leftism and activism, with the fear that nobody would listen and lack of knowledge about where to start. I’ve always surrounded myself with a leftist group of friends but, with us all being students and studying for exams, it was difficult to find the time and organisational skills to create movements ourselves, and so we felt helpless and guilty about our lack of contribution. Once I reached college, my friend showed me a pamphlet created by Socialist Alternative that had been given to her near her school. At once I looked up their website, read through their values and realised that this was exactly what I had been looking for these past couple years. After signing up and being introduced to my branch and members, there was this feeling of great excitement that I could actually help to make a difference, and it was fantastic to see that in Socialist Alternative there was a range of people from different backgrounds and ages that I could discuss my interests with. So I can’t wait to see what I’ll be doing next, and to finally feel positive that change will come in the future. – Erin
There are a number of reasons Socialist Alternative attracted me, growing up working class and queer I think initially made me very aware of the mistreatment and lack of support given to minorities by the government, as I matured my interest in politics stuck with me and I started looking into specific political groups and developing an understanding of sociological structures. Through self education I developed my own political and social beliefs and found no current political parties truly aligned with the values I wanted to support, however, after being made aware of Socialist Alternative I’ve been able to be further educated on socialist theory and views as well as having a space to express my own thoughts and feelings on topics and events. To conclude it’s a space in which I feel safe and surrounded by like minded people and finally feel as though I’ve found a group I can truly trust and support. -Charlie
Growing up as a member of the working class, I soon realised through my own experiences that I was a socialist and that, more importantly, I needed to act upon it to make a difference. Having a lack of friends who were interested in politics up until recently, it made it hard for me to access reliable sources and materials about leftism. The reason I became interested in Socialist Alternative was due to a friend of mine who shared the same beliefs and values as me, and hence introduced me to the cause. I’m pleased to know that there are other people in my community who have the same mindset and willingness to strive for change. -Grace
