Joining the Socialist Party was an easy decision for me to make. Faced with the same bleak reality as countless others around me – mass unemployment, cuts to education, graduates unable to find employment, and imprisoned in the precarious position of surviving off of one hundred euro a week – I decided to draw a line in the sand.
I quickly learned that it was not these issues in isolation that was the problem. Rather, all these factors, linked intrinsically in a web, created and maintained by a small section of elitists who, like the proverbial spider, suck out the lifeblood, or wealth from society.
I realised that this system, which empowers these few who so relentlessly pursue profit, is a broken system, tired and worn out. I realised change was needed, not a change in the faces of the ruling class, rather a change in the fundamental way society is run. I realised that this change, a change that would better the lives of the ordinary people could only be democratic socialism.
I realised that to have any hope that change could happen I needed to be involved in that change. We cannot sit on the sidelines with the vain hope that, somehow, the situation will work itself out. The system that treats us as mere consumers can only be maintained if we play the part of consumers.
We are all affected by this – whether we are workers, unemployed, still in school or students – the only way we can achieve a better future is by working together. Not for profit, but for people and for the benefit of the largest number of people, not those with the deepest pockets.
