I have been reading the WSWS on and off since 1998. Initially I didn’t see it as a suitable medium for reaching workers in general.

Clearly that’s been proved wrong, not only in the rapid growth of technology with the availability of internet access but it obviously provides a medium to exchange views very quickly, where a paper would take weeks and weeks to do.

I met the ICFI just after the 1984/85 miners strike whilst looking for a political alternative after being stitched-up by all and sundry and having to return to work after a whole year.

I’ll never forget it—all the marching back with heads held high. What a load of crap! I thought, “What’s going on? We’ve been betrayed. It shouldn’t be like this!” We shouldn’t have gone back when workers were locked up and others left without jobs.

Following the return to work it became obvious that whilst the union leadership were claiming we were not defeated, in practice, at both local and national level they were acting to try to re-establish their cozy relations with management at the expense of the membership.

One could argue that 1985 was the year that any pretence that the trade unions were a fighting force representing the interests of their members was exposed. The subsequent years of sell outs and betrayals has confirmed my view.

During the course of the strike it became clear that no mainstream political party represented the interests of miners or any other workers. Principally I was attracted to a revolutionary perspective and supported the International Committee in the struggle against the Workers Revolutionary Party renegades.

The WSWS is the only organisation that gives a class perspective on world developments which becomes more and more obvious as every day goes by.

Over the years the WSWS has fulfilled itself and has a much wider coverage. It vindicates the necessity of the move to the internet and more and more people are writing articles than ever before.

You don’t have to be a genius to work out what the capitalists are up to, it’s so clear.

If anyone looks at the analysis of events through the archive from the WSWS inception to where we are today they would see a clear line.

I’ve been reading the site on a more regular basis since 2008 when I was laid off. The analysis has been spot on regarding the economy which has led to an intensification of the attacks on workers. As someone recently commented “we are sleepwalking back into the 1930s.”

Britain, like the US, is now insourcing production rather than outsourcing as things can be produced cheaper by low skilled workers.