I became a regular reader of the WSWS in 2008 (my senior year of high school) while looking for sources related to a school project. Before finding the website I identified myself as a socialist and had read a number of Marx’s writings. Instantly I became intrigued by the articles on protests in Greece since they had been given little to no attention in mainstream media at that time.

However, when I initially found the website I felt an extreme skepticism and disagreement with numerous positions being put forward. My sharpest disagreements were with the rejection of the trade unions as workers’ organizations, and the ICFI’s critique of national separatist movements. I started to study these questions based on articles posted on the WSWS and attending meetings of the SEP. Very quickly I began to find myself in agreement with the WSWS’s analysis.

All of my political experiences have confirmed the perspectives posted on the WSWS. One example of this took place during a brief visit to England where I witnessed a strike for the first time. It was a pitiful one-day strike of Royal Mail workers that left several major cities unaffected. While I was there I witnessed a high-ranking Communication Workers Union official being interviewed by a reporter. After the cameras were turned off I was amazed by the kind of things the official was saying to the reporter. One line that has been embedded in my memory was “Management loves us, it is the workers that hate us.” Later that day I witnessed a leading member of the UK Socialist Workers Party drop everything he was doing to shake hands with this union official.

No other news source has provided an analysis so extensively confirmed by the experiences of the past five years. This has been confirmed by everything from the right-wing policies of the Obama administration, the unions in South Africa supporting a government that has massacred workers, and the failure of the formation of South Sudan to bring about peace.

I would like to thank the ICFI and all those contributing to the WSWS for helping shape my political development. You have helped clarify both historical and recent experiences to me, and grounded my thoughts in reality. I congratulate the WSWS on its 15 years, and hope to see it last until capitalism is abolished from the face of the earth.