I began reading the World Socialist Web Site (WSWS) in early May 2009, at the urging of my fiancé. In the beginning of our relationship, we had many long arguments about politics; I was a staunch Republican and he was a socialist. I finally gave in to him and began reading the site. At first I totally resisted the class approach of the articles. I come from a solid middle class, Catholic background with parents who rose to a level of affluence significantly above their parents. I struggled to understand bourgeois ideology and class warfare and attributed my own—and others’— financial setbacks to individual failing and weakness.

By the beginning of 2010, the WSWS was increasingly becoming my go-to source for news and information because I realized that the WSWS and its reporters are the only news source that presents the most thoroughly investigated and politically accurate stories.

I was especially impressed by the WSWS coverage of the 2010 British Petroleum oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. In the coverage of that event and its aftermath, I found that the WSWS was the only site that was providing accurate accounts and analysis of the devastation. Through those articles, I really began to understand the powerful social forces behind the destruction of the environment, the control of natural resources and the subjugation of the working class to the financial elite.

That was the beginning of my turn to socialism as the way forward for working people. Compelled by the continuing economic decline, I started submitting my own articles for publication and I eventually applied for membership in the Socialist Equality Party.

I cannot bring myself to imagine the fate of the working class if the WSWS ceased to exist. That is why I support the website with a monthly donation.