Growing up in Lynn, Massachusetts, once the shoe capital of the world, my community had a thriving downtown area of small businesses and restaurants. The shoe cobbler has long since disappeared, but the shoe factories contributed to a bustling downtown area and employed the community. Shoe factories are also a chapter in the history books, as shoes are now assembled overseas where labor is cheap.

General Electric, another factory in Lynn that once employed over 16,000 people in the 1970s, now employs a mere 4,500. Because of such downsizing, thousands were put out of work and millions of dollars were put into the pockets of CEOs.

In a socialist society, workers would have had control over the factories that have either been downsized or completely wiped out. My downtown would still be a bustling area where people could walk, not drive, to purchase the products they needed.

Now, people are shopping at the Square 1 mall and eating at Burger King, two large corporations that contributed to the disappearance of my downtown.

I became a socialist to organize against these corporations that devastate the lives of working people in exchange for immediate profit.