Why socialist students is an important component of fighting austerity

I have been really encouraged by the positive reports of the socialist student’s societies being set up and refounded across the UK. As a member of the socialist party I feel we haven’t paid nearly enough attention to student politics in the past. All that is starting to change though and I’m really pleased to hear such positive moves from new comrades coming on board and long standing ones paying more attention to such work. It’s no wonder we are finding a really strong support for our ideas on campus’s up and down the lands. I’m pretty sure we could have had a bigger student activist section of our party if we’d done the ground work in the previous decade just gone. Sadly work has been mainly focused on trade union battles, electoral challenges and the anti war movement. Student work and youth work more generally is a key component of any revolutionary party and I am glad to see the socialist party now taking this aspect of our work far more seriously than possibly in the past. Not belittling comrade’s work but it seems to now be stepping up a gear at long last. A concerted effort to reach out for those disenfranchised students who are facing the new £9,000 tuition fees for the first time and the rising cots of student living will create a groundswell of anger which we can match with our key demands we have as a party and societies up and down the land. Students need a voice since the lib dems who promised not to raise tuition fees broke their promises so catastrophically students have been looking for an alternative ever since. We as socialists should be looking to bridge that gap in consciousness and to linking up struggles including linking to the workers movement including joining the October 20th TUC demonstration in London and helping students join calls for a 24 hour general strike popularised by the National Shops Stewards network who lobbied the TUC on the 9th of September in Brighton. We are entering if we haven’t already a explosive period of class struggle which students who first showed us the way back in 2010 can play a key role in the struggle. We have had a good reception on freshers stalls in universities across the UK. At well-attended meetings we have discussed topics ranging from economics and theory to how we can take the lead in campaigns across campus such as Rape Is No Joke and the TUC demo on 20 October. Recently two Spanish members volunteered to lead a discussion on the situation in Spain laying the foundations for Socialist Students to launch a solidarity campaign for young people across Europe fighting back against government austerity. It is always key to link our struggles in this country to those around the globe Socialist students meetings where international topics have been discussed including the successful Quebec students strike of earlier this year and the huge battle of the South African miners will inspire many. Having an internationalist theme keeps our struggles linked to the wider battle to change the world to end capitalism and bring about a democratic socialist society which will benefit all not just the 1%. Clearly we will be facing many difficult questions by new attendees on stalls and socialist student meetings which are why the party and the youth department must support socialist students and new societies in particular to feel supported and linked in to the wider movement and the party. Most of all we must be starting to gear students and new recruits towards the 21st November NUS national day of action and mobilising as many students as we can. Contacting local Student unions and student bodies to gain support and transport is a must. Socialist students will be doing all it can to make the turnout for that day as big and as militant as possible. With socialist demands at the front of any action. Clearly the student movements leadership is still not up to leading a serious fight back against fees and cuts to education and youth services we must also while fighting our own local campus issues link this with the need to transform the leadership of the student movement with fighting left leaders who are prepared to take the battle on and win. Students makeup a big size of people in this country they must not be ignored their anger must be channelled in a constructive way into linking with the labour movement in removing capitalism the root of all exploitation from society once and for all.

The potential for Socialist Students

The socialist party has had various student organisations and even back to our militant days we were always heavily involved in the Labour Party young Socialists. With the success of youth Fight for jobs which is still only a few years old itself Socialist Students is our party’s latest attempt to gain a voice for students on university and college campuses up and down the country. I’m excited about this prospect with Hertfordshire University set to have its new society set up for the new academic year. There are already successful socialist students societies set up and functioning across the country you may wish to check some of them and our website out at http://socialiststudents.org.uk/wp/ the potential for recruits and the spread of socialist ideas is vast in today’s world young people especially are out there newly radicalised looking for answers to why they are having to pay huge fees while the most wealthy in society walk away with golden goodbyes whilst being able to bring the world economy to its knees. We aim to answer your questions and allow you to have a voice on campus and beyond. To join the fight to change society for the 99%. Student’s politics I’ve been told is a messy affair with lots of bitching and infighting within the scene but as Socialist students we are not interested in the sectarian nature of what is thought of as student politics. We’re here to provide a voice, an arena for discussion and to get students organised in what is one of the most difficult times for students ever. With the tripling of tuition fees and the cutting of EMA there is plenty of reasons for students to be angry and want to hit back. We advocate a constructive fight back putting forward an alternative of free education and support for all students whatever background you are from. What We Stand For Education  Abolish tuition fees. Write off student debt.  Restore EMA. Campaign for full living grants to cover the living costs of all students in post-16 education – including those at university.  No to higher and further education funding cuts. Defend every course, job and service.  No to academies and Free Schools.  For exam boards and all other privatised services to be taken back into public ownership – no repeat of this year’s exam mistakes fiasco!  Stop the marketisation and privatisation of universities in Britain. No to the government’s white paper and a two-tier Higher Education system. No university should be allowed to go to the wall!  Lift the cap on places and publicly fund the expansion of high quality higher education.  Build local anti-cuts campaigns and ‘Youth Fight for Education’ groups in every school, college and university, linked on both a regional and a national level.  Support action taken by education workers to defend their conditions and our education –their fight is our fight.  For the transformation of Students’ Unions into fighting organisations, with bottom-up democratic structures.  For a fighting NUS.  For education that is fully funded, publicly owned, democratically run and universally free at all levels – a socialist education system. Work and Welfare  Support the Youth Fight for Jobs campaign.  No to mass youth unemployment- for a decent job for all.  No to the government’s slave labour ‘workfare’ schemes. For decent training opportunities and apprenticeships for young people which pay at least the minimum wage, with a guaranteed job at the end.  No job losses in the public or private sector. When private bosses claim they can’t afford to maintain jobs, we say open the books. Let us see where the money has gone.  For nationalisation of companies threatening closure, under democratic control with compensation given on the basis of proven need.  Fight for a minimum wage of at least £8 an hour as a step towards a living wage.  No cuts to housing or other benefits.  End lower benefit rates for young people – for the right to Job Seekers Allowance at 16.  No to ‘workfare’ and slave labour internships. For decent jobs paid at least a minimum wage of £8 an hour.  Support the National Shop Stewards’ Network anti-cuts campaign which fights all cuts to jobs and services  The immediate re-opening of all youth services that have been closed, including reinstating sacked staff. Rights  Defend the right to protest. No to the victimisation of student protesters. For the right to organise in every school, college and campus.  No to ‘kettling’ and police violence on demonstrations.  No to racism, sexism, homophobia and all other forms of discrimination.  Fight the far-right racist BNP and EDL. Jobs, homes and services- not racism. Build mass campaigns to defend communities.  No platform for fascists in education.  Rape is never the victim’s fault. For a mass campaign against sexism.  No to reactionary attacks on women’s rights.  Defend and extend abortion rights.  No to the three main bosses’ parties. For a new mass workers’ party that fights in the interests of ordinary people. For International Solidarity and Socialism  For solidarity between working class and young people across the world.  Solidarity with the Arab Spring – No to western intervention – it is on behalf of big business and capitalism.  No to war and imperialist intervention. For the Immediate withdrawal of all foreign troops from Afghanistan and Iraq.  End the siege of Gaza.  No to Trident nuclear missile replacement  Support the Sri Lanka Tamil Solidarity campaign – for the right of all people to self-determination.  No to environmental destruction. For a sustainable democratic socialist plan of production that won’t destroy the planet.  No to capitalism. For a socialist world, where the big monopolies are taken into public ownership, the economy is democratically planned and resources are used to meet the needs of all humanity.

Building for march the 14th, a student week of action aginst fees and cuts

As we creep towards march the 14th it is likely we will face a difficult situation in terms of building for this week of action. The NUS has called a national week of action and so far i have heard very little on plans and actions for the week.

As socialist students we feel we can lend a hand here. Where no action is planned by your student union at your college, school or university we’d like to be on hand to help with building and lending support and solidarity to the walk out.

NUS is organising a parliamentary lobby on 7 March and a ‘week of action’ from 12-16 of March. The centrepiece of the student action should be the national walk-out that has been announced. Liam Byrne, NUS president, has called for this to take place this term. This development should be welcomed by all students who want to campaign against the whole range of attacks currently underway on our campuses.
Clearly, the right wing NUS leadership has been forced to take this action by pressure from below. It cannot be forgotten last term’s two most successful protests aimed at students and youth, the Jarrow March for Jobs and the student demo on 9 November, were organised outside of NUS structures.

NUS should be mobilising to support teachers and lecturers in their battle to defend pensions. When these workers next take strike action NUS should mobilise student solidarity on the picket lines and rallies, calling on all students to join the strike. While very important, student action alone will not be enough to stop the higher education slaughter. Unity with workers, particularly when they strike, is key. Workers and students unite and fight!
The walkout is less than two weeks away. However, so far, the NUS have failed to build for a day of mass action across the country.
Socialist Students members should contact student union officers to find out what the union is planning – if anything – and how they intend to build for it.
Where a student union refuses to build for the walkout, then Socialist Students could put an emergency motion to the student union council to mandate the officers to take action.
But this shouldn’t be a substitute for building for the walkout ourselves. Mass postering and leafleting around campus can help raise the profile of the strike.
Socialist Students members could organise for their own course-mates to take part in the walkout. This could act as an example for other students to follow.
Socialist Students groups could also call meetings open to all students and groups who are willing to organise action. These ‘action committees’ could then help organise the strike as well as any protests and rallies.
Socialist Students is calling for the student strike to be spread to colleges and schools. In some towns, central meeting points for demonstrations could help link up university students with school and college students for a march. In other areas, on-campus protests might be the best option.
Liam Burns, NUS president, has said: “…let’s clear out the lecture theatres, the seminar rooms, the ITC suites and the libraries and demonstrate clearly that without students, universities are just empty buildings. Let’s work hard together to show that students care and make the national walkout count.”
These are fine words, but words alone are not enough. We need democratic, fighting student unions to defend education. We say no to cuts, fees and privatisation – bring back EMA. Strike back on 14 March!
Then, for 28 March, plan for coordinating follow up action with lecturers as they take action alongside teachers and civil servants in defence of pensions.