Students

What is the role of socialists in the student Covid uprising?

January 27, 2021

Greg Briscoe, Brighton Student Socialist Alternative
‘Students Deserve Better Collective’ formed: Steps and strategy for the fightback

December 16, 2020

Student Socialist Alternative
Brighton UCU strike: Anger grows across the universities

December 3, 2020

Jason Toynbee, UCU Open University (personal capacity) and Brighton Socialist Alternative
Rent strike: Manchester students take on university managers

November 20, 2020

Taylor Sandford, Manchester
Victory for Sussex University catering staff fighting against redundancies

November 13, 2020

Connor Rosoman
Building the strikes: Students stand up against Covid rent rip-off

November 3, 2020

Student Socialist Alternative

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UPCOMING EVENTS

What is the role of socialists in the student Covid uprising?

Student Socialist Alternative hosted an online meeting titled ‘The Fight to Reclaim Education: Socialist Organisers’ Call’ on Friday 22nd January. This brought student rent strikers together with activists from London Renters’ Union, the University and Colleges Union and more. The speakers were very well received, with the other participants speaking from the ‘floor’ echoing many of the same ideas and principles as the organised speakers. An overall feeling of agreement was reached after a healthy discussion and replies by speakers.

A major theme in the meeting was the need for solidarity between students and teaching and support staff, and to join up their struggles to fight for universities that puts education and working conditions first. The logic of capitalism means this will never be put first for as long as this system remains in place, so we must fight against fees and marketisation to make it possible.

Speakers also gave their experiences of organising rent strikes, both in university accommodation and private housing more generally. While legal defence can only take you so far, a combative political struggle can win real victories. The best defence is an offence against the university bosses and the government that protects their privileges.

The section of contributions from the floor included a discussion on whether it is important to link the rent strike campaign to socialist issues. It is certainly true that anticapitalist ideas are gaining massively among young people, which will be accelerated by the pandemic, but some may be hesitant to connect the campaign with the need for socialist change to avoid being seen as ‘too narrow’ and ‘political’.

Ultimately though, socialists can win support for our ideas through fighting alongside the widest group of people in the rent strikes. Through organising for real gains and concessions, even under this system, allows us to make clear that it is capitalism that is the root cause of attacks on students and workers’ conditions and safety. Only a socialist society with an economy planned along democratic lines can provide lasting solutions to the problems facing us.

Likewise, the point was made that the movement can and should carry on beyond the issue of students being crammed into unsafe accommodation and having to pay unfair rent for accommodation many are not using, and the pandemic more generally. One speaker raised the point that to really connect the strikes to the need to fully take education into our hands, we must be prepared to step up our struggle to win not just rent rebates, reductions and ‘no detriment’ policies, but many more radical and winnable demands, such as:
- A ban on student evictions, even after the pandemic.
- Good quality student grants.
- Full recognition of renters unions, so students can continue to hold the landlords to account through regular dialogue and talks.
- Mental health support for all students who need it. Link up with NHS campaigners to fight privatisation.
- Guaranteed tech support, with free provision of laptops for those who need it. Scrap printer charges in university libraries.
- Take our curriculum, housing and university services under our control by forming democratic oversight bodies run by students themselves, to make sure these policies are fully carried out.
The failings of capitalism are being exposed to people through the process of struggle. Winning concessions and victories builds the confidence that not only things should change but also that when we fight, we are able to win that change. In this way, the current student rent strike could lead to a generalised fight for safe and affordable housing, to reclaim our education and ultimately a society organised along truly democratic, i.e. socialist lines

Also raised was the idea of challenging notions of education as a product that is consumed, as opposed to a public good that benefits society as a whole. This mentality is consciously pushed by the system of tuition fees. Many students understandably feel like they want to ‘get their money’s worth’, which is pushing thousands to positively get involved with their local rent strikes. But socialists must also be upfront that this will never happen under a marketised education system, rather than one that is publicly funded and democratically controlled by both students and staff.

Finally, the need for a democratically organised movement with a unified national structure was raised. Coordinated action is more effective than disorganised action and formal structures are needed to make sure negotiators and the movement’s leadership are accountable and decisions can be made in a democratic way. The NUS are in a great position to build such national structures. Already, the ‘Students Deserve Better Collective’ has been formed by them, which exists to federate rent strike organisations with the support of NUS President Larissa Kennedy.

This is undoubtedly a step forward and must be strengthened by both forming a clear and consistent leadership that can not only keep drawing local campaigns together, but also take the lead in organising coordinated days of protest action, coordinated student drives to actively support university staff on strike action when necessary, and plan out occupations on university campuses across the country, putting demands on managers to meet our demands immediately. Action committees should be elected in every rent strike group across the country to put this into effect!

Student Socialist Alternative stands in solidarity with all those taking action in the ongoing student revolt. Join us today to build a Marxist voice in our movements!

WATCH YOUTUBE VIDEO OF THE EVENT HERE.
‘Students Deserve Better Collective’ formed: Steps and strategy for the fightback

15 December was the launch event of the Students Deserve Better Collective – a new campaigning initiative headed by the National Union of Students. Chaired by NUS President Larissa Kennedy, this event brought together representatives from various organisations, including 9k4what, Liberate the University, Local Rent Strike groups – and, of course, Student Socialist Alternative.

This initiative is a significant step forward. For a long period of time, the NUS has had a deserved reputation for taking very conservative attitudes towards student struggle, preferring instead to adopt a method of holding private talks behind closed doors with governments and managers. That the NUS and Kennedy have now moved to federate these various campaigns into a broad network is therefore a very welcome step.

Already, the founding documents and statements of the Collective emphasise the need for student-staff solidarity, saying: “Students and campus workers linking up and fighting together is how we will win rights & safety during the pandemic, end marketisation, win free, democratic education system.” This is twinned with calls for democratising education, calling for a “student/staff Covid council”, along with budget transparency during and after the pandemic. Alongside the demand for an HE government bailout, attention has been placed on linking the students’ demands to the Black Lives Matter movement, and the need to decolonise education.

Building the struggle

Student Socialist Alternative looks forward to working as part of this movement. Together, we can take on not just the university managers and letting companies, but the government responsible for generating this crisis in the first place.

Even beyond the pandemic, a coordinated movement on and off the campuses will be the most effective way of building the fight for a democratised and anti-capitalist education system. Solidarity with staff in the UCU and other campus unions should be twinned with preparations for mass turnouts on UCU picket lines, while Socialist Alternative members in the UCU will fight for solidarity activities with the rent strikers. Students-staff strike networks should be formed on every campus across the country to facilitate this.

We must also think about how we actually put forward the demands of the campaign. The support for a leaderless campaign structure is a blind alley. If our collective action forced the government to propose an offer for example, who would be sent to negotiate it? Who decides what we are fighting for, or speaks on our behalf to the media, or produces material for the campaign? This is why it will be just as important for the campaign to elect a group of negotiators, so the mass of students fighting for change can hold them to account and have the final say in any offers made.

Demands

The Collective’s demands for a national HE bailout for students has the potential to be really fought for and won if there is a mass active campaign launched, including continued strikes, protests and occupations. This should also be twinned with calls for education and student housing to be brought into public ownership, as a way of achieving the slashing of rents and fees. Of course, the Tories will say this is an ‘unrealistic’ idea, but what about their decision just last month to spend £150bn in fiscal stimulus via the Bank of England to keep the capitalists’ system afloat? If they can afford that, they can definitely afford this!

But this won’t come about if we simply hold our breaths. The weeks-long occupation of the Owens Park Tower in Manchester should be used as a model for action to increase pressure. Occupations of halls and university buildings by joint bodies of students and staff should be prepared in every area in order to elevate the struggle!

It is widely recognised that addressing this university crisis will require a more radical shift and a fundamental break from this system of profit. This will mean linking this fight to kicking the capitalist market out of higher education and running universities democratically under a socialist plan of production. But any victories won, for instance in the 30% rent reduction for the first semester won by Manchester students, will be a step towards gathering the forces necessary to fight for this.

Student Socialist Alternative is a revolutionary Marxist student organisation – we look forward to playing our part in this historic movement for change!

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Brighton UCU strike: Anger grows across the universities

Wednesday 2nd December, was the first day of five days of strike action in December by University and College Union members at Brighton University. The action is over a plan to make IT staff redundant in a move which will, according to the University, ‘enhance the front line support offered to students’. And this at the height of a pandemic which has made students totally reliant on online learning and IT services! The form of words used by the employers would be laughable if it wasn’t such a desperate situation for workers, including two UCU and five Unison members, who are now facing compulsory redundancy.

However the response of workers has been magnificent, with a well attended morning picket and then a lunchtime online rally attended by over two hundred, including UCU members and student supporters across the country. Members of Brighton Socialist Alternative, including Brighton University workers, were out in force too. Speakers included UCU General Secretary Jo Grady and Brighton Labour MP Lloyd Russell Moyle, but the highlights were the contributions from workers facing the sack as well as local UCU activists.

IT worker, Mark Packer pointed out that his section was working flat out, and lay-offs would not only seriously damage their service but also throw technicians out of work at a time when thousands of others have been laid off in Brighton due to Covid. Responding to Brighton University’s objection to the union’s use of the word ‘sackings’, UCU branch Chair Mark Abel rightly refused to apologise. Sackings were indeed what was at stake. And the fight wasn’t only about IT. Any and every member of staff was now under threat and a vigorous struggle at this stage was vital to serve notice to management that ‘redundancies’ would not be tolerated.

Student and BLM activist Annie Whilby brought solidarity and support from Brighton students, as did NUS President, Larissa Kennedy. Solidarity to and from students and staff is at an incredibly high level in this dispute. Crucially, though, the militant mood is part of a much larger picture. There are currently seven UCU branches in English universities either in dispute with management, balloting for industrial action or on strike.

Although grievances go back to last year and beyond, Universities have behaved particularly badly over Covid. In September they forced students to return to campus – and cough up accommodation fees – when it was clearly unsafe to do so. Lecturers were also compelled to return to face to face teaching in dangerous conditions. And although universities have now backed off to an extent, switching to online teaching, anger among staff about the cavalier action of the employers is growing everywhere. Meanwhile the unresolved ‘Four Fights’ dispute of last Winter, over pay and conditions, remains just that – unresolved.

The latest pronouncement by government on the university sector is that there should be a ‘phased return’ of students after Christmas till at least mid-February. This a 180 degree U turn on the disastrous decision to send students back to their campuses in September, a move which has led to huge spikes in Covid infection – almost 50,000 cases. Unsurprisingly, given Tory ineptitude, the latest plans are complex with different categories of students being given different dates and procedures to follow. What’s more they depend on mass testing of students – a strategy which has already raised concerns about safety and put massive pressure on university staff this term who are being expected to carry it out on top of their regular work,

Still, what the Brighton UCU strikes, and the other disputes now erupting across the universities, demonstrate is that workers and students are fighting back, that the mood is changing and the appetite for resistance is growing. The clear message – together we can win!

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Students

What is the role of socialists in the student Covid uprising?

‘Students Deserve Better Collective’ formed: Steps and strategy for the fightback

Brighton UCU strike: Anger grows across the universities

Rent strike: Manchester students take on university managers

Victory for Sussex University catering staff fighting against redundancies

Building the strikes: Students stand up against Covid rent rip-off

GET INVOLVED!

UPCOMING EVENTS

What is the role of socialists in the student Covid uprising?

‘Students Deserve Better Collective’ formed: Steps and strategy for the fightback

Brighton UCU strike: Anger grows across the universities