Students must link up with workers

AFTER THE 22 February students' day of action (see front page), we need to expand the campaign beyond university students. Take leaflets down to your local FE or sixth form college. Try a stall at a secondary school.

Sarah Sachs-Eldridge

Last year students in France played a key role in forcing the government into retreat on a reactionary anti-young worker law by linking up with other young people and with the trade unions and the working class. Take our solidarity appeal to your local trade union branches and invite trade union speakers to your meetings.

Socialist Students welcomes the messages of support on the National Union of Students (NUS) website for the Campaign to Defend Fees (CDF). We now need to put pressure on NUS to put their money where their mouth is. They should name the date for a weekday national demo and produce material and a plan of action for mobilising a huge turnout.

After 22 February, we will take our declaration down to the NUS offices calling for them to do so. Further pressure can be applied locally. Many student unions already back the campaign. Take a motion to your student union and ask them to co-sponsor a meeting and a protest and ask for money for printing leaflets.

We can also raise all our points with Wes Streeting, NUS Vice President for Education, at the Socialist Students and ISR national conference on Sunday 18 March. Get your tickets now, email anticapitalism@hotmail.co.uk

If you want leaflets, posters, petitions, chant sheets, ballot slips, trade union motions and letters, student union motions and letters, or if you want advice, email socialiststudents@hotmail.com or call 020 8558 7947. Please let the socialist know how you get on.

NOTTINGHAM TRENT (NTU) Socialist Students stood a slate of three candidates in elections for NUS conference. There was a lively response to our leaflets and petitions supporting the Campaign to Defeat Fees. 80 students signed our petition, making almost 300 signatories from NTU so far. On our previous stall, the BBC came along to interview us about student debt!

If our slate goes to the conference we will join others calling on the NUS to declare a national demonstration of students and workers on a weekday. Meanwhile we are organising a lunchtime protest in the centre of Nottingham as part of the 22 February day of action.

Lindsay Wheatcroft, NTU Socialist Students President