Socialist Students marching for free education, 19.11.16, photo James Ivens

Socialist Students marching for free education, 19.11.16, photo James Ivens   (Click to enlarge: opens in new window)

Kick out the Tories, fight for free education!

Theo Sharieff-Winston, Socialist Students

Millions of university students are returning to their campuses to begin the new academic year. Yet in the short few months since students were last at university, the political situation across the country has been transformed beyond recognition.

When university students were finishing their exams the 8 June general election, at lightning speed, propelled the political expectations of millions of students and young workers to a higher level.

Jeremy Corbyn’s manifesto – which argued for free university and college tuition and the reinstatement of maintenance grants, a £10 an hour minimum wage, an end to zero-hour contracts, and more – convinced young people that if they get organised they would have a future worth fighting for.

Since then students who supported Corbyn have witnessed the internal political chaos and turmoil within the Tory party, and glimpsed the collective blow we as a movement could strike against their rule and their super-rich backers.

Fightback

Yet it is crucial that we don’t just sit on our hands waiting for the next general election. A revitalised movement which surpasses the level of struggle against tuition fees waged by students in 2010 is well within reach.

Thousands are now searching for a way forward, not only to win free education but to collapse this rotten government altogether.

However, if we are to secure decent living standards on a permanent basis we need to get organised for a fundamental transformation of society along socialist lines.

Socialist Students is a campaigning organisation which not only fights against the Tory government but against the capitalist system as a whole: join us to build a movement which goes beyond the limits of capitalism to unite students and workers in a struggle not only to win free education, but to transform our society.

  • Fight for free education
  • Living grants for college and university students
  • End privatisation and the commercialisation of education
  • Minimum wage of £10 an hour, with no exemptions
  • Scrap zero-hour contracts – fight for workplace union rights
  • Rent controls to secure affordable accommodation
  • Votes at 16