Nick Hart, Winchester Socialist Party
On Saturday 2 July over 50 young Socialist Party members met in London to discuss the political situation facing young people and how best to get more of them to join the party.
The meeting started with Socialist Party general secretary Peter Taaffe giving a clear and thorough explanation of the roots of the capitalist crisis, the uprisings in North Africa and southern Europe, and how these relate to events in Britain.
After lunch, separate sessions discussed: women and the struggle for socialism; the role of the state; and building the fightback against the cuts. During the final session we heard from members in many different party branches on how we have been able to attract new young people into the party and what needs to be done to further build campaigns that can win for young people.
Throughout the day we discussed the mood to fight back amongst young people, most recently demonstrated on 30 June when 51% of 18-24 people surveyed supported the pensions strike by teachers, lecturers and civil servants.
There was a chance to discuss our work within the growing anti-cuts movement, and the ideas and strategy we should put forward to defeat the government.
There were contributions on the student movement, and the new ideas and tactics that have sprung up, including those of UK Uncut. Party members praised the positive role of this organisation in raising awareness and bringing new people into action against the cuts, and discussed how to help build a mass movement bringing together workers, students and the unemployed.
Overall it was a successful and insightful meeting, which left everyone ready to win wider layers of young people to the ideas of socialism.
