Jeremy Corbyn visits Leeds Uni

Jeremy Corbyn, photo Paul Mattsson

Jeremy Corbyn, photo Paul Mattsson

Iain Dalton

Several hundred students crammed into the Great Hall at Leeds University on 29 October to hear newly elected Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn speak.

Rather than any of the inspiring demands he raised during his election campaign – for free education, a £10 an hour minimum wage and others – Labour Students asked him to speak on the more mundane topic of voter registration. This reflects the right-wing and electoralist composition of Leeds Labour Students who backed Liz Kendall and seemed none too sympathetic to Corbyn when queuing outside.

While the right to vote is important, what you do with it is more so. Corbyn understood this far more than those who invited him, and indeed made it the focus of his speech.

Corbyn began by addressing the focus of the meeting, but quickly moved on to point out that while winning a majority Labour government was important to him, how they frame the debate in the here and now is vital too. He pointed to some of the U-turns the government has been forced into. For example the reversal by the House of Lords over the government’s plans to cut working tax credit.

His central message was that campaigning works, and if we are to change anything it has to be on that basis. Campaigning has the potential to force the government to retreat and can prepare the basis for a subsequent government taking more radical action in the future.

Yet also evident in his speech was some of the pressure that Corbyn is coming under from the right of his own party. For example, during his speech he supported the national student demonstration that took place on 4 November. However, at no point did he mention that it had been called as a ‘Free Education’ demo.

Corbyn’s election has been welcomed by Socialist Students as putting socialist ideas back into the mainstream and offering hope for an alternative to many.

However, one of the key tasks for socialists is to go out and build support on the ground for ideas like free education, as Socialist Students has done in Leeds with a successful demonstration recently (see issue 876).

This will both aid Corbyn in his fight against the right of his own party, but also help prepare the way for a wider acceptance of socialist ideas in society.