Budget day education shutdown

Walk out against tuition fees!

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)

Ellen Kenyon Peers, Goldsmiths Socialist Students

Budget day is fast approaching, socialists are preparing for walkouts against tuition fees, and the Tories are scrabbling for pale imitations of socialist policies to placate the masses. With the recent revelations about sexual harassment, divisions over Brexit and the continued risk of another economic crisis, the world of archaic establishment politics is looking to be on its last legs – but we must act now to prevent it hobbling along for years to come.

Despite the probability of the next election being defined as a Labour comeback, a Corbyn-led government would not be able to implement a socialist programme without fierce opposition from all sides of the establishment.

Budget day may be an opportunity for the Tories to introduce tepid policies that attempt to pacify young people angry about exorbitant tuition fees, the lack of affordable housing and decent jobs. But that’s not guaranteed, as recent poor figures for productivity and the deficit make the Tories’ capitalist backers more wary of a ‘giveaway’ budget. Being active on campuses across the UK and showing that there is an alternative is the first step to building a movement that could be even bigger than 2010, when 50,000 students took to the streets in protest.

The right-wing leadership of the National Union of Students may have failed to call for action over tuition fees, but this doesn’t mean student unions on individual campuses cannot be activated by Socialist Students groups, and we must demand that they join us on the day of action on 22 November. Students must find common ground with local workers, such as the McStrike, in order to defeat the Tories. The recent struggles for self-determination in Catalonia and bin workers in Birmingham have been a testament to the ability to unite students and workers.