Socialist Students is a

socialist Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the e ...

organisation with branches in

universities A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...

further education colleges Further education (often abbreviated FE) in the United Kingdom and Ireland is education in addition to that received at secondary school, that is distinct from the higher education (HE) offered in universities and other academic institutions. I ...

and

sixth form college A sixth form college is an educational institution, where students aged 16 to 19 typically study for advanced school-level qualifications, such as A Levels, Business and Technology Education Council (BTEC) and the International Baccalaureate Di ...

s in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

. Socialist Students was established in the late 1990s by members of the

Socialist Party Socialist Party is the name of many different political parties around the world. All of these parties claim to uphold some form of socialism, though they may have very different interpretations of what "socialism" means. Statistically, most of th ...

(SP) who had built support for the Save Free Education Campaign amongst students in the battle over the introduction of fees when the Labour Party under

Tony Blair Sir Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born 6 May 1953) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. He previously served as Leader of th ...

was elected in 1997. Socialist Students describes itself as a politically independent organisation, and has its own national committee meetings and annual conference at which motions are debated and voted on. Socialist Students produces the political magazine ''Megaphone''. It is affiliated with

International Socialist Resistance The Committee for a Workers' International (CWI) was an international association of Trotskyist political parties. Today, two groups claim to be the continuation of the CWI. History Founding The origins of the CWI can be traced to a group of ...

and takes part in campaigns such as Youth Fight for Jobs and "Hands off our Schools" against

city academies An academy school in England is a state-funded school which is directly funded by the Department for Education and independent of local authority control. The terms of the arrangements are set out in individual Academy Funding Agreements. Most ...

. The two organisations have a joint presence on anti-war and anti- G8/

climate change In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to E ...

demonstrations, which they term the "Red Contingent". Socialist Students has been active in the recent climate change strikes.

Political programme

The organisation is broad, with some in the ranks being members of parties other than the SP - for example the

Green Party of England and Wales The Green Party of England and Wales (GPEW; cy, Plaid Werdd Cymru a Lloegr, kw, Party Gwer Pow an Sowson ha Kembra, often simply the Green Party or Greens) is a green, left-wing political party in England and Wales. Since October 2021, Carla ...

Plaid Cymru Plaid Cymru ( ; ; officially Plaid Cymru – the Party of Wales, often referred to simply as Plaid) is a centre-left to left-wing, Welsh nationalist political party in Wales, committed to Welsh independence from the United Kingdom. Plaid wa ...

, the

Communist Party of Britain The Communist Party of Britain (CPB) is a communist party in Great Britain which emerged from a dispute between Eurocommunists and Marxist-Leninists in the Communist Party of Great Britain in 1988. It follows Marxist-Leninist theory and s ...

and

Labour Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

, with the majority being non-aligned. The structure of Socialist Students is

federal Federal or foederal (archaic) may refer to: Politics General *Federal monarchy, a federation of monarchies *Federation, or ''Federal state'' (federal system), a type of government characterized by both a central (federal) government and states or ...

, with each society or organising its own activity and campaigns as well as building national campaigns. Socialist Students aims to be a forum for students interested in socialist and Marxist ideas, while giving students experience in debating, organising and intervening in struggle. Socialist Students links the struggles of students with that of workers. Along with ISR and the Socialist Party, Socialist Students set up the Youth Fight for Jobs campaign.

Campaign to Defeat Fees

After the National Union of Students (NUS) demonstration against fees on 29 October 2006, Socialist Students members launched the Campaign to Defeat Fees to argue for a fighting platform against tuition and top-up fees. Prior to the campaign's first day of action, Socialist Students received a message of support from National Union of Students, a message Socialist Students welcomed but were still critical of NUS's lack of action. The first day of action on 22 February 2007 featured action taking place at over 40 Universities and Colleges, which was followed by another on 27 April 2007, alongside various meetings on this issue organised by local Socialist Student societies. So far students from 103 different schools, colleges or universities have signed the Campaign to Defeat Fees petition.
Campaign to Defeat Fees signatures so far

References

External links

Socialist Students national website
{{British political youth organisations Higher education organisations based in the United Kingdom Student politics Socialist_Party_(England_and_Wales) 1998 establishments in the United Kingdom