Theory and Analysis

Working class students bullied in home town

Many local northern students at Durham University have reported being bullied and ridiculed over their accents and backgrounds by other students and even staff. This bullying is part of a long pattern of issues at the university, which is well-known for its culture of privately educated and well-off students. It’s extremely telling of Britain’s class divisions and long-term regional decline when rich students from the south dominate, while local students are ostracised. Read more…

By Marxist Student, ago

Tell the Truth: The Origins of the British Working Class

At school  we are usually presented with a sanitised picture of how capitalism arose in Britain. The story goes something like this: The Industrial Revolution was primarily the result of entrepreneurial  ingenuity and technological innovation. The peasants, who were looking for work, migrated into the burgeoning cities where they were provided with plentiful employment in the factories and mills, making Britain richer. Regrettably, all this innovation wasn’t without its downside, and there Read more…

By Marxist Student, ago

Establishment rattled by fears of social explosion

There have been repeated dire warnings of social unrest in Britain recently. This is not surprising. We are experiencing a perfect storm, with the deepest crisis of capitalism for hundreds of years. This has been compounded by the COVID pandemic and the calamity of Brexit, which have pushed everything to the brink. It has been one shock after another for British capitalism – and most of all for the working class, who Read more…

By Marxist Student, ago

South Africa: SAFTU general strike – “capitalism fails the working class and the poor, not by default, but by design”

On Wednesday, 24 February, 21 unions of the South African Federation of Trade Unions went on a general strike against deep and sustained cuts in the living standards of workers, and to fight for a radical change in the country’s economic policies. Frustration runs high amongst the working class over mass retrenchments, wage freezes and brutal austerity measures in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic. The bosses in both the private and Read more…

By Marxist Student, ago

SOAS management incompetence and hypocrisy leads to tuition fee strike!

After weeks of organizing, a rapidly growing fee strike movement at SOAS succeeded in forcing the university administration to sit down with a committee of student organizers on 19th February to negotiate a set of impressive demands that includes an unconditional tuition refund for students.  Bringing the intransigent administration of new SOAS Director Adam Habib to the negotiation table was itself a minor victory for the student campaign, which calls itself SOASWTFees. Read more…

By Marxist Student, ago

USA: Capitalism’s weather disaster in Texas

Originally posted by our comrades in Socialist Revolution, the US section of the International Marxist Tendency. Follow socialistrevolution.org for more US news.   Last week, a devastating winter storm hammered Texas and wreaked havoc on 90% of the state’s energy infrastructure. The crisis caused a loss of heat, unreliable water utilities, and structural damage to homes. A projected four million people were without power at one point. Nearly 70 deaths have been Read more…

By Marxist Student, ago

LGBT History Month: Liberation and Revolution

In recent years the struggle against gender oppression and sexual orientation-based discrimination has developed into mass movements in many countries. We have seen large-scale protests expressing anger and rebellion – that had been building up for years and decades – against an exasperating interference of a system that not only forces you to struggle daily to make ends meet, but also claims the right to decide what you can or cannot do Read more…

By Marxist Student, ago

International students left to starve

The COVID pandemic has shone a light on how international students are treated as cash cows. As a result of the ongoing marketisation of education, international students are forced to pay eye-watering amounts with little support from universities. Whilst many assumed that international students come from rich backgrounds and families, this is not always the case. There is a significant layer of working class international students, with parents who saved and struggled Read more…

By Marxist Student, ago

2020: A Year in Review and an interview with an A Level student!

Across the world, events are moving at a rapid pace. The last few years have shown an increasing amount of politicisation, especially amongst young people and the working class. Revolutionary movement after revolutionary movement has exploded onto the streets, reflecting the volatility of the global situation. COVID has exacerbated this, exposing the contradictions of capitalism. At the time of writing, over 100,000 people have died from COVID in Britain. It is clear Read more…

By Marxist Student, ago

#tellthetruth – The Peterloo Massacre

The Peterloo Massacre of 1819 was a massive historical moment in the North of England. Working class people from all over Greater Manchester came together in their tens of thousands in protest for reforms.  The French revolution was still fresh in mind for the British ruling class. Fearing these events could trigger a repeat on English grounds, they sent soldiers into the North to keep things in control. The soldiers ended up Read more…

By Marxist Student, ago

Biggest-ever Marxist Student Federation conference: Join the revolution!

Last weekend, on Saturday 13 February, over 200 students met online for the Marxist Student Federation’s biggest conference yet. Capitalism is in a deep crisis. The COVID pandemic has revealed the callousness and cruelty of the ruling class. The appetite for revolutionary ideas on campus is growing rapidly. The rent strike emerging is the biggest student movement in a decade, bringing with it a new layer of radicalised youth. The Marxist Student Read more…

By Marxist Student, ago

Tell the Truth: Britain and the slave trade

In 2014, then Tory prime minister David Cameron told Mail On Sunday readers that Britain “was the country that helped abolish slavery.” This lie has been perpetuated for nearly two centuries. History records that the British slave trade was abolished in 1807. What is scarcely mentioned is that colonial slavery under British rule continued for decades to come. Over 700,000 humans remained under the rule of the whip in the British Caribbean; Read more…

By Marxist Student, ago