Theory and analysis

KCL attempts to split workers in face of UCU ballot

King’s College London management recently announced the pay rises its workforce could look forward to come the new academic year. Basing itself on the outrageous 2% UCEA (Universities and Colleges’ Employers Association) offer, over which UCU is currently balloting its members for industrial action, King’s announced that staff at the lower end of the pay scale would receive an additional 3% pay rise. This leads our dear administration to self-congratulatorily write Read more…

By Marxist Student, 7 yearsOctober 1, 2018 ago

Support striking hospitality workers: interview with a McDonald’s worker

On 4 October hospitality workers from McDonald’s, Wetherspoon’s and TGI Friday’s will take strike action demanding decent pay and working conditions. The Marxist Student Federation will be on the McDonald’s picket line in Brixton on Thursday 4 October, and we will be at the strike rally in Leicester Square at 11am on Thursday 4 October. If you’d like to join us there please get in touch below. Ben Gliniecki from the Marxist Read more…

By Marxist Student, 7 yearsSeptember 28, 2018 ago

Peking University Marxist Society faces closure for supporting striking workers

On 20 September, an open letter from a representative of the Peking University (PKU) Marxist Society (MS) in Beijing, China began circulating on Chinese social media. The letter detailed the significant difficulty that the society faced this month in finding a faculty advisor required to re-register as a recognised student club on the campus. The post was deleted shortly after, and, according to a second open letter from the MS, the Read more…

By Marxist Student, 7 yearsSeptember 27, 2018 ago

Failed system, not striking workers, to blame for student suicide

In the 2017-18 academic year there were 95 students at UK universities who took their own lives. 10 suicides have taken place just at the University of Bristol since October 2016. Meanwhile, there are five times as many first-year students across the country now reporting mental health issues than there was ten years ago. And this doesn’t even take into account the problems of deteriorating mental health amongst staff in higher Read more…

By Marxist Student, 7 yearsSeptember 24, 2018 ago

Strip-clubs and bonuses: university management live the high life as tuition fees soar

During the UCU strike earlier this year, there were revelations about expenses claimed by university vice-chancellors for luxury hotels and pornstar martinis. Now, another scandal has broken. Members of senior management at Northumbria University in Newcastle Upon Tyne have received over £600,000 in bonuses over the past four years, or about £9000 each, on average. Vice-chancellor Andrew Wathey received an £18,000 bonus last year on top of his £246,000 annual salary. Read more…

By Marxist Student, 7 years ago

Student protest sweeps Mexico

New waves of student protest have been erupting in the universities and colleges in Mexico City. Students in all the major universities in the capital have come out en masse in solidarity after 14 students at UNAM (National Autonomous University of Mexico) were injured by porros (semi-fascist shock group) earlier this month. The protesters have not only called for the attackers to be brought to justice but are now making a Read more…

By Marxist Student, 7 yearsSeptember 18, 2018 ago

Marx Walk in London

What: Marx Walk around London When: 2pm, Saturday 6 October Where: UCL main square, Gower Street Facebook event here The Marxist Student Federation will be giving a tour of the places in central London where Marx lived, politicised, and socialised. Karl Marx spent several years living and working in London. The First International, Marx’s revolutionary organisation, had its HQ in Soho. It’s where he wrote Capital and delievered speeches developing and defending his ideas. Read more…

By Marxist Student, 7 years ago

Southampton’s vice-chancellor announces retirement: what next?

Sir Christopher Snowden, the vice-chancellor of Southampton University, recently announced that he would be retiring in the spring of 2019. Of course, the usual rhetoric from the university establishment erupted, praising his ‘tremendous contribution to and passion for Southampton’ and a ‘relentless drive to create the highest quality education experience for our students’. This propaganda won’t be believed by the students and staff at the university, who have experienced first hand Read more…

By Marxist Student, 7 yearsSeptember 14, 2018 ago

Students and workers: unite and fight!

Why is everyone turning to socialism? This question has become a spectre, haunting the minds of the establishment. Poll after poll – alongside developments like the Corbyn movement in Britain and the growing influence of the Democratic Socialists of America – demonstrate that young people and students are fed up of the status quo and are striving for change. No longer able to develop the economy and society, capitalism has become Read more…

By Marxist Student, 7 yearsSeptember 13, 2018 ago

Hasn’t socialism been tried and failed?

Einstein famously remarked, “insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results”. So why, if socialism has been tried before and seemingly failed we are told, are Marxists still fighting for socialism? To answer this, it is important to understand what took place with the Soviet Union, and other countries calling themselves “socialist”. In 1917, the working class in Russia took power as the result of Read more…

By Marxist Student, 7 years ago

‘Demanding the respect we deserve’: Wetherspoons workers ballot for strike action

Workers at two Wetherspoon pubs in Brighton are being balloted for strike action, with demands raised for a £10 per hour wage and union recognition. The ballot has been called by the Bakers Food and Allied Workers Union (BFAWU), which was behind the historic ‘McStrike’ action last year, organising a walk-out by McDonald’s workers for the first time ever in Britain. A Yes vote on strike action at the Bright Helm Read more…

By Marxist Student, 8 yearsSeptember 10, 2018 ago

Fight the Tories!

On 29 September there will be a demonstration in Birmingham to protest against the Tory Party conference taking place in that city. See the official Facebook event here See our Facebook event here See the full information from the People’s Assembly here We want the Tories out, and we want Corbyn to power on a socialist programme. That’s why Marxist students will be at this demonstration in force, and we encourage everyone Read more…

By Marxist Student, 8 years ago

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