Theory and analysis

Coventry demonstration demands: free Ahed Tamimi

On 30 January, the Palestinian activist Ahed Tamimi celebrated her 17th birthday inside an Israeli cell. Her crime, the slapping of an Israeli soldier who had shot her brother in the head with a rubber bullet barely an hour ago. The story quickly gained traction across the Palestinian community and the international sphere. Symbolising not only active resistance to the occupying regime but also the hundreds of Palestinian minors who are tried Read more…

By Marxist Student, 8 yearsFebruary 10, 2018 ago

Left takes control of London Young Labour

The London Young Labour (LYL) Annual General Meeting (AGM), held on Saturday 3 February, was a victory for left-wingers in the Labour Party. Momentum dominated the event, and wrested control of LYL away from the right-wing of the party. The election of Momentum-backed Artin Giles as Chair of LYL was greeted with a standing ovation, Artin having won the vote 198 votes to 152. Momentum-backed candidates also won all the caucus officer Read more…

By Marxist Student, 8 yearsFebruary 8, 2018 ago

A message to students from your lecturers – join us on the picket lines!

In the run-up to the UCU strike in defence of lecturers’ pensions, some students have proposed the demand of fee refunds for teaching lost to strike action – ostensibly to place pressure on the bosses. We in the UCU appreciate the solidarity from students who want to support our action, but this particular demand plays into the hands of management by painting our strike as an encumbrance on students and playing into Read more…

By Marxist Student, 8 yearsFebruary 6, 2018 ago

The NUS must become a fighting, socialist union

At this year’s NUS conference, to be held in Glasgow on 27-29 March, Marxist students will be arguing for the amendments to proposed policy and the resolution below. Everyone who supports these ideas is encouraged to put them forward in your own student unions. They will be discussed and ratified by the Marxist Student Federation conference to be held on 17 February in London. ———— AMENDMENTS Priority Zone proposal Conference Believes The Read more…

By Marxist Student, 8 yearsFebruary 5, 2018 ago

200 years since the birth of Karl Marx: the importance of Marxist theory

The text below will be submitted to the national conference of the Marxist Student Federation on 17 February in London as a resolution on the importance of studying Marxist theory. ——— Marxism is the history and theory of the class struggle. It is the memory of the working class. If we are to learn the lessons from class struggles of the past and apply them in our struggle for the final victory Read more…

By Marxist Student, 8 years ago

How and why to support striking UCU staff this February and March

The University and College Union (UCU) has announced four rounds of escalating strike action in defence of its members’ pensions. This attack on staff is just the latest in a long string of similar attacks which are part of the drive to marketise education, drive down costs, and increase revenues. The task of marketising universities has been given to vice-chancellors and senior management who are pocketing six-figure salaries to do so, while Read more…

By Marxist Student, 8 yearsJanuary 30, 2018 ago

End outsourcing at UoL – students and workers demonstrate together

On Thursday 25th January, a protest was called by the Independent Workers of Great Britain (IWGB) union against the outsourcing practices happening at the University of London. This was part of their ongoing effort to bring all the workers in-house, in order to guarantee the most basic rights that all workers should be entitled to. Amongst other things, outsourced workers suffer from far worse pensions, holiday entitlements, sickness entitlements, and maternity and Read more…

By Marxist Student, 8 yearsJanuary 29, 2018 ago

UCU members vote for strikes

Members of the University and Colleges Union (UCU) have voted in record numbers for strike action over attacks to the lecturers’ main pension scheme. In the ballot results announced earlier this week, 88 percent of eligible members voted YES to a strike, with 93 percent supporting action short of a strike. The 58 percent turnout (a new high for the academics’ union) smashed the threshold established by the Tories’ draconian 2016 Trade Read more…

By Marxist Student, 8 yearsJanuary 26, 2018 ago

Suttons bring in police to break the strike, but drivers stand firm

At midday on Tuesday 23 January there was a showdown at the gates of Eastham refinery. Four Suttons Tankers appeared on the road, with the intention of crossing the picket line, along with a heavy police presence. This was an open attempt to break the strike. Three demonstrators, in support of the striking drivers, were arrested as they attempted to stop the tankers from crossing into the refinery. They have since been Read more…

By Marxist Student, 8 yearsJanuary 24, 2018 ago

Southampton students vote overwhelmingly to cut Vice-Chancellor’s pay

In an all-student vote of Southampton University Students’ Union which closed earlier this month, 90.6 % of the 2,335 students who took part said they believed the pay of the Vice-Chancellor of Southampton University should be cut, and 92.4 % agreed that staff cuts (part of the university’s latest plans) are detrimental to the student experience. This vote comes after the events which have unfolded since last November when the Vice-Chancellor, Sir Read more…

By Marxist Student, 8 yearsJanuary 23, 2018 ago

Support the striking Suttons tanker drivers!

Drivers of Suttons Tankers at the Eastham refinery, near Ellesmere Port, have begun an indefinite strike in their fight against attacks on their wages, terms and conditions. On 18 December the management of Suttons Tankers served the 33 workers at the refinery with a 30-day consultation notice. In a move that showed no willingness to negotiate, they declared that if staff did not sign new contracts by 19 January they would be summarily Read more…

By Marxist Student, 8 yearsJanuary 22, 2018 ago

Marxists scare the Tory press and bourgeois academics

24% of people aged 18-24 see right-wingers and big business as the most dangerous things in the world today. This is compared to just 9% who said the same thing about communists. These findings from a ComRes poll have set the establishment on edge. As a result The Today Programme on BBC Radio 4 invited Fiona Lali, President of SOAS Marxist society and lead delegate to the NUS conference from SOAS Students’ Read more…

By Marxist Student, 8 yearsJanuary 18, 2018 ago

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