Socialist Students is a

socialist Socialism is an economic ideology, economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse Economic system, economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes ...

organisation with branches in

universities A university () is an educational institution, institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly ...

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

and

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s in the

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. 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

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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 and takes part in campaigns such as Youth Fight for Jobs and "Hands off our Schools" against city academies. The two organisations have a joint presence on anti-war and anti- G8/

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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

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, the

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