The largest education union in Europe, the National Education Union (NEU), has voted to support the International Youth Strike taking place in Britain and all across Europe on November 20.
The motion to support the International Youth Strike, which was passed by the NEU’s national executive yesterday, included resolutions to:
“Express support for the right of young people to peacefully organise, protest and make their voices heard, including those taking part in the N20 day of action.”
“Oppose disciplinary action against students participating in peaceful protest activity, including detentions or other sanctions, and to support campaigns defending students’ rights where required.”
“To provide members with information about the N20 International Youth Strike through NEU communications channels, providing members with how they can safely and responsibly support participating students’ rights in line with safeguarding requirements and legal obligations.”
! Socialist Students enthusiastically welcomes the support of the NEU.
As students, we stand united with workers organising against attacks on our education. From Albania to France, India to Argentina, the fight for high-quality, free education has been a central part of the international youth movements that have spread globally this year.
For us, a major aspect of the International Youth Strike slogan – ‘fight for our future, not their wars’ – is the fight against education cuts, student debt, tuition fees, and for fully funded public services. Socialist Students says that means building a movement to take wealth, resources and technology out the hands of the billionaires – towards a socialist society based on meeting the needs of all, not the profits of a tiny few and their wars.
We also warmly welcome the initiative of the NEU to offer practical solidarity to students choosing to protest on November 20, such as stewarding peaceful protests on the day, and backing any campaigns against disciplinary action that students might face.
Adam Powell-Davies Socialist Students national chair
With six weeks to go, the campaign for the 20 November International Youth Strike has been taken up a notch.
In the past week, high school students across France have blockaded schools and rallied against austerity and brutal police repression. In Spain, students and young people have been part of the mass protest movement against evictions and capitalist ‘rentier economy’.
German students, who have walked out in their tens of thousands this year against the threat of conscription and military spending, have now decided to strike again. On 20 November, they will be joining tens of thousands of others across Europe, under the slogan, ‘fight for our future, not their wars’.
The message from Socialist Students to young people returning to campus and their classrooms this term has been simple: ‘Join the international fightback – walk out on 20 November, and get organised with Socialist Students’.
Socialist Students members have had a phenomenal response. In the past month, over 4,000 students have left their details to find out more about joining the International Youth Strike or to sign up to Socialist Students.
Hundreds have attended our open meetings, to come and hear why we say that ‘fighting for our future’ means getting organised for a socialist alternative to capitalism.
And we haven’t waited around to get students fighting back. On 25 September, we held protest actions all across Britain in solidarity with the German school strikes. We are attending solidarity protests with French school students.
On 10 October, Socialist Students members from across the country will be forming up at the national Palestine solidarity demonstration in London. We’re looking for any students to get involved in the International Youth Strike campaign.
Liverpool – 600 want to hear about strikes, climate, socialism, and fighting the right
Becca Bayman Liverpool Socialist Students
We had multiple Socialist Students campaign stalls on campus every day at the University of Liverpool. We received 600 contact details of students eager to learn more about socialism, a record high for Liverpool uni.
Young people are becoming more aware of the need for an alternative to combat the issues they see in their daily lives. 65 people attended our freshers meeting.
People asked about how to combat climate change, and whether the Green Party is capable of this. We raised the need for nationalisation and workers’ control of technology.
Students questioned the logistics of going on strike, and how we protect and support striking workers, and the role of trade unions in this. There was more awareness of the workers’ movement than in previous years.
The issue of militarisation came up, in response to our campaigning for the 20 November walkout. We explained why wars occur under capitalism, and why resisting militarisation requires resisting capitalism altogether, and the need for democratic workers’ control of the economy.
We were asked about how we should orientate to young people who have been influenced by right populism, and how we can win them over to socialist ideas. We argued for an alternative to the establishment parties to address the problems facing the working class.
We anchored this on the history of Liverpool’s Militant (Socialist Party’s predecessor) council during the 1980s. The socialist council had overwhelming support from Liverpool’s working class, because it created thousands of jobs and built thousands of council homes.
We were asked about the difference between ourselves and other political groups on campus. We’re working with other groups, especially across Europe, to build the 20 November youth strike. We explained that the broadness of our organisation allowed for maximum debate and democracy.
We frequently referred to the fight for socialism extending beyond campus. This requires us to sink deep roots into working-class organisations, like trade unions.
Our fight for socialism is based on Marxism, that helps analyse and understand capitalism. The failure of capitalism is inevitable, but socialism is not. So workers and young people must actively fight and organise.
If you agree with these ideas, join Socialist Students on a campus near you.
SOAS – international solidarity
As an internationally renowned humanitarian education centre, SOAS students come to central London from all across the globe. Our commitment to international working-class solidarity resonated.
We referred students to partner organisations of the Socialist Party in the Committee for a Workers’ International (CWI) in the US, France, Nigeria, and Germany. We had a long discussion with a student from Singapore about the issues plaguing the working class in her country, and how socialist change is the answer.
We promoted our solidarity rally with German students over their government introducing conscription, scheduled later in the day, and international youth walkouts on 20 November against the rise in militarism. Socialist Students values action as well as discussion.
Students commencing their education journeys have a backdrop of record youth and graduate unemployment. Tuition fees are scheduled to rise above £10,000 next year.
Students paying more for less, while navigating a broken rental market and cost-of-living crisis. Our positive reception at SOAS showed the rise in support for socialism, as young people look for an alternative to capitalism.
Manchester – fightback energy
Eesha Manchester Socialist Students
Over three days of campaigning, we handed out 3,000 leaflets, and saw 350 students sign up to fight against the militarisation of our education system. The energy for a fightback was palpable.
Students had little faith in new Labour prime minister Andy Burnham. Not only is the cost of education continuing to spiral – tuition fees and accommodation in particular – this money is being shamelessly invested in, for example, the Defence Universities Alliance. Manchester uni is gearing research towards weapons-making, and encouraging students towards careers in the military.
90 students attended our freshers meeting. There were lively political debates about whether there is need for militarism in an increasingly unstable capitalist world, and if the nature of capitalism inevitably leads to war.
Many people talked also about the logistics of a fightback – spreading information, international solidarity, lessons from student campaigns of the past, and the 20 November walkout.
Manchester students are not just angry. We are ready to take action.
Cumbria uni – linking war, climate, and cost of living
Mollie Nixon, Cumbria Socialist Students
Every year, students arrive at Cumbria, expecting an escape to nature, only to find a university much like any other – prioritising profit over academic integrity. Socialist Party and Socialist Students members from Carlisle and the rest of the north west hosted street stalls outside freshers’ fair.
Climate change came up frequently. Many students pick Cumbria for its proximity to impressive natural landscapes. Students fear this environment being lost.
Many jumped at the chance to sign up to start an official Socialist Students society on campus, after finding out about the ‘Defence Universities Alliance’, which Cumbria uni is part of. The Ministry of Defence is using university funding to covertly funnel students into pro-military research and job roles.
This led many students that we spoke to expressing interest in the youth strikes on 20 November. Some even took posters to put up in communal kitchens.
In conversation, students made the connection between climate and other struggles. Cumbria uni is promoting the military, whilst simultaneously raking in student fees for being located in a UNESCO World Heritage site.
Students raised how much they are paying for their ‘Circuit Go’ laundry – some over £6 per wash at student accommodation. This gave us a great opportunity to raise Socialist Students’ previous dealings with Circuit Go, and the possibility for a local campaign.
40 people signed up to Socialist Students – a testament to students’ desire for action. We have since heard that the university bosses weren’t happy about us being there!
It’s no wonder. The uni is currently threatening staff with ‘fire and rehire’, if they don’t downgrade their pension scheme.
The last thing the uni wants is an organised Socialist Students presence on campus, who would fully back a staff strike!
Southampton uni – capitalist system links the crises
James Gretton, Southampton Socialist Students
We held a public tally, asking participants which issue on the agenda for the 20 November international youth strike resonated most for them. The climate crisis – an existential threat – was the most voted-on issue. Others recognised that all the issues are interconnected, and exacerbated by capitalism.
The runner-up issue was war and militarisation. Many students were aware about Germany’s increased military spending and possible reintroduction of conscription. The new UK Labour chancellor in Andy Burnham’s government, John Healey, has hinted at similar public spending cuts to pay for the military in next month’s Budget.
In the coming weeks, Southampton Socialist Students workshop meetings will cover the alleged ‘Burnham bounce’; an introduction to socialism; real alternatives to Labour and the capitalist system it presides over; and issues for the 20 November walkout.
We’re working with the Young Greens, and other local organisations, including Southampton Uni Green Society, to build for the biggest possible student strike. Socialist Students is prepared to engage with both newcomers and returning students, putting forward the need for socialist change.
Exeter uni students reject future of debt and climate destruction
Myles Hatcher, Devon Socialist Students
Students saw the International Youth Strike as compelling, and something they wanted to get involved with. Discussions around the housing crisis, spiralling debt, and endless wars were echoed by many students. A large number identified themselves as socialists or on the left.
On the second day, university security eventually asked us for our credentials, and moved us on from campus. We moved to the exit away from the university grounds, and continued our leafleting and discussions unabated.
We cleared through all of our material. Over 30 students signed up to the International Youth Strike.
Exeter uni currently lacks a Socialist Students society. But there is clearly a keen interest in getting involved in campaign activity and building something. We hope this will develop into a student society with regular meetings, political discussion, and action on campus.
Even the Labour society showed an interest, letting slip that their numbers are dwindling. The Labour Party is unable to offer young people anything to fight for.
Students are looking forward, and beginning to see what they are going to inherit. Not the prosperous future they were promised, but climate destruction, debt, and a continuing cost-of-living crisis. More young people see through capitalist lies.
York College students support £15-an-hour minimum wage
Dan Bassey, York Socialist Students
We had a large volume of students come by our campaign stall.
At first, students were hesitant. But after handing out a few leaflets, an increasing number came over to talk, eager to hear what we had to say.
Conversations covered the rise of Reform and the far right, workers’ rights, and the climate crisis. The campaign to increase the minimum wage to £15 an hour particularly resonated. This would double what college students aged 16-18 currently earn, as a minimum.
Young people are becoming increasingly disillusioned with mainstream politics, and are searching for something that can actually improve their lives. We help bring socialist ideas to them. Seven new people signed up to our walkout on 20 November.
Farnham – University for the Creative Arts – students take action
Huw James, Aldershot and North Hants Socialist Students
The university’s facilities are being run into the ground, despite increased tuition fees. Students rightly wonder where their fees are actually going. One student even organised a sit-in protest against proposed cuts to library services.
Students are worried about being saddled with debt when they graduate, then struggling to find employment in an increasingly harsh jobs market. They support the Socialist Students and Socialist Party policies of free education, nationalisation, and a £15-an-hour minimum wage.
Young people want better than what is being offered to them by capitalism. And frankly, who can blame them? 12 new students signed up to get involved with Socialist Students, and find out more.
Leicester WQE college – chats and debates
Ikra Rehman, Leicester Socialist Students
This is the first time in recent memory that we have organised campaign stalls at WQE sixth-form college in Leicester. Now, regularly, students come up to chat or debate, or we see them discussing the ‘no to war’ leaflets we’re handing out.
More young people are becoming interested in politics, consider themselves socialist, and have a desire to want to make difference and be part of something.
Notre Dame college, Leeds – crowds at socialist stand
Iain Dalton, Leeds Socialist Students
Calling out ‘No to Farage, no to Trump, join the Socialist opposition’, we had Notre Dame sixth-form college students taking leaflets and crowding round our stall near the college.
15 students left the details to join Socialist Students, including some from the nearby university walking past. We spoke to an organiser with the newly formed Green society at Leeds Arts Uni about how we could work together, to build for the 20 November international youth strike.
Nottingham Trent uni – money for war, nothing for youth
Seamus Smyth, East Midlands Socialist Students
There was anger about the constant wars around the world, particularly the British government’s role in supporting and financing them. This opened up wider discussions about why there always seems to be money for war, while young people face rising costs, insecure futures, and pressure around education and the cost of living.
There was willingness to discuss the wider political situation, and what a socialist alternative could look like. We distributed 250 leaflets in just two hours.
Students: What you can do
1 Build for the N20 international youth walkout!
On 20 November 2026, Socialist Students will be joining over 20 other youth organisations across Europe, walking out of classes to say: ‘Fight for our futures, not their wars!’
Can you collect names of fellow students who can build for the biggest possible walkout where you are?
2 Build Socialist Students at your campus, college or school
Socialist Students is a democratic nationwide socialist organisation which has groups active in over 50 schools, colleges and universities. In September 2025 it organised youth walkouts against the state visit of Donald Trump. Groups discuss socialist ideas, and put them into practice, fighting for decent services, against oppression and for socialist change.
Sign up to help build a group where you are.
3 Buy your Socialism 2026 ticket
On 14-15 November, days ahead of the N20 international youth walkout, over 1,000 socialist activists will come together in London for a weekend of discussion and electric Saturday night rally.
What role for direct action in the struggle for socialism? Are the Greens the type of party we need to transform the world? Does AI mean the end of the working class? They are some of the 30 discussion workshops taking place.
On 20 November 2026, Socialist Students will be joining over 20 other youth organisations across Europe, walking out of classes to say: ‘Fight for our futures, not their wars!’
Can you collect names of fellow students who can build for the biggest possible walkout where you are?
2) Build Socialist Students at your campus, college or school
Socialist Students is a democratic nationwide socialist organisation which has groups active in over 50 schools, colleges and universities. In September 2025 it organised youth walkouts against the state visit of Donald Trump. Groups discuss socialist ideas, and put them into practice, fighting for decent services, against oppression and for socialist change.
On 14-15 November, days ahead of the N20 international youth walkout, over 1,000 socialist activists will come together in London for a weekend of discussion and electric Saturday night rally.
What role for direct action in the struggle for socialism? Are the Greens the type of party we need to transform the world? Does AI mean the end of the working class? They are some of the 30 discussion workshops taking place.
Freshers and school students tickets from £5.
Reports from Freshers so far
Cambridge college students support fight for jobs and future
Philip Hodgson, Social Action Society, Hills Road College
The newly formed Social Action Society at Hills Road College in Cambridge, with the help of Socialist Students, held a campaign stall to build awareness for the 20 November youth strikes, and to circulate flyers on topics such as youth unemployment. Our group has affiliated to Socialist Students.
The response was positive, with students from Hills Road and neighbouring colleges expressing interest in collective action. People were keen to hear about the international strike, and what it has to do with them as UK college students.
The issue of youth unemployment particularly resonated with people. Increasingly, sixth-form students are in need of jobs to cope with upcoming university tuition fees and student housing. This was reflected in people’s choice of leaflets.
This stall, along with one inside the college premises, has meant our student society has quadrupled in membership. Young people are interested in learning about broader plans to protest our current system, and also uniting with likeminded individuals to enact change.
As a society with socialist ties and a unanimous anti-war stance, we hope to keep up momentum for these goals throughout the academic year. We look forward to hearing about other societies across the country doing the same.
Salford uni – money for education not war
Socialist Students kicked off freshers with a series of campaign stalls and events across the Salford campus. We met students and staff with diverse views – anarchists, communists, Labour and Reform supporters.
But almost everybody agreed that things are not working for working-class people, and that trade unions are essential to the fightback.
People agreed with ‘Funding, Not Fees’. The government is boosting military budgets. Meanwhile, unis face course cuts and closures.
Students thought that having multiple military stalls over the week was wrong. And that working-class people shouldn’t be forced to risk their lives in wars that serve the interests of the capitalist class.
21 people came to our first Socialist Students meeting centred around how we can fight the rise of the far right. But it developed into a much wider conversation on how working-class people are too often pushed into the military.
We are the first political society at Salford in 25 years. There is a huge appetite for political discussion and debate.
Five people attending our meeting were studying military apprenticeship courses. One said: “Why can’t we have discussions like this in the army?”
There’s a desire to fight back against the far right and super-rich, for nationalising energy and water under democratic workers’ control, and the socialist transformation of society.
Fin Cozens-Stott, Salford Socialist Students
Leicester socialist youth meeting: Fight for our future, not their wars
Alanah Carey-Peacher, Leicester Socialist Students
We hosted a public meeting on the struggles youth face today, and what the world that we are inheriting could look like.
We have known the climate crisis to be imminent for decades, yet the capitalist class and their politicians in charge have sat on their hands, and continued to let greed override need.
Now we see consistently worse weather, especially in the most poverty-stricken places on the planet. The extreme heat in the UK this summer is set to become the ‘new norm’.
One individual at the meeting stated that it feels like ‘what is the use in trying, when the places we all know and love could become unliveable in our lifetimes’. The bare necessities and amenities – which we all require to live a fulfilled life – are becoming harder to obtain.
There is a youth unemployment crisis. We are expected to have far more experience for a job than is possible!
We’ve paid through our teeth for our education. Yet it appears to count towards very little, despite costing us and our families a lot of debt.
Many young people have little choice but to opt for precarious job opportunities, such as zero-hour contracts. The capitalist class want us in this type of work, so it’s harder for us to unionise and fight for better conditions.
When we rely on the welfare state because of unemployment or poverty pay, the Labour government cuts benefits and threatens to take them away. It’s worsened by dodgy, invasive ‘review processes’ that claim we’re ‘fit’.
The cherry on top – increasing war and military spending – an immense toll on the working class. Increasing militarisation across Europe has sparked students to walk out on 20 November.
We’re demanding our governments fund education and our futures, instead of funding destruction. It’s more important than ever for the working class and young people to stand up.
Southampton college students struggling to cope
Nick Chaffey, Southampton Socialist students Organiser
While discussing with groups of students and staff at Southampton City College about the problems they face not in education, planning for a future came up – securing jobs, coping with the dangers of city life, and rising knife crime.
Staff explained how keen students are, signing up for apprenticeships, but finding it difficult to get an employer to take them on. Why doesn’t the council step in and offer training in construction, so we have a ‘direct works’ team to refurbish the 600 empty council homes that could dent the waiting list?
Southampton Labour council closed all its youth centres in 2012. Socialist’s fought those cuts, and we warned the council the impact it would have.
Young people should have access to safe activity and support. With a guaranteed job, training, or place in education, young people would have a genuine future.
Most weeks over the summer we’ve held a city centre campaign stall in the afternoon, before our we meet. We chat with young people who gather there after school and college finishes.
This week was better than ever. Young people from two other colleges, and one of the local unis, signed up for the 20 November walkout.
All had different reasons. Young people are angry.
We spoke to two young women who had grown up in care, recognising that their families could have stayed together if they had been given support at the time, when life was falling apart. Two young school students wanted to know how they could organise the walkout.
We explained how students had responded over climate change, with the huge school strikes. The key is get organised, and hold regular meetings.
Begin a discussion on the issues facing young people, and how the walkout can attract greater numbers, pressuring councils and governments into making concessions to the needs of young people.
Already, some who have signed up want to come to our meetings and hear more. Events are pushing young people to conclude they need to get active and fight for their future.
Greenwich students back working-class unity against racism and far right
Sofia Pandolfi, South London Socialist Students organiser
Socialist Students campaigned outside the welcome fair at the University of Greenwich Avery Hill campus, discussing with students the need to build a political voice on campus, and be part of the international youth strike on 20 November to fight for our future. 20 students signed up to know more about and join Socialist Students.
A few students who took leaflets said they did not consider themselves ‘political’. Despite claiming not to know about politics, they did understand from their experiences of worrying over getting a job, the extremely high cost of living, the travel expense of commuting to university, and the debt they’ll graduate with – the crises that young people face today.
We explained why the education and unemployment crisis we’re experiencing is a product of a system that prioritises profit, and invests in war over our future. Joining Socialist Students means fighting against cuts to our education and public services, funding our needs rather than increasing university tuition fees, and for a socialist transformation of society that can offer students and young people better opportunities and a real future.
Students expressed anger towards the far right, and worry over the threat of Reform. They were interested in the need to build unity amongst young and working-class people to fight back against the division and racism fuelled by the far right.
Brighton college students want to fight back
Callum Joyce, Brighton Socialist Students Organiser
We visited Brighton Met College to build support for the international youth walkouts on 20 November. One student remembered us from last year, when we were campaigning at the same college for walkouts against the state visit of US president Donald Trump to the UK.
We leafleted students during their lunch break. We had good discussions – they wanted to talk about the education funding crisis, what we thought about the Green Party, and the government’s plans to increase military spending.
We are revisiting the college every week. We arm students, who are looking to fight back, with a campaign and a strategy that they can use to do so.
We will invite university students that we meet at the freshers’ fairs to come join us campaigning at the college. For a lot of students, this is their first time discussing the idea of political activity. We hope it will be the basis for building a fighting student organisation here, and at other schools and colleges around Brighton.
As an immediate next step, we are organising a student protest on 25 September in solidarity with German school students, who are walking out against militarisation on that day – a launchpad for the Europe-wide action on 20 November.
Birmingham City Uni – angry about lack of jobs and education cuts
Nick Hart, Birmingham Socialist Students organiser
On the first day of welcome week, Birmingham City University Socialist Students got an excellent response. Both students and the public were angry at the lack of job opportunities for graduates, and universities prioritising the bottom line over quality of teaching.
One student walking past, stopped, took a leaflet, removed his earbuds, and told us he was just that minute listening to an audiobook of ‘What Is To Be Done’ by leader of the Russian Revolution Lenin.
Bristol youth looking for an alternative
Clint Hatcher, Bristol North Socialist Students Organiser
Our first campaign stall of this educational year was packed with students wanting to find out more on how they can organise in the college, and build towards the 20 November student walkouts. We’re hoping an informal meeting will take place after our next stall, with students wanting to find out more about setting up a Socialist Students society in their college.
The crisis of capitalism is apparent now more than ever for young people. Socialist’s can point to these issues, and put forward a programme to fight against rampant militarism and austerity.
As we enter the new educational year, all kinds of students are desperately seeking an alternative to the broken system they will inherit.
Text from a new Socialist Students leaflet –availableto order for your local campaigning by contacting socialistudents@gmail.com. Or to print locally access the PDF by clicking the image opposite.
We are the first generation in history to be worse off than the one before. One million young people in Britain are currently not in education, employment or training. Youth unemployment is at its highest level in over ten years.
In the sixth richest country in the world, how can it be that a million young people are thrown on the scrap heap, and millions more have no hope of a decent future?
The richest 50 families in Britain control more wealth than half of the population. But the bosses and super-rich fat cats would rather hoard that wealth than investing in high-quality jobs, education, public services and homes that could give young people a future.
That’s the logic of capitalism: maximising profits for a tiny few at the expense of the vast majority. To win a real future, young people have to get organised for a socialist alternative to capitalism – a system where society’s wealth, resources and technology are used to meet the needs of all people and our planet.
That means building a movement to take wealth and resources out the hands of the super-rich. In our schools, universities, workplaces and local areas, we could start by getting young people organised around the following demands:
No to youth unemployment! The government should massively increase investment in public services to create socially useful, fulfilling jobs for all.
No to low pay! For the immediate introduction of a £15-an-hour minimum wage, with no exemptions based on age. Labour must guarantee the scrapping of the unfair youth pay rates for under-21s.
No to bogus apprenticeships and training schemes! For well-paid apprenticeships and training schemes with the guarantee of a job at the end.
For free, fully funded education for all! Introduce living grants not loans, scrap tuition fees and cancel student debt. Stop the cuts in education.
Reopen libraries, youth clubs, leisure centres and other ‘third spaces’! Our councils should refuse to make cuts and should instead fight for funding from the government to ensure young people have places to go and things to do.
The crisis facing young people isn’t just in Britain. Capitalism is an international system, which means that young people everywhere are facing a future of more war, climate breakdown, unemployment and insecurity.
That’s why young people across Europe are coming together to build an international movement under the slogan, ‘Fight for our future – not their wars!’, with a day of international youth walkouts and protests on Friday 20 November.
In Britain, Socialist Students is trying to get young people organised for the biggest possible day of youth walkouts on November 20. We say fighting for our future means fighting for socialist change. If you want to join us in building the international youth walkouts in Britain, get in touch by click the button below:
Adam Powell Davies, Socialist Students national organiser
The Labour government has announced that it will implement new rules aimed at ‘protecting free speech’ on university campuses.
Under the new legislation – originally drawn up by the previous Tory government – the Office for Students will gain powers to investigate and potentially fine universities over complaints made by university staff, external speakers, and other ‘non-student members’. A complaints system that excludes the roughly 3 million university students living in the UK – not exactly free speech for us!
It shows how, despite paying lip-service to ‘free speech’, the Labour government only wants certain voices to be heard. Like all capitalist politicians, they pick and choose whose speech to promote or suppress according to what suits them and the system they defend.
Where is the Labour government’s outrage at the managements of twelve UK universities who, as reported this month, have paid private security firms to spy on pro-Palestinian student protesters and academics? Will this not have a chilling effect on ‘free speech’ on campus?
During the Gaza solidarity movement on campuses in 2023-24, uni bosses imposed sanctions on students and staff for protesting on campuses, often over institutions’ links to the arms industry. Labour politicians and vice chancellors claimed these protests made students scared to speak out, supposedly infringing their ‘free speech’. Why would the freedom of expression for one section of students have to come at the expense of another?
Labour politicians and vice chancellors are currently working together to destroy higher education. They have the most to gain from sowing division among students and staff, while outwardly purporting to do the very opposite under the banner of ‘protecting free speech’.
As a vital counterweight, students need our own democratic organisations which could provide a genuine forum for all students to discuss and debate different ideas, free from the meddling of management and capitalist politicians.
To free society from a tiny capitalist elite using its wealth and power to police the language and behaviour of the vast majority, we need to fight for a socialist system under the democratic control of the working class, based on meeting the needs of all, not the profits of a few. Part of that struggle includes the fight for a democratically run education system that is free and accessible to all.
March for a socialist alternative to racism, war and austerity
Meet from 11.30am on Park Lane/Upper Grosvenor Street Corner for speeches
The need to combat racism and the far-right is urgent. Nigel Farage’s racist right-populist Reform UK is currently leading in most polls. In the Summer, 100,000 people turned out to far-right activist Tommy Robinson’s ‘Unite the Kingdom’ demonstration in London.
In response, Together – a new anti-far right alliance – has called a national demonstration in London for Saturday 28th March. Socialist Students is calling on students to join our contingent on the demonstration, to help us raise the need for a socialist alternative to capitalism as a central part in the fight against racism.
Capitalism means racism, war and austerity
Capitalism is an inherently unequal system that puts the profits of the billionaires above the needs of the billions of people around the world. To maintain this unequal set-up, the capitalist ruling class has always relied on racism to enable its brutal exploitation. Racism was used to justify the trafficking of ten million people by the slave trade, and later to justify colonial rule by British imperialism and other capitalist powers across the world.
Today, capitalist politicians continue to stoke racist ideas in an attempt to divide working-class people and weaken our collective ability to fight back. And they have plenty of reasons for wanting to sow racism and all forms of division, at a time when their system can only deliver more war, climate chaos, and falling living standards. The ongoing US-Israeli war on Iran, and the chaos that has already wrought on the world economy, underlines how capitalism today can only bring instability for our futures.
Build a socialist alternative
The Labour government has no alternative. They are firmly on the side of the billionaire bosses and have overseen yet more austerity and cost-of-living crisis. By so blatantly attacking the living standards of working-class people, Labour creates the space for Reform UK to falsely pose as an ‘anti-establishment’ alternative ‘standing up for the little people’. If we want to stop Nigel Farage becoming the next prime minister, then we have to build a political alternative to the pro-capitalist, austerity policies of not just Reform but Labour and all the establishment parties. We need to build a mass movement of workers and young people for the resources we need for a decent life. We have to demand: ‘Migrants aren’t to blame – take the wealth off the super-rich. For jobs, homes and services for all, not racist division!’. That kind of movement could bring working-class people from all backgrounds together in a united fightback that cuts across racism and identifies the real enemy: capitalism.
As the American civil rights activist Malcolm X said: “You can’t have capitalism without racism”. And if racism is embedded in the current system, then we need a new system: a socialist system which would eliminate the root cause of racism by taking economic and political control out of the hands of the small minority at the top who profit from inequality and division.
If you want the Together march to be a step towards building the mass anti-racist and socialist movement that is needed, join the Socialist Students contingent on March 28th and join your local Socialist Students society on campus.
A march can be an important start – but to end racism, we need to build a sustained movement that can challenge the capitalist system that profits from and reproduces reactionary ideas day-in, day-out.
Do you want to be part of the socialist, anti-racist challenge in this May’s elections?
The Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC), which Socialist Students is part of, is appealing for the widest-possible anti-austerity stand in the upcoming May elections. That would be a powerful way of putting forward a socialist political alternative to Reform, Labour, and all the establishment parties.
For that message to have an impact on the national political debate, there needs to be the widest possible presence for a socialist alternative, including in the media coverage of the elections. To break through the media blackout, we must hit the Ofcom threshold for “fair media coverage”. This requires standing at least 840 candidates under a party registered with the Electoral Commission. Could you be one of them? Click here for more info
Text from a Socialist Students leaflet produced for International Women’s Day 2026
International Women’s Day – March 8th – once again takes place in a world of chaos. Wars, economic instability, and attacks on basic rights have become the norm. The Epstein files reveal the sexism and rottenness of the capitalist class.
There is a lot to protest about! Many of the legal and social rights women have won are under threat and exacerbated by capitalist turmoil. Even basics like health care and housing have become a struggle. Sexist and misogynistic ideas are being amplified by powerful figures, not least President Trump.
A major issue for women students is the outrageous levels of sexual harassment and abuse we face. 97% of young women in Britain have experienced sexual harassment. That confirms what we all know from our experiences on campus, on nights out and at work. University and college bosses are more concerned about cost and their reputation than student safety.
Around the world young women are part of the mass movements challenging the sexism, poverty, repression and exploitation of the capitalist system. We’ve had enough, and we need change.
Raising awareness of the issue is not enough. We need action.
That starts with getting organised – and discussing what we want to fight for. Immediate measures that would dramatically improve women’s safety on campus include: free 24/7 shuttle transport; decent lighting; and the expansion of student support services.
Venues can do much more, including distributing free drink covers. All venue staff should have training to identify red flags and how to intervene, with sufficient staffing levels to ensure they can. Instead of unaccountable uni bosses, we need student and trade union democratic oversight of reporting and complaints procedures so we can have confidence in them.
Socialist Students is campaigning for all of these demands. Winning safe learning and social spaces will mean fighting for funding. Socialist Students fights for full public funding of education and an end to the rotten market model of running education.
Fight for socialism
Prejudices, gender stereotyping, and sexist behaviour should be challenged; that starts with democratic and accountable student committees which should be in control of how training is carried out.
But education alone is not enough. Sexist ideas do not stem from individuals; they are products of the capitalist system we live in.
Systemic problems require systemic solutions. To eliminate gender violence, we need to challenge the root cause of sexist ideas by taking economic and political control out of the hands of the small minority who profit from inequality and oppression.
We need a mass movement with workers and youth at its heart to win the funding and resources we need and fight for a socialist alternative to capitalism.
Socialist Students’ statement on Your Party conference
The long-awaited Your Party conference took place in Liverpool at the end of last month. Socialist Students members intervened within the conference, including speaking from the platform, and are looking forward to the opportunity to work within Your Party to fight for young people and socialism.
Despite the summer enthusiasm dwindling after 800k+ signed up to support Your Party, and only 22k of 55k members registering to vote, the mood at the conference represented the appetite for a new mass socialist alternative. Frustrations about how the conference was organised, and spats among the leadership, underpinned much of the debate and influenced how the voting went, with a feeling that this political project needs to work.
Socialist Students national organiser Adam Gillman spoke about the need for Your Party to be explicitly socialist and have “the working class at its heart”. The conference attendees subsequently overwhelmingly voted this way. However, the necessary democratic structures for a mass socialist party of the working class were not established last weekend.
For example, it is regrettable that an element of sortition will remain in place for the next conference – rather than a system of representative democracy which allows Your Party branches, as well as affiliated organisations such as trade unions and other groups, to send delegates.
Socialist Students also believes that Your Party won’t become a mass workers’ party without taking the question of the trade unions – the existing mass organisations of the working class – seriously. In order for that to happen, the relationship with trade unions needs not only to be reviewed (as another motion outlined), but there needs to be a priority of bringing the collective voice of the trade unions into the party, through affiliation, under the democratic control of its members. By not approaching the trade union rank-and-file and campaigning for their collective voice to be heard in Your Party, it only makes it easier for trade union leaders to continue dodging the question of political representation for the working class.
Ninety per cent of voters backed an amendment for needs-based council budgets, rejecting cuts and austerity. Contributions from the floor emphasised how committing to no cuts would distinguish Your Party from the Greens. Zack Polanski, the Greens’ leader, was asked by Socialist Students if he would commit to a similar stand – Zack refused to do so.
However, the conference also chose to limit the number of election candidates for May 2026, which misses the opportunity for a wide anti-austerity stand. Only this could cut across support for Reform UK in a meaningful way: standing socialists on a no-cuts platform in communities where working-class people, out of frustration, are voting for Reform. It is worth remembering that in 2017, 1 million + UKIP voters from 2015 voted for Jeremy Corbyn’s anti-austerity manifesto.
Your Party has the potential to harness the energy of young people and students. Many of us are already struggling for free education, against the cost-of-living crisis, for rent controls, and many other things.
Young people were enthused by Jeremy Corbyn’s time as Labour leader – precisely because of his anti-austerity message, and the pledge to scrap tuition fees. Polls over the summer suggested that Your Party was the most popular among young people – this is not a surprise, considering the popularity of Corbyn and the increasing number of young people looking for a way out and towards socialist ideas.
Along with immediately establishing branches, Your Party must develop a formal youth and student section. This party must allow youth to organise and debate the way forward for the problems facing us and the working class, such as the cost of living crisis and climate change.
The slim vote by conference for a collective leadership was positive. The Central Executive Committee (CEC) – made up of 16 normal members, rather than MPs – should have a seat reserved for a youth representative. This would allow young people to democratically elect a socialist to represent their views on the deciding body of the party. The CEC is also preferable to a single leader model as it helps create and develop new leaders rather than dependence on individuals, which without proper contingency plans, can lead to problems when someone needs to step down for whatever reason.
Socialist Students invites the current MPs for Your Party – Jeremy Corbyn, Zarah Sultana, Shockat Adam, and Ayoub Khan – to do a speaking tour of the universities in the new year. We would be happy to help facilitate these meetings, as an already existing broad socialist organisation on campuses, with groups across the country. These meetings could potentially be ‘launch events’ for a Your Party youth section.
Socialist Students looks forward to a reply from Your Party MPs and to be able to organise within an affiliated democratic youth section.
The genocidal siege of Gaza. Climate breakdown that threatens the existence of life on our planet. Governments whipping up racism, sexism, and all forms of division. Attacks on the right to protest and more authoritarian laws. There is no shortage of issues pushing students and young people into the fore of mass movements, taking action for an alternative.
Internationally, the past year has unleashed a wave of mass protests and uprisings spearheaded by young people, from Indonesia to Nepal, Madagascar to the Philippines. In Britain, young people have continued to march in our hundreds and thousands to demand an end to Israeli state terror and war in the Middle East.
But despite the heroic preparedness of young people and the working class to fight back, the politicians, institutions, and the ‘profit-before-all’ system they uphold – capitalism – remain in place. And so the nightmare of war, poverty, and climate destruction continues, as our futures are sacrificed for the profits of a super-rich few.
What needs to be done to put an end to this nightmare? That is the key question that the Socialist Students conference 2026 is setting itself.
Socialist Students is a democratic, national organisation of students fighting for a socialist alternative to capitalism. We are active in schools, colleges and universities across the UK. Our conference is open to all students and young people who want to discuss, debate and make a collective plan of action for how to build a socialist youth movement in Britain today.
There will be plenty to discuss, including:
How can we build a mass socialist party to give students a voice in the fight against Labour and Reform? What role could Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana’s Your Party play? What about Zack Polanski and the Green Party?
How can students support workers in education fighting against cuts and low pay, and build a united movement to make the super-rich pay for the funding we need?
Why are so many student unions not on our side? And how can students build democratic student organisations that actually fight in our interests?
