Fight for free education! Mohammed Osman, Surrey Socialist Students Being a student is hard. You constantly have to worry about deadlines and upcoming examinations. Balance that with any extracurriculars you take part in, while also trying to increase your employability – trying to find placements, internships and whatever else you can do to stand out as a worthwhile candidate in the increasingly saturated job market. Now imagine being a broke student which, for many of us, is the case. More often than not, the student loan you receive is simply not enough to cover the cost of living. I’m ‘lu ..read more

14 years of Tory rule, and what have students got for it? The highest university fees in Europe Maintenance loans that don’t even cover rent Record student debt Packed-out classrooms and lecture halls Unpaid and overworked staff And it’s not just students who have suffered. Millions of workers are worse off now than when the Tories were elected in 2010, as wages have fallen thousands of pounds behind inflation. Public services, a lifeline for the majority of people, have been cut to the bone. NHS waiting times have never been so bad, public transport doesn’t work half the time, and ..read more

Ted Boyle, Sheffield Socialist Students Behind closed doors, a major university policy change is being discussed and, typically, its not good news! Vivienne Stern, the CEO of employers’ organisation, Universities UK, insists that students finance the gap in university budgets yet again, through ever-higher tuition fees. This is off the back of a broad financial report, which outlines the very real mess that university managements have found itself in, where issues such as an exodus of international students, whose higher tuition than domestic students many universities rely on, have been comp ..read more

FIGHTING THE BACKLASH AGAINST WOMEN’S RIGHTS From the dismantling of Roe v Wade in the US, which saw the removal of abortion rights from millions of women, to the mass movement in Iran following the murder of Mahsa Amini by the ‘morality police’, a movement which could have brought down the corrupt government. There are many examples of attacks on women and women’s rights being met with protests and resistance. Here in Britain, when a woman was jailed for taking abortion pills after the legal limit, the anger was palpable. The woman was then released on appeal. This shows that the establishmen ..read more

Despite the numerous advances in women’s rights that have been won through mass struggle over past decades, many on International Women’s Day in 2024 will be questioning why the basic problems that women face – lower pay, greater risk of violence, objectification in the media, to name a few – still continue to exist today. To understand how we can end the oppression of women it is necessary to first analyse where it comes from and the conditions that led to its creation in order to understand what conditions are needed to remove it. We republish here an article written by Christine Thomas ..read more

No to Tory attacks on young peoples’ future The Tories are set to announce their latest spending plans on 6 March, budget day. It will be yet another budget for the super-rich, enacted in the interests of big business and the banks. Of course, the Tories will do nothing to solve the crises facing students and young people – a broken housing market, the sky-high cost of living, decaying public services, climate breakdown – the list seems endless. So it’s no wonder the Tories are so hated. Plagued by infighting and scandals, they are headed for disaster in the next general election, which has to ..read more

Nandi Shalita, Queen Mary Socialist Students Queen Mary university security raided the campus office of the University and College Union (UCU), on 20 February, on the orders of uni management. They removed all posters and messages around the office showing support and solidarity with the people of Palestine and Gaza. The previous day, management had requested access to the office. Management claimed the posters were having a “chilling effect on freedom of speech”. The UCU agreed to allow them in, but explicitly said that all the posters and material should be left alone. But instead, cam ..read more

The following article has been adapted from a discussion document submitted to this year’s Socialist Students national conference by the Socialist Students national steering committee. Capitalism today is a system in turmoil, marked by mounting instability and increased upheaval everywhere. Life for billions of people is increasingly fraught with war, environmental breakdown, falling living standards and failing social infrastructure. The dystopian character of this era of capitalism is epitomised by the catastrophic situation currently unfolding in the Middle East. The ongoing slaughter of t ..read more

Cardiff Socialist Students The rich say change is impossible – it’s not Tom Porter-Brown, Birmingham Socialist Students The wealthiest 1% hope to make social change seem like an impossible goal. But the various capitalist crises are taking their toll on young and working-class people in a way that cannot be ignored. This is why more and more young people consider themselves socialists. This is why the Socialist Students conference is a great opportunity for anyone who wants to get involved, but doesn’t know where to start. It is an opportunity to link up with others to share and develop ideas ..read more

Sam Hey, Manchester Socialist Students As energy bills and other running costs soar to unprecedented levels, universities across the country plunge head first into a funding crisis. The Tory government stands by and watches. Domestic tuition fees have been maintained at £9,250, so universities will rely more on international students, who can be charged more, to make up the shortfall from rising costs from record-high inflation. Top universities, including York, have resorted to lowering grade boundaries for international students in an attempt to make up this funding deficit. The Tories are p ..read more