Join us today!
Printable version
Link to this page: https://secure.socialistparty.org.uk/issue/1167/33751
From The Socialist newspaper, 16 February 2022
Why I'm going to Socialist Students conference
Socialist Students campaigning for free education. Photo: Isai Priya (Click to enlarge)
Noah Eden, Sheffield Socialist Students
The financial screws are tightening on students. The government is freezing the threshold when students start to repay their loans, as opposed to raising it in line with inflation, meaning they will have to pay more.
I have been an avid Socialist Students member since I joined - visiting and supporting strikes both on campus and outside of uni. Socialist Students conference, 26 February, is our chance to participate in the fight back against the unfair marketisation of universities, campaign for free, democratised and good quality higher education, and help organise the 2 March student walkout called by the National Union of Students (NUS).
Inflation is reducing the value of student loans, meaning that the government is unfairly taking £2.3 billion from students. The parental earnings threshold has been frozen at £25,000, when it should have risen to £34,000, so fewer students are receiving what they deserve in maintenance loans. On top of all this, maintenance loans are set to increase by 2.3%, which is below inflation, meaning another real-terms pay cut for students.
We can build a socialist fightback and end the conditions that we have had to endure from both Tory and Labour governments. Under Jeremy Corbyn, students got a glimmer of hope of what a fair and proper education system could look like. But Labour has returned to its Tory-lite policies under Keir Starmer.
The Socialist Students conference has moved to Birmingham. So we'll also get a chance to campaign for Dave Nellist in the Birmingham Erdington by-election. Socialist Party member Dave Nellist is the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) candidate - standing to be a workers' MP on a worker's wage (see pages 8-9).
- Visit socialiststudents.org.uk to sign up for updates about the conference
Donate to the Socialist Party
Finance appeal
The coronavirus crisis has laid bare the class character of society in numerous ways. It is making clear to many that it is the working class that keeps society running, not the CEOs of major corporations.
The results of austerity have been graphically demonstrated as public services strain to cope with the crisis.
- The Socialist Party's material is more vital than ever, so we can continue to report from workers who are fighting for better health and safety measures, against layoffs, for adequate staffing levels, etc.
- We must be ready for the stormy events ahead and the need to arm workers' movements with a socialist programme - one which puts the health and needs of humanity before the profits of a few.
Inevitably, during the crisis we have not been able to sell the Socialist and raise funds in the ways we normally would.
We therefore urgently appeal to all our viewers to donate to our Fighting Fund.
In The Socialist 16 February 2022:
What we think
Britain's economic growth figures mask fragile false recovery
News
'Labour by name - Tory by policy'
Covid: Fight for full sick pay
Tory stealth taxes burden 'packhorse generation'
Left Labour MPs under pressure over Erdington
Neither Washington, London nor Moscow
Australian nurses strike against understaffing and low pay
Erdington by-election
Birmingham Erdington by-election
Campaigning in Birmingham Erdington by-election
Saltley Gate
From our history: 1972 miners' strike
PCS elections
PCS Elections 2022: Time for new union leadership
Workplace news
NEU strike at girls' school chain over pensions
University workers striking back
"If we don't fight, we won't win!"
Just Eat strike spreads and forces concessions
Join the scaffs mass picket at Scunthorpe steelworks
Worksop Wincanton workers win pay rise after strike
Campaigns
West Sussex care campaigners' victory
Why I'm going to Socialist Students conference
Campaigning to make 2 March student walkout happen
Stop eviction of Camden homeless collective
East Sussex: Poverty and cuts bring people to Socialist Party
Fund us to fight for socialism
Readers' opinion
TV: 'Death of Two Black Men: Police in the Spotlight'
How Cardiff Bay's redevelopment led to 'social cleansing'
Home | The Socialist 16 February 2022 | Join the Socialist Party
Subscribe | Donate | Audio | PDF | ebook
2021