• Anthony Brain The Free Education Campaign made important gains at the NUS Special Conference earlier this year. The right wing Labour Students leadership were defeated in their proposals to scrap even a formal defence of the right to a free education. A further gain was made with the conference decision mandating NUS to organise a national demonstration in the Autumn term. Despite these victories, however, the battle is far from over. Jim Murphy has made public statements about how the union will have to reconsider its position and how important It was that such a large minority voted for the Labour Students position. It is quite obvious that the right wing leadership of NUS will now spend the next few months attempting to sabotage the conference decisions. Though NUS was instructed by conference to organise a demo in the Autumn, It has not as yet named a date for that demo. This is why the Free Education Campaign is calling for a September demo, we must force NUS leadership to support and build for this. The leadership of the Labour Party faced a defeat when the 1994 conference reasserted its commitment to Clause Four. The leadership then spent the next six months working against the decisions of conference and organIsed a Special Conference at which the clause was abolished - using completely undemocratic methods. The leadership of Labour Students, apeIng the leadership of the Labour Party, will prove extremely reluctant to abide by the decisions of NUS Special Conference. It Is important that we organise within colleges to keep them under pressure and make sure that they do. Libertion: suboorers all se working ng tour it colleges = for as mar pea pte on the dero as possutae tom al colleges. • Mike Banks SMASH TORIES THE GR* The British Government is the main ally of the Indonesiar Education los all.
Fund the Educ forme asses, Education should be a right. Educatic:
not a should b privilege a right. not a privilege We must not see the struggle over grants as being Isolated from wider attacks on education, or on the welfare state. The campaign must link up with oth. ers fighting to defend education, In the Fight Against Cuts In Education (FACE) campalgn, with parents and school governors, and with the trade unions and the left in the Labour Party. Finally we must develop demands to place on a future Labour government. The austerity drive is being organised throughout Western Europe, and we must link up with all those forces re sisting it. In particular we need to deretop links with European student -crements such as in France where students are fighting the Balladur gor. tll after an election. Me as: car::: 12, Is5Is havesti Get Active! To find out more about the Free Education Campaign, write to: FEC, c/o Charlotte Wade, Students Union, University of Central England, Birmingham.