By Duncan Chapel and The Liberal-Labour bloc formed at the recent National Union of Students (NUS) conference has backed a plan to ban most political campaigning and to clear out left wingers on NUS bodies.
This sharp right tum, which snockco many Labour supthe colleges, POTECTS in emerged in the debate on voluntary membership. The Tories aim to weaken the ability o. student untors to com: overcrowding and cost-cutting in colleges. They propose an end to automatic membership O. NUS. introducine a memWith most siu dents strapped for cash, many will not pay.
The conference passed a consultative document from the Labour-dominated execuve canng lo: student's unions to be covered by the same regulations as charities; and for a Student Union 'Ombudsman' to control union activities.
These rules have already led to successful prosecutions of ion officials at Anglia Institute of Higher Education were fined for campaigns against the US-led war in the Persian Gulf. More recently Greenwich University Student Union has been prosecuted for anti-racist campaigning.
The left wing at the conference did poorly. The firm vote of the main left groups, 'Left Unity", which reflect the positions of Socialist Organiser, and Socialist Worker's Student Society (SWSS) was around a hundred.
Skitful manipulation of the conference by the right ensurce ut poncy acosics, in which the left normally does very well, took up only an hour of the conference. The fifth day of the conference, given over to debating the situation in isracuraiesune, was cancelled by the votes of Labour and SWSS members of the union's steering committee.
A cany ouican produceo by Socialist Outlook was so well received it was stepped up to twice-daily. Alongside our editorial comment, articles were carried from the Black and Irish student caucuses. Militant, Green and other left There were two surprising gains for the left. Fiona Smyth became the first independent lett elected to the executive in the 1990s.
Vice-President Martin Lindsey failed in his re-clec. don aucts and was occaica by leftwinger Kevin Sexton after conference was told about long standing allegations of sexual harrassment against Socialist Outlook VicePresidential candidate Louise Whittle defended the right of women to speak aboat the alspeech, she called for an inves. Lindsey to be defealed.
of women, of pensioners. those igning imperialism in Ireland and throughout the world. Socialist Outlook is above all an internationalistcurrent, in solidarity with the Trotskyist Fourth International, which organises co-thinkers in 40 countries world-wide. a mass revolutionary party can be built simply by proclaiming ourselves to be one. posturing and abstention from the actual struggle taking shape within the labour movement, playing into the hands of the right wing. lesbians and gays or the national demands of people in Scotland and Wales should be left to await the outcome of a socialist revoluDon. The oppressed must organise themselves and fight now around their own demands, which are a part of the struggle for socialism. The fight for policies which can mobilise and politically educate workers in struggle, must be taken into the unions, the Labour Party and every campaign and struggle in which workers and the oppressed fight for their rights. key issues such as fighting racism and fascism - in which various left currents can work together for common objectives while remainino tree to debate their diferences join with us in the struggle for socialism, readers' groups meet in many towns across the country. Contact us now, get organised, and get active! YES, I agree with much of what I have seen in Socialist Outlook, and want to know more about readers groups in my area. Name. Address. Phone. Send to: Socialist Outloak, PO Box 1109. London N4 2UU of the black communities and ethnic minoribes, of lesbians and gay men, of students, of youth - and of Unlike some other groupings on the British left, we do not believe loo olen this degenerates into sectarian Nor đo we believe that the demands of women, black people. But propaganda alone, however good, will not bring socialism. To strengthen this fight we press for united front campaigns on If you agree with what you see in Socialist Outlook, and want to
I HE MINERS SPEAR STOP PIT CLOSURES SOCIALIST OUTLOOK No.41. May 1, 1993. Page 15