Youth

Here is a short report on John McDonnell’s lecture at the ULU Marxists Meeting in London last week

Figures published today (Wed) show a continuing rise in UK unemployment,
hiting 2.47 million as at the end of August. This figure is supposed to
be lower than expected – indicating that the recession is coming to an
end – but for those involved it is still high enough – not least for the youth!

As the current economic
climate worsens the government and county councils are targeting education as a
means of saving money. Privatisation, redundancies and funding cuts are
tarnishing the education system that so many other countries strive for. Now, with tuition fees on
the increase – the yearly cap of £3,200 soon to be lifted – competition to get
into what remains of higher education is becoming progressively biased towards
only the more privileged members of society.

Between
Wednesday 23
and Friday 25
of September, supporters of Socialist Appeal could be found running a
stall outside the University of Leeds – bringing the ideas of
Marxism onto the campus. The comrades sold 24 copies of the new
Socialist
Appeal
all-colour paper over the three days as well as other literature

As
the consequences of the capitalist crisis continue to unfold before our eyes,
it is becoming clear just how much of an impact this recession is having on
education. The main focus of this article
is on just how much of an impact debt forced on parents is having on their
children’s education and therefore their future.

Students and education workers have taken action across Europe in recent months in response to the so called ‘Bologna Process’; a vicious attack on the provision of public education centred around privatising  public institutions and stripping down staff numbers and facilities to a bare minimum. In response to this there have been large demonstrations and strikes of students and workers in Austria, Italy, Spain and France. In Britain there are now proposals for a huge funding cut back at London Metropolitan University and the selling off of Strathclyde University in Glasgow, amongst other attacks.

Another day and yet another action from the tenacious primary school parents of the Glasgow Save our Schools Campaign. Parents from the Our Lady of Assumption and Victoria primary schools, located in Ruchil and Govanhill, have gone into occupation in protest at their schools’ proposed closure. The Council will vote on the decision on Thursday.

In the run up to Glasgow City Council’s decision on whether to go ahead with the proposed closure of twenty primary schools, and after a campaign that has seen rallies of hundreds in George Square outside the city chambers. parents at two Glasgow schools in Maryhilll, Wyndford and St Gregory’s primary schools, have occupied the buildings. Visiting the St Gregory’s occupation over a week later it was clear that the parents were determined to maintain their struggle as long as necessary.

A year before the next general election is due the Labour Government is proposing another increase in top up fees for UK students. Currently universities can charge up to £3,000 per year. It is being proposed that they can be raised to £7,000. The record of New Labour on higher education has gone from bad to worse. In 1998 student grants were abolished and loans introduced. Then fees were introduced at around £1,000. A proposal for top fees up to £3,000 was introduced in 2004, to be implemented after the general election in 2005. Top up fees were implemented in 2006.

In one sense we welcome the TUC’s new pamphlet Does Work Work for you? A Young Worker’s Guide to their Rights and Trade Union Membership. A  key factor in favour of capitalists over workers is the fact that each new generation of workers often has the relearn the lessons of its ancestors, and as such each new worker generally enters the work place feeling isolated and overwhelmed. The employer can get away with a great deal that has already been made illegal as a result of previous worker’s struggles, without many workers realising. Therefore this pamphlet could be very useful, in that it explains the rights of workers in areas such as the minimum wage, working hours and breaks and agency work.

Over the course of a cold February week two
Glasgow campuses emerged at the forefront of the wave of occupations that is
currently engulfing universities across Britain and, in the process, transforming
their political atmospheres. Strathclyde and Glasgow University were both
occupied, with the occupiers protesting about the Israeli onslaught on Gaza and
their universities’ links with arms companies that were complicit in the
offensive.