Birmingham Socialist Party and Socialist Students member, Holly Leach, reports of last week's citywide Birmingham Socialist Student's meeting:
On the evening of Wednesday 3rd October, Birmingham’s first Socialist Student meeting of the term was held. The event managed to reach out to young students and workers who seek to transform this elitist society we see today. 35 people attended, and they filled the room with their eager and enthusiastic perspectives. This diverse group that gathered, consisted of students from Colleges and Universities, including the University of Birmingham and Birmingham City University, as well as young local workers.
The discussion was focused upon ‘how we can defeat the Tories and fight for Socialism”, addressing the paramount importance of the role of students as we strive to abolish our capitalist establishment and implement an organised socialist programme. It was evident that young people are not blind to the greedy nature of the Tory Party, with more and more of our youthful community recognising the exploitative measures that are enforced on a daily basis that the working class are forced to face the repercussions of. So, a key conclusion that I left this meeting with was that the Tory part must not undermine the perceptivity and insight of our working-class youth concerning the corruption of our current society.
The meeting received an extremely positive reception from the attendees, which is exemplified by the fact that it soon developed into an interactive discussion that evidently could have continued for much longer than the allotted hour. Hence, proving how Socialist ideas are remaining popular amongst young people, with the inquisitive questions and thoughtful contributions that sprouted from the opening speech of Wednesday’s meeting. Particularly, in this era of mass austerity, with huge council cuts that are leading to poverty inducing pay – it is essential that we promote a level of interdependence that is required between both students and workers. This concept was a crucial theme that I noticed throughout the meeting, for example it was concluded with Birmingham Socialist Students and Young Socialists expressing solidarity with a picture of support to Birmingham Home Care Workers, who are still in the midst of strike action against a Blairite Labour Council, who are proposing cuts of £3 million to the enablement service budget. Clearly, it is time to get organised and continue to progress in building this force of unity between working-class students and workers.