Marxist students and youth will be at the End Austerity Now demonstration on Saturday 20th June, marching under the banner “The system is broken: fight for revolution”. We publish here a statement by the Marxist Student Federation, along with comments from revolutionary youth across the country, explaining why we are marching with thousands of others at this Saturday’s protest.
Marxist students and youth will be at the End Austerity Now demonstration on Saturday 20th June, marching under the banner “The system is broken: fight for revolution“. We publish here a statement by the Marxist Student Federation, along with comments from revolutionary youth across the country, explaining why we are marching with thousands of others at this Saturday’s protest.
The Tories are still in government and no one is in any doubt about just how vicious their austerity will be. They have already outlined their plans to cut the living standards of the working class, while the rich pile up all of society’s wealth for themselves.
We are furious at being made to pay for a crisis for which we bear no responsibility. We will march on Saturday 20th June, alongside comrades from all over the country, demanding an end to austerity.
But we are under no illusions that one Saturday afternoon demonstration is going to change things. We know we’re not going to convince the Tories to stop cutting, nor the rich to stop exploiting. We know they’re not doing these things for ideological reasons, but because their economic system – capitalism – is in crisis and austerity is the only way to save it.
This is why we want fundamental change to the whole system. We want revolution.
We know that Saturday’s demonstration isn’t going to be a revolution. But we will be there arguing for how it can be achieved. The workers around the world are the ones who keep society functioning. A general strike would prove who really runs society – this is what the trade unions should be arguing for. The working class has the power, the ability and the right to run society for its own interests and needs, not those of the elite super-rich who only care about profits.
This is what our revolution will look like. The workers of the world will storm the barricades of bourgeois society that have held us down for so long. We will build a new society with real workers’ democracy and an economy based on need, not profit.
We will be fighting for this on Saturday and beyond. Join us.
In our own words, here’s why we’ll be joining tens of thousands of others on Saturday’s protest:
“I’m graduating in less than a month, which should be an exciting milestone in a person’s life, but it doesn’t feel like it. We leave university with a ton of debt, more and more graduates just to go on to work in zero hour contracts or go on the dole, and many of those who are lucky enough to get a decent job are having to take to the streets to protect their rights as workers. But I know fighting austerity alone will not solve our problems. I’m marching against capitalism as whole, I’m marching because we need to face facts; we will not make any lasting change as long as capitalism exists.”
– Nathan Taylor, University of Kent
“Austerity deprives those most in need of health care and education whilst the rich remain protected and even become richer. Food banks are becoming ever more in demand whilst those imposing austerity are unchallenged – I am here to protest against a system that has increased the wealth divide while pretending to be in the best interests of the electorate.”
– Grace Whitehead, University of Manchester
“I do not believe austerity is the way forward for Britain or for any country and it’s not fair that the common people have to pay for the crisis of the banks. I think there should be massive investment in the public sector, especially in renewable energies that are also good for the environment. At the same time, get rid of Trident and save 1 billion which could go to saving the NHS from privatization. If MPs want cuts, well, they should cut their salaries, as Podemos have done.”
– Gareth Lynn Montes, University of Swansea
“I’m marching to support a movement that rejects austerity in favour of fair, supportive society”
– Frankie Toynton, University of Newcastle
“All of my politically conciseness life has corresponded to capitalism being in a severe crisis. All I have known is austere politicians attacking those on benefits, students, public sector workers and in short the working class. June 20 will mark the beginning of a fight back for those similar to me, people that believe that a better world is possible. One without austerity, growing food and fuel poverty and endless war. Therefore I will be marching with the revolutionary student bloc. Talking with other people on the march and trying to win them to the banner of Marxism which is the only way we can put an end this nightmare which is capitalism.”
– Scott Shaw, University of Sheffield
“I’m marching on Saturday to help prove that the majority of the electorate actually voted against the Tories and against further austerity measures, but also to argue that there are no economic alternatives to austerity as long as we live under a Capitalist system.”
– Nelson, Queen Mary, University of London
“I’m marching to be a part of the growing group of people who recognise that austerity is inevitable under capitalism. To be against one is to be against the other.”
– Imogen Thomas, University of Bristol
“I will be at the demo because i want to show my opposition to austerity, but more importantly to promote a socialist alternative. It will be a great chance to offer a vocal and visible message of positive change.”
– Harry Bark, University of Leeds
“I’m marching because I believe that we need an economy that works for the working class, that rewards us with the fruits of our labour. Austerity serves no one but the rich – it destroys the public services paid for through the wealth we have created, encouraging that wealth to pool at the top.”
– Josh Chown, University of Surrey
“I’ll be marching because we should not become demoralised: the Tory victory is just a setback that will not stem the tide of radicalisation generated by the crisis of capitalism. In my home country, Spain, we saw the right wing get into power in 2011 in a landslide victory that shames that of the Tories. Four years later, they’re being routed by Podemos and we’re seeing an unprecedented turn to the left in society. A taste of what might be to come in Britain, but for that we need to begin to organise the fightback and the enthusiasm, the ideas, and the programme of Marxism have to play a central role!”
– Arturo Rodriguez, University of Oxford
All over the world the crisis of capitalism has erupted. That is the crisis of the general glut of production. The existence of goods on the market and a productive force that outpaces the ability of people to buy. In certain parts of the world the crisis has already manifested itself into an explosion of poverty, austerity, unemployment and general misery. The present state of Greece is a particularly sobering example; that of a developed western country, now suffering harshly. Although life is hard in Britain, under the current Tory government it is guaranteed to get worse and our problems have yet to truly intensify. The harsher crises in the rest of the world is a premonition of things to come for all of us living here. The only way to overcome this nightmare scenario that looms over our future is to fight the austerity of today with revolutionary socialism. That is what I’m fighting to build.
– Dev Sahota, Royal Holloway, University of London
Get in touch and tell us why you’ll be joining the demonstration on Saturday!
