Over the last month, the Marxist Student Federation has been active at 50 universities across the country, signing up thousands to the fight for socialism. There has never been a better time to build the forces of Marxism. Join the revolution!
The Marxist Student Federation (MSF) has had its best ever freshers period. We have seen the thirst for communist ideas which exists amongst students.
Thousands of young students have signed up, looking to fight capitalism – 3,750 people to be precise! And hundreds are already getting active and organised in local Marxist societies on campuses across the country.
The same energy and enthusiasm has been seen around the world, meanwhile, as part of the International Marxist Tendency’s #CommunismOnCampus campaign.
To begin the new academic year, the MSF has put on introductory meetings at 50 different universities, entitled ‘Why We Are Communists’. Over 1,000 people have attended these events, in order to discuss the importance and relevance of Marxist ideas.
In this talk given at one of the FIFTY ‘Why we are communists’ meetings held by @MarxistStudent, Josh Holroyd explains why we need revolutionary class struggle to overthrow capitalism, and why we need Marxist ideas to guide the struggle for communism.
? https://t.co/7ndpA5ls8F pic.twitter.com/l0lE8qysg8
— Socialist Appeal (@socialist_app) October 14, 2022
Many students were already convinced of socialism; in some cases, freshers have been specifically looking for us.
One student in London told us: “Your group seems to be the most serious about revolution.” Another in Edinburgh said that he reads marxist.com (website of the IMT) every morning. In Newcastle, at the start of the first meeting, the speaker asked: “Who here is already a communist?” Everyone in the room put their hand up.
Revolutionary optimism
In Sheffield, York, Sussex, Southampton, Cambridge, Oxford, Leeds, Glasgow, and multiple universities in London, Marxist societies had between 40-50 people attend the intro meetings.
In Leeds, one student said they were ‘blown away’ by our ideas. In Sheffield, one attendee immediately asked the speaker how they could get more involved in building the forces of Marxism.
At Westminster University, the discussion began with everyone explaining why they wanted to attend a meeting about communism. This led to a discussion about the current crisis, and how it had brought them towards more radical ideas.
One student put it simply: “We have such high expectations about what we should achieve, but capitalism is stopping it from happening.”
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In Lancaster, one student told the speaker that they were ecstatic to see the optimism in the room, having been radicalised online, but previously feeling pessimistic.
These meetings show the potential for building the forces of Marxism on UK campuses. This is what gives the Marxists a revolutionary optimism about the future. We can see the rising tide of support for Marxism, communism, and revolution.
Guide to action
Noticeably, students have been very interested in buying up Marxist literature that we have to offer, with around £1,200 of material sold nationally. This indicated the level of seriousness about learning and understanding the ideas of Marxism amongst this new generation of activists.
The SOAS Marxist society, meanwhile, organised a Lenin walking tour, with dozens of comrades from across the city exploring the places where Vladimir Lenin lived, wrote, and organised in London.
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The Marxist societies are not mere discussion clubs, however. We are learning Marxist theory in order to guide our actions and activity.
The Marxist societies should act as the voice of the working class and the labour movement on campus. To this end, we have dedicated time and energy this term to attend protests and support picket lines.
In London, 55 Marxist students intervened at the ‘Enough is Enough’ demonstration on 1 October. In Edinburgh, 16 intervened on the same day, with one comrade giving a speech to a crowd of 200-300 people.
We also attended similar rallies in Canterbury, Portsmouth, Norwich, Falmouth, Glasgow, Ipswich, Leicester, Newcastle, Nottingham, Southampton, Bristol, and Manchester.
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Elsewhere, the Birmingham and Warwick Marxist societies organised a bloc of 25 Marxist students at the demo outside the Tory Party national conference earlier this month.
Similarly, we have been on picket lines for the RMT, CWU, and Unison strikes over the last month. In Ipswich, the comrades spoke at a rally in support of the rail and mail strikes.
Furthermore, the chair of the RMT youth group has attended four Marxist societies in London as a visitor, in order to speak about the ongoing rail strikes.
Join the revolution!
We have spoken to more radicalised young people this year than ever before. But this is only the beginning. We will continue to organise, educate, and build over the course of this academic year.
If you want to help us in building a revolutionary organisation, then get in touch today.
The Marxist Student Federation is the strongest it has ever been. But we must build our forces even further in order to become a factor in the explosive events that are taking place all around us; to provide the leadership – as part of the IMT – that is required to see a successful revolution in Britain and internationally.
This weekend, hundreds of Marxist students are attending our Revolution Festival.
Marx was right. Capitalism must be overthrown. But to change the world, we must first understand it.
So join us at Revolution Festival 2022 – to get armed with the Marxist ideas that we need to win the class war. #RevFest2022 #MarxWasRight
Find out more: https://t.co/j8zzI9wclh pic.twitter.com/DBcMBCSVoq
— Socialist Appeal (@socialist_app) September 2, 2022
This year’s event – taking place from 21-23 October at the Friends House in London – will provide an incredible opportunity to meet Marxists from across Britain and Europe, and to participate in vital discussions on theory, history, and the most pressing issues facing socialist activists today. Grab your ticket now!
There’s never been a better time to be a Marxist. So get involved today: Join your local Marxist society! Join the IMT! Join the revolution!
