UAL Marxists: Education Cuts - the socialist alternative

The situation at the University of Arts London is part of the bigger picture of course cuts, redundancies and deficits across the whole of the public sector in Britain. Why should students and staff pay for the economic crisis with their jobs and education?

UAL Marxists have organised a meeting for Tuesday 24th (6pm at the student hub, 65 Davies Street) to discuss the course cuts and redundancies that are taking place in UAL. A serious situation is emerging, which ultimately could affect all the students and staff at the university. Your education, your job, the quality of your work, all are under threat.

The meeting title is "Education Cuts: the Socialist Alternative"; there will be speakers from Unison and from the local Labour Party (both in private capacity), and the discussion will be around the slogan "No Cuts, No Fees, Commercial interests out of Education". Please come and put your point of view and help us to discuss the way forward.

Below are PDF files advertising the meeting. Please print these and distribute them to your friends and colleagues.

Management at LCC appear to have blundered in their handling of the recent course cuts and redundancies and provoked a dispute which they probably did not expect. In the face of opposition they may retreat, offer to negotiate, follow agreed procedures etc. But - this will not stop the cuts, only delay them.

Carrington is saying he needs savings across the University as a whole of £7m in 2009-10, more than 5 times the shortfall that led to 38 redundancies and 16 course closures at LCC. This suggests at least 200 further redundancies across the University as a whole, and if course cuts are in the same ratio, perhaps 80 further course closures. This will devastate the University's ability to provide genuine and quality education.

A recent Guardian article (29th September) said that at recent education conferences and meetings there has been talk of 15% cuts, possibly 25% in some areas. This is consciously being hidden from staff and students - "but is it helpful to parade it?" was the quote from David Eastwood, vice-chancellor at the University of Birmingham.

Rather than being picked off college by college and University by University, our unions - UCU, Unison, GMB, the NUS - must organise joint nationwide opposition to all education cuts. To those who say the membership are not interested - we will see. When people's jobs and education are on the line their views may change! But first the union leaderships must show - leadership. They have the resources to organise a serious national campaign, on every campus and in every college in the country. Nationwide action will be needed - a national joint strike by staff and students under the slogan of no cuts, no fees, commercial interests out of education.

We repeat our view. This is a crisis of capitalism - a classic capitalist crisis of overproduction as described by Marx more than a 100 years ago. The crisis has been worsened by an over-extension of credit over the last period. This gave capitalism a temporary breathing space after the crises of the 70's and early '80's, at the cost of eventually a deeper and more severe crisis. Now a long and deep recession, even a depression comparable to the 1930's, is possible - the classic cyclical behaviour of capitalism which Marx described.

The Labour government has nationalised the banks but has fallen over itself to say it will not interfere with their running. Given the vast sums of public money that have been given to the banks this is nonsense. Noise about limiting salaries and bonuses is merely window dressing - and will be used to attack the wages of ordinary bank employees at some stage, whilst the fat cats will still get the cream.

Use the nationalised banks to direct spending and investment to where it is needed in the economy. Take back into public ownership the privatised industries, the railways, the utilities, which are being wrecked and bled dry by their private owners. Nationalise the major companies, the top 200 giant concerns that dominate economic and political life. Use their resources to plan and develop the economy. This is the answer to the present cycle of decline and decay, which is all that the senile and corrupt system of capitalism can offer.