This article is a more in-depth analysis of the victory for workers and students unity at the Cambridge Student Union Council this week. As in the previous article, we reproduce the motions passed at the bottom of this article, and we would encourage all our readers to move similar motions up and down the country. Of course, the task will now be to ensure, through hard campaigning work, that these motions are implemented to the maximum effect.

The strike action called for 30^th November 2011 is likely to be the largest in this County since the General Strike of 1926. It will be, to all intents and purposes, a public sector general strike. Nominally the strike is over pensions. The reality is that working people in the public sector are becoming conscious of the full implications of this co-ordinated assault on jobs, services and standards of living which has been put forward by the Coalition Government as “the only solution” to this crisis of Capitalism.

By going on strike, ordinary working people will prove that punishing the working class for a crisis they did not create is not the only solution, in reality it’s not a solution at all. An economy free from the anarchic of the market and the insatiable appetite for higher and quicker profits; one which can be democratically planned by the majority, for the majority; in short a socialist economic structure presents the only real alternative for those suffering under this capitalist austerity.

But working people are not alone in being made to pay for a problem they did not cause. In their struggle against the vicious attacks by the Government upon the public sector, they find natural allies in the form of students. Having found £850 billion to bail out some of the world’s richest financiers (which still continue to pay out billions in bonuses), the Coalition announced that it could no longer afford the £30 per week for young people who wished to stay in education but who otherwise would not be able to do so. Furthermore the Coalition’s blundering disregard for the social value of education has led to a 300% increase in university tuition fees just to try to fill the gap created by the Government cuts.

The working class have had no difficulty identifying the students as comrades in their struggle for a socialist transformation of society. From the very first national student demonstration on the 10^th November 2010 and throughout the subsequent movement the Trade Unions have stood shoulder to shoulder with the students, adopting the youth cause as their own. Working people can see that the only way to protect those people and services we prize most highly is to co-ordinate resistance to this programme of conflict with ordinary people.

Now it is the Trade Unions who are taking action and it is time for the students to stand in solidarity with them. To this end a group of comrades who are students at the University of Cambridge submitted motions to the Cambridge University Students’ Union (CUSU) calling for continued CUSU support for the student struggle by supporting the national demonstration on the 9^th November 2011 and also calling for CUSU support for working people taking industrial action on the 30^th November 2011 by staging a mass walkout from the University on the 30^th.

The 9^th November 2011 motion passed with minimal fuss thus committing CUSU to booking and subsidising coaches to London for university and school students on the day of the demonstration; co-ordinating with UCU and NUT about transport and action on the day; publicising the demonstration to school and university students and reaffirming CUSU’s commitment to free education.

The ease with which this motion passed should be contrasted with the passing of a similar CUSU motion in relation to the 10^Th November 2010 demonstration at about the same time last year. During the debate on that motion the right-wing voices within CUSU Council were much stronger and the motion passed with a modest majority. This year there were no speeches opposing the motion and it passed with a majority not far off unanimity. The hammer blow of events which have taken place over the last year have forced even those most bureaucratised and right-wing leaderships to realise that they cannot hold back the left-ward movement of the wheel of history and must either move with it or be crushed under it.

The 30^th November motion encountered more difficulty. The CUSU sabbatical officers unfortunately adopted a reformist attitude to the strike action and originally indicated that they wished to propose an amendment to the motion which would remove the call for a mass walkout. Fortunately for our comrades, we had the opportunity of lobbying those sabbatical officers before the meeting of CUSU Council and we pointed out that it was essentially meaningless to talk about support for working people unless that manifested itself in some concrete form such as a mass walkout. Claiming to support a movement but then failing to act in support of it is not only useless but downright dishonest.

The sabbatical officers were attempting to second-guess the mood of CUSU Council by watering down the motion to appease what they guessed was the right-wing majority on CUSU Council. We pointed out that behaviour such as this guarantees that CUSU will be at the back of the movement whereas what any students’ union should be striving for is to be leading the student struggle. There is a crisis of leadership throughout the working class and student organisations at the moment. In lobbying our sabbatical officers the Cambridge Comrades hoped to inject some resolve and confidence into our leadership in order that they might set an example to the student movement up and down the country.

Our lobbying had, to a large extent, the desired effect. Although the sabbatical officers’ amendment removed a substantial portion of the contextual material linking the strike action to the wider economic, social and political situation, it did not remove the call for a mass walkout of students from the University on the 30^th. Given that this key demand still remained we decided to argue in favour of this amendment alongside our sabbatical officers.

The result was that the motion was passed by CUSU Council thus demonstrating that attempting to second-guess the mood the Council would have been a fatal mistake on the part of the sabbatical officers. The motion has committed CUSU to calling a mass walkout of students on the 30^th in support of those working people going on strike and to sending delegates to the Cambridgeshire Trades Council in order to co-ordinate actions for the 30^th. The news that we passed this motion through CUSU Council made it onto the front page of one of the Cambridge student newspapers.

While it would have been ideal if the motion as it was originally proposed had not been amended, we can still be extremely pleased with this substantial step forward for what was, not that long ago, considered by most students to be an apathetic and reactionary institution. In passing the motions we have been able to raise important transitionary demands and CUSU has provided much needed leadership to the student movement. It has committed itself to concrete support and action in support of working people. Such action will inevitably raise the consciousness of students throughout the University.

We are hoping to build upon this success between now and the 30^th November in order that the strike action in Cambridge will be the largest display of worker/student unity witnessed in Cambridge in this struggle against a capitalist Government’s regressive policies. However, Cambridge does not exist in a vacuum and the success of our movement here is hugely dependent on the success of comrades operating elsewhere throughout the country and internationally. All comrades should consider putting similar pressure on students’ unions up and down the country to join working people on strike on the 30^th November. Only in this way, through real and tangible action and support, can we give concrete meaning to the slogan “Workers and Students: Unite and Fight!”

The Motions

Support the November 9^th Demonstration

CUSU notes:

1. The NUS demonstration against cuts to higher education and increased university fees, held in London on 10^th November 2010 and attended by 50,000 university and school students.

1. The success of that demonstration as a catalyst for the student movement against cuts to public spending and higher fees throughout the country.

1. The publication of a White Paper in June 2011 which fails to modify the original proposals for higher education in spite of the overwhelming opposition already displayed.

1. The demonstration called for the 9^th November and fully supported by the NUS against cuts to higher education and increased university fees.

1. These White Paper proposals come at a time of massive cuts to all public spending causing real hardship to students and working people.

1. Current CUSU policy condemning increased university fees and cuts to higher education and to the public sector in general and in support of free university education.

CUSU believes:

1. Students at the University of Cambridge are still as opposed to increased fees and cuts to higher education and the public sector as they ever were for all the reasons outlined in current CUSU policy.

1. The only way to resist the White Paper proposals is to resist all cuts to public spending.

1. As many people as possible should attend the demonstration on the 9^th November 2011.

1. That education should be free for everyone.

CUSU resolves:

1. To support and advertise the demonstration on the 9^th November 2011 to University and school students.

1. To book coaches and use £500 of the Council Free Budget to subsidise those coaches to carry university and school students to and from London on the 9^thNovember 2011.

1. To campaign alongside and co-ordinate with the University and College Union (UCU) and the National Union of Teachers (NUT) against the White Paper proposals and in favour of no fees and no cuts.

Proposed by: Ben Gliniecki (Selwyn)

Seconded by: Glen Pearse (Selwyn)

Support the 30^th November Strike Action (Original version)

CUSU notes:

1. The financial crisis which began in 2008 took £850 billion of public money to bail out banks which continue to pay out billions in bonuses.

1. This is an international crisis of capitalism which has shown no signs of subsiding and the overall cost of this crisis to the UK taxpayer is still not known.

1. Immediately following the bailout the UK Government embarked upon a programme of massive public spending cuts which have increased unemployment, increased inflation and decreased pensions.

1. In response to this Government programme 750,000 working people, including teachers and lecturers, went on strike on 30^th June 2011.

1. The success of co-ordinated strike action in raising awareness among working people that they have as much right to be listened to as those in the financial industry, and in raising awareness among the general public about the way the Government is treating working people.

1. The failure of the government to acknowledge the concerns of working people, resulting in a second wave of co-ordinated strike action culminating in a mass strike planned for the 30^th November 2011 currently backed by the Trade Union Council with at least thirteen unions taking part which have a combined membership of around 3 million people.

1. Wednesday 30^th November 2011 is the last day of lectures in the Michaelmas term.

1. Current CUSU policy opposing cuts to public spending, particularly but not exclusively, in the field of education.

CUSU believes:

1. The policy of giving huge amounts of public money to financial institutions and then cutting back on public spending on health, transport and education services is deeply unfair and profoundly regressive.

1. Every Cambridge student makes use of a wide variety of public services which will be affected by current Government policy.

1. The cuts to public spending are part of a coherent and joined-up attack on UK public services and as such, can only be challenged by a coherent and joined-up response from all those affected by the cuts.

1. The strike action which took place on 30^th June 2011 should be praised, and the strike action planned for 30^th November 20011 should be supported by students.

CUSU resolves:

1. To publicly support all working people taking strike action on 30^th November 2011.

1. To publicly encourage all students not to cross picket lines.

1. To organise a mass walkout of students from the University on the 30^th November 2011 to join with the Cambridge Trades Council rally.

1. To send delegates to Cambridgeshire Trades Council to co-ordinate events for November 30^th with Unison and other unions.

Proposed by: Ben Gliniecki (Selwyn)

Seconded by: Mattin Biglari (Selwyn)

Support the 30^th November Strike Action (as amended by sabbatical officers)

CUSU notes:

1. Wednesday 30^th November 2011 is the last day of lectures in the Michaelmas term.

1. Current CUSU policy opposing cuts to public spending, particularly but not exclusively, in the field of education.

CUSU believes:

1. The policy of cutting back on public spending on health, transport and education services is deeply unfair and profoundly regressive.

1. Every Cambridge student makes use of a wide variety of public services which will be affected by current Government policy.

1. The strike action which took place on 30^th June 2011 should be praised, and the strike action planned for 30^th November 20011 should be supported by students.

CUSU resolves:

1. To encourage all students to support their lecturers in a variety of ways, including joining the Cambridgeshire Trades Council rally on November 30^th.

1. To organise a mass walkout of students from the University on the 30^th November 2011 to join with the Cambridge Trades Council rally.

1. To send delegates to Cambridgeshire Trades Council to co-ordinate events for November 30^th with Unison and other unions.

Proposed by: Ben Gliniecki (Selwyn)

Seconded by: Mattin Biglari (Selwyn)