Strike action by UCU members is continuing this week and next, with university workers determined to fight for victory. Marxist students are organising solidarity campaigns to support their staff – and to fight the marketisation of education.
The latest round of UCU strikes is well underway, with three waves of action taking place across 10 days in February and March.
Marxist students up-and-down the country have been out on the pickets, offering solidarity and support to university staff.
In many places, Marxist societies are leading student-staff solidarity campaigns, and are placing demands on official student representatives to take a fighting stance.
Below is a selection of reports from the picket lines for the first week of strike action, which took place between 14-18 February over the issue of pensions.
Further action is taking place today and tomorrow (over pensions and the ‘Four Fights’, covering pay, workloads, casualisation, and inequality); and next week from 28 February to 2 March (over the Four Fights).
End the marketisation of education! Students and workers, unite and fight!
Click here to read the latest bulletin from the UCU Marxists.
Imperial College
Imperial College Marxist society enthusiastically intervened on the first day of the UCU strikes, at the South Kensington campus.
The mood amongst the strikers was optimistic and militant. We spread ourselves across two picket lines, helping with leafleting and other organisational tasks.
Even those who had not been attending Marxist society events before came out to the pickets with the Marxist student activists.
Thanks to our successful student referendum campaign back in December, the student union officially supports the UCU strike, and has made their facilities available to the strikers.
As both a Marxist society and UCU member myself, I had conversations with the other UCU members about their experiences at Imperial College.
Other UCU members were interested in talking not only about the strike, but about politics and philosophy in general. Workers on the picket line understand that this struggle is not separate from the general economic crisis we are seeing today.
A lunchtime ‘teach-out’ was organised by the UCU on the topic of ‘who runs our universities?’ Contributions in the discussion showed the desire for student and worker democracy in education.
An assembly was also organised before the picket wrapped up. We are preparing to speak on the platform over the next week, drawing out the links between this struggle and the wider crisis of capitalism.
View this post on Instagram
Leeds University
Leeds Marxist society has been busy during the latest wave of strike action. We’ve been on the picket lines supporting lecturers, and have been trying to build up momentum in advance of the 2 March student walkout.
As part of this walkout, we have organised a demonstration to show university management that students are against them. The plan is to march through the city centre and show our anger over the marketisation of education.
Striking lecturers are excited by this idea, and are looking forward to tying together the issues facing staff and students. UCU and Unison members on campus have agreed to speak at a meeting in advance of the demo, to help build for this walkout.
We hope that this will show the unity of students and workers, building solidarity for future battles, with both unions joining the protest. This will provide a powerful show of strength to university management.
View this post on Instagram
King’s College London
KCL Marxist society has been on the UCU pickets every day. We believe that it is important to show our lecturers that they have solidarity from students, and to bring our political ideas to these strikes.
We have been involved in teach-outs, discussing revolutionary ideas. Lecturers on the pickets have been excited to talk about politics in a broad sense.
The student union at KCL has failed to effectively support the strikes. The Marxist society has been challenging this passive stance, campaigning for the student union to fight for radical demands, in order to serve the needs of students and staff.
The UCU strikes are therefore just one battle in a wider struggle: against marketisation and profit, and for free and fully-funded education for all.
View this post on Instagram
London School of Economics
LSE Marxist society has been out on the picket lines supporting UCU members. The Marxist society spent the build up to the strike pushing the student union (LSESU) to actively support the striking workers. This resulted in us having a gazebo and hot drinks provided by the SU.
This all went a long way to help build morale on the picket line, showing the lecturers that they are supported.
We spent time on the pickets discussing the two battles (the pensions dispute and the Four Fights).
Lecturers were keen to discuss the political importance of these battles; and many were drawing out the wider lessons that all of this is connected to the marketisation of education and the drive by the capitalists to open up universities for profit.
Management has been on hand to try and remove the militancy of this strike. They know that their Achilles’ heel is the unity of workers and students.
In order to engage students, therefore, we have raised the student walkout on 2 March, and have used this to connect the student struggle to the UCU strike.
Many students were excited to hear that there was something more they could do, and we will continue to build on this mood as a Marxist society.
An angry mood exists on campus. But management has done its best to shut down any solidarity. The Marxist society is taking it upon ourselves to build this solidarity.
We will be back on the pickets throughout the strike, continuing to argue the need for solidarity between students and workers.
As one UCU placard correctly stated: Our working conditions are students’ learning conditions.
View this post on Instagram
