Youth

The Black Bull pub on Whitechapel High Street was always a pretty down at heel boozer, standing out as noticeably grubby even in the days when most pubs in that area fairly merited that description. Unsurprisingly, it was turned into an Indian restaurant several years ago, and that’s no great loss to East End drinkers. But right up until the 1980s, every Thursday night would see a bunch of old boys who had been comrades in the local branch of the Communist Party in its pre-war heyday put back a few beers and chat about the past. The Smart Alec student Trots in the neighbourhood — among whom I...

Young Labour Conference took place in Glasgow on the weekend 12-13 February. This article is longer than the version that appears in the printed paper. By any reasonable standard of labour-movement democracy, the event was appalling, locked-down by the leadership and skewed to favour the right wing within the Party. Despite this, and despite the fact that the left lost most of the elections at Conference, there were some small developments at this conference which should give leftwing Party activists reasons to be cheerful. Young Labour as an organisation is not trusted by the Labour Party...

The student movement, with hundreds of thousands of school students walking out of classes to demonstrate against cuts, has thrown whole new layers of school and college student activists into activity. Suddenly, thousands of students are examining their political ideas and looking for ways of becoming politically active. Through the prominent role that many Workers’ Liberty activists have played in the student movement and the National Campaign Against Fees and Cuts, as well as in local trade union anti-cuts groups, we have been coming into regular contact with many of these new student...

In 1987 Labour's youth movements are set for re-organisation under proposals from Tom Sawyer, chair of the Labour Party NEC's Youth sub-committee. The proposals would abolish LPYS (Labour Party Young Socialists, a predecessor of 'Young Labour') representation on the NEC - instead it would be elected by a new structure, involving the Labour Party student organisation and trade union youth sections as well as the existing LPYS. Click here to download pdf .

Reading the lyrics of the rock band, Rage against the Machine, was probably my first real exposure to radical ideas. My 13 year old self would doubtless have viewed the victory of the band’s ‘Killing in the Name’ in a chart race for Christmas number one against manufactured karaoke drivel like the X Factor as a triumphant prelude to the imminent revolutionary destruction of capitalism. Assuming there still are some 13 year olds somewhere in Britain who feel the same today, I am happy for them. I don’t, however, feel the same sense of euphoria that it seems many friends of my generation do. The...

The Confederation of British Industry, the principal organisation of bosses in the UK, has added its voice to a growing clamour for the “cap” on top-up higher education fees to be raised, saying students should view higher fees as “inevitable”. The CBI is also calling for the government to scrap its target of getting 50% of young people into higher education. Wendy Piatt, the head of the Russell Group of the country’s most “prestigious” universities (which will be first in line to raise fees) welcomed the CBI’s “call for an exploration of new sources of funding.” With top-up fees for students...

An interview with Suzanne Dufour, who from 2002–9 was a member and latterly a leader of Jeunesses Communiste Révolutionnaire (JCR), the youth organisation of the LCR. She joined the JCR after Jean-Marie Le Pen came second in the first round of the 2002 presidential elections, beating the Socialist Party candidate into third place. The JCR was an autonomous organisation of the LCR – will there be an autonomous youth section in the New Anti-capitalist Party (NPA)? No, there was no agreement on that, but there will be youth sections and youth committees, locally and nationally. Having independent...

Sheffield was to be the second city in England to host a Hooters franchise — the American restaurant chain where young “cheer leader/surfer girl-next-door” waitresses, wearing a uniform of “white Hooters tank top, orange shorts, suntan hose, white socks, solid white shoes, brown Hooters pouch, name-tag and of course...a smile!” are the main employee (http://hooters.com). Now the franchise contract has been discarded under pressure from a campaign. The AWL were not a part of the campaign. But I’m not sure about our reasoning. It was suggested the main anti-campaign — mounted by the Sheffield...