The idea of Communist Students first saw the light of day at an informal gathering of students members and sympathisers of the Communist Party of Great Britain, plus other comrades, back in August.

Since then, we have signed up hundreds of people at freshers fairs round the country, got this first broadsheet out, held public meetings on a number of campuses and launched a website. All pretty modest, but not a bad start for an organisation that is starting from scratch.

Now we have this initial work under our belt, we need to get the organisation on a firmer political footing.

We are planning a launch conference of the national organisation at Sheffield University on Saturday December 9. This will be open to all members of Communist Students as well as observers. At the conference we will debate:

• our political platform and what our priority campaigns should be
• how to develop our Communist Student broadsheet
• what sort of constitution we need and what our relationship to the rest of the student left should be

We will also elect a national coordinating body and finish the day with a social event. All members of Communist Students are urged to attend. Invited observers who are not members are also welcome to take part in the debates, but, of course, without voting rights. We will do our best to arrange free accommodation in Sheffield for those that need it. If you are interested in coming along, please email info@communiststudents.org.uk

(A CommStu supporter in Leeds has kick-started the debate by submitting a number of amendments to the draft founding statement – read them on our website).