We would like to welcome students to our website,  particularly to those who have just begun their time at university and may have come across the publication for the first time at Freshers’ Fayres up and down the country. We find ourselves at a time when – despite the obvious instability of the world, growing social inequality, almost permanent war and suffering across the world – for the moment, at least, politics is shifting to the right and the left has been incapable of tapping into the discontent that exists in society. You will probably come across several different publications talking about the crisis of capitalist society and urging you to “Join the socialists!” But what about the crisis of the left? What about our failure to present any sort of united, revolutionary response to contemporary capitalism? Such questions will not be solved by simply joining this or that group and engaging in unthinking ‘activism’ and campaigning.

There are no simple answers to the marginalisation of the far left today. Obviously leftist ideas still live in the shadow of the monstrosity of Stalinism, which – as many of you will experience in your university lectures – is often glibly conflated with ‘Marxism’.

We do not claim to have all the answers. But we are convinced that the politics of revolutionary Marxism has practical and workable solutions to the problems of our world today in a way that other political perspectives – whether pro-capitalist or anti-capitalist (anarchism, syndicalism etc) cannot.

By way of an introduction to our politics, then, we have attempted to foreground some of our ideas that get across our fundamental world view: a critique of ‘ethical capitalism’, an analysis of the recent Israeli bombardment of Gaza in the context of an American-led world order in decline, an outline of the fundamentals of communism, an overview of student politics and dynamics and some of the challenges the radical left facesin coming to terms with its own history. For those who wish to read more of our material, we recommend that you browse our website.

We hope you find things you agree with in our magazine. We also hope you find plenty you don’t. We want to establish a dialogue with students who are thinking critically about the world around them and who are developing their views about the world and how to change it. We would appreciate any feedback on the journal: no topic or subject should be considered taboo! If you would like to get involved in our activities, attend our seminars/reading groups on campus and so on then please do not hesitate to get in touch.

Click the link below for our latest publication:

Communist Student Issue 12 (PDF)

Get in touch with Communist Students at:

info@communiststudents.org.uk

07717 433 432