The results are in, and Ted North reports on Communist Student’s election campaign in Sheffield.

Communist Students stood two candidates in last week’s elections to the Sheffield Student Union executive; Laurie Smith for President and Ted North for Education Officer, both of whom also ran for delegation to NUS conference. Voting was by STV where candidates are ranked in order of preference. In the officer elections, both CS candidates received around 140 first votes. This is 5.2%, not bad considering the general nature of our period and the depoliticised atmosphere of our campuses. The winners -indeed all the candidates- were, as far as we could judge, apolitical, and very, very dull. The fact that only 2,700 students out of nearly 25,000 voted shows the lack of politicisation in British universities- Sheffield University has one of the highest turnouts in Britain!

Good news is that Laurie Smith was elected as a delegate to NUS conference. But the primary purpose of our campaign was to spread the ideas of revolutionary politics. Not water them down to try and get elected, the modus operandi of much of the ‘marxist’ left; to us, principles come first, not how many bureaucrats we can get into the NUS machine. Communist Students were on campus every day of the campaign, despite our reduced numbers in Sheffield this year. Unfortunately it seemed that students this year were less radical, or even political, than last year. Partly this relates to demographics. The limited radicalization around the anti-war movement has passed somewhat, ‘generation Iraq’ having now largely left university. And of course student politics is influenced by wider society, which has undergone continued alienation from the Labour Party and the unglamorous split of the popular-front Respect project. The divided, sectarian, and ideologically barren nature of most of the left is, unsurprisingly, rather unattractive to most students. Thus whilst a large number of leaflets were distributed, it was hard to engage people in discussion or debate on Marxist politics. But a lot of people said they admired our standing on principles. It’s not just revolutionaries who get pissed off with the annual personality contest that the union elections have become; the people dressed in stupid costumes, the irritating and meaningless chants. By the end, the annoyance of having to take yet another leaflet was clear in peoples eyes. In the Union’s Steel Press (think a hybrid of the Sun and the Times, with a student slant) a Daniel O’Brien attacks the Union leadership as doing “nothing but mask real issues under campaign promises” (22nd Feb, 2008, p. 8). More pertinently he comments “Whatever one’s opinion of the Communist Society (sic), their approach to last year’s elections – in a which a communist representative ran for every post – highlighted the fact that we don’t ordinarily expect our candidates to actually stand for very much at all.”

This hits the nail on the head. In the short term this frustration with politics has led to declining turnout. Whilst most students do not hold radical or revolutionary ideas at the present time, there is a growing annoyance at the depoliticisation of the elections and the rampant bureaucracy. A united left challenge (on Marxist politics, not lowest common denominator clap-trap) is not only possible, but necessary. There is a niche for communists to fill, that of extreme democrats. Communists must seek to win the trust of the majority of students and society by standing as the most consistent democrats, internationalists, and socialists. Interestingly, at least 6 of the 15 Sheffield NUS delegates are left-wing to some degree, ranging from Student Broad Left (Socialist Action in a student coat), through Education Not For Sale (close to the AWL), and Respect. That the left has had some success shows there is a wider progressive current among students. But the majority of left-wing activists are wedded to reformism and the bureaucracy; the irony is that even in their electoral victories they enjoy little success in instigating change. Communist Students face an uphill battle in persuading the existing left that the road to radical social change must be premised on democratic left unity and leading a mass, radical student moment. Last week’s article discussing Communist Students’ attempt to instigate a left slate for the elections reveals these difficulties.

This year there were a number of proposals put to referendum. Most controversial was the Union Council’s proposal to abolish the Women’s and Sports Officers and introduce an ‘Equalities Officer’. Neither this, nor the half-hearted ‘alternative’ around Bryony Shanks (current Women’s Officer and SBL member), received the required 2/3 majority. Option 3, to keep the current arrangement, did not win either but was passed by default. Labour Students, who had been advocating this plain ‘No’ vote, could be seen quaffing the bubbly on results night; champagne socialism in full effect comrades! Whilst Communist Students supported the defeat of the bureaucracy on this question, this was only as a tactical defence. A variety of measures to radically increase the democracy and accountability of the Student Union structure must be instigated. The other controversial referendum concerned education funding. In place of Sheffield Union’s commitment to free education, the proposal of the Union Council was passed, which states that “the Union should recognise that there should be a financial contribution from students”. Don’t worry though: the Union calls for a review of funding, with bigger student loans and ‘low interest rates’. Frankly, it is all rather pathetic. A few vaguely progressive sounding phrases give a peeling cover to the reactionary climbdown this position really is.

Worryingly, the poor transparency and dodgy dealings that characterised last year’s election seems worse than ever this year. The union bureaucracy was out in force to try and force through their referendum proposal. Comrades opposing them were disgracefully branded as liars and homophobes. ‘Highlights’ included the bureaucracy censoring these opponents, demanding they remove fair and subjective arguments from their propaganda and emailing all students accusing them of misinformation. And initial hopes that the proposal to scrap free education might be disqualified for being 59 words over the limit were scuppered when the figure in the Union’s constitution doubled overnight!

So, where now? In the short term Sheffield Communist Students will be standing in the next phase of the elections, more on this soon. Communists need to win the leadership of the struggle of the working class, including its student component. The growing depoliticisation and alienation from the bureaucratic mis-leaders of our Unions must be positively overcome. The only force capable of fighting for and winning major democratic and socialist advances is a united, democratic, and vibrant revolutionary left. Whilst the left sects fight amongst themselves and water down their politics in a desperate attempt to attract votes, the right wing continues to tighten the screws. The struggle continues.

Ted North