By Callum Williamson.

Students at Peter Symonds College in Winchester had been preparing for weeks to take part in the national wave of action against hikes in tuition fees, the scrapping of EMA (a particularly unpopular move amongst college students) and cuts to education in general. For two weeks beforehand there were meetings of 50 students, most of whom were completely new to activism or had been introduced to it via the massive demonstration in London on the 10th. These meetings included discussions on the situation on young people and students today, our thoughts on necessary action and how to fight the cuts, not just to education but to every job and every service. We expected around 200-300 to take part from the attendance figures on the Facebook event. On the day, the students would far exceed our expectations.

At 10:30, 30-40 students braved the cold and gathered with placards on the hill by the front gate while a few students, including myself, had interviews with the media which we had managed to contact the day before. By 10:50 the students numbered at least 500. We proceeded to march down into the centre of Winchester chanting ‘When they say cut back, we say fight back’, getting mostly applause from bystanders and honks of approval from passing traffic. We marched past the Liberal Democrat office, stopping briefly and chanting while some students requested entry at the door to discuss the utter betrayal of students by their party (though it was a betrayal that was to be expected).

The march then passed down into the high street and into a small park near King Alfred’s statue. Here we were met again with the media and Nick Chaffey from the Socialist Party and the National Shop Stewards Network and I made speeches regarding unity with workers struggles and the market driven nature of these cuts which could and should be defeated. We were both well received by students who are looking for the ideas with which to fight this government which is so overtly attacking the working class.

By this time the sheer energy of those present was palpable. The chanting became louder and more frequent as we moved to occupy the area around the statue and the roundabout while we waited for students from Barton Peveril College in Eastleigh, who defied their principal in making their way to Winchester. After an encounter with the police who were concerned with the movement of traffic in the area we moved to the steps of the Guildhall where we met the 200 students from Eastleigh and then with renewed vigour we marched to the council offices through the high street.

Here there was some confusion. This was originally to be the end of the demonstration but the late arrival of the students from Eastleigh meant that the students were far from ready to leave it at this. There were conflicting calls, some to march to the Conservative club, some argued we should wait and meet the Winchester University students on their silent demo and others to return to the college and demonstrate (possibly occupying a building). In the end we did the latter in an attempt to collect more students and to prevent any potentially embarrassing scenes outside the Conservative club, which some equated to the Conservative’s office. We rejected whole-heartedly the idea of a silent demonstration, though in hindsight we could have tried to win some of their students over.

By the time we reached Peter Symonds, it had become clear that the march had largely lost direction. Again we gathered on the hill and now people were calling for the Ashurst library building to be occupied. I felt that since this was full of students doing independent study that this perhaps would not be the best target but it was briefly overrun and a fire alarm set off, leading the creation of a Facebook group: ‘ I’m working in Ashurst LOL jk It’s just been stormed by protestors’ later that day.

A few of us managed to draw people away from Ashurst and towards the John Shields building where we went on to have a rally and hung a ‘NO CUTS’ banner over the side of the stairs (which can be seen in the picture bellow).

It was at this time that there were calls for John Shields to be occupied, I was amongst these calls. It was however a mistake, given the lack of organisation, any sort of plan for once we were inside and since the numbers had dwindled to somewhere between 100-200. What occurred could not really be called an occupation but was rather students milling about in corridors, getting bored and gradually leaving. By about one pm it was all over. Lack of planning and proper thought had lead to political mistakes and despite the fact we were well received in the media, I was concerned on Wednesday evening about how students and staff received the march. The answer came in the two following days.

On Thursday students who took part in the action reported messages of solidarity from students who couldn’t have attended and some who had not considered doing so. Importantly there were messages of sympathy from staff members who must be won over during the course of this campaign. At lunchtime the Student Parliament voted almost unanimously in support of a second day of action. There were about 3 dissenters, one of whom was a self described ‘tory’ who exclaimed ‘there is no money left!’. This was met with booing, cringing and a bit of laughter. This was a reminder however, of the up-hill struggle we face in fighting cuts. If we cannot defeat the ideology of capitalism and recognise the necessity of fighting for an alternative vision of society, our struggles will be isolated and picked off.

On Friday lunchtime students called another meeting, about 20-30 were in attendance. We elected a group of students to meet every couple of days to organise propaganda and to actively draft statements (though all are encouraged to do so) for approval in general meetings. The meeting resolved that there is to be another walkout on Tuesday 30th with a demonstration in Winchester. All present wanted to build this to be even bigger than the last walkout and as of 20:35 on Sunday 28th, 231 students have said they are definitely attending. The most positive moment of the meeting came when we began to discuss real politics, specifically the issue of unity with workers. Students began to seriously talk about uniting not just with their teachers, but with tube workers and fire fighters, the unemployed and everyone that will be made to suffer from the attacks we are seeing.

The tasks of Communists during this time of struggle are clear. Firstly, we must engage in the class struggle wherever it takes place and emphasise the need to unite different struggles wherever they may be. Communists must expose capitalism as the root cause of the crisis we are experiencing and the cuts we are faced with. The working class (of which students are a section) is being made to pay for the crisis through longer hours, lower wages, lower benefits, under-funded services and unemployment. These attacks are in defence of profit, and these attacks are taking place globally. We must stress the need for our fight to take on an international character. The struggles in Europe that have been in the bourgeois media in recent weeks are akin to our own and united, with the right strategy, we can win. Most crucially Communists must go beyond a critique of the way things are and argue for our alternative. This means discussing how we want to transform the economy, education and society itself.