31.03.2004

Students Labour loses NUS presidency

Kat Fletcher, who left the Alliance for Workers' Liberty a year ago, defeated her Labour rival by a margin of two votes to become the new NUS president. James Bull and Tina Becker report

Hundreds of students protesting against variable top-up fees: this was exactly what the government tried to avoid when it arranged the third reading of its Higher Education Bill for March 31 - the middle of the annual conference of the National Union of Students. The students simply closed their conference early and shipped the whole gathering - roughly 1,000 - from Blackpool to London. But, as was to be expected, with a mixture of bullying and persuasion the majority of Labour Party MPs supported the government and voted for the introduction of variable top-up fees.

The rebel amendments to the bill fell far short of demanding what is necessary: free education for all, with a full maintenance grant at the level of the minimum wage. The main amendment came from backbencher Ian Gibson, MP for Norwich North. He wanted to scrap the top-up element of the government’s proposal, while keeping the rest of their bill. This would have allowed universities to carry on charging the current flat rate of £1,125, while keeping on board the government’s re-introduction of maintenance grants and the deferment of payment of fees until after graduation.

No wonder the government threatened to withdraw its whole bill, grants and all, if Gibson’s amendment had won. The arm-twisting worked and the amendment lost by 316 votes to 288. Which meant that the number of Labour rebels fell to 55, as compared to the second reading in January, when there were 73. Well, we are that little bit nearer the general election now, aren’t we? And lost government votes in the Commons usually translate into opposition votes in the ballot box, which in turn means the end of several promising parliamentary careers.

Blair may have won in Westminster, but in Blackpool the Labour Party took a real bashing, when Kat Fletcher defeated her Labour rival by a margin of two votes to become the new NUS president. Kat, who left the Alliance for Workers’ Liberty a year ago, still describes herself as a revolutionary Marxist. But even comrades in the AWL concede that she has moved somewhat to the right and now imagines that a parliamentary road to socialism could be a viable option. Nevertheless, she stood on a clear left anti-Blair ticket as a candidate for the Campaign for Free Education.

This left bloc within the NUS is supported by a wide range of socialists, including members of the AWL and CPGB, left Labour students and a large number of independents. Even the deeply reformist Student Broad Left has affiliated to the CFE. Those elected to the 12-strong executive included Socialist Action members Louise Hutchins and Peter Leary. Surprisingly, the Socialist Party did not put any candidates forward.

The CFE block has been arguing that the NUS should become a more political force that organises outright political campaigns and actions. It has also been fighting for closer links with the rank and file trade union movement and a move away from the Labour Party. Of course, its main target has been the fight for totally free education.

In previous years, the Socialist Workers Party had also been supporting the CFE. However, in an example of pure sectarianism, the SWP this year stood a candidate against Kat Fletcher. Tom Whitaker got 96 votes as against Kat’s 402. Their official reason for standing a separate candidate was that Kat had a “different view on Israel/Palestine”, as the comrades pointed out at various hustings meetings, without specifying what exactly that difference was and why it was so central. Kat’s position on Israel/Palestine has certainly not played any particular role in her activity as a student leader. It might well be close to the AWL’s position, though she certainly has not been overheard abusing other socialists as anti-semitic, as several of her former comrades have done.

Whatever her position, it seems it was the SWP’s excuse to try and get their hands on the presidency. Although SWP comrades called for a second-preference vote for the CFE, their tactic almost led to the victory of the Labour candidate. They knew exactly how close the vote would be and their behaviour has certainly not increased their influence or image among leftwing students.

The current NUS Scotland president, Rami Okasha, won a majority in the first round and lost by just two votes in the second round on transferable votes. In the hustings meetings prior to the conference, the Labour Party had swamped meetings with dozens of their members, trying to give the impression of a huge support for Rami. But whenever any votes were taken, it turned out that the overwhelming majority of them were not eligible to vote, as they were not actually students.

Last year, Kat was defeated by only three votes by Mandy Telford, although the CFE’s demand for a free education policy actually won. However, Mandy, as loyal Labour Party member, did not put this demand forward at all and the call for an end to all tuition fees also dropped off her agenda. Whenever she spoke, she seemed to support the current system - if only it were that little bit fairer.

While Kat Fletcher will undoubtedly do a better job than Mandy, we should be very cautious of having any illusions in the NUS or looking at it like a normal trade union. Officially the NUS represents two million students, but it is far from a real trade union. Students, after all, normally cease to be students and pass on to managerial or professional employment. They are engaged in student politics usually for at most two and a half years. A new generation follows them.

Since the 1960s student politics has been a principal training ground for professional bourgeois politics: old Broad Left and Labour Student activists become MPs. Through NUS politics they learn to play the parliamentary game. Since the 1980s former student politicians have also furnished an increasing part of the supply of full-time trade union officials. Careerism is thus normal, and so is cynical manipulations of procedural rules for slight advantage.