IMGpapers

Newspapers of the International Marxist Group and its forerunners, 1968–1988

The Student Movement comes of age

Black Dwarf Vol. 14, No. 31, 23 March 1970 · p. 5 of the scan · 876 words

The scan: v14-n31-23-mar-1970.pdf (PDF, Marxists Internet Archive, opens at this page)

Uncorrected machine reading. This text was read by machine (Apple Vision OCR) from a scan of a newspaper page, and the page was cut into articles by machine, at the headlines found by their type size. Nothing has been corrected: expect misread words, text from a neighbouring article, and titles that are the machine reading of the headline, some of them only fragments. Quote from the scan, not from this page.
How this article was cut and titled: headline found by type size in the OCR geometry (split_tabloid.py); 1-3 of 4; machine-segmented newspaper page; uncorrected Vision OCR.

page 5 of the scan

actions often combine the most extreme forms of militancy with relatively liberal or reformist demands their confrontations pose questions of theory and the development of students as a new force raises urgent problems jor revownonary Jigniers The Black Dwarf started a discussion of the student movement with a long article in our ren. zu issue on studenis ana the yanguara by two comrades in the Fourth International; Bensaid and Scalabrino. We continue with an excuume contouron wrom a comrade wro participated in one of the recent occupations and visited another.

HAVE A LARF WITH AND HERE HE IS, FOLKS!!

OLD "ADOLPH POWELL!!

WE HAVE BEEN CONTENT IN THEIR PITIFUL INEXPERIENCE AND GAUCHERIE, GO DOWN TO ONE DEFEAT AFTER ANOTHER WITHOUT SO MUCH AS A WORD FROM US.

THERE IS NO RATIONAL JUSTIFICATION FOR STUDENTS TO PARTICIPATE IN THE ACADEMIC, ADMINISTRATIVE OR DISCIPLINARY MANAGEMENT UNIVERSITES.

THERE IS NO MORE SENSE IN STUDENTS PARTICIPATING IN THE MANAGEMENT OF UNIVERSITES THAN THERE WOULD BE IN A UNION OF HOUSEWIVES PARTICIPATING IN MARKS & SPENCERS During the last four weeks profound changes have taken place in the student movement. Prospects and perspectives have suddenly become clearer. These changes have been brought about by the first really spontaneous movement of student revolt which Britain has seen. Suddenly there were a dozen occupations' going on. The Warwick files' issue started a Chain reaction still in process as this goes to press.

Everyone has been surprised: students, Vice Chancellors, Politicians and those groups which traditionally oppose student militancy as petty-bourgeois until a confrontation occurs and they trv to take it over. Thev soon found themselves where they belong, in the guard's van labelled "febrile,' 'not wanted on voyage.' For those who have taken part in the sit-ins this has been a marvellously exciting time. There has been an atmosphere of freedom and enthusiasm for Knowledge in the *liberated universities." There has been a respect for the individual liberty of discourse, and a renewed interest in dialogue between individuals. For these students the concept of revolution has acquired a new dimension: this revolution has CAN SEE THE WORSE, WE HAVE DINS OFTEN PLAYED THE ANARCHISTS GAME OURSELVES BY JOINING IN APPROVAL OF THE ANARCHISTS DEMANDS.

TO THE TIME IS OVERDUE the happiness of free and militant actions and the strength of unity-whatever the percentage of students involved. The experience of the possibility of revolution is not only political and economic, but also cultural and ethical. New ideas of work, sex, production and al l consumption have been created Nevertheless we know that this movement whose ostensible aims are the personal files has a limited life. It cannot survive longer than a few weeks. And when the Vice Chancellors climb down from their obstinate attitudes and the terms come to an end the militants will disperse.

important for the future of the Revolution in Britain to discover what the dynamic of this movement is and to define its cnaractensuc relator otner student movements. We must ask what is the real content of this struggle which goes beyond and even, perhaps, against the ideological form which the movement has taken. We must assess the response of the university authorities. We must determine, too, what has been the reation of the working classes and the middle classes to all the evens.

• ENOCH "RUBBERLIPS' POHELL STREETCOMIX.

ART We know now that whatever happens about the 'Files' the student movement will continue: it is our task to suggest future lines of action for it and to indicate the precise targets at which it should aim. So far this has been a spontaneous movement-and spontaneity has initial advantages and longer term limitations. The student movement still has a hand full of trumps: it is important that they should not be wasted Once we begin this task of analysis and assessment our limitations are revealed with biting clarity. A work of collective research is called for, a systemanc questioning of the political experience is needed. The relevence of past Marxist theory to this new development must be established and new theories developed, new discoveries made. Our inadequacy in face of this task should not prevent us from attempting it. For this is one of the means whereby we can start to overcome the problem presented by the absence of a revolutionary party. This is not the place for a detailed factual account of what happened. Although obviously it is needed. Here we try to produce some broad theoretical ideas only-while great complexity and richness of the events to phrases.

The British student movement, until now, has lagged far behind those of France, Germany, the USA and Japan. The ISE affair represented an attempt to generate a student movement: the present wave of action is one. Something new has suddenly and almost unexpectly emerged. By concrete methods militants have criticised the existing state of affairs in the universities in a way that has gone far beyond pre-existing perspectives. They went for extremely concrete objectives: files of correspondence, personal records and they attacked authority provocatively with sit-ins, occupations and breakins. The student revolt in Britain has come of

----- pull-quotes -----

HIMSELF, THE ENOCH

STAND ON THE TOUCHLINES, AND WATCH THE UNIVERSITY AUTHORITIES,

STORES.* Ен?? * How ABOUT IT, HOUSEHIVES?

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