Let down for Labour students

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Students, the Bakers' Union, and dozens of local - there is a meeting every Monday evening at * Come to the Action Committee meetings 7.15 at County Hall, Waterloo. Send us a donation.

Puhlinice the march in vour local nress at work and nublinatinne of tha WOMEN E I IDED A TInal at collere. at school. amone your friends. MOVEMENT. DIE PUNTCALIUIO VI MIE TUNEI O LIDENAI IU A Leaflets from: Action Cree jor a Woman's Work, 181 Richmond Road, London E8. THE National Organisation of Labour Students (NOLS) recently took control of the leadership of NUS, breaking years of domination of the Broad Left/Left Alliance.

NOLS conference this year, coming in the wake of this victory, was possibly the most important conference in the history of NOLS.

Were the stranglehold within NOLS of the Clause IV to be broken, this would represent a tremendous development within the student movement.

•s students are increasingly turning towards the Labour Party, a more open NOLS could possibly act as a channel for radicalising Labour students into taking effective action against the Tory government.

In the event, Clause IV were not defeated. In numerical terms on the NC, the left in NOLS (Militant and the Socialist Student Caucus) had rather less people than last year.

Absurdly, Militant had only one NC member.

But this conference was bv no means a defeat for the left. On a whole series of issues the revolutionary left and its sympathisers were able to intervene decisively into the conference and if not win the vote, nevertheless pick dn substantial support.

On Ireland, for the fourth year in succession, NOLS adopted no policy.

This year, the vote for troops out now was bigger than ever, despite the fact that one of the NC resolutions included all sorts of demands designed to placate A motion on Poland calling for the maintaining of links with both the state-run Polish students union SZFP and the independent Solidarity MZS was passed. However, after the vote had been taken the speaker from MZS described the SZFP as a scab union, comparing it to a union run by Margaret Thatcher, and clearly embarrassed the Clause IV leadership.

This conference had the biggest presence of the revolutionary left of any NOLS conference to date - primarily the comrades of Socialist Organiser, Socialist Challenge/Revolution, Socialist Newsletter and independents who support class struggle positions on a whole series of questions organised in the Socialist Students Caucus.

With the possiblities opening up inside NOLS to present a serious alternative to both dominant tendencies it is vital that SSC is transformed from a caucus at NOLS conference into campaigning committee within the national organisation.

Drawing oppositionists around the perspective of transforming NOLS into a mass student organisation oriented towards organising the action of students within colleges around campaigns against cuts, against racism, on international issues, sexual politics, etc., such a new class struggle tendency within NOLS could aim to build on the gains made so far.

There will be a national NOLS activists conference in the near tuture, to discuss the launching of such a campaign within NOLS. This conference will be open to anyone supporting the general aim of breaking the Clause IV/Militant logjam on a revolutionary perspective and recognising the need for an orientation towards NOLS in order to transform the NUS.

Anyone interested please contact Ken Stratford, Thames Polytechnic Students Union.

WOMEN'S FESTIVAL AND RALLY Labour Movement Come and join us on June 5th.

Hall, Waterloo, from 10.30 and the march will start to move off at RIGHT To WORK CAN HELP HOW YOU