from a NALSO correspondent The following statement was issued by the N.A.L.S.0. Executive Committee on February 12th. It is considered to be a necessary compliment to the N.A.L.S.0. release The Week published on February 9th. "The attempts by the Labour leaders to stifle N.A.L.S.0. is part of their drive against the conditions of all students and their attacks on the wages and conditions of the working class. Whatever other issues are brought in to confuse the matter, we must be perfectly clear that this is really what is involved. The policies of the Labour government are directly opposed to the interests of all students in Britain. The government proposes to solve the problems of sterling and the balance of payments crisis by policies which include cuts in education expenditure, notably on student grants. It has long been known that conditions in many training colleges are appalling, that the binary system produces a second class education for the majority of students and that the grants system produces a great deal of hardship and unfairness. The Labour government promised many changes in these things. Yet Crosland now says that -Students are too well off. The plan to raise the fees of overseas students from £70 to £250 distinguishes itself by the racialist undertones that so often appear in the policies of this government. These policies represent the thin end of the wedge for a general offensive by the government against the conditions of all students. "We fight the policies of the government.on these questions not because we think that students should be privileged or pampered. We take this stand because a decent education, decent conditions for work and study and active encouragement of everyone to benefit from educational facilities is part of the sort of society that we want to see. The Labour government is clearly doing nothing to support these ends. That is why we are forced to oppose it. "N.A.L.S.0. strongly believes that this government has turned its back on the mass of its supporters in the working class and socialist movement. It has decided to pursue policies which are clearly in the interests of the owners of wealth and against those of students and workers. Wage freezing and higher fees for overseas students are closely linked measures. The promises on which the Labour government was elected can only be carried out by an all-out attack on the owners of wealth and privilege. It is doing the opposite. "The Labour leaders are determined to prevent any real opposition to their policies from being voiced and organised. In the past they have tolerated N.A.L.S.0.'s verbal protests. Hardly any of the grant which has now been 80 peremptorily cut off has been spent on the building of a political movement among students. Most of it has gone on uninspiring and unread Labour Party literature, or on the travelling expenses of committee members whom it was hoped would be attracted into the Labour Party machine. All too often in the past, the possibility of losing the grant has been used by the leaders of N.A.L.S.O0. as an excuse for organising real action. A struggle for socialist
policies has thus been prevented, as the Labour leaders wanted. We intend to
campaign on the policies agreed at the Special Conference in January. We
refuse to be blackmailed by Transport House into going back on our principles.
"Left wing M.P.'s in the past have expressed the hope that N.A.L.S.0O. would
support them in their struggle against Wilson's policies. We express our full
support for them in their struggle against leaders who have betrayed every
principle that the Labour Party stands for. We, in turn, call on these M.P.'s
to oppose the National Executive Committee's attack on NALSO.
"The reason we are forced to come out so strongly against the policies of the
government is because it seams clear to us that the Labour leaders are betray-
ing the principles on which the Labour Party was founded and the policies for
which it should stand. We believe that we are defending these principles by
fighting the Labour government. We place ourselves firmly on the side of those
thousands of angry students who demonstrated against the government on
February lst, and on the side of the millions of workers who are being forced
to fight the government for higher wages and improved conditions. That is why
N.A.L.S.O. is giving full support to the February 21st Lobby of Parliament
calling for Left unity against Wilson, for the repeal of the Prices and
Incomes Act, for an end to unemployment, against increases in overseas student
fees and for higher grants and the nationalisation of the basic industries. We
should like to see those left M.P.'s who have supported us in the past give a
lead in this struggle by demanding the resignation of the Wilson government and
its replacement by a socialist administration.
"We call on all workers and socialists to support those students who will be on
the February 21st lobby on the demands for higher grants and against the
proposal to raise overseas student fees. We also call on all our members to
support the day of protest on these questions on February 22nd. We appeal for
financial support in this campaign and urge discussion on all of these
questions faced by student socialists as a preparation for the biggest-ever
N.A.L.S.0. annual conference in Manchester on 3-6th April. The N.A.L.S.O.
E.C. is eager to send speakers to any clubs who wish to discuss any of the
questions raised in the statement."
(Approved 12th February, 1967).