DE MAMOUD AHMED, Grunwick Strike Committee Secretary tells the public meeting of the determination of strikers to fight till final victory over the right wing backed management is won. THE DEPARTING figure of Sir Keith Joseph from the National Union of Students conference in Blackpool last weekend underlined the deep tensions in the student movement.
PROVOCATION His presence at the NUS conference was a deliberate provocation initiated by the rapidly growing forces of the Federation of Conservative Students (FCS), who commanded the support of about 200 delegates at the conference.
The correct decision of the conference, to request his departure in the light of this provocation, was marred by the political confusion oT some torces in the Tar ter particularly the International SocsTudenT NOISS, who wing Tory with shouts of 'Nazis Out' and Fascists Out".
IM delegates issuca a stalement explaining that the correct way to takeon me mi wine une union is through the fight for left the NUS. whole flimsy Cal.
ference. An amendment 250 delegates. organisation, regaled this CAMPAIGN They jobs through Dallies filiations by student unions from In the past the Broad Left has tried to fight off these disaffiliation threats by emphasising the Clarke. role of student services offered by the NUS and playing down the political campaigning activities of the union. However the collapse of Tory three of the main service companies three weeks before the conference threatened to bring this whole strategy crashing down around the Broad Left's But this position of the Executive was reaffirmed by the conput forward by the far left (NOISS and IMG delegates in particular) gained the support of between 200 and This third of the conference delegates called for the defence of jobs and services through a camDalEn Tor an cha to commercial secrecy in all such operations and for the Government to guarante an immediate cash iniection as the first step toward: the nationalisation of NUS comSIR KEITH JOSEPH flanked by FCS members is heckled by students at the NUS Conference in Blackpool.
The amendment also called for a vote of no confidence in the four members of the services board, including the NUS President Charles Movers of the motion made it clear that this was not just on the basis that the services had been mismanaged (the position of students who called for Clarke's resignation), but was intended as an indictment of the political strategy of the Broad Left in basing the continued existence of the union on the expansion of services.
NUS STRONGEST The fact that the far left was the strongest single current in the conTerence las comoted to trees than 200 delegates who supported the Broad Left, was dramatically confirmed when the conference passed by a majonly or 00,00 d resolution on Government economic poley which rolauy reece! the Social Contract and the cuts. It called or a unca g-back de ainst the Government's measures, wile opposing Hauonaust sord tions such as import controls.
an unprecedented gress two hour procedural wrangle, the -Droda cell da roo managcu to WIARD (TOI force through a re-vote to overthrow the decision. As a result n policy was adopted by the conTerence The alliance of the Broad Left and the forces to the right of them in the conference, including the Tories, was upset in the debate or how students should tackle the fight against racism. This revealed a dramatic split inside the ranks of both the Communist Party and the Broad Left.
As a result, a prominent member of the Broad Left majority on the Executive, Neil Caldwell, played a leading part in the suc cessful defence of the existing policy of the NUS to deny fascists and racists a platform to propagate their views, against Executive attempts to reverse this position.
but the consistentiv ChauVinIs position which the NUS has taken on the cuesuon or reland was no changed at the conference, despite a vigorous campaign ov some sa IMG delegates and sympathisers and supporters of the Troops Out Movement. Instead the conference overwhelmingv decided to launci a campaign of Peace and Pro June Bill Rights in the North, the Better Life for All Campaign, and the efforts of the Peace People.
ALTERNATIVE Nevertheless. on many issues the wide forces for a united left alternative to the Broad Left's policie of collaboration with the right wing were shown to exis!
But the posturing of the NOISS as the onlv alternative on the lef both repels those within the Broad Left who are drawing the relevant conclusions from the present pre carious position of the NUs. and also acts as a block towards colbetween the organised forces on the far left In the absence of such an alternative, seriously fighting for the leadership of the NUS at the next conference, the growth of support for the right wing at the expense of the Broad Left will go ahead