Talk:Socialist Students

Merge

Socialist Students is in reality just the Socialist Party of England and Wales (SPEW) working in universities, this article should be merged into the SPEW article. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 46.208.209.179 (talk) 23:44, 19 December 2019 (UTC)

NPOV

• The general tone of the article is pro-socialist students.
• "Socialist Students is an independent left-wing organisation" This is disputible, at the very least it has strong connects to the socialist party so describing it as independent is a bit of a leap.
• "over the last few years Socialist Students has become probably the largest group that specifically argues for a socialist transformation of society" (for some reason 82.46.43.112 removed my comment here

[1])- Debatable.

• "the decline of the Socialist Workers' Student Society (SWSS)" - debatable, to my knowldge SWSS has grown in the last few years.

(Disclosure:I am a member of the SWP so probally biased but I do try to consistantly aim for NPOV (see my edits to Socialist Workers' Student Society for example).--JK the unwise 11:06, 1 March 2006 (UTC)

Socialist Students is independant, with its own national committee and conference which was held last weekend. Yes the SP has a big influence, but I think this is covered in the article as it says the SP set Socialist Students up. Still I have added make a slight edit to make sure this critism is included.

"over the last few years Socialist Students has become probably the largest group that specifically argues for a socialist transformation of society" -it is hard to tell who is bigger, but I think Socialist Students is meant to have about 2,500 members across England and Wales so perhaps it is the biggest. But I dont have a source for this. I will try to get one.

To my knowledge the SWSS has virtually disolved itself into Respects student group. But again this is hard to qualify.—This unsigned comment was added by 82.46.43.112 (talk • contribs) 15:45, 8 March 2006.

In my experience, as a member of Exeter Socialist Students, SP members are a small minority of membership. Also, in order for the article to link better, could the title be changed to 'Socialist Students' rather than 'Socialist students' (the lowercase 's' is wrong).—This unsigned comment was added by Jimbobalina2005 (talk • contribs) 20 March 2006.

In my experience, as a student at Sheffield Uni the Socialist Students group was practically run by the Socialist Party organiser. That said I except that they have a certian level of independence from the Socialist party I just debate that it is fair to speak of them as an indepentent group as if they are totally independent. I have moved the page as per Jimbobalina's request.--JK the unwise 17:09, 21 March 2006 (UTC)

It is true that the main organisers of many Socialist Student Societies tend to be members of the Socialist Party. However, the main reason for this is because they often have the most experience as organisers and campaigners. Every society should have annual AGMs at which all positions are elected, and student members of any other organisation are welcome to join. Socialist Students have no formal ties to the Socialist Party. All resolutions are voted on at the Socialist Students Conference and participation in campaigns is agreed to at local Societies. Chellen 22:03, 2 April 2006 (UTC)

I don't like the way that warofdreams has removed large sections of the Socialist Students Programme section, claiming that there is no need to repeat the SPs programme. Socialist Students programme is different to that of the SPs and I believe as the article stands it does not explain fully Socialist Students' programme over complicated issues like Palestine and the recent AUT industrial action. I think a re-instatement of the original text is desparately needed otherwise it people who may read this article and not the article on the SP may not understand fully the class position of Socialist Students. 19:30, 4 May 2006 82.32.184.230

After not recieving any reason for Warofdreams' edits, I have reverted "Political programme" section back to the edit before warofdreams changed it. I seriously think this is much better for people who do not know what Socialist Students stand for than just saying "its the same as the SP" 15:08, 10 May 2006 82.32.184.230

I didn't notice your comments, as you didn't place them at the end of the talk page. I've now moved them, and have reverted again as there is no need to repeat the SP's programme. If, as you say, it differs over Palestine and AUT industrial action, then that is what needs to be explained. Warofdreams talk 00:42, 11 May 2006 (UTC)

I am a member of Socialist Students but not of the Socialist Party and I resent your efforts to try and lump Socialist Students programme into the SPs domaine. Wikipedia is suposed to be a place for knowledge, why try and cover up important facts like what Socialist Students believes in just because it is similar to the SPs? Surely this article needs to comprehensively state what Socialist Students is and what it fights for, that cannot be explained by just saying "its the same as the SP".

Aferall the SP is a revolutionary party, Socialist Students is a broad class-based student organisation. Therefore it primarily concersn itslef with student issues and issues that youth are particularly angry over so in this respect it is really important to include the Socialist Student view on the AUT industrial action, the war and Palestine. 15:17, 11 May 2006 82.32.184.230

Great, it's a different type of organisation - this is covered in the article. How does its programme differ? Wikipedia articles don't generally have the full programme of each group; it suffices to say (for instance) that they have a generally Trotskyist, or Maoist, outlook, and then describe their differences from the common forms of those politics. Socialist Students have broadly the same programme as the SP, so what we need to establish is how it differs. Warofdreams talk 00:25, 12 May 2006 (UTC)