Following upon the heels of the post-May '68 euphoria, the student movement in London has settled down to a period of stable, unspectacular growth and diversification. Spreading out from the pinnacle of last year's extravaganza at LSE, there have been thus far break-ups of administrative meetings at University College, Imperial College, and the School of Oriental and African Studies. Imperial College and Northwest Pot technic have had refectory boycotts, and the latter also had a lengthy sit-in and barricace of the administrauve biock suDbolor 50% student participation on all college committees. In late January, students at the Institute of Education voted overwhelmingly to occupy the main Assembly Hall for an all-day strike and teach-in in support of striking teachers. The administration, however, finally allowed them the use of the hall, and most departments cancened unew classes, wus avoiding a confrontation.
SOA's confrontation took place on October 21st when the University Grants Committee held a special backroom meeting there. Thirty-five unruly natives promptly integrated the gathering, and the bigwigs walked out. Although the usual "warning" letter was duly sent, no one was disciplined. The same day, about 40 students marched on the administration building of London University to protest its links racist interests in Southern Africa (as exemplified by the presence of head governor and Torv Shadow Defence Minister Geoffrev bureaucracy's ties with University College, Rhodesia. The machine replied to student demands about the UCR link by proclaiming that they would break them only when they thought this would do the "most good. lan Smith unfortunately didn't wait, and last month broke the link with London University himself, illustrating his sensitivity to protest demos of this kind, and the absolute phoniness of university bureaucrats.
City University recently went into high gear over threats by the Vice Chancellor to issue writs against the editorial board of the student newspaper, because of "libellous" attacks it had made on him. A determined consolidation oi student support and the threat of a sit-in caused him to back down. He can safely be relied on to de something stupid in the future. At Bedford College the big issue has been the backroom planning now going on to "rationalise" the College in line with pressures from the Department of Education and Science. The administration already nas a nage overdrart or about £100,000). The students there are tiring of the polite confidential discussions now going on over what departments might be chopped, and recently they passed hard-line union resolutions US documents and minutes on the coming rationalisation, a full-afternoon student/staff meeting on the future of Bedford and the cancellation of all classes for that occasion, or else...
At LSE, despite the large number of windows broken in recent weeks and the usual panoply of false fire alarms, things look, for the moment, fairly quiet. However, a large general assembly recently voted to take direct action against the administration if there is any victimisation for the break-up of Civil Service Head Sir William Armstrong's lecture on December 4th. Two students already have High Court injunctions for their alleged part in those events, and if the authorities go further it could lead to yet another uprising. In short, though the student movement in London is not getting quite the press coverage it did a year ago, things still look quite interesting.
Paul Hoch is co-author of the Sheed and Ward paperback The Natives are Restless, the only book to give a full account of the LSE events and the press and national response to them.
LONDON
SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS AND - POLITICAL • SCIENCE EAST BUILDING STRIKE
The Black Dwarf 20th February 1970 Revolutionary students in Britain have retreated into a confused silence. We have decided to reopen debate on the political question facing students by printing this discussion document written by militants of the French Communist League for the th International. 1. The student movement in the 1960s was everywhere in the vanguard of the reviving revolutionary struggles. The particular political mobility of the student milieu arises from the accumulating superstructural contradictions of which it is the focus: the crisis of bourgeois ideology which affects the youth as a whole; the problems of employment, training, and professional careers which concern the intellectual workers; and the institutional crisis of the university. 2. A component part of the youth in general, the students were the first to be affected by the crisis of bourgeois ideology, which they are called upon to glorify and perpetuate. The bourgeoisie in the period of decaying capitalism is not the creative bourgeoisie that rose to power to accomplish its historical tasks. The values, morals, and history of this bourgeoisie can inspire no enthusiasm. The cause of the crisis seems clear-the youth cannot identify its hopes with those of the bourgeoisie, or tie its fate to this moribund class. This is all the more true because the values so much preached by the schools, the academies, and the authorities, are denied daily by the crimes imperialism commits in its death throes. Losing its morality and ideals, the bourgeoisie has replaced them with advertising slogans. It no longer seeks