In a month’s time, thousands of new students will be going along to freshers’ fairs in colleges and universities right across the country. Between the poetry society and the snowboarding club, some of them will stop for more than a second to look at the Labour Students stall. Most will walk on. Some will stop and talk. A few will put their hand in their pocket, hand over a £1 coin and join Labour Students. In doing so, they will be joining thousands of others in taking their first step to helping Labour win in May 2015.
Firmly focused on the next general election, Labour Students over the next year will be recruiting, training and campaigning. We will be signing up thousands of new members, delivering training in our Labour clubs on campus and travelling around the country to campaign in those 106 key seats for the next election.
Today, we are delighted to be guest editing ProgressOnline. We will have articles from students, politicians and trade unionists. We will be celebrating the work of the student movement and debating what Labour’s offer to students should be. We will be talking about the general election campaign ahead as well as looking towards to our priority campaign for the year; tackling high cost credit on campus. The articles we are featuring today reflect our commitment to win for Labour and win for students.
This weekend, members from across the UK will be heading to Glasgow for our first national training event of the year. We’ll be equipping our activists with the campaigning skills they need to take back to their clubs and win in their local key seats.
Members of the Friends of Labour Students network will be delivering some sessions, sharing their experiences and expertise with the next generation of activists. The contribution our friends and former members continue to make to the organisation is absolutely vital to the work we do.
Our women’s, LGBT, BAME and disabled students campaigns will be meeting to discuss their plans for the year ahead. While they do, those members who don’t self-define into that campaign will have the opportunity to hear from someone who does about their experiences and why liberation is so central to everything we do.
And, of course, we’ll be taking all our activists out to campaign for Labour in the crucial Glasgow Govan council by-election.
The Labour Students office is always busy. After this training weekend we’ll be gearing up for our biggest freshers recruitment drive ever. We’ll be planning campaigns day and training sessions and ensuring that political debate and education remains at the heart of what we do. We recognise that we are not just leading the organisation for a year, but helping shape the experiences our members will value for a lifetime. We want to celebrate the differences in our membership and value the contribution of every single member, no matter what role they play. By building on what generations before us have achieved we want to reach further and do more than ever before. Labour Students will be the campaigning force our party needs and the organisation our members deserve.
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Callum Munro, Chair
Emma Meehan, Campaigns and membership officer
Sam Woodcock, Secretary
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