South Africa Student Rebellion Inspires CUNY

THE BRONX, November 11 — Worker-student alliance leads the way across City University of New York campuses. Drawing inspiration from the striking college students in South Africa who shut down universities and roads in response to a tuition fee, hundreds of students here were involved in teach-ins or rallies to challenge capitalist ideas.   
Regular classes were suspended at some campuses, as professors brought their classes to teach-ins. These included panels about the fight against racism, the role of contingent labor, the exploitation of part-time faculty, tuition hikes, the history of CUNY and historic struggles for open admissions and free tuition.
At one teach-in, over 60 students saw a presentation of the video “Professors in Poverty” and discussed why so many are living below the poverty level (see page 5). We discussed the need to fight back and follow the lead the students in South Africa. In the biggest student protest to hit the country since the end of Apartheid in 1994, students fought the cops’ stun grenades and water cannons with working-class violence. The mainly Black students say they cannot afford fee increases and have even rejected a government bribery to restrict increases to 6 percent.
Meanwhile, CUNY bosses have planned to continue to implement tuition hikes at $300 per year, before fees. This is in addition to the five-year hike that’s already in effect! Some student discussed the struggle to survive, balance work, and travel costs along with tuition and book expenses. Like South Africa, these hikes are racist and hit Black students the hardest. CUNY Students are planning a protest against tuition hikes November 12 (see next issue).
At one campus, students and faculty set up tables in the cafeteria to make signs about the CUNY crisis. Many signed up to be part of a fightback committee.
At one community college, an all day teach-in was organized that drew over 200 students. Panels included a discussion of the militant struggles of students in 1989, where protests shut down campuses, forcing then Governor Mario Cuomo to withdraw a $200 tuition hike. Another lesson we can learn from this is that no reform is safe under capitalism.
PLP in the House
We have an important lesson to learn from students in South Africa, whose parents had fought Apartheid and were dished Black capitalism and reconciliation. Not only do we need to fight back, we need to arm ourselves with communist politics as our weapons.
Progressive Labor Party is experiencing some success in bringing communist ideas to our campuses. Our analysis about what the ruling class is up to in its drive towards war and fascism resonates with many students and faculty.
From the Bronx to Brooklyn, PLP is raising the red flag of communism (see Medgar Evers article). In the Bronx, we are continuing last year’s study group with students and faculty. We discuss CHALLENGE, campus issues, and how to fight.
One professor uses CHALLENGE regularly in his class and is meeting more students who want to get involved. Last year, Bronx students were involved in a number of struggles including supporting workers in the neighborhood who were being underpaid, helping to organize a mass teach-in about Ferguson, and leading a walkout against police terror. The attacks on CUNY students are part of the ongoing systematic exploitation of the working class. As the U.S. gears up for more war, the working class must gear up to fight back and fight to win!