The CWI and its sections are supporting the call for an international youth and student strike and mobilisation on 20 November. In Britain, CWI members in Socialist Students are campaigning to build support for the walkouts in Britain. Below, Socialist Students members describe the issues facing young people in England, Wales and Scotland today.
Scrolling online, we see the horror taking place in our world.
From the onslaught on Gaza to devastating wars in Ukraine and Iran. Climate chaos, pollution in our rivers, fire and extreme heat. As our planet spirals into chaos, companies that sell weapons or pollute our planet make record profits, at the expense of our future.
There’s little support for our mental health, made worse by repressive measures in schools and colleges, such as the locking of toilets or isolation, treating us like we’re prisoners, when we should be learning. Underfunding means lack of support, fewer specialist teachers, our school dinners becoming lower quality and unaffordable, fewer school trips and broken facilities that go for months without being fixed.
Outside of school and college, the high cost of living means we have to pay more and more for stationery, transport and food. Our youth spaces are being closed, and leisure centres costing more has meant we have little to do.
But it doesn’t have to be like this.
The super-rich have their political parties, media and organisations to further their interests. Workers have trade unions where they discuss issues and take collective action to increase their living standards. If others can organise, why can’t we?
We need campaigning student unions in our schools and colleges, where we meet with our classmates and take action over the issues that affect us. Individually we can be angry but collectively we can take action.
We also need to organise against the profit-first capitalist system. Capitalism’s main incentive is to create as much profit as possible at the expense of our futures. We need a socialist society where working-class people collectively run society for the needs of all and the environment rather than the super-rich.
This is why Socialist Students in this country is a part of international youth walkouts on Friday 20 November. Socialist Students calls on school, college and university students to walk out of their institutions on 20 November to send a message that we will fight for our futures, against this capitalist system.
There are over 20 organisations across Europe involved in the international youth strikes. Those in Germany led a strike of over 50,000 school students walking out against conscription earlier in the year, and in Italy there have been tens of thousands of students taking action annually. This time we can be part of it. There are many issues affecting our future, the point is to take action on 20 November to change it!
Fight for our futures, not their wars: Walkout 20 November
Many young people growing up today are rightfully recognising that the capitalist system cannot offer us a future. In 2021, polling from the pro-free-market think tank the Institute of Economic Affairs showed that 78% of 16-to-34-year-olds blamed capitalism for Britain’s housing crisis, and 67% said they would prefer to live under a socialist economic system.
And this should come as no surprise. For young people today, the world often feels as if it is moving in only one direction – and that direction is not a positive one. With the rapid shifts and compounding crises of this era, it can feel like the living conditions of millions across the world are deteriorating day by day.
The genocidal war on the Palestinians – waged at the behest of the Israeli regime and backed by Western capitalist powers – has left a lasting imprint on an entire generation. Outraged, many young people have turned to mass protest, joining university campus encampments and the massive weekend demonstrations across the country.
The US-Israel war on Iran typifies this era of capitalist crisis. Despite overwhelming global opposition to the war – especially among young people – Donald Trump, serving as the naked face of declining US imperialism, attempts to shore up the interests of American capitalism abroad. By doing so, this war continues to trigger severe economic shocks and crises, doing nothing for the interests of workers and young people alike in America.
Because of the global nature of capitalism, even if Britain is not directly involved in the war against Iran, its consequences will be felt here, too. The British housing crisis has only worsened since 2021, and there are now over one million young people not in education, employment, or training (NEET).
And how does the tiny capitalist elite try and stay in their position? They promote divisive ideas to try and hide who the real enemy is – the super-rich. The disgusting rhetoric of the likes of Trump, Farage and more as they seek to protect their rich mates has spurred us into action. We have protested against racism, transphobia, sexism and more.
All of this is occurring while the world is on fire – and not just politically. We have witnessed devastating wildfires across Europe, even as capitalist politicians like Trump deny the reality of climate change. We can see that politicians are liars who do not rule on their behalf. It is the billionaires controlling the oil industry, AI, and Big Tech whom Trump and his ilk seek to defend.
This explains the wave of youth protests and revolts worldwide. Whether it is the 55,000-strong school strikes against militarisation in Germany or the recent ‘cockroach’ movement in India, young people are increasingly understanding that capitalism offers nothing but war and austerity for them, while offering wealth and prosperity for the ruling class.
Young people and students have no choice but to get organised. Capitalism has proven that it offers us no future. This is why I am joining the international youth walkouts on 20 November, organised by various youth organisations across Europe, including Socialist Students in England and Wales. These November walkouts provide a vital opportunity for young people to express our discontent and anger. Fighting for our futures requires organisation, which is why Socialist Students is campaigning to make 20 November as large as possible. We believe that socialist change is the solution to war, climate chaos, and unemployment.
We will be organising both before and after 20 November to help provide the leadership needed in this age of capitalist decay. We want 20 November to be a first step towards building an international youth movement to fight for a socialist future. Join us.
Joe Woolfall, Liverpool Socialist Students
Walking out…
…to fight climate change
The world is burning. We can see it burning on TV. We can see it burning outside our homes this summer.
What is being done? In November, world leaders will meet again, this time at the COP31 climate conference in Turkey.
But every year, nothing is done, and climate change gets worse. These world leaders all defend a capitalist system that is about putting short-term profit first.
Oil giants Shell and BP have just recently doubled their profits. Even new Labour ‘change’ prime minister Andy Burnham is thinking of expanding North Sea drilling.
On the basis of capitalism, we don’t have a future. But workers are fighting back.
The Fire Brigades Union has just beaten service cuts in Kent – saving jobs, engines, and stations.
Bus drivers in Unite the Union, where I live in north London, are striking against the unbearably hot conditions they work in all day. On the picket line, one driver showed us 48°C in their cab!
If workers are fighting back, we need to fight back too. Young people will be walking out to fight for a future free from climate catastrophe.
Because there is an alternative. Socialist Students says the big polluters and big business needs to be democratically nationalised. With socialist change we can meet the needs of our society, people, and planet.
Paul Ilkley, Enfield Socialist Party
…for high-quality, free education
Over one million young people aged 16-24 years old in the UK are NEET, meaning ‘not in education, employment, or training.’ One tenth of these are university graduates. The capitalists have been scratching their heads as to what the reason might be; everything from smartphones to mental health diagnoses have been thrown out as suggestions.
What they won’t consider, however, is the gutting of the education sector that has taken place over the last 20 years at their own hands.
The National Education Union (NEU) warns that there will be a £630 million real-terms cut to school funding in the coming year. As much as the Burnham government pays lip service to the importance of apprenticeships and technical skills, without funding these subjects will have to be dropped by schools.
University students are not only being fleeced by ever-increasing student loans, but they are paying for a worse product as university services keep getting shut down. The University of Gloucestershire, in my area, is currently selling off one of its campuses, which includes an extensive library. The staff are not taking this lying down, however – earlier this year they went on strike for fair pay, not having had a real-terms pay-rise in 17 years.
Compare these cuts to Labour’s proposed £15 billion increase on military spending, a number which the Tories say isn’t high enough! Worse yet, a ‘Defence Universities Alliance’ has been set up by the Ministry of Defence, which aims to ‘build the highly skilled workforce needed to support the UK’s future defence capability.’
It is clear that the capitalist class doesn’t care to invest in our education, and young people need to join the fightback against them to make our voices heard.
I’m building walkouts to fight for a future which has high-quality free education for all, fully funded and democratically controlled so its not big companies like in the defence industry calling the tune.
Billy Jones, Gloucester
…against the cost-of-living crisis
Like everyone in the country, young people today are facing soaring food prices amid the worsening cost-of-living crisis. Even for those that have found work, inconsistent hours and low pay mean that the bulk of our income goes on the basic essentials.
As a full-time student in part-time work, maintaining a healthy, balanced diet is a constant struggle. Quality ingredients are expensive and time-consuming to prepare, not to mention a long bus journey away. I often find myself defaulting to a diet of baked beans, meal deals and frozen pizza.
Supermarkets continue to rake in huge profits, with Tesco reporting an increase of 8.5% over the course of 2025. Food prices have risen in turn by roughly 38% since 2020. Anger over this surge prompted the Labour government to suggest a voluntary price caps on essentials, which was predictably met with frenzied resistance from the bosses.
Our food security is being undermined on multiple fronts. Domestic food production has taken a hit, with wheat yields falling by over 10% due to the extreme heat and widespread droughts.
Internationally, Trump’s war on Iran and the resulting closure of the strait of Hormuz has cut off an essential trade route for both fertiliser and food. Ukraine, crucial for global food production, has cut grain export forecasts by 12% due to Russian attacks on seaports.
Production costs will continue to rise, being passed on to consumers in order to maintain the profits of billionaire shareholders.
For those not born into wealth, this country has nothing to offer besides a failing welfare system, unstable work and skyrocketing prices on essentials, disproportionately affecting young people. While we can barely afford to put food on the table, the wealthy are diverting billions to fight their wars. It’s time to take our future into our own hands and take the wealth off the super-rich. Walk out on 20 November!
Daniel Bassey, York Socialist Students
…for real jobs
Young working-class people today face an unprecedented situation where our living standards are lower than that of the previous generation.
Record levels of youth unemployment (16.4%) paint a grim image for prospects for young people leaving education. This stat doesn’t even show the full image, many young people also find themselves in exploitative zero-hours contracts. We are the majority of zero-hour workers overall. Despite the promise to ban zero-hours contracts, the Labour government is still dragging its feet (see page 10).
We need decent jobs and decent pay. The money being poured into military spending could be put to use on things we actually need. Socially useful jobs fixing our crumbling infrastructure would be a start.
Thomas Butler, Liverpool Socialist Students
Get organised and fight for socialism
To fight for our futures, and all the reasons to walk out, we can’t do it on our own – we need to get organised. Socialist Students have groups at universities, colleges and schools across the country. We are campaigning and want to build the types of organisation we need: campaigning, democratic, and linked up with others across the country.
For those of us at school or college, that might mean building a fighting student union. A student union is a group of students who discuss the issues affecting them and collectively take action to change things.
This means democratically discussing and deciding what issue to campaign on and what actions to take collectively to do so.
Student unions could call for an end to repressive measures, like unfair uniform policies. Demand affordable prices for canteen meals and school trips. Support education staff when they take strike action. Protest against racism, sexism and all attacks on young people.
The first step could be calling a meeting, either at a break in the canteen or after school in a local café. You can then discuss with your classmates about the next steps, like organising a campaign stall and how to start building support for the 20 November walkouts.
To fight for our futures we need to fight for socialism
Capitalism puts the interests of a tiny few and their short-term profits above the expense of our futures. As capitalism goes further into crisis, our living standards are on the chopping block. We need to organise for a socialist alternative.
Under socialism, the working class, which makes society function, would take control of the vast wealth and resources, and democratically plan what we produce and how it is distributed for the needs of us all, rather than what makes the most profit for the super-rich.
This means we could make sure that everyone’s needs are met, with high-quality genuinely affordable council housing, free public transport and so much more.