University of Warwick institutional repository: http://go.warwick.ac.uk/wrap A Thesis Submitted for the Degree of PhD at the University of Warwick http://go.warwick.ac.uk/wrap/36254 This thesis is made available online and is protected by original copyright. Please scroll down to view the document itself. Please refer to the repository record for this item for information to help you to cite it. Our policy information is available from the repository home page. THE BRITISH STUDENT MOVEMENT 1965-1972 Thomas Nicholas Thomas Submitted in part fulfilment for the degree of Ph.D. in Social History at the University of Warwick December 1996 SUMMARY This thesis outlines the development of the protests by students which took place in Britain from 1965 to 1972, and investigates the reasons for the occurrence of these protests at that particular time. This inquiry has used national and student newspapers, extensive archive material, secondary sources, and oral history interviews to carry out these aims. In particular, this thesis will suggest that sLudent protest can only be understood in the light of changes in attitudes to authority in the post-war period. The position of young people in society was transformed in the decades following the Second World War, and this change was itself the result of social, economic and cultural changes which will be considered as part of this thesis. It will be argued that deterministic interpretations, which have suggested that student protest was the result of revolutionary politics, group conformity, rebellion against parental or social disciplines, or rapid university expansion, have been mistaken. Instead, students took part in protests upon specific issues about which they felt strongly, usually because they believed that those in authority had committed injustices. This protest could only take place, therefore, once prevailing attitudes to authority had changed. and students felt that it was both possible and acceptable to challenge the decisions of those who were in. authority. CONTENTS Summary i Contents ii Acknowledgements iv Abbreviations vi Introduction 1 1 Changes in Higher Education and student protest before 1965 16 2 Student protest form 1965 to 1972 47 3 The student movement 88 4 The far left and the student movement 113 5 The pre-conditions for protest 148 6 Public opinion, the press, and the student movement 175 7 An international student movement? 201 Epilogue 228 Conclusion 243 Appendices 1 Tables 254 2 The manifesto of the Radical Student Alliance 259 3 Surveys 263 4 Questionnaire 269 5 The manifesto of the RSSF 282 Chronology 285 Bibliography 304 ii To my mother and late father. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS It is difficult to thank everyone who has provided me with assistance during the course of this work, and the efforts of anyone who has been left out of these acknowledgements have not been ignored, but are rather the victim of having to call a halt somewhere. First I must thank my parents, Mary and Keith Thomas, and my brother, Philip Thomas, for their unstinting support, both financial and moral. I could not have done this work without them. I am also indebted to my Supervisors, Professor Carolyn Steedman, Professor Nick Tiratsoo, and Professor Gwynne Lewis for their helpful advise and support throughout this Ph.D.. I am grateful for the many hours of laborious proof reading which has been carried out by Gaby Neher and Richard Temple, and for their numerous constructive comments, while Dr. Joan Lane deserves special mention, both for her continued support for my teaching on her course which has provided me with valuable experience and financial security, and for her constant friendship and advice. The staff at the Modern Records Centre at the University of Warwick have always been particularly helpful, notably Richard Storey, Christine Woodland, and Richard Temple, who have all pointed me in new directions, iv provided me with sometimes crucial advice, as well as valuable employment within their archives. I must also recognise the importance of the faith which John Cunnington, the Warden of Rootes Residences at the University of Warwick, has shown in me over the three years of my employment within the residences, as well as the camaraderie and friendship which has been displayed to me by many fellow resident tutors, notably Ian Martin, Graham Wright, Julie Bourne, Tim Noakes, Charlotte Griffiths, Dawood Alarn, Ming Yu Ho, and Richard Temple. Other old and trusted friends who have been particularly helpful include Linda Monckton, Emma Sin, Caroline Overfield, Paul Kerrigan, Justine Bullock, and Sulci Deo. All have provided invaluable advice, friendship, and even accommodation at various times. Last, but most certainly not least, I have been lucky enough to have been able to rely upon the unquestioning and ever-present support and companionship of Gaby Neher during the moments of crisis and enjoyment. ABBREVIATIONS A.U.T. Association of University Teachers B.C.P.V. British Campaign (sometimes Council) for Peace in Vietnam B.L.P.E.S. British Library of Political and Economic Science C.A.T. College of Advanced Technology C.I.A. Central Intelligence Agency C.N.D. Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament C.P.G.B. Communist Party of Great Britain D.E.S. Department of Education and Science E.G.M. Extraordinary General Meeting I.M.G. International Marxist Group I.S. International Socialism J.C.R. Jeunesse Communiste Revolutionnaire L.S.E. London School of Economics M.R.C. Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick N.A.L.S.O. National Association of Labour Student Organisations N.L.F. National Liberation Front (Vietnam). N.S.A. (U.S.A.) National Student Association of the United States of America N.U.S. National Union of Students R.S.A. Radical Student Alliance R.S.S.F. Revolutionary Student Socialist Federation S.D.S. Students for a Democratic Society S.D.S. Socialistische Deutsche Studenicnbund VI S.N.C.C. Student Non-violent (later National) Co-ordinating Committee T.U.C. Trades Union Congress U.G.C. University Grants Committee U.G.M. Union General Meeting U.J.C.-m.1. Union des Jeunesse Communiste marxistes-leninistes V.S.C. Vietnam Solidarity Campaign vi i INTRODUCTION I Speaking against the American military intervention in Vietnam, in New York on 4 April 1967, Martin Luther King acknowledged that even when pressed by the demands of inner truth, men do not easily assume the task of opposing their government's policy. ..Nor does the human spirit move without great difficulty against all the apathy of conformist thought within one's own bosom and in the surrounding world. Moreover, when the issues at hand seem as perplexed as they often do in the case of this dreadful conflict we are always on the verge of being mesmerized by uncertainty; but we must move on.' Dr. King's words have particular relevance to this study, since it will aim to explain why large numbers of British students took part in acts of protest in the late 1960s, both against the policies of their national and university governments. From 1965 onward, increasing numbers of British students took part in a variety of protests, notably against the American military intervention in Vietnam (see chapters 2 and 6). In March 1967 students at the London School of Economics decided to hold a sit-down demonstration in the entrance hall of the School, and resolved to stay there until the School's authorities changed their decision to suspend two students from the School. This was the first 'sit-in' to take place at a British educational institution. More protests. including sit-ins, took place around Britain in the subsequent year, reaching a peak in frequency and size in 1968, and then declining from that point onward. These protests were a new phenomenon. They affected most higher educational institutions in Britain in the late 1960s, and they took place within the context of larger protests by young people in a number of other countries, particularly America, France, Germany, and Eta ly. The 1 chapters which follow will establish the details of what happened during the protests which took place in Britain, and the reasons for their occurrence. The protests which took place in Britain in the 1960s were the subject of sometimes intense contemporary speculation as to their origins, especially by the press, as will be discussed, particularly in chapter 6. While a crisis in education and in social values was highlighted and condemned by many, others gloried in and glorified the rebellion of so many young people (see chapters 4 and 6). These two opposing outlooks have now become the main schools of thought within the battle which has blighted attempts to interpret the events of the 1960s. Whether accurately or not, the decade has been identified as a period of profound change in British society. As early as 1967 Philip Larkin expressed his feeling that 'sexual intercourse began in nineteen sixty-three' and that Up until then there'd only been A sort of bargaining, A wrangle for a ring, A shame that started at sixteen, And spread to everything? It has been suggested that 'today. ..the 60s seem the most inescapable of all those nostalgia-girt decades. Whether hymned by ageing hippies, still wreathed in rosy fantasies, or vilified by contemporary politicians, desperately hunting an easy scapegoat for over-complex ills. the image remains: something happened'.3 Attempts to establish the nature of that 'something', of its impact upon society, and whether it was positive or negative, have become central considerations for 3 the majority of the numerous investigations into the events of the 1960s. It is within this context that the student protest which took place in Britain has been examined, although even these texts have only given limited attention to the subject.