Campaign for Free Education
Encyclopedia
The Campaign for Free Education (often abbreviated CFE) was a left-wing grouping in the National Union of Students of the United Kingdom of those opposed to tuition fees and the abolition of student grants.
The coalition was founded in 1995 in opposition to proposals by Labour Students
and the Organised Independents
for the NUS to abandon its opposition to the abolition of student grants. Although initially a broad based campaign encompassing many from across the spectrum the organisation moved towards a stronger left-wing position, pushed by student members of the Alliance for Workers Liberty who had been amongst the founders.
Support for CFE was particularly strong at Huddersfield Polytechnic where in 1996 a benefit CD called "No Compromize" was organised by music organisation Chocolate Fireguard. Featured music included Suede
, Senser
, Dreadzone
, Northern Uproar
, Zion Train
, Kava Kava (band), , Marion
, Transglobal Underground
, Intastella
, Fundamental
, Eat Static
, Cud
, X-CNN, The Wedding Present
, Utah Saints
, Revolutionary Dub Warriors, Banco Da Gaia, Chumbawamba
, Loop Guru
, Ukrainians
, Tony Benn
, Autechre
, Moonflowers
. The Music Industry got further behind the CFE when music magazines NME
and Melody Maker
revealed that members of the NUS wrote to the various artists asking them not to support the CFE in this way. "No Compromize" went on to be released through independent record label Delerium Records
.
The CFE maintained a continuous presence of NUS executive members, being particularly strong in the LGBT
and Women's Campaigns. They saw successive NUS Conferences pass policy in line with their positions on opposing tuition fees and top-up fees, but continued to complain that the NUS National Executive Committee did not actively fight for this. The CFE often stood candidates for the major NEC positions in a coalition slate with various groups including the Student Broad Left
, the Socialist Workers' Students' Society and the National Black Students' Alliance but generally won only one position out of six at most in successive years. Several of the successful candidates, whether from the CFE or other groups, subsequently publicly fell out with their original supporters, weakening the organisation.
In 2004, Kat Fletcher
, standing for the CFE, was elected as the first non-Labour Students
backed NUS President in twenty years. However, she left the group shortly afterwards and moved towards the right wing of the organisation. The CFE gradually declined until its remaining activists took part in the founding of a new, Education Not for Sale
network.
The coalition was founded in 1995 in opposition to proposals by Labour Students
Labour Students
Labour Students is a student organisation affiliated to the British Labour Party.Membership comprises affiliated college and university clubs . Membership of Labour Students is through membership of a university or college Labour Club. Affiliation is open to any Labour Club generally supportive of...
and the Organised Independents
Organised Independents
The Organised Independents are a grouping within the National Union of Students of the United Kingdom.The group is made up of candidates for National Executive Committee posts, all standing on an "independent" label, and their supporters, and as a result a lot of controversy has raged over whether...
for the NUS to abandon its opposition to the abolition of student grants. Although initially a broad based campaign encompassing many from across the spectrum the organisation moved towards a stronger left-wing position, pushed by student members of the Alliance for Workers Liberty who had been amongst the founders.
Support for CFE was particularly strong at Huddersfield Polytechnic where in 1996 a benefit CD called "No Compromize" was organised by music organisation Chocolate Fireguard. Featured music included Suede
Suede
Suede is a type of leather with a napped finish, commonly used for jackets, shoes, shirts, purses, furniture and other items. The term comes from the French "gants de Suède", which literally means "gloves of Sweden"....
, Senser
Senser
Senser, a politically-charged UK band, originally formed in South West London from a group of friends in the late 1980s, Nick Michaelson , Heitham Al-Sayed , Kerstin Haigh , John Morgan , James Barrett and Alan "Hagos/Haggis" Haggarty and in 1992 they were joined by Spiral Tribe D.J, Andy Clinton...
, Dreadzone
Dreadzone
Dreadzone are a British band whose music is an eclectic fusion of dub, reggae, techno, folk and rock. They have so far produced six studio albums and two live albums.-Career:...
, Northern Uproar
Northern Uproar
Northern Uproar are an English rock band from Heald Green, Stockport. They formed in 1995 and initially disbanded in 1997. The band reunited in 2006 and are currently working on their fourth album. They released three albums and a number of singles, several of which charted in the UK Singles Chart...
, Zion Train
Zion Train
Zion Train are a British dub reggae ensemble . Initially formed in Oxford as a sound system in 1988 by Neil Perch and Ben Hamilton, Colin Cod and Dave Tench joined in 1990 upon relocation to London. The line-up was added to with vocalist Molara in 1992...
, Kava Kava (band), , Marion
Marion
-People:Surname*Francis Marion, the "Swamp Fox", American Revolutionary War general*J. Paul Marion, Canadian politician*Jean-Luc Marion, a continental philosopher*Marty Marion, American baseball player, nicknamed "Mr...
, Transglobal Underground
Transglobal underground
Transglobal Underground is a London-based music collective who specialise in a fusion of western, oriental and African music styles...
, Intastella
Intastella
Intastella were an alternative rock band from Manchester who evolved from the earlier band Laugh. They had four top-75 hits in the UK during the 1990s.-History:...
, Fundamental
Fundamental
Fundamental may refer to:* Foundation of reality* Fundamental frequency, as in music or phonetics, often referred to as simply a "fundamental"...
, Eat Static
Eat Static
Eat Static is an electronic music project from Frome, Somerset, England formed in 1989 by Merv Pepler and Joie Hinton. Hinton left the group in February 2008 after 18 years to spend more time with his family.-History:...
, Cud
Cud
Cud is a portion of food that returns from a ruminant's stomach in the mouth to be chewed for the second time. More accurately, it is a bolus of semi-degraded food regurgitated from the reticulorumen of a ruminant. Cud is produced during the physical digestive process of rumination, or "chewing the...
, X-CNN, The Wedding Present
The Wedding Present
The Wedding Present are a British indie rock group based in Leeds, England, formed in 1985 from the ashes of the Lost Pandas. The band's music has evolved from fast-paced indie rock in the vein of their most obvious influences The Fall, Buzzcocks and Gang of Four to more varied forms...
, Utah Saints
Utah Saints
Utah Saints is a dance band based in Leeds, England. The music is produced by Jez Willis and Tim Garbutt, who are joined on-stage by other musicians whenever the band plays live...
, Revolutionary Dub Warriors, Banco Da Gaia, Chumbawamba
Chumbawamba
Chumbawamba is a British musical group who have, over a career spanning nearly three decades, played punk rock, pop-influenced music, world music, and folk music...
, Loop Guru
Loop Guru
Loop Guru is a worldbeat group consisting of bassist/guitarist Salman Gita and programmer Jamuud . They first met around 1980 and initially played together in The Transmitters and released their debut single as Loop Guru, Shrine, in 1992...
, Ukrainians
Ukrainians
Ukrainians are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Ukraine, which is the sixth-largest nation in Europe. The Constitution of Ukraine applies the term 'Ukrainians' to all its citizens...
, Tony Benn
Tony Benn
Anthony Neil Wedgwood "Tony" Benn, PC is a British Labour Party politician and a former MP and Cabinet Minister.His successful campaign to renounce his hereditary peerage was instrumental in the creation of the Peerage Act 1963...
, Autechre
Autechre
Autechre are an English electronic music duo consisting of Rob Brown and Sean Booth, both natives of Rochdale, Greater Manchester. Formed in 1987, they are one of the most prominent acts signed to Warp Records, a label known for its pioneering electronic music and through which all Autechre albums...
, Moonflowers
Moonflowers
The Moonflowers were a Bristol-based rock band formed in 1987. The band was active as a performing and recording unit until 1997. To date they have released eight EPs and seven LPs on their own PopGod Records label, home to numerous other Bristol-based artists including Praise Space Electric , Me,...
. The Music Industry got further behind the CFE when music magazines NME
NME
The New Musical Express is a popular music publication in the United Kingdom, published weekly since March 1952. It started as a music newspaper, and gradually moved toward a magazine format during the 1980s, changing from newsprint in 1998. It was the first British paper to include a singles...
and Melody Maker
Melody Maker
Melody Maker, published in the United Kingdom, was, according to its publisher IPC Media, the world's oldest weekly music newspaper. It was founded in 1926 as a magazine targeted at musicians; in 2000 it was merged into "long-standing rival" New Musical Express.-1950s–1960s:Originally the Melody...
revealed that members of the NUS wrote to the various artists asking them not to support the CFE in this way. "No Compromize" went on to be released through independent record label Delerium Records
Delerium Records
Delerium Records was a UK record label, that specialised in psychedelic music which ran from 1991 to 2003, and was notable in promoting the careers of bands including Porcupine Tree, Ozric Tentacles, Kava Kava, Mandragora, Sons of Selina and Moom and for starting the Freak Emporium and Molten...
.
The CFE maintained a continuous presence of NUS executive members, being particularly strong in the LGBT
LGBT
LGBT is an initialism that collectively refers to "lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender" people. In use since the 1990s, the term "LGBT" is an adaptation of the initialism "LGB", which itself started replacing the phrase "gay community" beginning in the mid-to-late 1980s, which many within the...
and Women's Campaigns. They saw successive NUS Conferences pass policy in line with their positions on opposing tuition fees and top-up fees, but continued to complain that the NUS National Executive Committee did not actively fight for this. The CFE often stood candidates for the major NEC positions in a coalition slate with various groups including the Student Broad Left
Student Broad Left
Student Broad Left is a factional grouping operating within the National Union of Students of the United Kingdom.The group was formed in 1997 as a split from the Campaign for Free Education and first contested NUS elections in 1998...
, the Socialist Workers' Students' Society and the National Black Students' Alliance but generally won only one position out of six at most in successive years. Several of the successful candidates, whether from the CFE or other groups, subsequently publicly fell out with their original supporters, weakening the organisation.
In 2004, Kat Fletcher
Kat Fletcher
Kathryn Jane Fletcher was president of the UK National Union of Students between 2004 and 2006, the first to be elected from a political slate clearly to the left of Labour Students, who had held the position for most of the previous twenty years.-Early life:Fletcher was formerly the General...
, standing for the CFE, was elected as the first non-Labour Students
Labour Students
Labour Students is a student organisation affiliated to the British Labour Party.Membership comprises affiliated college and university clubs . Membership of Labour Students is through membership of a university or college Labour Club. Affiliation is open to any Labour Club generally supportive of...
backed NUS President in twenty years. However, she left the group shortly afterwards and moved towards the right wing of the organisation. The CFE gradually declined until its remaining activists took part in the founding of a new, Education Not for Sale
Education Not for Sale
Education Not for Sale is a radical left-wing student campaign in the United Kingdom.The name originally derives from the "European Education Not for Sale network" and was first used by socialist and other radical activists at the National Union of Students of the United Kingdom conference in...
network.