Of late, vanity has been plastered with leaflets bearing the slogan "Worried about the Right?" These leaflets herald the arrival of a new political group on campus, the Progressive Students' Alliance (PSA). This week Salient examines the aims of this group and the necessity for forming it.

A cursory glance through the pages of Truth or the letters to the Editor column of Salient would give the impression that, from time immemorial, student politics has been dominated by "left-wing radicals" Surprisingly perhaps, this is not the case. Since its heyday in the ′30s and ′40s the left has only emerged as a political force on campus within the last ten years.

Emerging from such diverse groups as Student Labour Federation, the Labour Party and the Student Christian Movement progressive left-wing students gained the support of the student majority, and in 1972 convincingly won the elections for the VUWSA executive.

Times have changed in the last six years, and now the left is struggling against massive student apathy and an abysmally low level of political awareness on campus. If this university is to avoid seeing the disappearance of all the positive and progressive forces in it, the left will be forced to undertake some very intense work. It is not enough merely to raise the political consciousness of students, it must also build an organisation in which the political understanding of progressive and potentially progressive students can continually develop. This on-going organisation must operate exclusively at the student level.

The necessity for such an organisation is easily seen if we look at the students presently active in the development of progressive policies. With a few exceptions, they arrived at varsity in the heady days of the early and mid-70s, and naturally grew into the activity flourishing at the time. Now such activity is on the decline and with little real effort being made to seek out progressive students, many are passing through the system without ever being involved in work at the campus level.

The National Context

This is particularly serious if we examine the issue from a level of national politics. The university represents an almost unique situation in our society. To some extent freed from the imposition of predominantly middle-class values from their parents (whose children are the greatest single grouping in the system), yet not assigned by society, through job allocation, to their own class, students represent an intermediate strata of society. Progressive students are failing in their responsibility if they fail to seek to mobilise this group, for the potential for political activity of kinds by students will always remain high.

The formation of the PSA is an attempt to right some of these ills. It may represent too little too late; nevertheless, unless we want to commit future generations of students to starting from scratch we must at least try. To some extent the success with which the PSA achieves these goals will depend on how successfully it manages to mould together the conflicting forces at work on campus. To be truly successful it must appeal to as wider a grouping as possible without compromising its fundamental principles.

But before we can even begin to discuss the political ideology of the group, it would be wise to examine the reasons which have been proposed for the decline of the left on campus, for if the PSA is going to fulfil its aims it must be able to surmount the problems that the left now face.

The Issues

One widely expounded reason for the current low level of political activity and awareness on campus, is the lack of issues. This lack denies the left any base from which to reach out and contact both students and the society in general. While it is certainly true that there are no issues current in the sense that Vietnam and South Africa were causes of such contention a decade ago, the absense is clearly not due to an improvement in the world situation.

At present there is intense political struggle in the third world as people fight for their freedom against the spectre of Imperialism. While none of these struggles have produced wars of the magnitude, publicity and effect on New Zealand of the Vietnam war, the principles are the same, the bitterness as great, and our obligation to support the same. Only our level of commitment seems to have changed. The other great focal point for activity, South Africa, still exists. New Zealand has not severed its links with it. Indeed it appears that as the regime becomes harsher and more oppressive, our contacts with it are strengthened.

There is also another great issue, not present in the earlier era, the menace represented by Muldoon. Ironically the man who was elected on a platform of "Red Baiting", playing on people's fears of a state controlled socialist system, is dramatically increasing the amount of Government control over us all. The only matter for specualtion is just how far Muldoon will be able to go in building his oppressive State machinery.

We have already seen the three examples of the Abortion legislation, the SIS Ammendment Act and the massive display of force at Bastion Point. These are issues as large and important to New Zealanders as any we will face, and as the economic crisis intensifies, the state will bring even harsher action against the people of the country.

Beyond all doubt the issues are there. The difference is that in the ′60s the issues were created for us by the media, by similar activities overseas. This time around we have got to do it for ourselves. Hopefully the PSA will be the first step along this largely untravelled path.

In the light of this it seems facile to argue that the decline of the left is due to the disappearance of issues. The real fault in this area is in the inability of the left on campus to build issues out of them unaided.

The Internal Conflicts

There is one major trap which the PSA will have to avoid. In the early 70s the left proceeded at a very advanced ideological level which many progressive students were unable or disinclined to follow. The progressive movement rapidly developed into an elitist organisation which many students were unable to relate to or participate in.

However pleasing it would be to assign blame for this, if viewed in the historical context this development is understandable and in a sense worked to the benefit of the progressive movement.

In the early 70s the left had just emerged from its hibernation which had lasted since the 40s. As it grew in stature and strength it began to realise some fundamental internal contradictions, notably with the various Trotskyite groups. The resulting split however, while important, was along fairly intricate lines. Consequently the progressive left became more self-centred rather than trying to enlist mass support.

Its major opponents in this struggle were the Trotskyites. While others concentrated their efforts on the executive where they vigorously actioned progressive policy, the Trotskyites were forced to form their own organisation. The result was the Young Socialists. Because the progressive left tended to rely too heavily on the executive as a means of following their policies it never developed a proper organisational base. This policy is now regrettable for it is very possible that the right will make a substantial killing in this year's election.

Changes within the University

Another important factor in the decline of the left, and the one factor that seems to be a real stumbling block is the changing nature of the university itself. The worsening of the economic crisis has placed a greater financial strain on students. As students become forced to become more dependent on their parents two undesirable trends emerge.

First, the independence from parents and their values mentioned earlier as an important factor in the potential for political awareness amongst students, is diminished. Secondly, it is only upper middle class parents who are able to provide this support, so we see a further narrowing of the range of backgrounds of those attending university.

Another closely related factor is the introduction of rigorous internal assessment schemes. This has forced students to become more committed to their courses simply in order to pass them. Consequently those students who could have become involved are kept at their desks, their potential for political work even further destroyed by the cynicism that our mind-crusher system so often produces.

The Struggle Against the Right

These factors in themselves do not preclude an increased political awareness on campus, however they do necessitate a new approach. In particular the need for an organisation is very strong, as this is the only way that a system can be set up where people can make a valuable contribution without having to make an arduous committment in terms of time.

The progressive left-wing students on campus are, on the whole committed to a particular path. Possessing, in general, a depth of political understanding denied their opponents, they are always moving forward. Responding to particular situations they have generally formulated action around the important issues.

Their opponents (right-wing students) on the other hand lack any comprehensive policy. Lacking any ability of desire to initiate action on their own behalf their sole function has been to attack the activities that the left initiates. The conflict is between an attitude of activity and one of inactivity.

With the absence of the left from executive and other leading positions on campus a rapid decline would result on all fronts, for in its chaotically disorganised state the right, having lost the justification for its existence (attacking the left) would be in a vacuum. All activity, political or otherwise, would decrease, and it would take many years to build it up again. Furthermore, the possibility of right wing student support for anti-democratic government measures cannot be overlooked. It happened in 1951, it could happen again. This is in addition to the fact that there are major issues coming up, around which every possible effort must be made to involve students.

From a strong PSA we could reasonably hope that a political climate conducive to progressive moves could be recreated in the minimum possible time. We must recognise that the political apathy present in the university at present is the greatest weapon the right has at its disposal, and we can be fairly sure that any negative move will be greeted with silence (taken as approval) from the student body.

It is relatively easy to talk about these things in academic terms. The point is, students who are worried about the right must become more active, and more organised.

Peter Beach