Scottish Organisation of Labour Students

Scottish Labour Students
Chairperson	Kate Shaw Nelson
Mother party	Scottish Labour Party, Labour Party (UK)
Website

Scottish Labour Students (SLS), is a student society affiliated to the Scottish Labour Party, and part of the UK wide organisation Labour Students.

Scottish Labour Students aim to bring Labour values to campuses and represent students within the Labour Party throughout Scotland. SLS hold regular Scottish events including SLS Conference in November and SLS Council in February. In addition, its members are often invited to hear major speakers at Labour Party events throughout the year. Glasgow University Labour Club and Edinburgh Labour Students are the two biggest clubs within SLS.

The organisation was founded as the Organisation of Labour Students (SOLS) in 1970/71, however it is a direct descendant of the Scottish Association of Labour Student Organisations (SALSO) which had existed since 1946. In the 1960s SALSO's UK equivalent, the National Association of Labour Student Organisations (NALSO), was taken over by Trotskyists and disaffiliated from the Labour Party. SALSO, however, successfully resisted any take-over attempts.

SOLS remained famous for its hostility to Trotskyism and its members were key to recovering control of the National Organisation of Labour Students, NOLS, from the Militant tendency in 1975 and the following year SOLS members took the famous "icepick express" (a bus with an icepick - the weapon used to kill Trotsky - attached to the front) to that year's NOLS conference at Lancaster University. This incident is recalled in some detail in Michael Crick's book on the Militant tendency. (See Clause Four Group.) Those who were involved included Bill Speirs and Dave Smith (NOLS chair).

SLS is made up of affiliated Labour Clubs at universities across Scotland.

SLS has a twelve-member committee, currently including:

All positions are elected at the annual SLS Conference held in November.

The SLS committee includes representatives from each of the 4 liberation campaigns recognised by Labour Students: Women's, LGBT+, Disabled Students and Black Minority Ethnic. Each campaign is autonomous and hold events and discussions designed at highlighting issues relevant to them to the wider Labour Students movement.

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