EXPLORING STUDENT POLITICS

Anirban Banerjee

 

PUBLISHED BY

Manasi Banerjee

BURDWAN,WEST BENGAL, INDIA

1998

PRICE; Rs.250

ABOUT THE BOOK

Exploring Student Politics consists of four critical essays on student politics. These were

originally published in various academic journals. They were later revised and published

in book form. In the first article,” Students & Politics: A Comparative perspective”, the

author, after a comparative study of student movements in various countries, has tried to

point out 1) the major characteristics of student movements and 2) the factors leading to

student power movements.1) The major features of student movements are idealism,

elitism, internationalism and political mindedness.2) Seven key factors lead to student

movements. These are national liberation movements, government policy, the education

system, generation gap, social background, unemployment, and alienation.

The second essay, “The Psychology of Student Protest: A Motivational Analysis” is a

study of the key factors in student activism, which were distilled after a comparative

analysis of student movements in various nations. The main motivating factors, which the

author identified, were the desire for power, anti-establishment feelings and radical

attitudes.

The third paper, “The Class character of the Student Movement: A Critique of Two

Theories” is a study of two major theories of student movements. The New Left theory

contends that college and university students are a part of the working class and ripe for

leading the revolution against capitalism. The theoreticians positing the generation gap

theory argue that students conceptualize class consciousness in terms of the generation

gap. Rejecting both these approaches, I have argued that students cannot be regarded as

a class, either in the Marxian or the Weberian sense. For both Marx and Weber, the term

“class” has an economic connotation. For Marx, class is based on relation of a person to

the means of production, i.e., whether he owns the means of production or not. For

Weber, class position means market position. Students are not a class, though they belong

to the middle class. Their consciousness is not based on class position. Rather it is based

on knowledge.

The fourth and final article, entitled, “Student Politics in India: a Historical

Profile” is a case study of the student movement in India employing the historical

method. In this essay, I have attempted a chronological exposition of the main currents in

Indian student movement from the days of the Young Bengal movement in the mid-19

th century till mid-August, 1998-when the manuscript was sent to the press. I have divided

the history of the student movement into three phases. In the proto-historical phase,

which coincided with the introduction of western education in India by the British

colonial regime, the student movement was in an incipient stage. This formative period of

the student movement lasted till 1905. It is in the stage of the freedom struggle (1905-

1947) that the student movement was institutionalized. It played an important role in

India’s freedom struggle. Many student martyrs, like Khudiram Bose, who are household

names now, came from lower middle class families; their dominant ideology was

patriotism. From 1947 onwards, the student movement entered a new phase which is

continuing till this day. In independent India, there has been a phenomenal growth of the

education system. Thanks to the policy of subsidized education, wards of small peasants,

workers, etc. can also reap the benefits of education. The student movement has focussed

on many issues ranging from opposing imperialism and combating authoritarian and

corrupt rulers to issues that directly concern the student community, i.e, examinations and

unemployment. The students took part in many progressive movements like the

Naxalbari movement and the movement against Ms. Indira Gandhi’s authoritarian

policies in the seventies. But, from the eighties, reactionary movements like the Assam

movement, the anti-Mandal Commission movement, etc. took place. To conclude, while

the student movement has had an overall progressive essence, casteism, communal and

secessionist tendencies, which may be described as “a counter current in the youth

movement”, are also present.

This book has been graced with a ‘Foreword ‘by noted educationist and

researcher on student activism, Prof. Anil Baran Ray.