Quite a few left-wing student activists will have encountered 'Student Broad Left' (SBL) and been somewhat bewildered by both their political stances and the sectarian, cynical, bullying way they operate. On first sight, they are bewildering. This is an attempt to explain them.

As the name suggests, SBL presents itself as a broad left-wing organisation. In fact it is a very narrow front for Socialist Action ( http://www.socialistaction.net). They founded it in 1997 as a split from the then very large Campaign for Free Education (a sort of ancestor of the National Campaign Against Fees and Cuts), because they were frustrated they could not control CFE.

It is hard to know which SBL members are in Socialist Action and which aren’t, because one of the group’s defining characteristics is secrecy; believe it or not, no one will admit that they are an SA member and many who almost certainly are deny any knowledge of the group. That secrecy is one of the reasons for writing this briefing, so that people know who they are dealing with - including the small number of independent people who may be around the edges of SBL, but don't have a clear idea of SA's politics.

One thing which makes SA and SBL seem strange is that they combine a general political world view, particularly on international questions, which you would have to call Stalinist with a very 'moderate' take on domestic issues, ie the class struggle in Britain.

For more read the full briefing here  http://www.workersliberty.org/socialistaction