I have previously commented that the Federation of Conservative Students were “in some ways, a mirror image of the far-left they claimed to despise.” I added that the FCS “may have loathed the political views of the far-left, but they admired their methods.”
The snippet that I copy from The Times Diary from the period of the 1984-85 miners’ strike, shows that this was not an exaggeration. In fact, I may have understated my point: not only did the FCS admire the methods of the far-left, they went so far as to replicate a mirror image of the far-left’s actions.
The Times Diary
The Times, August 17, 1984, p.8.
Silver saplings
Enough is enough, say the Thatcherite zealots who now hold sway at the Federation of Conservative students. Tired of government pussyfooting over the miners’ strike, they plan to picket London stations, collecting money for non-striking miners whose homes have been damaged by Scargill’s “red fascist thugs”, slapping “Smash Scargill” stickers on unwary commuters and handing out leaflets demanding that the mines be privatized. “We are,” says the chairman, Mark [sic: Marc] Glendenning, “taking the battle on to the streets.” Does Central Office condone such violence?
The answer to the question posed by the diarist is almost certainly that Conservative Central Office did not approve. By 1986, they had enough of the antics of the FCS and the organisation was duly closed down.
