Socialist Youth has made a big impact at the Freshers' Day stalls at all the main colleges across Northern Ireland.

Members attended stalls in Magee College, Derry, University of Ulster Coleraine and Jordanstown, at the Belfast Arts College and at Queens and got a very good response with people signing up to the socialist societies in all these colleges.

In Coleraine UU, ten people joined the Socialist Society and new members are organising a meeting to discuss in more detail how a socialist alternative can be built locally and internationally.

In Magee, young comrades were told by the Magee Students Union that the Socialist Society was not an official society and therefore was not entitled to have a stall at the Freshers' Fayre. When challenged why the banks, who are exploiting students, were allowed to have many stalls, the SU reps were too busy to explain. This however failed to deter us in holding a successful stall outside where we met lots of students.

This year the Socialist Party and Socialist Youth has many members at Queens University Belfast where a meeting entitled 'No more blood for oil - What future for Iraq?'. Has been organised. At the Freshers Fayre stall 26 people joined and have expressed interest in getting active in the Socialist Party as well.

Terry Hughes is a student at Coleraine University of Ulster, and is now organising the Socialist Society in Coleraine.

"I joined the Socialist Party because there is an urgent need to build a political alternative which can unite working people and students on the basis of fighting for socialism.

"No other group on the left was able to convince me of how to successfully do this without siding in one sectarian camp or the other.

"But I also believe that the young people active through Socialist Youth and the party is a sign that the ideas of genuine socialism are having a real impact in society today."