A Cardiff student leads a campus movement calling for abandoning Capitalism. What exactly makes young generations so concerned?
In the glow of Cardiff University’s common room, Alice stands tall before a camera with unwavering determination. “Kick capitalism off the campus!” she shouted, her passionate supporters raised their fists and waved red flags, their voices echoing with chants of solidarity. This is more than just a gathering, it is a movement in the making.
Alice Nicholson is a 21-year-old student activist at the forefront of the growing campus movement. She records and posts videos everyday, dramatic words drawing hundreds of comments within hours, some in fervent agreement, others branding her “dangerously radical.” But none of this shakes her.
Her message is simple. “Capitalism is failing young people, and communism is the answer.”
“I was always very frustrated with how politics was going everywhere,” Alice explains. “I looked into every different political angle and found that Marxism could explain exactly why these problems exist.”
For Alice, capitalism’s core flaw lies in what Marxists call the “crisis of overproduction”, where goods are produced in abundance, but the working class cannot afford to buy them. She argues the result is an unequal system in which the ruling class profits while ordinary people are left behind.
She draws inspiration from historical revolutions, particularly the Bolsheviks of the Russian Revolution, who were the first to implement a planned economy. “We base ourselves off the Bolsheviks from the Russian Revolution,” Alice says. “Communism would be a classless, moneyless, and stateless society. That is the end goal.
But she believes that mass mobilisation should come before any of that. “We need to connect with as many students and workers as possible,” Alice says. “There has to be a united movement across higher education that stands against university cuts.”
Building a brand-new social system in the UK seems to be a far abstract aspiration, but so too was Brexit. Communism is not only desirable but feasible for Alice.
“People think that the UK is too conservative or something. But I think it is definitely possible,” Alice says. “Look at the Palestine movement, millions of people took to the streets in London. And last year, junior doctors and nurses went on strike. That was a turning point. We’ll see more unions, more strikes, more industrial action.”
Alice is currently running for Cardiff University’s Student Union President. Her platform revolves around three key demands, ending the marketization and privatization of education, ensuring financial transparency by demanding university management “open the books,” and giving students and workers control over how the university is run.
This disenchantment with the current system is not just Alice’s personal belief, but now a growing sentiment among young people across the UK. According to the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) report, nearly eight out of 10 young Britons blame capitalism for the housing crisis and climate change, two-thirds want to live under a socialist economic system.
“I think for many young people, they only seen capitalism in crisis, capitalism has never given them anything good.” Alice says, “Since the 2008 financial crash, the world economy has never really recovered. Young people look around and see failing schools, unaffordable housing, endless war, and austerity. They have no hope in the [capitalism] system at all.”
What might have once been a fringe belief has now become more of a “fashion statement” in youth discourse in the UK. According to YouGov polling, only around 36% of young people had a favorable view of socialism in 2018. However, Intercardiff found a significant shift, 67% of young Britons favor a socialist economic system, According to a survey by IEA. This represents a 90% increase in socialist support within less than a decade.
She identifies housing and healthcare as prime examples. “We have a housing crisis, yet there are more empty homes than homeless people. Sections of the NHS are being privatized for profit unnecessarily.”Alice says. “if we had a planned economy, we could immediately have the NHS back up to support everyone.”
This shift in sentiment isn’t confined to the UK. A global study by the Fraser Institute shows rising youth support for socialism in Canada, the United States, and Australia as well.
Alice sees her campaign as part of a broader, international awakening. “At the moment, the campaign is about reaching as many people as possible, explaining our ideas, and helping them spread.”
Across the UK, student-led movements are demanding radical change. Despite online backlash and criticism, Alice’s message continues to resonate. Socialist and communist student groups are now active in almost every major university—and their influence is growing.
“I think it’s good all of the comments because it means that the video will get pushed to more people and more young people will find it who are looking for answers about the world,” Alice says.