Julyan Phillips, 23, a student at Goldsmiths College in London, who had blood pouring from a cut on his head, said: “I was on the front line. I walked up to the police, had my hands behind my back.”

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He said he was demonstrating because “education is a right, not a privilege”.

The ‘student protest’ last week in England is another excellent illustration of how corrosive big government programs (socialism) are to any society.

At the root of this problem is that once people become accustomed to big government programs, they become dependent them and don’t want to let go. They develop a ‘fear of freedom’:

These protesters make a textbook case. Faced with the daunting and fearful prospect of having to make a major private decision – that is, whether obtaining a degree is worth incurring a personal debt – they quickly assembled a collective that allowed them to feel as if they had strength. Now, despite their stated opposition to the government, the collective’s members rush headlong into the arms of the State, begging her to keep them as dependants and absolve them of personal responsibility.

To be sure, there are students in this country who will respond to the funding cuts by working hard and preparing for the worst job market in years, instead of occupying buildings while playing acoustic guitar. They understand that all action is individual, and that their own initiative – not the state’s – will determine their personal success.

But for those who, in a panic, choose not take their future into their own hands, I would point again to Fromm for a word of warning: “a man, trapped in a fire, stands at the window of his room and shouts for help, forgetting entirely that no one can hear him and that he could still escape by the staircase which will also be aflame in a few minutes. He shouts because he wants to be saved, and for the moment this behavior appears to be a step on the way to being saved – and yet it will end in complete catastrophe.“