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To Austerity measures: We Answer with struggle!

Editor’s note:

The idea of a people’s party or movement to rise in opposition to capitalism (the actual but seldom used name for global corporatism) is routinely dismissed by the innumerable propaganda mouthpieces of corporate power as ludicrous. Not too long ago, such apologists for capitalist dominance even pronounced class struggle itself “dead” (they conveniently renamed the event “the end of ideology” since ideology had been previously sufficiently slandered as to justify elimination from “respectable politics.”) The obit was of course premature, but the true hypocrisy in such assertions lies in the fact that not only is class struggle very much alive around the world, including the US, one of the most politically confused and passive nations on earth, but that it is continuously practiced from above, often unilaterally, by the very forces proclaiming its demise. The “class struggle” that inconveniences the world’s plutocrats is not a phenomenon dismissable at will, but an inevitabile part of capitalism itself, of the dynamics of history, which causes it. In that sense, it’s as inevitable and impregnable as the unity of “concave” with “convex”. Neither can exist alone as one implies the other.

This is then the context for this report by our European correspondent and Senior Editor Gaither Stewart, currently based in Rome. The report –essentially a position paper prepared by rank-and-file Italian communists from the Naples region and translated by our correspondent—speaks for itself. Much as Americans have been conditioned, like Pavlovian dogs, to cringe in fear and loathing at the sound of the word “communist” or ”socialist”, we recommend this material to our readers.  —P. Greanville

Gaither  notes:

These people are outside official party structures. They appear in a certain sense naive but maybe reflect a return to the future of Marx. I don’t know. I suppose the idea [here] is to inform readers that such sentiments still exist here and there in the world. This group is based in Naples. Good old Napoli.  —GS

No To Austerity Measures!

La lotta continua!

An immense rage has gripped Greece and the social situation is now explosive. At this moment, the Greek state is unleashing terrible blows against the working class. All age groups and all proletarian sectors have been hard hit. Workers in the private sector, government employees, the unemployed, the retired, students, all persons in precarious jobs … no one is safe. The entire working class risks sinking into misery.

Faced with these attacks, the [Greek] proletariat has reacted. It takes to the streets, demonstrating its refusal to accept sacrifices imposed by capital without batting an eyelash.

But for the moment, the struggle is unable to develop and become a mass movement. Greek workers are experiencing difficult times. What can one do when the entire mass media and all the politicians claim there is no other solution except tightening one’s belt to save the country from bankruptcy? How to resist this voracious monster that is the state 9in the hands of the rich]? What methods of struggle to employ to build a power relationship favourable to the exploited?

All of these question do not concern only workers who live in Greece, but the proletariat of the whole world. We should have no illusions, the “Greek tragedy” is only an anticipation of that which will soon strike workers all over the world. And in fact “Greek style austerity measures” have been officially announced in Portugal, Romania, Japan and Spain (where the government just cut salaries of state employees by 5%). In Italy the same thing is under preparation. All these attacks carried out simultaneously show once again that workers, independently of their nationality, form one class which has the same interests and the same enemies everywhere. The bourgeoisie—the government of the wealthy and for the wealthy—forces the proletariat to bear the heavy chains of salaried labor, but the links of these chains bond together workers of all countries, beyond national borders.  The concerns and interests of workers are global, too. Those under attack in Greece who have begun, with great difficulty, to try to fight back are our class brothers. Their struggle is also our struggle.

Solidarity with the workers of Greece!

One class only, the same struggle!

We reject the divisions the bourgeoisie tries to impose on us. To the old principle of the dominant classes, “divide to rule better”, we counter with the cry for unity of the exploited: “Proletarians of all countries unite!”

In Europe, the various national bourgeoisies attempt to convince workers that they must tighten their belts because of Greece. The dishonesty of responsible Greeks who permitted the country to live on credit for decades by falsifying public accounts are, according to them, the chief cause of the crisis of international confidence in the Euro. All governments are using this pretext, one after the other, to justify the “necessity” of reducing state deficits and the adoption of draconian austerity plans.

In Greece, all official parties, led by the Communist Party, have stirred up nationalistic sentiments, pointing at “foreign powers” as responsible for the attacks. “Down with the IMF and the European Union,” “Down with Germany”…such are the slogans used by the left and the extreme left in demonstrations to save Greek national capital. In this way the dominant class tries to inject nationalism into the workers’ veins, real poison of the struggle.

In the United States, if the stock market falls, it is the fault of the instability of the European Union; if business enterprises shut down, it is the fault of the weakness of the euro which hinders the dollar and exports … In sum, each national bourgeosie accuses its neighbour and uses this foul blackmail: “accept the sacrifices otherwise the country will become weaker and our competitors will benefit.”

This world divided into competitor nations is not our world. People who MUST work for a living have nothing to gain by linking their fate to that of capital of the nation in which they live. Acceptance of sacrifices today in the name of “defense of the national economy” only means preparation for other sacrifices, still heavier ones, tomorrow.

If Greece is “on the edge of the chasm,” if Spain, Italy, Ireland, Portugal are about to follow Greece, if the United Kingdom, France, Germany, the United Sates are in the storm, it is because capitalism is a moribund system [whose infirmities make life extremely difficult for the average person, not those who benefit from the system]. All countries are destined to this degeneracy. The world economy has been in crisis for 40 years. One recession follows the other. Only a desperate flight into debt has permitted capitalism some growth thus far. The result is that today families, businesses, banks, states are all hyper-indebted. The bankruptcy of Greece is only the most outstanding, general, historic failure of this system of exploitation.

The bourgeoise wants to divide us. Our opposition is our solidarity! The strength of the working class is its unity!

The announced “austerity plans”—euphemistically called “belt tightening measures”— constitute a frontal and generalized attack on our living conditions. The only possible answer is therefore a mass workers movement. It is impossible to conduct this struggle with each of us closed in within one’s own affairs, in one’s own school or one’s own sector, alone. Isolated, in small groups. A mass struggle is necessary if we want to avoid being crushed and reduced to misery.

Now, what are the trade unions doing, these organizations that on paper are the official specialists of the struggle? They organize strikes in various factories … but without trying to unite them. They work actively to strengthen corporatism, in particular putting in opposition workers in the public sector to those in the private sector. They exhaust workers supporting them in sterile days of mobilization. In reality they are precisely the specialists of worker division! And they also inject nationalism. Just one example: the slogan chanted at the manifestation of GSEE (the Greek General Trade Union) in mid March was … “buy Greek”!

To follow the trade unions means to move toward division and defeat. Workers instead must take the initiative of struggle, organizing themselves in general assemblies, deciding collectively the passwords and demands, electing revocable delegates and forming mass delegations to discuss with workers nearby in the factories, offices, schools, hospitals … to encourage them to join the movement.

Do without trade unions, dare to take in hand the reins of one’s own struggle, take the step toward meeting one’s class brothers … all that may seem difficult. And in fact this is one of the major brakes on the development of the struggle: the proletariat lacks confidence in itself, it has no awareness of the strength of its formidable capacities. For the moment, the violence of capital’s attacks, the brutality of the economic crisis, the lack of self-confidence of the proletariat act as paralyzing factors. Workers responses, including in Greece, are a far cry from that demanded by the gravity of the situation. Yet, the future belongs to the class struggle. In face of the attacks on it, the prospects point toward the development of a movement more and more of the masses.

Some people ask us: “Why engage in these struggles? Where will they lead us? Since capitalism is in decline no reform is really possible. Therefore there is not escape exit.” In fact, within this system of exploitation there is no way out. But refusing to be treated like a dog and struggling collectively means to fight for our dignity, it means to become conscious that in this world of exploitation solidarity exists and the working class is capable of taking advantage of this inestimable human sentiment. So, the possibility that another world can exist begins to appear, a world without borders or homelands, without exploitation or misery, a world made for human beings and not for profit. The working class can and must have confidence in itself. It alone is capable of building this new society and to reconcile humanity with itself, passing “from the kingdom of necessity to that of freedom.” (Marx)

Capitalism is a bankrupt system.

But another world is possible: Communism!

Corrente Comunista Internazionale, 30 maggio 2010

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