The strike wave in Europe and the decay of bourgeois democracy

[Henk Elegeert]

REPLY TO: D66 at nic.surfnet.nl

Bert,

Als ze zijn opgesteld volgens het (wij zijn Comrades, en dus - per definitie
- niet kritisch op wat men schrijft) (is: http://wsws.org/) format, lees ik
ze al niet eens meer.

De hele opbouw is een cirkelredenering, en dat keer, op keer, op keer, op
keer, op keer, op keer, op keer  ...  uitkomst is (vooraf al) bekend.

Wat Jansen nu eigenlijk zelf vindt ??
Tsja, is een Limbo, en die hebben geen eigen mening ... :))
Of hooguit eentje die ze (trotski) kunnen lenin, oops lenen.

Henk Elegeert


2010/10/20 Bert Bakker <bertbakker7 at gmail.com>

> REPLY TO: D66 at nic.surfnet.nl
>
> Toch interessant altijd, die historische artikelen van Anti Doto...
>
>
>
> 2010/10/20 Antid Oto <aorta at home.nl>
>
> > REPLY TO: D66 at nic.surfnet.nl
> >
> > The strike wave in Europe and the decay of bourgeois democracy
> > 20 October 2010
> >
> > The growing struggles of the working class in Europe and internationally
> > against
> > mass unemployment and government austerity policies are exposing the
> > reality
> > behind the façade of bourgeois democracy. In every country, the
> government,
> > whether conservative or nominally “left,” is cutting jobs and wages and
> > slashing
> > social programs in complete disregard for the overwhelming opposition of
> > the
> > population.
> >
> > Elections, parliamentary debates have no effect on policy. The state does
> > the
> > bidding of the financial aristocracy, tearing up the living standards of
> > the
> > masses in the interests of the bankers who are responsible for the
> economic
> > crisis. The financiers and corporate executives are making more money
> than
> > ever
> > by exploiting mass unemployment and growing social distress to slash
> wages
> > and
> > increase the exploitation of the working class.
> >
> > Where the best efforts of the trade unions do not suffice to hold the
> > workers in
> > check and struggles break out that challenge the plans of the
> capitalists,
> > most
> > prominently in France and Greece, the state uses its powers of repression
> > to
> > smash strikes and protests. In France, the Sarkozy government has
> deployed
> > riot
> > police to break up workers’ blockades of oil depots and attack protesting
> > students with tear gas and rubber bullets, arresting hundreds across the
> > country.
> >
> > In Greece, the social democratic PASOK government, elected with the
> support
> > of
> > the unions, deployed the military to break a strike by truckers in
> August.
> > Last
> > week, the same government used riot police and tear gas against culture
> > ministry
> > employees occupying the Acropolis to protest mass layoffs.
> >
> > Despite these attacks, the resistance of the working class is growing.
> The
> > current wave of strikes and protests in France is the most developed
> > expression
> > of a new stage in the international class struggle. It marks a shift in
> the
> > world political situation of historic proportions. The working class is
> > once
> > again entering into battle against the capitalists.
> >
> > Recent days have seen the spread of the strike movement in France, the
> > outbreak
> > of a strike in Greece that has paralyzed the country’s rail system, and a
> > demonstration of hundreds of thousands in Rome protesting the policies of
> > the
> > Berlusconi government.
> >
> > There have been one-day general strikes and mass protests in Spain,
> > Portugal and
> > Ireland, strikes by workers in Romania, and powerful strikes by auto
> > workers in
> > China and by workers in India, Cambodia and Bangla Desh.
> >
> > In Britain, the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government is
> > imposing
> > historically unprecedented cuts totaling 83 billion pounds, which will
> mean
> > the
> > loss of at least 500,000 jobs in the public sector and another 500,000 in
> > the
> > private sector.
> >
> > British workers have repeatedly sought to resist the government-corporate
> > onslaught, but have to this point been stymied by the treachery of the
> > trade
> > unions, which oppose any serious strike action or social mobilization.
> > London
> > tube workers have struck against privatization and mass layoffs,
> prompting
> > the
> > government to draw up anti-strike legislation. BBC and British Airways
> > workers
> > have voted for strike action, but the union leaders have refused to call
> > them out.
> >
> > In the US, Obama, who came to power by appealing to the intense hatred
> > among
> > working people and youth for the pro-corporate, militarist policies of
> Bush
> > and
> > the Republicans, is carrying out uniformly right-wing, anti-working class
> > policies, shattering the illusions of millions who voted for him. The
> > inability
> > of the White House and the Democratic Party to in any way distance
> > themselves
> > from the corporate-financial elite has been underscored by the
> > administration’s
> > actions over the past week, just two weeks before the congressional
> > elections.
> >
> > The administration has lifted the moratorium on Gulf oil drilling,
> > announced
> > that Social Security recipients will receive no cost-of-living increase,
> > and
> > rejected calls for a moratorium on home foreclosures.
> >
> > The growing opposition of the American working class is finding
> expression
> > in an
> > incipient rebellion by workers against the United Auto Workers union,
> which
> > is
> > seeking to make the 50 percent wage cut for newly hired workers worked
> out
> > last
> > year between itself, the auto bosses and the Obama administration the new
> > baseline for the industry.
> >
> > The contempt of the American ruling class for the democratic will of the
> > people
> > was summed up in an editorial on the events in France published Tuesday
> by
> > the
> > New York Times. The major organ of the “liberal” Democratic Party
> > establishment
> > acknowledged that there is broad support in the French population for the
> > strikes and protests against Sarkozy’s plans to raise the retirement age.
> > “Despite the widespread inconvenience and economic losses,” it wrote,
> > “public
> > opinion has remained sympathetic to the unions.” (French polls show
> upwards
> > of
> > 70 percent supporting the strikers).
> >
> > This did not prevent the Times from insisting, “France’s Parliament
> should
> > give
> > final approval to the retirement age reform bill this week,” and adding,
> > “Even
> > with the age raised to 62, further painful adjustments would be needed
> > before
> > the end of this decade.”
> >
> > What is emerging in the experience of hundreds of millions of people
> around
> > the
> > world is the incompatibility of the capitalist system with their most
> basic
> > needs. The growth of the class struggle is exposing bourgeois democracy
> as
> > little more than a fig leaf for the dictatorship of the banks and
> > corporations
> > over economic and political life.
> >
> > The political conclusions must be drawn. The fight for jobs, decent
> living
> > standards, housing, education, health care and all other social rights is
> a
> > political fight against the capitalist state. It is not a matter of
> pushing
> > the
> > state to the left, reforming it, or replacing one bourgeois government
> with
> > another, but rather of replacing it, through the revolutionary
> mobilization
> > of
> > the working masses, with a workers’ state, based on social ownership of
> the
> > means of production and workers’ democracy.
> >
> > The fight for workers’ power emerges organically and inevitably out of
> the
> > struggles of the working class against the attacks by the bourgeoisie. It
> > must
> > be conducted consciously, in opposition to the trade unions, the official
> > “left”
> > parties and the various middle-class pseudo-left organizations, such as
> the
> > New
> > Anti-Capitalist Party in France, that seek to keep the working class tied
> > to the
> > existing political setup and prevent it from mounting an independent
> > struggle
> > for power.
> >
> > This fight is, moreover, an international struggle. Workers throughout
> > Europe
> > and around the world are facing the same attacks and fighting the same
> > enemy. No
> > matter how bitter the conflicts between the ruling elites of the various
> > nations, they are united in seeking to impose the full cost of the crisis
> > on the
> > backs of the working class. International finance capital is carrying out
> a
> > coordinated offensive against the workers. They must fight back by
> uniting
> > their
> > struggles across national borders and fighting for the program of world
> > socialist revolution.
> >
> > Barry Grey
> >
> > http://wsws.org/articles/2010/oct2010/pers-o20.shtml
> >
> > **********
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