Workers in Europe begin fightback against capitalist onslaught
By
John Catalinotto
Published Jul 8, 2010 9:50 PM
Workers across Europe — specifically in Greece, Portugal, France, Spain
and Italy in the West and Romania in the East — have begun to resist the
capitalists’ relentless assault on their wages, benefits, social services
and secure existence.
On June 28, Greek sailors blocked Piraeus harbor’s gates during 24-hour
strike against EU and IMF-imposed pension cuts.
|
As in the United States, this bosses’ attack has accelerated during the
capitalist economic crisis that erupted when the U.S. housing market collapsed
in the third quarter of 2008. The ruling class has exploited high joblessness
and worker insecurity to force governments to “reform” labor laws
— removing worker protections — and to cut social service benefits
that workers had won in the period from the end of World War II to the
disappearance of the Soviet Union in 1991.
Workers’ responses in Europe have divided along two lines.
In some countries the entrenched union and political leaderships — as in
the U.S. — have accepted the capitalist argument that “joint
sacrifices must be made by everyone” to restore the capitalist economy.
Under this leadership, the workers have already lost. Indeed, all the
sacrifices are being dumped on the workers’ backs.
In others — Greece is the primary example — the main union
leadership or at least part of the union leadership has made the main slogan:
“It’s the bosses’ crisis, and they should pay for it, not the
workers!” While this attitude does not guarantee victory, it refuses to
concede the struggle without a battle.
On June 24, during 24-hour strike, French workers blow vuvuzelas as they march
in Marseille protesting attacks on pensions.
|
Where the union leadership has accepted the responsibility to make concessions,
the big question is whether the workers can find and establish a new leadership
that is willing and able to lead struggles. In the end, no lasting victory can
be won without challenging capitalism itself, but big struggles will be needed
even to defend the workers’ daily life.
Inspiration from Greece
Greek workers with leadership from the PAME union confederation — close
to the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) — have led the way this year with
a series of six day-long general strikes and other mass actions. These actions
continue. On June 29, public and private sector workers paralyzed the country.
The week earlier, PAME called strike actions that led to demonstrations in 60
cities. When attacked for being “illegal,” the unions responded
with the slogan: “Workers’ rights are the law!”
Aleka Papariga, KKE general secretary, said at a demonstration of thousands in
Athens, “We only have two options: either a fatalistic submission to
poverty and misery, which will increase in magnitude, or to counter with
courage and persistence and fight for social prosperity for the people.”
It is easy to see why communists and union militants all over Europe are
looking to Greece for inspiration.
In Portugal, the Communist Party is still strong in the union federation CGTP.
These unions held a strong general strike and demonstrations on May 29 and are
now planning a similar day of action for July 8. The issues are similar, too.
The Portuguese government, like Greece’s led by a nominally Socialist
Party, has led the attacks on workers’ rights. Like Greece, Portugal is
also one of the smaller and poorer countries of Western Europe, both with
populations of about 10 million.
Unemployment is around 10 percent in Portugal, and under pressure from the big
European and U.S. banks, the government is cutting the budget for education,
health care and other social benefits. The class struggle continues to
intensify.
In Spain, the union response has been more sporadic, with the intensity
depending on the region. The strongest responses have been in the Basque
Country, where there was a general strike on June 29 that mobilized most of the
working class against the “reform” program of Socialist Party
Premier José Zapatero — “reforms” that cut public
workers’ salaries by 5 percent and cut everyone’s pensions.
A limited strike called by the national unions — the CCOO and the UGT
— on June 8 had support in Catalonia and some other regions, less so
nationwide and in Madrid. These union leaderships are close to Zapatero’s
party and have shown reluctance to challenge the government and fear that the
more right-wing Popular Party will replace it. It was significant that the
rank-and-file Cobas unions, which are pushing for more militant actions, held a
larger demonstration in Madrid than did the official unions that day.
French strike June 24
In France, the center-right government wants to raise the retirement age from
60 to 62. French workers disagreed. Nearly a million took part in a general
strike in May when the government formally announced its plan. Then, two
million struck for a day on June 24 when the government took another step in
approving this plan. A coalition of all the French union confederations has
announced there will be another general strike when the French Parliament is
scheduled to vote on the bill.
Participation was not only large but extremely broad. There were more than 200
marches all over France; only a small rural department in the Pyrenees
Mountains abstained. A surprising number of nonunionized workers in the private
sector took part.
The action expressed a real sense of solidarity between older and younger
workers. Younger workers saw a decent retirement as hopefully part of their
future, but something older workers needed right now. Older workers pointed out
that if they retired, jobs and careers would open up for unemployed youths.
In Italy, where Silvio Berlusconi leads the center-right regime, one million
workers demonstrated on June 25 against a similar anti-worker program. The
largest demonstration took place in Bologna, with more than 100,000 people,
followed by Milan, Naples and Rome, with 70,000 people, and 25,000 in Palermo
in Sicily.
G. Dunkel contributed to this article.
Articles copyright 1995-2012 Workers World.
Verbatim copying and distribution of this entire article is permitted in any medium without royalty provided this notice is preserved.
Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011
Email:
[email protected]
Subscribe
[email protected]
Support independent news
DONATE