Capitalist economy in freefall
Argentine workers resort to general strike
By Andy McInerney
Hundreds of thousands of workers paralyzed South America's
second-largest economy on Dec. 13. Argentina's three largest
union federations called the general strike to protest the
government's anti-worker economic policies in the midst of
economic collapse.
"Look what these economic measures have done!" one protester
said to the Dec. 13 Associated Press as he camped out in front
of the home of hated Finance Minister Domingo Cavallo. He was
pointing to a group of children huddled under a banner eating a
watery corn gruel.
Argentina has been in a depression for four years.
Economists predict that production will decline further next
year, by anywhere from 4 to 8 percent. The working class has
been devastated: the government admits to an unemployment rate
of 18 percent; unions claim it is closer to 50 percent. Now the
middle class is also being leveled. Bank withdrawals have been
limited to $1,000 a month to prevent runs on deposits.
This crisis has been exacerbated by economic austerity
measures imposed by President Fernando de la Rúa's
government. The International Monetary Fund has been demanding
these measures as a condition for loan disbursements.
The Dec. 14 Knight Ridder news service said the IMF demanded
"deep, irreversible budget cuts by Argentina as a condition of
new loans." The IMF withheld over $1 billion in early December
to pressure the Argentine government.
The Dec. 13 general strike was the seventh since de la
Rúa took power two years ago. This one was notable for
its wide support beyond the traditional base of organized
labor.
Public sector workers formed the core of the strike, with
transport workers bringing buses and trains to a halt and
hospital workers providing only emergency services. But
retirees and pensioners also turned out in large numbers,
spurred by a government announcement that their December
monthly check of $150 would be delayed.
Piqueteros, organized groups of unemployed workers, took
part in demonstrations around the country.
Thousands of people rallied in the capital city of Buenos
Aires. In the southern city of Neuquen, hundreds of workers
clashed with riot police. In Cordoba in the north,
demonstrators hurled rocks at banks and pro-government
newspaper offices.
The day after the strike, the AP reported that supermarkets
were looted in two cities.
For the first time, the protests attracted elements of the
middle class that are being devastated by the economic crisis.
"There is going to be a social explosion here," one small
business owner told Knight Ridder. "We are at our limit."
Leftist parties and groups have proposed a range of measures
to challenge the government economic program. Some are
promoting a referendum, planned for Dec. 14 to 17, to build
support for unemployment insurance. Referendum organizers hope
to bring the results to Congress.
Six parties and popular organizations signed a joint
statement on Dec. 11 calling for a "workers' and people's
alternative." The statement calls for, among other things, an
end to debt repayments and nationalization of the banks.
Meanwhile, the Argentine ruling-class political parties are
trying to close ranks against the workers. In the midst of the
general strike, de la Rúa met with former president and
leader of the Peronist Justicialist Party Carlos Menem to adopt
a common economic program.
For the Argentine ruling class and its backers on Wall
Street, the problem is to find a formula to continue to extract
superprofits from the working class amid the general economic
collapse. For the working class, and especially those who
aspire to lead it politically, the problem is one of exposing
the systemic nature of the crisis.
A general strike shows that modern society is totally
dependent on the working class. The bosses are helpless when
the workers withhold their labor. Without workers, the nation
shuts down. But to resolve the crisis, the workers have to take
the reins of political power by establishing a government based
on the popular organizations of the masses. Only then can they
break through the logjam of the profit system so that all can
begin to work again--but this time to satisfy human need, not
capitalist greed.
Reprinted from the Dec. 27, 2001, issue of
Workers World newspaper
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
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