European Union grows
Strikes in EU's present and future
By John Catalinotto
While 40,000 anti-globalization activists in Genoa and
another 20,000 in Copenhagen marched against a "capitalist
Europe" and "Bush's war on Iraq," leaders of the European Union
meeting in the Danish capital voted to include 10 new countries
from the South and East into the EU as of May 1, 2004.
The 10 are the island nations of Cyprus and Malta, and the
former socialist lands of Poland, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania,
Slovakia, Slovenia, Estonia and the Czech Republic. The last
nine need to have their populations approve EU membership in a
referendum sometime before that date.
During the period the countries in Eastern Europe were
considered part of the socialist camp, they had some
independence from the world capitalist market and the
imperialist West. Since the early 1990s, most have seen their
industry, commerce and media fall under the control of Western
European and U.S. banks.
The absorption of the 75 million people in these countries
into the EU would be a formal acknowledgement of the
re-colonization of the region.
Class struggle in Western Europe
Since 1990 in Western Europe, the capitalist class has
opened an assault on the gains made in the prior era by the
working class of those countries. This takes the form of
cutbacks in social services and constant pressure to hold back
wages.
In early to mid-December this attack has forced major
strikes in Italy, Germany and Portugal. The most widespread
occurred when 1.7 million Portuguese workers--out of a
population of just under 10 million--joined a general strike on
Dec. 10, according to an assessment by the General Workers
Confederation of Portugal (CGTP).
The CGTP had called the strike to beat back what it calls "a
broad and violent offensive" against workers' fundamental
rights that have been won through years of struggle and great
sacrifice. The union confederation described adhesion to the
strike as enormous in the productive or industrial sector, very
high in public and private transport, strong in public
administration and also significant in the service sector.
The right-wing government, made up of the Social Democratic
and Popular parties, is trying to carry out a policy of
increased privatization of health care and education, cuts in
social security and an end to policies protecting workers'
jobs.
This strike, only the fourth general strike since a popular
revolution overthrew a 40-year-long fascist rule in 1974, also
had the support of the Portuguese Communist Party (PCP).
Despite the strike's strong turnout, the regime has still
offered no significant concessions.
In Italy there was a general strike in the spring and
demonstrations of millions of workers to counter an attack on
their job rights by the right-wing government of media magnate
Silvio Berlusconi. On Dec. 16, some 120,000 workers fighting
for higher wages held a 24-hour strike that halted trains,
buses and streetcars around Italy. This was one of many strikes
in Italy during December.
Meanwhile in Germany, as part of a struggle by the
public-service workers, streetcar and subway drivers also went
on strike Dec. 16. These workers are demanding a 3 percent wage
increase.
In both countries workers not only struck but demonstrated
in the capitals. The Portuguese workers had demonstrated Nov.
30 in an action leading up to the strike.
An expansion of the European Union will undoubtedly be
accompanied by a continued assault on workers' gains by the EU
capitalists. It will require solidarity between the workers in
all the countries.
It will especially require an understanding from workers in
the wealthier and more powerful nations of the problems of
workers in the poorer regions, including solidarity with
immigrants. For the class struggle will be inevitable.
Reprinted from the Dec. 26, 2002, issue of
Workers World newspaper
This article is copyrighted
under a Creative
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