Class struggle

Students in France and Spain: Struggles that hold a promise for the future

The young generation of the working class faces some of the worst attacks on its living standards, shows the tendency to search for solidarity with other workers, to organise itself in assemblies. Recent student struggles in France and Barcelona reinforce the lessons of struggles in Greece last December and against the CPE in France three years ago.

“Days of Discussion” -- ICC Readers’ Conference Debates Class Struggle

Readers of our press are by now well aware that the ICC has gone to great lengths in the last few years to open its internal discussions to the growing numbers of young – and not so young – militants emerging from the working class these days. The emergence of new militants searching for political clarity and the means to contribute to the revolutionary struggle is itself a reflection of the global process of maturation of class consciousness...

Visteon: Solidarity is the only way for workers to defend themselves

The struggle by 600 workers laid off from Visteon on 31st March, originally without any pay or benefits, has attracted both interest and solidarity by many other workers, as shown by the translation of their leaflet into 6 other languages and the appearance of workers from other sectors and even other countries at their occupations and pickets.

ICC presentation for the Midlands Discussion Forum meeting of 25 April

This presentation was made to the MDF meeting, which was attended by representatives of the Midlands Discussion Forum, the Exeter Discussion Group, the Commune, the ICC, the Communist Workers' Organisation, Internationalist Perspective, former members of the Communist Bulletin Group and others. An assessment of the significance of this meeting will be published at a later date.

Teachers’ Struggle: Workers Need to Make Solidarity Real

A recent incident among teachers at New York City high school demonstrates clearly that workers in the U.S. are making the first attempts at putting aside the divisions imposed by capitalism, in this case those divisions that pit the ‘senior' workers against the younger, more recently hired workers. In this sense, New York City workers are totally part of the resurgence of class militancy and solidarity we have been witnessing over the last three or four years worldwide.

‘Kettling’: a display of democratic repression

The response to protests against the G20 on 1 April has drawn criticism of the police tactic of ‘kettling', forcing demonstrators, and anyone else in the area, into a confined space and keeping them there for hours without food, water or toilet facilities. This is not a new tactic and its use has to be seen in the context not just of the whole repressive arsenal wielded by the democratic state, but also of its ideological campaigns.

Scargill’s memoirs of the 1984-85 strike: Hiding the NUM’s role in sabotaging the struggle

The lesson of the 1984 miners' strike for the working class today is that all unions, with their rule books, their bureaucracy, sectional and corporatist set ups, and relations with the Labour Party, are part of the state and work against the self-organisation and extension of struggles under the control of workers themselves.  

Oil refineries’ strikes: ‘For’ or ‘against’, leftists undermine the struggle

As the wave of unofficial solidarity strikes spread from the Lindsey oil refinery to other refineries, power stations, gas and electricity plants, a gas terminal, steel and chemical works, the media ensured that the ‘British jobs for British workers' slogan was mentioned at every opportunity, regardless of the fact that it wasn't actually one of the workers' demands. Some leftist groups, however, insisted that the short-lived movement only had a nationalist dynamic.

Massive struggle shows us the way: solidarity with the workers of the Antilles

The strike that began on 20th January in Guadeloupe has made its mark in Martinique from the 5th February and threatens to spread to Reunion and Guyana, the other overseas ‘départements' of the old French empire. This is not an exotic conflict: it is truly an authentic expression of the international resurgence of class struggle.

The Chicago Factory Occupation: No “Honeymoon” for Obama

The factory occupation by 240 employees of the Republic Window and Door factory in Chicago, Illinois for six days in early December was the most dramatic episode in US working class history in recent memory. Even the afterglow of the Obama electoral euphoria and its sweet promises of "change" couldn't prevent the angry workers from turning to the class struggle to resist the worsening economic crisis and the growing attacks on their standard of living.

The ‘winter of discontent’: Lessons of the wave of class struggle in Britain 1978/9

Thirty years ago the working class in Britain launched a wave of militant strikes against crisis-ridden British capital in what became known as the ‘winter of discontent'. At its height this strike wave involved over 1.5 million workers in the largest work stoppage since the 1926 General Strike

Economic crisis opens the door to massive struggle

The material conditions experienced by workers are the basis for the development of their struggles. The crisis of capitalism leads to attacks on the working class that in turn can lead to a militant response. How far workers' struggles go, how combative they become, what sense they have of their own potential cannot be tied down in a scientific formula.

Public sector: Workers’ discontent dispersed by trade unions

It is rather ironic that staff at ACAS, the conciliation service that is supposed to resolve disputes, have voted for strike action. However, if their experience is like other sectors of workers this summer, any union strike that's called is as likely to be called off or be limited to a token gesture.

30 years on from the 1978 lorry drivers’ strike: the same class struggle, the same attacks by the ruling class

As the article shows the 1978 strike was characterised by its wildcat beginnings and widespread solidarity. The Shell delivery drivers' strike did not start as a wildcat, but it has been characterised by expressions of solidarity from drivers in other companies...

Faced with inflation and recession: All workers need to struggle together

Hundreds of thousands of council workers are striking on 16 and 17 July demanding a 6% pay rise, following the example of teachers and civil servants on 24 April, and Shell tanker drivers last month. They will undoubtedly be followed by other workers, with signs of discontent among health service workers, civil servants and shop workers.

EKS: Debate on the strike at Türk Telekom

We are publishing below a series of four articles translated from the Turkish by the comrades of Enternasyonalist Komünist Sol, all dealing with the recent strike at Türk Telekom. Readers will remember that we have already published an article on this subject (the second in this series), entitled "Victory at Türk Telekom" which covered the end of the 44-day strike by 26,000 workers, which ended with a 10% wage increase. We are now able to publish the complete series of the articles published on the subject by EKS: the first was written at the beginning of the strike and analysed briefly the forces in the conflict, while the second covered the end of the strike which it considered as a victory for the workers.

The Class Struggle in the US

There are so many things that are going wrong in today's world -- wars without end that are killing and displacing millions around the world; health epidemics that condemn millions to early deaths and suffering; famines; homelessness; degradation of the environment that is menace the future of all life on earth; growing pauperization of the working masses of the world....

Correspondence on the Union Question

Dear Internationalism. I've read your series on how decadence affects capitalism in the International Review. Even though the union movement is portrayed as being progressive in the 1920's and 30's, it had moved away from being a worker's movement and became a hindrance on the working class.  In the US, the situation was different...

April 24th: Media and unions against the potential for workers’ solidarity

400,000 workers were involved in strikes, demonstrations and rallies on 24 April. 250,000 teachers took part in their first national strike in 21 years. 100,000 civil servants were on strike. Of the 25,000 on strike in Birmingham it was the second day for council workers.

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