We are publishing below an article by the ICC's section in Turkey on recent developments in imperialist tensions in the Middle East.

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The ruling class has had its hands full lately as imperialist conflict in the Eastern Mediterranean continues to intensify. The five-point strategy package announced after the publication of the UN's Palmer Commission report into the Mavi Marmara incident[1], the renewal of relations with Israel, and the tension over Cyprus' oil exploration in the Mediterranean, are set to dominate coming talks between Turkey and Israel. Our aim here is to analyse the background to these imperialist tensions and their implications for the working class.

The relations between Turkey and Israel go back to the formation of Israel and have had their ups and downs ever since. A similar version of the recent Turkey-Israel crisis took place in 1980 with the occupation of Eastern Jerusalem. Afterwards, with a series of military agreements and secret protocols, the relationship improved throughout the 1990s. For Turkey, the most important partner of its foreign policy US-oriented was Israel and it is evident today that this creates certain problems for Turkey, and an uncertainty about what will come next. Nevertheless, if we read between the lines of the political messages, it seems that the situation will continue to be determined by the attitude adopted by the dominant partner in the relationship – the USA – and it is unlikely that the relations between the three countries will change fundamentally.

When we look at the history of the relations between Israel and Turkey, we see that Israel lived many of its "firsts" with Turkey. For example Turkey was the first country with a Muslim majority to recognize Israel. Again Turkey is the first country with a Muslim majority where an Israeli president, Simon Peres in 2007, spoke in its parliament. In reality, the fate of this relationship seems pretty much sealed. This relationship determined by the multi-national monopolies or their national governments is extremely significant for the bourgeoisie in the Middle East.

The latest crisis was provoked by the leaking to the press of the UN report about the Gaza flotilla, and the absence from the report of any mention of sanctions against Israel, which forced the AKP government's hand and obliged it to make a move. On September 2nd, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu announced a strategy package of sanctions. The leaking of the UN report and its results being far from what the AKP government wanted could have reversed the political influence the Turkish government built in the region. This political influence gained especially thanks to Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan's public rebukes against Israel, had rewarded the AKP with prestige both in Turkey and in the Arab world. The package of sanctions announced did not actually add any new dimension to Turkey-Israel relations. No military agreements or sharing of information was in question anyway since 2009. We can conclude that the sanction package of the AKP was merely a manoeuvre made to avoid the loss of prestige.

One of the five points in the package which declares “Turkey, as the state with the longest shore in the Eastern Mediterranean, will take every precaution it deems necessary for the safety of maritime navigation in the eastern Mediterranean” aims to demonstrate that Turkey, with its military presence in the Mediterranean, is a regional power and a rival for Israel. Turkey claims to be the fastest developing economy in the region, and wants a political presence to match. In this sense too, the only power which can rival Turkey is Israel. This is the main concern underlying all the conflicts. The fact that the Turkish bourgeoisie, in its eagerness to become the regional power, shows sympathy towards Gaza, takes steps which increase its presence in the Arab world and signs more economic agreements with the Arabs compared to the past are all results of its imperialist aims.

This constitutes one of the main points of tension in the Turkey-Israel relations.

The tension over oil exploration in the Eastern Mediterranean added a new dimension to the Turkey-Israel crisis. It was announced by the Turkish Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Taner Yildiz himself that Israel is behind the efforts of Southern Cyprus to search for oil in the Mediterranean. The Minister connected the issue to Israel further by claiming it is a taunt and a provocation. Soon after, Turkey declared with a hastily signed agreement with the Northern Cypriot Turkish Republic that it too was to look for oil in the Eastern Mediterranean. This tension over oil exploration is another product of the race to be the regional power mentioned above and course has heated the situation in the Eastern Mediterranean even further.

Another situation aside from this race to become the regional power is the war which began with the US invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq. In these projects, Turkey is a strategic partner for the United States. For the Americans, Turkey is the ideal country in this project. Of the US' two strategic partners sin the region, Turkey is a better choice then Israel for the Americans, especially in the Arab world where the Palestinian question and the occupation of Gaza makes Israel undesirable. Israel's aggressive stance and bloody actions ever since its formation makes it easy for Israel to be seen as the country of evil in the Middle East.  For the US, which wants to dominate the region, being the strategic partner of a country with such a bad record is an embarrassment. Given Israel's position, it seems the US has preferred Turkey, and this would appear to offer Turkey the material possibility of gaining the regional power status to which it aspires.

Turkey's increasing influence in the Arab world in recent years has resulted in the creation of economical and political relations between the political tradition of the AKP and the Arabs. AKP's moderate Islamic or the secular Islamic model, is followed with interest in the Arab world. This rise, starting with the clash between Erdogan and Israel's Shimon Peres at the Davos summit, accelerated with the Mavi Marmara affair and led to demonstrations that reached a peak during the last crisis with Israel. Following the Davos summit, there were demonstrations in Gaza, Egypt, Syria and other Arab countries in which posters of Tayyip Erdogan appeared prominently. The interest shown in Erdogan in his recent trips to Egypt, Tunisia and Libya is again a result of the same policy. For the first time, a Turkish prime minister was greeted with the chant “Saviour of Islam, Saint of Allah”. The fact that such an effect has been created in the Middle East and North Africa makes partnership with Turkey an important issue for the US. Again, the fact that the Ikhwan movement (Muslim Brotherhood) which comes from the same political tradition as the AKP has formed a party called “Freedom and Justice Party” and became the largest partner of power in Egypt sheds light on the background of the mentioned partnership. The construction of the moderate or secular Islamic model in Turkey and its export to other countries in the region is a definite possibility for the project of the US in the region.

With the moderate Islamic model, the new political vision of the AKP and Turkey increase the chances of Turkey being a more effective regional power in the Arab world compared to Israel. However, the US does not want this crisis with its two regional historical partners to deepen further. The statements made in the UN meetings are generally reflective of this situation. It seems that the Turkey-Israel crisis will go back to its normal stance without deepening further with a different intermediary coming in between.

While all this is going on, Turkey is trying play up nationalism at home in order to justify the imperialist conflict. They are making propaganda using Islam to claim to be the friends of the Palestinian people. Through anti-Semitism, they are trying to create further divisions in the working class of the region by adding religious divisions to nationalist ones. Looking at the history of the Turkey-Israel relations would suffice to see what sort of a friendship the Turkish state feels towards Palestine. Turkey is only and exclusively a friend to its own interests. And its actions serve to create illusions in the working class and the masses and acts as an obstacle to the international struggle of the proletariat. The leftist servants of the bourgeoisie support this anti-Zionist atmosphere either openly or discreetly. As in all imperialist conflicts, in the current period also nationalism is an argument of the Turkish bourgeoisie too. Against it the working class has a single weapon: international unity and struggle.

Ekrem 

The text below is largely based on an article of Internacionalismo, the ICC’s paper in Venezuela and published on our website in Spanish https://es.internationalism.org/ [5] this summer. The facts that our comrades relate here once again shows that every country is being hit by the same economic crisis and the same measures of austerity. The factions in power can easily pretend to be “liberal”, “progressive” or “revolutionary” but they are part of the same “wild” capitalist attack faced by workers all across the globe.

The world economic crisis is also hitting the “socialism of the XXI century”

The state led by Chavez totally denies the existence of the economic crisis in Venezuela, but that doesn’t prevent the hard reality pitilessly hitting the population. The “Socialist” policy conducted in this country causes no less havoc than that of American “liberalism”. And there’s nothing surprising about this since it’s really a question, in both cases, of the same state capitalism; only the mask changes. In Venezuela, state capitalism is only more of a caricature than elsewhere and performs less well, since it has succeeded in weakening both private and state capital.

Today, the country has to import practically all current consumer goods, which is a bit paradoxical for a country that says that it’s developed a continental “revolution” by exporting its label: “Socialism of the 21st century”. But things are even more ironic: playing up to the gallery, Chavez conducts permanent confrontations with the United States which is designated as the Great Capitalist Satan. Meanwhile, in the corridors, very tight links are maintained between the two countries. The USA is thus the main commercial client of Venezuela[1].

The official figures themselves and those of ECOLA (Economic Commission of Latin America) and of the IMF, are all obliged to recognise the gravity of the economic crisis in the country: Venezuela and Haiti (one of the poorest countries in the world!) have been the only Latin American and Caribbean countries not to have had any growth in 2010. For Venezuela it’s the third year of a decrease in its Gross Domestic Product. The country has the highest inflation of the region and one of the highest in the world; for each of the last three years, it has been 27% on average and it is estimated that for 2011 it will go beyond 28%. That’s a rate of inflation that really hits the wages and pensions of the workers, as well as the social assistance granted by the state.

Evidently, Venezuela is suffering from the world economic crisis. But the measures taken by Chavez are basically no different from those taken by the “right wing” and “reactionary” regimes all over the planet:

* Oil revenues, which have increased considerably in 2011 following the Libyan crisis, are not enough to satisfy the voracity of the state; they are vanishing into “alternative” budgets to the national budget, directly and arbitrarily manipulated by the Executive (with the excuse of making more active “social investment”). This form of management by the regime has facilitated the creation of a vast network of corruption involving several levels of the public and military bureaucracy.

* Whereas a good number of workers just about survive on a little more than the minimum wage (equivalent to about $150 per month), the highest levels of the state bureaucracy, civil and military, receive the highest of salaries and “profits” in order to guarantee their loyalty to the regime.

* Military expenses continue to increase, with the excuse of countering the threat of invasion by “Yankee imperialism”; and this results in a firmer grip on the monopoly of energy resources.

And, as with the other economies of the world, Venezuela’s state debt is exploding. This debt of 150 billion dollars, a little above 40% of GDP, is still manageable today but economic experts note that if it continues to rise at the present rhythm, there will be a risk of default of payment (the impossibility of paying back the interest on the debt) in three years time! Thus, Venezuela could find itself in a situation identical to that of Greece, a situation which demands the assistance of the EU and has given rise to a policy of unprecedented austerity.

Chavism has recourse to the same “remedy” as all the other bourgeoisies of the world: austerity!

 Here’s the reality of the “socialist” policy of Chavez:

- devaluation of the Venezuelan Bolivar by 65% in January 2011, after another of 100% at the beginning of 2010;

- a permanent attack on wages and social assistance;

- drastic reductions in food and health programmes;

- increases in electrical charges with the excuse that it’s aimed at ending “the waste of electricity”, which will dramatically affect the cost of living;

- increases in the price of fuel, VAT and various other taxes.

Because of inflation wages have suffered a strong deterioration. According to the ECOLA and the International Labour Organisation, wages of Venezuelan workers have fallen, in real terms, more than 8% in the first 3 months of this year compared to the same period in 2010. As in many other countries precarious, temporary employment has increased in the public and the private sector; according to one recent study made by the Catholic university “Andres-Bello”, 82.6% of the Venezuelan workforce has a precarious job. In short, despite the determination of the Chavez regime to fake the figures, the reality is that poverty continues to get worse.

At the social level, even the “Missions”, the social organisations invented by Chavism to give the illusion of a “conquest of socialism” through distributing crumbs to the most poverty-stricken sectors, have been reduced. Today, programmes for health, education, the distribution of food, etc., are about to be abandoned or severely reduced. It is a fact that the totality of the public services is deteriorating at a growing rate. To all this we can add the almost permanent shortages of several basic food products and the constant increases in the price of food and of other basic products.

The most revolting thing without doubt is that fact that, as always under capitalism, this terrible daily reality is suffered by the proletariat and the poor whereas the big bosses of the regime and those close to them live in the greatest opulence. Any resemblance to certain Arab and African countries is not by chance!

An important growth of struggles and social protest

But there are some rays of sunshine coming through the clouds and which give hope for the future. The proletariat of Venezuela itself is taking part in the slow but noticeable rise of class struggle at the international level. The Venezuelan bourgeoisie is well aware of it since it has suspended a great part of its attacks after having seen the workers stand up in Bolivia. In fact, last December, in this other country of Latin America, the government of Evo Morales, after having decreed an increase in the price of fuel, had to do a U-turn faced with the breadth of protest which badly affected his popularity.

In Venezuela, the proletariat in the oil industry, which had suffered the blow of almost 20,000 lost jobs in 2003, led demonstrations against the non-respect of the collective convention. There were also mobilisations of the public sector workers, health and central administration in order to demand pay increases and better conditions of work.

More important still are the huge struggles undertaken for more than two years by workers in the Iron Zone in Venezuelan Guyana in the south of the country, where some twenty enterprises of heavy industry and more than a hundred thousand workers are concentrated. In order to try to mystify the workers of this zone and derail their militancy, the government has tried to put in place several schemas of “socialist” production; after trying “self-management” in ALCAS (aluminium production firm) and having nationalised the Sidor metal works, they are now trying to introduce “workers’ control” of production.

All this shows the significant increase of social protest in 2011, which without any doubt will surpass the 3000 incidents of protest accounted for in 2010 – and which themselves had overtaken records from previous years. This is leading to an important erosion in the support for Chavez given that these protests are taking place among the most impoverished layers which were the main basis of support for this regime. A recent and dramatic example of these protests has been that of families of prisoners of several prisons of the country who have been ruthlessly repressed by the forces of the state when they demonstrated against overcrowding and the repression of prisoners. The barbarity seen in prisons is only an extension of that seen on a daily basis throughout the entire country, above all in the poor quarters. There were more than 140,000 killings during the 12 months of the “Bolivarian revolution”. And Chavez, with indecent aplomb, dared to call it the “pretty revolution”!

The struggles and mobilisations taken up by the proletariat are the best contradiction to the so-called “revolution”, a revolution which has led to new bourgeoisie elites who govern Venezuela. Only the resistance of the workers against the attacks of the state, in the defence of their conditions, in basing themselves on assemblies which tend to unify the workers of different sectors, can develop a reference point for the pauperised masses which are already beginning to lose their illusions in the proposals both of Chavez and the opposition.

These struggles are fully part of the movement opened up by the exploited masses of North Africa, Greece and Spain.

Internacionalismo 30/7/11

We are publishing here the translation of an article from Internacialismo, our paper in Venezuela

Subjecting the workers of Guayana[1] to a precarious existence, as has already been done to the oil workers, has become a priority for the national bourgeoisie, and especially for the Chavist faction in power. This is because the reduction of costs, especially in the primary industries of the region - iron, steel, aluminium, etc - is an imperative necessity to face up to international competition, which is being sharpened by the deepening economic crisis.

To this end, the workers of the province of Guayana have been the subject of a campaign in which they are being accused of being a ‘labour aristocracy’, earning wages and bonuses which the industry can’t afford to pay and which are threatening to bankrupt it. The oil workers were told exactly the same thing.

However, with the workers of Guayana, the bourgeoisie has a much bigger problem, because of the great concentration of the workers and their traditions of struggle, often against the state. The huge concentration of industrial, service and commercial activities in this area make any workers’ response against attacks on its living conditions all the more powerful. 

What strategy is the state using?

The Venezuelan state has come up with a strategy known as the ‘Socialist Guayana Plan’, which is based on the Trotskyist slogan of ‘workers’ control of production’. The state is aiming to convince the workers that they themselves control production, and that therefore the strengthening of industry depends on their efforts and their sacrifices. So they should no longer be coming out on strike because according to official propaganda industry is already in their hands. The defence of this Plan is a step towards ‘21st Century Socialism’, the big fraud dreamed up by Chavez and co.

It’s worth recalling that this Plan was preceded by the failure of another plan aimed at bringing in co-management at ALCASA, the state enterprise for producing aluminium. The objective of this plan, directed by the sociologist Carlos Lanz Rodriguez, is to make the workers believe:

-         “That the state run by Chavez is carrying out policies leading to socialism”. In reality, the workers of Guayana have already sensed that such a ‘socialism’ is not very different from control by the capitalist state under previous governments;

-         “That co-management means a change in the relations of production”. The only ‘change’ here is that workers are persuaded to exploit themselves to consolidate the management of the capitalist state-boss;

-         that “justice will be done” with regard to the industrial relations. In fact we know that the only thing this regime can carry through is making labour power more precarious than ever;

-         finally, that “ we can humanise the working day and reduce hours, that we can overcome the division of labour and despotism in the factory”. The reality of this humanisation is a cocktail of jailings, trials, tear gas, live ammunition, injuries and deaths, all carried out by armed bands sent in to terrorise the workers .

This plan has been a failure because in general the workers, given that all this is contrary to their real interests, have not swallowed the fine words which Carlos Lanz has fed them in order to get the workers to renounce their own demands and submit to the needs of the capitalist state. The resistance of the aluminium workers has shattered the shop window carefully installed by the Venezuelan state to prove the magnificence of its ‘21st Century Socialism’ to the workers of other countries.

Is the ‘Socialist Guayana Plan’ the product of the workers? 

The new ‘Socialist Guayana Plan’, which basically consists of an attempt to:

-         convince the workers, once again, that the enterprises are under their control and that exploitation has disappeared;

-         make the whole working class of Guayana pay for the very serious financial situation and the deterioration of the infrastructure in basic industries, which means demanding sacrifices to restore their competitive edge. In other words, accepting a degradation of living conditions

-         as a result, get the workers to give up fighting for their own demands

This plan was presented as the result of the particapation of some “600 workers representing the working class in Guayana” at “round tables” led by the existing “worker-directors” of the primary industries, Elio Sayago and Rada Gameluch, among others. This group of workers, chosen from those who had taken part in an indoctrination course on ‘21st Century Socialism’ and ‘endogenous development’, were thus convinced of the fact that they had to combat those who opposed the plan because they were part of the ‘labour aristocracy’.

After that, an attempt was made to mystify the workers by polarising them between those who support the unions, of whatever tendency (even the party of the official Chavist party, the United Socialist party of Venezuela) and those who supported so-called ‘workers control’.

What obstacles are there in the way of the proletariat rediscovering its class identity?

The state will use any means to create divisions among the workers. In the first place by creating a polarisation between the leaders defended by the unions and the representatives of so-called ‘workers’ control’. And also, between the workers who are part of the supposed ‘labour aristocracy’, who are supposedly only defending their ‘egoistic interests’ and who are only looking to preserve or improve their wages, and on the other side, those who encourage the workers to join up with the defenders of the fatherland, those who defend nationalisation as a decisive step towards ‘21st Century Socialism’, who are not egoistic and who are ready to make sacrifices for the ‘land of Bolivar’.

Recently, the state has deployed an armada of armed gangs, mafia and other thugs to sow terror among the workers. This is a consequence of the fact that the judicial pressures exerted against workers put on trial has not been enough to make the workers cease their actions in defence of their interests: rather the opposite. The ineffectiveness of ‘criminalising protest’ was shown when the state was forced to free some of those arrested in order to dampen the workers’ anger, an anger that led the pro-government unions, especially those of the current around Maspero, an ‘official’ union leader, to support the struggle for the liberation of the union leader Ruben Gonzalez who had been in prison for several months. The state wanted to show its ‘workerist’ face and hide its tendency towards totalitarian dictatorship.

This action did have the result of restoring the image of certain unions, who were thus better able to exert their control over the workers, above all by imprisoning them in the confines of corporatism, in a struggle for the defence of this or that collective agreement or the fight against corruption, whose unpleasant stench is making the atmosphere at work unbearable.

There is also the will to trap the workers in an internal battle between union mafia and those who advocate ‘workers’ control’, who are also part of the various power blocs around the governor of the Bolivar province, the mayors, the military and sectors of private capital, who have been doing their own wheeling and dealing, taking their own kick-backs, which has contributed to the growing sickness of the industry of the region.

What can we do to contribute to the development of class consciousness?

For the representatives of the state, whether they call themselves, ministers, mayors, directors or trade unionists, the slogan is: “if you can’t convince them, mystify them”. However, the main result of the intervention of different state organs, whether acting for their own personal interests or the interests of a mafia clique, whether through direct repression or hired killers, has been a bloody chaos which has become, in this phase of capitalist decomposition, a typical expression of the relationship between bosses and workers.

For revolutionary minorities, the question is how to help develop the class consciousness of the workers. In the first place, against the blackmail which claims that when workers fight against wage-cuts or the loss of bonuses they are acting as part of an aristocracy with no class consciousness. We have to insist that, on the contrary, the struggle for immediate demands is part of the process through which class consciousness develops. This is the way the class unifies itself, discovers who its class enemy is, whether it’s a private boss or a state boss, realises its role in society as the only class capable of putting an end to the chaos of capitalism. At the same time, it’s not in fact a question of fighting for a ‘fair wage’ – in reality it’s the state which determines what’s fair. In the final analysis it’s a question of fighting against wage labour, which is the very essence of capitalist exploitation.

If the proletarian powder-keg in Guayana hasn’t exploded yet this is in large part due to the polarisation of proposals put forward by the different union and state ‘representatives’, each one defending its own fief, doing all they can to ensure that the discussions in the assemblies cancel out any action the proletariat might take to fight against the chaos in the region. It is above all necessary to take back the discussions in the assemblies and put forward the need for the unification of struggles.

What perspectives?

The working class in Guayana has not stopped struggling. Very often in front of the big enterprises, assemblies are organised to respond to this or that attack against living conditions. Very often these assemblies manage to neutralise the attacks, while the powers that be seek to place the interests of the ‘collectivity’ against those of the workers, as was the case when the ‘communal councils’ were used against the assemblies.

The emergence of minorities within the working class, seeking to renew links with the historic movement of the class, is being strengthened by the breadth and persistence of the struggles. These minorities fight against a deformed vision of socialism, not only the Trotskyist version with its critical support for Chavism, but also the ultra-reactionary version of ‘21st Century Socialism’, really a form of exacerbated nationalism based on anti-Yankee hatred and a semi-religious ‘Bolivarian’ fundamentalism. 

The new generations of the working class in Guayana are seeking to make their own experience of struggle and to learn from previous generations of workers who confronted the state with great determination in the 60s and 70s. Despite the obstacles the bourgeoisie has put in the way of the Guayana workers, they are about to show to other sectors of the class that they are no less determined to struggle against Chavist capitalism with its camouflage of ‘socialism’.

Internacialismo 7/11

 

See also: ‘Guayana is a powder-keg [9]’.

                 "Bolivarian Socialism": Aleftist version of "wild capitalism" https://en.internationalism.org/icconline/201111/4575/bolivarian-socialism-leftist-version-wild-capitalism [10]

 

Last September, a discovery hit the scientific world and its news was rapidly spread throughout the media of the entire globe. In the Gran Sasso laboratory in Italy, a scientific team observed some elementary particles called “neutrinos”[1] sent from the particle accelerator of CERN, a laboratory close to Geneva and situated almost 730 km away[2]. The “Opera” experiment, which has unfolded over a period of more than 3 years, consisted of studying the propagation of these particles as well as measuring their speed to the order of nanoseconds[3]. Once the results were verified and re-verified and the experiment repeated from the beginning, the scientists had to admit the reality of the facts as they were shown: these particles travelled at a speed which was a little greater than the speed of light[4]. If correct, this discovery would overthrow the fundamental laws of physics such as the law of relativity as put forward by Einstein, which defined the speed of light as an insuperable, universal constant. The announcement of this discovery immediately fell prey to the rapacious press who tried to outdo each other in looking for a “scientific” scoop: “Has the neutrino finished off Einstein?” “Einstein contradicted!” “Einstein is busted!” And so it goes on... This vision of science where different theories are essentially competitive and ready to eliminate each other like predators in a permanently mortal struggle is typical of bourgeois ideology and fundamentally inherent to its mode of social functioning. This discovery effectively implies (if it is proved to be correct, which previous similar discoveries have proved not to be) the calling into question of the very basis of modern physics. If correct, it is a discovery whose consequences are presently unimaginable. We could happily hazard a guess about developing theories on what that would mean for our perception of the universe, but such a totally empirical approach would take us into the realms of science-fiction.

Such is not our aim. What appears immediately and in a very clear manner, and what all capitalist propaganda strives to distort and obliterate, is that in any scientific approach, no theory is carved in stone in a permanent and incontestable manner. The perception of scientific reality is eminently historical and in a state of constant evolution. Such a discovery would oblige us to review our previous conceptions and to confront them with this new representation of reality. It’s in this way that the overcoming of past ideas leads us to new questions and to new scientific progress and techniques. And this progress, in its turn, allows us to go beyond certain problematics and bring in new elements without however denying the contributions of those preceding. It is this dialectical character of evolution which makes each stage, each progression (as small as it may be), absolutely necessary as a link in the chain in our process of evolution.

This vision, which appears to be the basis of all honest scientific work, does not however form part of the dominant ideology. At least that’s what one finds when one looks at the facts in front of us: at the time when it is perfectly capable of sending a robotised engine to explore the surface of the planet Mars, the economic specialists of capitalism are almost incapable of foreseeing the subsequent development of our economy for a few days into the future... and, as a consequence of that, we are incapable of supplying the most basic needs of a growing part of the world population! This is for one simple reason: according to the ideology of the dominant class (capitalist ideology), the present system with its democratic ideal based on the production of surplus value, on rivalry and on competition between individuals, is fundamentally the system which corresponds best to the character of the human species and human nature, past, present and future. The everlasting nature of capitalism itself is seen as a real and incontestable absolute. In this view the political ideal of this system, capitalist democracy, is the sole perspective towards which humanity could evolve. Any other perspective is automatically labelled “utopian”, even dangerous, and for good reason! If the greater mass of humanity, the exploited class, in understanding that the scholarly equations of the economic specialists have long since ceased to be a motor for human progress; if today these calculations of charlatans were denounced as being the basis for the extortion of surplus-value which justifies the immense privileges which a minority of exploiters enjoy; if in order to save ourselves, we aim to create a world without states where productive activity is organised exclusively in relation to human needs and with respect to natural resources ; then, effectively, the capitalist class would be completely out of date; its privileges and its ideology would be profoundly called into question. In a society founded on solidarity and social progress, the role and the place of science would be completely different to those that we’ve know so far.

Make no mistake: the scientific world does not escape capitalism’s laws and its reactionary ideology. The milieu of scientific research is impregnated with a spirit of ferocious and permanent rivalry. Most of the time, researchers are in competition one with the others, and cooperation between different teams rapidly reach their limits. The races to publish, the quest for individual prestige, social and financial recognition are so many fetters which are considerable handicaps for humanity in its march towards consciousness and progress[5].

Today, no scientific discovery, as brilliant as it is, could bring humanity out of the obscure prehistory in which capitalism entraps it up to its last breath. The greatest experiment standing in front of us now is nothing other than the profound transformation of society which alone can bring humanity into its real history.

Maxime 23/10/11

We are publishing here the calls from the Occupy Oakland General Assembly for a general strike on 2 November. This is a significant development in the ‘Occupy’ movement in the US, which while generally critical of ‘capitalism’ has also been hampered by a very confused view of what capitalism is, and in particular about the only way to oppose it: through the class struggle. But this appeal, coming after a number of very bitter experiences of police repression, marks a real step forward in that it is a direct call to the local working class to support the movement through striking. The response to the call by the GA was very impressive, not so much in the number of work places shut down, which seems to have been uneven, but by the willingness of thousands of workers to join the demonstrations even if it was after work. The evening demo to the port was planned in order to allow those at work to participate and drew in several thousand people (some estimates put it as high as 20,000). Although the port had more or less remained open during the day, the demonstrators succeeded in persuading dockers and truckers to join them and the port was closed for the night. This is how the LA Times described events: "As thousands of protesters flowed toward the port, truckers struggled to drive out. Others, like Mann Singh, stuck around with smiles on their faces. The 42-year-old Pittsburg resident said he arrived at 4:30 p.m. with an empty truck, hoping to park it and go home, but as the demonstrators gathered, he said, ‘I stopped to support them’".

Whatever secondary criticisms we may make of the texts that follow, we can only support their overall spirit and approach:

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1.   PROPOSAL:

We as fellow occupiers of Oscar Grant Plaza propose that on Wednesday November 2, 2011, we liberate Oakland and shut down the 1%.

We propose a city wide general strike and we propose we invite all students to walk out of school. Instead of workers going to work and students going to school, the people will converge on downtown Oakland to shut down the city.

All banks and corporations should close down for the day or we will march on them.

While we are calling for a general strike, we are also calling for much more. People who organize out of their neighborhoods, schools, community organizations, affinity groups, workplaces and families are encouraged to self organize in a way that allows them to participate in shutting down the city in whatever manner they are comfortable with and capable of.

The whole world is watching Oakland. Let’s show them what is possible.

The Strike Coordinating Council will begin meeting everyday at 5pm in Oscar Grant Plaza before the daily General Assembly at 7pm. All strike participants are invited. Stay tuned for much more information and see you next Wednesday.

2.   How YOU can participate in the General Strike!

November 1, 2011

WAYS TO PARTICIPATE ON NOVEMBER 2 GENERAL STRIKE & DAY OF ACTION
called for by Occupy Oakland

Occupy Oakland is calling for no work and no school on November 2 as part of the general strike. We are asking that all workers go on strike, call in sick, take a vacation day or simply walk off the job with their co-workers. We are also asking that all students walk out of school and join workers and community members in downtown Oakland. All banks and large corporations must close down for the day or demonstrators will march on them.

The Occupy Oakland Strike Assembly has vowed to picket and or occupy any business or school which disciplines employees or students in any way for participating in the Nov 2 General Strike. Please email OccupyOaklandLaborSolidarity@gmail.com [15] if you are the subject of any disciplinary action.

Occupy Oakland recognizes that not all workers, students and community members will feel able to strike all day long on November 2, and we welcome any form of participation which they feel is appropriate. We urge them to join us before or after work or during their lunch hours.

Below are some action ideas for strike participants to consider:

Gather in Downtown Oakland to help Shut Down the City

• Join the Mass Gatherings at 14th & Broadway 9:00am, 12:00pm, 5:00pm. Strike Rallies will be held at these times with political speakers as well as time for open mic so that everyone can make their voices heard. There will also be action announcements made from the stage on this intersection for those who are interested in participating in pickets and shut downs of banks and large corporations.

Lead a march from your neighborhood, workplace, school, community center, place of worship etc into downtown Oakland to join one of these three mass gatherings. Have fun and be loud along the way to let people know why you are marching downtown!

Form a mobile blockade or flying picket that can take over important intersections in downtown with street parties and other creative ways to make our voices heard and shut the city down.

There will be numerous pickets and actions at banks and corporations across downtown but we need more! Get a group of friends, family members, co-workers or fellow students together to form an affinity group and make your voice heard and your presence felt at any of these locations in downtown. Let the stage on 14th & Broadway know about your action so they can announce it to the crowd.

There are many other autonomous actions planned for the day that will be occurring throughout downtown. One of them is the anti-capitalist march at 2pm meeting at the intersection of Telegraph & Broadway and another is the Feminist & Queer bloc against capitalism that will meet at 4:30 at 14th & Broadway.

Join the marches from downtown to shut down the Port of Oakland. These marches will be leaving at 4pm and another will be leaving at 5pm for the 2 mile march out to the port to stand in solidarity with the longshore workers and shut down the evening shift of the port.

Join the 4pm Critical Mass ride from 14th & Broadway out to the Port to join the shut down

Best not to drive into downtown: It is likely that many streets will be blocked to traffic so please bike or take public transportation if possible. It will also be useful to have a bicycle to move between actions or to march to the port.

Take Action in Your Own Neighborhoods and Communities

• Gather neighbors, co-workers, or fellow students together and organize group walks and small marches around the neighborhood to have fun, raise awareness and encourage others to join you in the streets! Bring noise makers, signs, banners and let your community know why you are participating in the strike.

Stop at banks, large businesses, chain stores, gas stations, corporate headquarters, large commercial media outlets, etc. to protest and picket

Gather in neighborhood centers and on the corners of main intersections to hold speak outs, BBQs and street parties – make your voice heard and raise awareness by reclaiming space where fellow community members can join you and talk about the issues that affect them most and how we can organize together to build a powerful movement

If you must shop, only spend money at locally owned stores and as much as possible purchase locally-produced goods

Nonprofit and Community Organizations

• Use your personal and organizational social media accounts (websites, facebook, linked-in, electronic newsletters, etc) to support the actions and keep your constituencies updated about what is going on in the streets of Oakland.

In the event of police violence, use your organization to denounce police repression and call for the release of all arrested strikers.

Provide resources for your staff to participate: allow time away to participate in direct actions; encourage work on projects aligned with general strike and occupy goals, host sign and banner making parties!

Be Prepared

• Bring materials to make signs: Banner material. cardboard, poster paper, markers, paint, spray paint tape, dowels, etc

Bring food and water to share!

Bring noise makers, instruments, sound systems and other ways that we can transform downtown into a celebration of our collective power

Write this legal number down on your body in case of arrest: 415.285.1011 The number will be staffed all day long and will coordinate legal support for those arrested in the strike.

Remember these four common points that the General Strike Assembly has agreed upon:

Solidarity with the world-wide Occupy movement!

End police attacks on our communities!

Defend Oakland schools and libraries!

Against an economic system built on colonialism, inequality and corporate power that perpetuates all forms of oppression and the destruction of the environment!

A Few Chants For the Strike

• “Strike, Occupy, Shut it Down! Oakland is the People’s Town”

“Every Hour, Every Day! The occupation is here to stay!”

“Occupy Everything! Liberate Oakland”

“Politicians & Bankers, Liars & Thieves, We’re taking it back! We’re not saying please!”

“No more cops, we don’t need ‘em! All we want is total freedom”

“Shut Down OPD! Not the Public Library!”

“Let’s Go Oakland! Let’s Go!” [clap] [clap]"

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See also: "Occupy Wall Street Protests: The capitalist system itself is the enemy [16]".

             Occupy London: the weight of illusions   https://en.internationalism.org/worldrevolution/201111/4569/occupy-london-weight-illusions [17]

The Anarchist Bookfair, held in London every October, is an event that attracts people who want to struggle against capitalist society. This year they could find “more class struggle themes than previous years, although 'anarchism and spirituality' drew as a large a crowd as workplace organising, which is slightly worrying” (Chilli Sauce, on libcom). Here are our impressions of some of the meetings that sounded most interesting.

The discussion of primitive communism, organised by the Radical Anthropology Group, presented Chris Knight’s theory about the role of women’s solidarity and menstruation in the development of culture (see here [22] for a discussion of this theory). An understanding that humanity lived without either private property or the state for most of humanity’s time on the earth has long fascinated and inspired communists, and all who work to see the end of class society. Naturally the meeting was also interested in the occupations and assemblies going on at the moment, although this discussion did not get very far, and notably only a speaker from the ICC raised the very important experience of the Indignant in Spain.

‘UK Youth Rebellion’ was introduced by two young people from the Anarchist Federation talking about the difficult situation faced by young people today: lack of funds, unemployment, poor education, lack of public spaces to gather. This young generation will be worse off than their parents. The student struggles a year ago were discussed, and the question of how these struggles can link up with other young people, whether at work or unemployed, was a theme in the discussion. A comrade from the ICC emphasised that last year’s student struggles were an inspiration to all generations as an important part of the class struggle.

‘Why do we call ourselves Class Struggle Anarchists?’ had three speakers, but all were brief and to the point, allowing over 30 minutes of discussion – not nearly long enough, but much better than many meetings at the bookfair. The first speaker from ALARM, the All London Anarchist Revolutionary Movement, began by pointing out that the ruling class engages in class warfare – workers don’t have enough to live on, the repression and propaganda after the riots, lack of communal space, shit housing, schools designed for failure… He was in favour of any form of ‘kicking back’, including Occupy Wall Street (although he thinks there is more than 1% we have to fight), riots in spite of much antisocial behaviour, workplace struggles, although ALARM don’t do that. The recession is bringing out the rage although it is not about one night of rage but the need to change society. The IWW speaker described itself as not an anarchist organisation but one that organises in an anarchist way. It is a legally established union. Dealing only with workplace struggles it is growing and having success eg with migrant cleaners who have not been paid for the work they do, which can be sorted by writing letters, daily pickets, etc. The speaker from the Anarchist Federation was best. She began by alluding to the materialist analysis of who is in the working class, according to their relationship with the means of production. Capitalism has been amazingly successful in trying to impose divisions. Laws passed in the 1970s and the procedures they enforce have made struggle harder in the UK, the US and elsewhere. Unions have to be legalised, and they are not revolutionary, but they can be a jumping off point. We cannot unite around the ‘cultural’ working class but only the structure in relation to means of production. All in all we had three very different, and in our opinion contradictory, contributions on the nature of the class struggle.

The facilitator posed the following questions: what constitutes the working class? What is the anarchists’ role? Why be a class struggle anarchist? The discussion concentrated on the first question, and defended a class struggle approach against identity politics. In particular, as a left communist pointed out, the crisis and austerity mean that all workers, even in so-called professional jobs in health or education, will be faced with cuts.

Many more questions had been posed: what is the nature of working class struggle? Is it any kind of disturbance, protest or riot, as the speaker from ALARM thinks? In our view things such as the recent riots are definitely not a way for the working class to struggle, precisely because of the antisocial behaviour the speaker pointed to. Antisocial behaviour reflects the dog eat dog values of capitalist society and has no part in the struggle to overthrow it (see en.internationalism.org/wr/347uk-riots [23]). Can we use legal union structures to defend workers within capitalism today, as the IWW proposed? Unions inevitably keep us locked up in this industry, this sector, leading them to tell their members to cross the picket lines of other unions (for instance UNISON workers to cross NUT pickets and vice versa) undermining the struggle against austerity and cuts. And lastly, the question raised by the AF speaker – what is the relation of defensive struggles to the revolutionary struggle.

The class struggle has a history and several of the meetings addressed this. ‘Red Rosa and the Arab Spring’ organised by the Marxist Humanists in Hobgoblin had two presentations, one on a biography of Rosa Luxemburg and the other on her fight against reformism and her criticism of the ‘authoritarianism’ of the Russian Revolution. Although there was little time for discussion, we made contributions situating her fight against reformism alongside others on the left of social democracy who opposed the First World War, including Lenin, Pannekoek and John Maclean. In addition, as Engels pointed out, we cannot have any illusions in revolution being anything but an act of authority.

‘Is capitalism destroying itself? And can we replace it?’ aimed to take up the most important questions facing us today: “Our rulers are worried. Austerity is not reviving the economy… How did we get here and what are the prospects for anti-capitalist revolution?” The debate that could have been the highlight of the day ended in disappointment. Neither presentation took up the crisis going on today, which lies behind all the austerity measures, and the discussion was unable to make up for this. Even worse, one of the speakers, Selma James, sang the praises of various left wing governments and states – Stalinist Cuba which sends doctors to Africa (let’s forget about the troops sent to Angola), Chavez, Tanzania – and was to a large extent allowed to get away with it by the meeting as a whole. 

Many vital questions were raised: the discussion must continue throughout the year. 

May 30/10/11

Unions predict that maybe two or three million workers will be on strike on 30 November, from education, health, local government, the civil service, and more. The main issue of the strike – the future of public sector pensions – is a very real one because we are all being asked to work longer and pay more for less to retire on. And that’s just for a start. In Greece existing pensions are already being cut. The logic of this system is to make us work till we drop.

And pensions are not the only issue, and it’s not just the public sector. Unemployment is soaring, especially among the young: latest figures put youth unemployment at 20%. More and more young people are effectively working for nothing. It’s becoming more expensive to stay on at college and go to university.

Government austerity plans envisage cuts in social benefits of all kinds, and wages are also under attack: the electricians are fighting against new building industry contracts involving a 30% reduction in pay.

All this is the product of an economic meltdown which didn’t just begin in 2007, which wasn’t caused by greedy bankers or lazy Greeks, but is the culminating point of a world wide, historic crisis of the capitalist system. Today’s deepening depression is the return of the same underlying crisis which broke out in the 1930s. And the rulers of this world have no solution to it. If they go for ‘growth’, it plunges them deeper into debt and inflation. If they go for ‘austerity’, they further reduce demand when the crisis is already a result of glutted markets.

How to fight back?

The question facing workers, students, pensioners, and the unemployed everywhere is not whether we need to resist. If we just passively accept these attacks, the bosses and the state will just come back for more. The question is how to fight back. Already this year we have had two big official days of action – 26 March and 30 June – but did they really make our rulers worried? The government has even suggested we should make do with a nice 15 minute general strike, but is a 24-hour stoppage, marshalled from start to finish by the union machinery, any more effective? In fact, such token gestures have the overall effect of sapping our energies and making us feel that we have been wasting our time.

The experience of history has shown that the ruling class only begins to take notice when the exploited class starts to take things into its own hands and unite its forces from the bottom up. And the experience of the last year or so has confirmed that there are indeed other ways of fighting back than marching from A to B, listening to some celebrity speeches, and going home.

All across the world, from Cairo to Barcelona, from New York to London, the occupation and defence of public spaces, and the organisation of general assemblies, have shown the possibility of more massive, self-organised ways of struggling. In the UK, the electricians have taken new forms of unofficial action, using demonstrations to call other workers to join their strikes and holding open mic street discussions. These movements point to the need for general assemblies in the workplaces, uniting us across trade and union divisions.

November 30 provides an opportunity for working class people from many different areas to come together, to discuss and even to put into practice the best methods for resisting the bosses’ offensive. But we need to make the debate as open as possible, which means rejecting passive rallies and instead organising all kinds of public meetings where everyone can speak their mind.

And it can’t all be focused on one day. We are faced with a prolonged period of crisis, and therefore with a growing assault on our living and working conditions. This is why many workers are already sceptical about what can be achieved on 30 November. Many more, faced with mounting bills or redundancies, question the usefulness of strikes and occupations. It’s difficult enough knowing how to resist when your firm is about to go under. The problem is magnified a hundred times when entire national economies seem to be going down the pan.

But that emphasises that not only do we need to find better ways to fight back here and now – we also need to develop a long term perspective. The capitalist system is on its last legs and can offer us only depression, war, and ecological disaster. But the working class can use its struggles to form itself into a real social power, to develop its political understanding of the present system, and create a different future: a global community where all production is organised for human need and not the inhuman laws of the market.

International Communist Current, 25/11/11