Class struggle

Understanding the current state of the class struggle

Submitted by World Revolution on

Because of the depth of capitalism's economic crisis the attacks on working class living and working standards have been increasingly serious. There are increasing signs that workers have been responding to the deterioration of their material situation, a fact that has been noticed by various political tendencies. We look at some of these responses.

How Should Revolutionaries Intervene in the Class Struggle?

Submitted by Internationalism USA on

The following text was written by a young militant who has been in discussion the ICC for some months now and participated in the Days of Discussion conference last spring. The text describes the author's efforts to grapple with complex issues pertaining to the union question and the intervention of revolutionaries in the struggle.

Freescale, Toulouse: How the unions sabotaged the workers’ struggle

Submitted by World Revolution on

We are publishing an article from Revolution Internationale about a strike against threatened redundancies that took place earlier this year. Even though it was only a strike in one local factory in Toulouse it has a wider significance, particularly because it shows how workers' efforts to organise themselves come up against the union obstacle in a very concrete and daily manner.

University and high school students demonstrations in Germany: “We are demonstrating because they are stealing our future”

Submitted by World Revolution on

From 15 to 19 June in Germany there was a strike in the education sector. It was an attempt to use a strike to block high schools and universities in protest against the growing misery of capitalist education.

Defeat at Ssangyong shows need for struggles to spread

Submitted by World Revolution on

One of the most significant outbreaks of class struggle in South Korea for many years, the occupation of the Ssangyong car plant in Pyeongtaek near Seoul, ended at the beginning of August.

Having held the factory for 77 days in the face of siege conditions where they were denied food, water, gas and electricity, and had to resist repeated onslaughts by the police backed by a small army of company goons and strikebreakers, the workers were compelled to abandon the occupation with many of their key demands unmet, and were immediately subjected to a wave of repression in the form of arrests, interrogations and possible crippling fines.

Workers’ solidarity fenced in by union methods

Submitted by World Revolution on

July and August saw a number of strikes and proposed strikes in the UK. Railworkers in East Anglia and the East Midlands, airport baggage handlers for Servisair and Swissport, postal workers in many places in the UK, rubbish collectors in Glasgow, Leeds, Liverpool and Edinburgh, bus drivers in South Yorkshire, Wearside and Aberdeen, firefighters in Merseyside and South Yorkshire, tube workers in London, tram drivers in Nottingham, street cleaners in Glasgow and Liverpool, immigration officials, construction workers at various power

Solidarity Communiqué from the Alicante Health and Social Services Workers Assembly

Submitted by ICConline on

In what follows, we publish Alicante Health and Social Services Workers Assembly's solidarity communiqué with two workers collectives in struggle: Vigo metal workers (see "Vigo: Los Métodos Sindicales Conducen a la Derrota") and Vesuvius de Langreo workers (who published this communiqué on their blog: https://vesuviussomostodos.blogspot.com).

Bangladesh, China, Spain, Britain...The working class refuses to bow down to the crisis

Submitted by International Review on

Not since 1929 has an economic crisis struck with such violence against the world proletariat. Everywhere, unemployment and poverty are exploding. This dramatic situation can only provoke a strong feeling of anger among workers. But to transform this anger into combativity is very difficult today.

Vestas occupation shows the need for the struggle to spread

Submitted by ICConline on

On July 20, a couple of dozen young workers at the Vestas wind-turbine factory on the Isle of Wight occupied their factory after the management had decided to close it with the loss of over 500 jobs. This action occurred outside the framework of a trade union, indeed the mainly young workforce was for the most part not in a union.

South Africa: The proletariat against the ANC

Submitted by ICConline on

There's been some media cynicism over recent strikes and protests in South Africa. But chatter about a so-called winter ‘strike season' can not detract from the scale of recent struggles. When Jacob Zuma was campaigning in elections earlier this year he put the ANC forward as a party that would improve things after the Thabo Mebeki era. Workers have yet to see any differences.

North American Political Milieu: Days of Discussion Conference

Submitted by Internationalism USA on

As reported on our website, in April 2009 Internationalism hosted a weekend-long Days of Discussion conference which brought together a number of correspondents, readers, and sympathizers from geographically dispersed parts of the US and Canada for a much needed opportunity to meet face to face...

Massive struggles in Bangladesh and China

Submitted by World Revolution on

All over the planet, the working class is being subjected to increasingly unbearable levels of exploitation and poverty. And in the countries which the bourgeoisie hypocritically calls ‘developing economies' the workers are treated as no more than cattle. For several years, these wage slaves have been resisting more and more.

Construction workers at the centre of the class struggle

Submitted by ICConline on

Daily we are told that we have to tighten our belts, accepts jobs losses, pay cuts, lose of pensions, increased work rates for the good of the national economy, to help it cope with the deepening recession. At British Airways they have even pressured workers to work for nothing for a whole month, with the threat of unemployment hanging over them...

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