An international youth camp on the Greek island of Kefallonia, held from 29 July to 7 August, will bring together activists from Tunisia, Spain and Italy and other countries and from all over Greece to discuss how to organise a European-wide and international fight-back for “real democracy” against the dictatorship of the market.

Discussions will take place at the campsite at 12 noon and at 8pm, with free participation.

Sessions planned include:
- Uprisings in North Africa and the Middle East
- What is our programme to tackle the economic crisis?
- Uprising in Wisconsin, US
- Workers’ struggles: conclusions and perspectives
- New age of struggles and revolutions
- The movement of the ‘Indignants’
Racism- Fascism:
- The rise of the far right in Europe
- ‘Golden Dawn’ (Greek neo-fascist organisation)
- Crime and ghettos: what are the causes and what is the solution?
- The development of fascism from a historic perspective
The Environment:
- Waste disposal industry – local movements of resistance in Greece
- Food and nutrition: additives in food & the food industry
- Forests and fires
- From Chernobyl to Foukosima
Youth:
- Education: school mergers/closures and new Greek parliament legislation
- International education movements, including Britain and Ireland
- City and town square occupations in Spain
- Football in crisis, including violence at games

Camp guest speakers:
A Tunisian Socialist; Marco Verrugio: member of the CC of Communist Refoundation and Controcorrente; Lucy Redler: member of SAV (CWI in Germany); Sonja Grusch: member of SLP (CWI in Austria); Wouter Vanzeele and Matias from LSP (CWI Belgium), Victor from SR (CWI Spain), Athena Kariati: Youth Against Racism in Cyprus.

Entertainment:- Daily free film showings
- Day-trips and tours around the island
- 2 ‘all-night’ and one afternoon beach party
- Music nights and games
- A play performed by camp participants camp

Price:
130 euros if travelling from Athens; 150 euros if travelling from Thessaloniki or Volos/Larisa
If you wish to attend/need more information phone:
Athens: +30 210 2283018-19 & 6976436302
Thessaloniki: +30 2310 540432 & 6977646995
or send an email to: yregreece@hotmail.com
Blog in Greek: www.yregreece.blogspot.com

Socialismo Revolucionario (CWI in Spain) reporters, Barcelona

The fantastic movement of the ‘indignidados’ on 15 May shook Spain to its core. All over the country, public plazas were occupied and mass demonstrations were held. On 15 June, the indignados attempted to organise a blockade of the Catalan parliament in Barcelona, which was going to vote on brutal cuts. Attempts set up a camp inside the Ciutadella Park, where the parliament is located, were prevented by police the day before. Nevertheless, thousands came to surround the park and to build barricades. The police used violence against the protesters to help regional MPs get in, but it was impossible for many to get in through gates of the park, due to the protests. Those MPs trying to enter the park were confronted and followed by protesters. They were shouted at and some of them even got a dose of spray paint on their clothes! Finally, many MPs, including the regional president Artur Mas, were forced to enter parliament by helicopter!

This situation was best described by a young woman carrying a sign saying, “A government should protect its people and not protect ITSELF from them”.

After the parliamentary session ended, the indignidados gathered for a march towards the town hall, which got bigger as it went along. On its way, the demonstration stopped at the CC.OO trade union HQ, shouting slogans for a general strike.

Whose “violence”?

After these events of ‘15-J’, the Spanish media tried to paint the movement as “violent”. Most newspapers now say that the indignidados “have crossed the red line“. The conservative daily, El Mundo, even compared the indignidados with Mussolini’s black shirt fascists! This is a shameful insult that has nothing to do with what really happened. The real violence is that carried out by the Catalan and Spanish government, which enforce brutal cuts, and by the police, ‘los Mossos’, who were the perpetrators of violence both yesterday and in their attacks on the Plaza de Catalunya on 27 May.

Video footage exposed the conscious planting of agent provocateurs in the movement to provoke clashes with police. The capitalist establishment has been waiting with baited breath for the first opportunity to brand the 15-M movement as “violent”. But the response of the movement to such provocations has cut across these attempts. At the mass assembly, which took place after the morning demo yesterday, the need for discipline in the face of provocations was stressed. One of the most common slogans was “Estas son nuestras armas“ (‘These are our weapons’), with hands lifted in the air. Yesterday´s episode also emphasises the need for the movement to organise self-defence on demonstrations, through democratically-established stewarding.

The movement continues

There were perhaps less protestors in Barcelona yesterday than expected. But it would be wrong to conclude from this that the movement is in decline. The fact that trade unions shamelessly did not engage in any mobilisation for this key anti-cuts demonstration (following the 200,000-strong union anti-cuts protest on 14 May) was undoubtedly a factor in the turnout. Even though most of the permanent camps were ended, the movement is continuing, now reaching out to broader layers of the working class. Protests against evictions are also growing. Yesterday, in Madrid, hundreds of protesters successfully stopped an eviction.

Cayo Lara, head of Izquierda Unida, to his credit, tried to join this protest but was confronted by the indignidados. This shows how for many, the IU is seen as just another one of the other parties. Such a reception for the IU leader is hardly surprising, given the years of pacts with capitalist parties and complicity in neo-liberal policies pursued by IU recently. Yesterday an the Barcelona protests, an ICV (IU in Catalunya) MP was a target of scorn as he tries to pass through the crowd of protestors Dolors Camats, ICV-EUiA (Catalan alliance of IU and Greens) followed this up by condemning the “violence” by protestors, without a word in condemnation of the police provocation and repression. What an awkward situation, in which “left“ Mps push their way into parliament, instead of joining protests on the streets outside, actively supporting the indignidados! What 15-M needs from the left is a fighting and revolutionary political programme which can satisfy the demands of the movement by breaking with capitalism.

The next day of action will be on 19 June. It will also be an international day of action, with solidarity protests all over Europe. Events in Greece, in particular, will be decisive for the further development of the movement, which has already had wide international influence. In Greece, people took up the forms of protest of the indignidados and combined them with the massive strength of the working class, which was shown impressively in the general strike on 15 June. This is also necessary in Spain. Socialismo Revolucionario (CWI in Spain) calls for the linking up of the struggles, with a fight for a new general strike. In many ‘barrios’ (neighbourhoods) regular assemblies exist. These must be also organised in workplaces, universities etc and democratised and linked together on a regional and state-wide level. They have to combine their forces and organise the struggles. Further, a European general strike is needed to unite the struggles on an international basis. An international break with the dictatorship of the banks and big business is necessary, to end the nightmare for millions which is life under crisis-ridden capitalism.

Ben Robinson, Socialist Party (CWI England and Wales)

At the end of last year, students took to the streets in a month of mass protest against Con-Dem attacks on education. They were the first major group to move against the government’s cuts programme. But does this mean that they represent the leadership of the anti-cuts movement as some have suggested?

THE CON-DEMS have had a year in government. Assuming a mandate where they had none, they announced wave after wave of public-sector cuts. But instead of the sandcastle defences most trade union leaders had offered, their plans have run into the solid rock of protest. Before Christmas, the student movement brought 130,000 onto the streets, going far beyond the control of the official leadership of the National Union of Students (NUS). March 26 saw the Trades Union Congress (TUC) bring out over half-a-million workers in a mass demonstration, whetting rather than sating the appetite for struggle. Those trade unions prepared to fight are seeking to coordinate action at the end of June, in anticipation of the huge battles that must be fought and won.

The student movement, first to stand up against the catastrophic cuts, played an important role in the developing resistance. The authorities were forced to make concessions on the Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA) paid to the poorest college students and on tuition fees in Wales and Scotland. But the student movement also developed in a vacuum, where the TUC and right-wing union leaders were refusing to organise action that measured up to the scale of the crisis. Continuing their policy of featherweight resistance during successive New Labour governments, the voice and power of the working class have been largely absent for nearly a generation.

But it is in these struggles that the power of the working class is essential. The world economy lost an entire year’s production in the economic crisis, and the capitalist class is trying to regain its former prosperity by decimating the conditions of the other classes. Like a pride of wounded lions, all are fair game, from the flesh of small businesses to the carcass of the welfare state. This is a fundamental battle for survival, with the legitimacy of the capitalist system already shaken in the eyes of millions. The questions of how to defeat the cuts, of what alternative there is to capitalism and to today’s economic turmoil, how to build an alternative society, and who can bring about this change, are all interlinked and essential for activists. Events in North Africa and the Middle East have shown that revolution is back on the agenda.

Owing to its economic role, the working class is locked in direct struggle with the capitalist class. Its concentration in workplaces and communities creates the conditions for working-class unity, as well as for collective struggle. The potential power of the working class is evident most obviously in strike action, but also on the political and social planes as well. It is, in fact, the only cohesive force in society that can defeat the Con-Dem cuts programme, and which could also transform society.

The freedom to fight

DURING AND SINCE the students were on the streets, some self-proclaimed leaders have proposed that students have the leading role to play in the fight against the cuts. A clear illustration of this was the call by the student group, the National Campaign against Fees and Cuts (NCAFC), to organise ‘the’ follow-up meeting for the anti-cuts movement after the demo on 26 March. This drew the support of the Coalition of Resistance and Right to Work groups, but very few of the half-a-million marchers.

This idea is put forward in a more generalised manner in two books on the student movement, Springtime: The New Student Rebellions, and Fight Back! A Reader on the Winter of Protest. These books bring together a number of people who played a role in the student protests, with 89 contributors including the ex-president of the University of London student union, Clare Solomon, and journalist Laurie Penny. Every trend in the student movement is represented – with the notable exception of Socialist Party members!

Cailean Gallagher, from Oxford university and co-editor of Fight Back! expresses the idea of students’ predominance most clearly: “Students must be, and already are, an essential part of this renewal. There are practical reasons for this: we are well placed to protest and organise. We have the energy and time to act again and again, and to keep struggling; we can be creative in our methods of dissent, we can communicate and organise faster than ever before, and we can commit in a way that no others can. We aren’t just marching for our own sake; we won’t have to pay higher fees. But we will have to live in the society that is being created now.

“We have the access to literature, ideas and minds we need to generate an ideology and culture for the society we want to live in. As students we occupy a privileged position within the existing elitist academic structures. Members of an elite can use their position to the advantage of society as a whole. When we write and organise, our methods and language will be drawn, inevitably, from our studies, but we will be deploying them for our own radical ends. We need to read, write, talk, experiment, so that we can understand both what we learn and what we are trying to achieve. The student movement is unique in that it has the power to marry activism and ideology. As students we can use our privilege to develop new ideas for the Left; and then practice what we preach”.

Becoming a student is a huge shift. For the majority it means moving away from home, mixing with people from different class backgrounds. It is a chance to explore ideas and, potentially, to change the course of your life. Politically active students can find a huge amount of free time when the need is clear. Although burdened by debt and increasingly reliant on low-paid work to see them through their studies, in general they are not weighed down by the pressures of work, bills and mortgages to the same extent as the working class. This means they can find time more easily to devote to activism, and to bring their youthful energy and initiative to bear. So they can and should play active roles on campus, and in the education and broader anti-cuts movements.

This does not mean, however, that students necessarily struggle harder than any other group. The massive movements in Tunisia, Egypt and throughout the region, which show no sign of disappearing anytime soon, show that sustained struggle is entirely possible, and on a higher political plane than the student movement has so far reached. In Britain in 2009, the Lindsey oil refinery strike, and the occupations at the Vestas wind turbine and Visteon car component factories, outlasted many student occupations. The height of last year’s student movement lasted a month, in the run up to the vote on tuition fees in parliament. As with all protests, it is a political question how far and hard people are prepared to struggle.

Students are outside normal class boundaries, even if working part-time. They do not have the same economic factors pushing them to unite as workers in a workplace do. As a consequence, they do not have the same social weight that the working class has. Even if students can be the first and most confident into battle, their inability to impact on the workings of the capitalist system as a whole means they can also be defeated more easily if isolated.

Stuck on first base

THE IDEA THAT the means of mass struggle is an innate quality of students does not help us understand the arc of the student movement. Following years of attacks, a movement of protest slowly developed, becoming especially strong in a few universities like Sussex. The proposals of £9,000-a-year fees and 80% budget cuts brought this to the fore, and the NUS and University and College Union (UCU) 10 November demonstration manifested this mood on the streets. But this was not the end of the journey as the NUS hoped, but rather the movement slipping into first gear. Around 130,000 protested and occupied a fortnight later. Further days of action brought new layers out with them. After the university fees vote went through, however, the pace slackened.

It then became less clear how to advance. This does not mean that the desire to fight was immediately quelled. The largest London Student Assembly was held after the Christmas break, packed out with student activists wanting a strategy to organise around. But the apolitical atmosphere, fostered by the idea that the movement was innate rather than evolving, meant that the meeting was not used to review the last battle and map the route for a new one. This led to a certain amount of confusion among the activists who had been central to organising locally.

Out of the November-December heights, a new generation of activists was inspired. Those activists are there still, and will not remain passive forever. There is huge potential for the movement to spring up again, given a correct strategy and focus. Already, we have seen thousands demonstrate in Glasgow, protests at London Metropolitan university and elsewhere. But these activists did not have a forum to discuss the crucial questions during the course of the movement, and this is essential if it is to move onto a higher plane.

If the NUS had opened up its structures, created extraordinary ones to involve and be led by the new layer of activists – before, during and after the fees vote – then the student movement would be in an incomparably stronger position. Given the appalling role of Aaron Porter, then NUS president, and the Labour Students leadership, it was necessary for the movement to create its own forums. But these would need to be based on mobilising action, as well as discussing strategy, and to allow activists to develop into leaders in their areas. It would be vital that student organisations such as these orient themselves to the working class, developing solidarity between workers and students, and getting involved in the transformation of trade unions and the NUS into democratic, combative organisations.

This lack of a political voice applies more generally, too, with the concerns of the vast majority of the population practically unheard in the palace of Westminster and the media. There has been an absence of forums for debate and of widespread, sustained social protest, and the one impacts on the other. In the past, it had been possible to use the Labour Party as an avenue for action and discussion among working-class and left-wing activists. Its transformation into a fully capitalist party, however, means that this is something for the new generation of student activists to read about in history books rather than experience first-hand.

Political opportunities were missed to develop the huge feeling behind the movement against the Iraq war into a real political alternative, partially because of the top-down approach of the Socialist Workers Party (SWP). Likewise, the anarchist-leaning ideas linked to the anti-capitalist movement and social forums, arguments for spontaneity over organisation, could not develop space for discussion and political activity. Both of these failed approaches are proposed to the student movement at present but will be found wanting in the developing struggles.

Not such a new idea

IT IS ALSO a mistake to assume the answer lies in academia. Universities are part and parcel of the capitalist system, prized by big business as finishing schools for the next generation of management, politicians, businessmen, etc. The last thing they need is for these people to question the society they are being trained to preserve. While criticism and debate can and does go on, universities mirror the agenda set for society as a whole by its ruling layers. This has always been the case, but has been intensified by the creeping commercialisation of education, including universities’ increasing dependence on big-business funding.

The idea of the leading role of students is not at all new. It has echoes of the ‘red bases’ theory put forward in 1968 by a so-called ‘new left’, including Anthony Barnett who wrote the introduction to Fight Back! This was the idea that students could take over universities, and from them link up to form the basis of a new society. But how will that stop big business driving down wages? How will it stop the cuts programme? This idea did not measure up to the tasks in the revolutionary year of 1968, at the end of the post-war economic upswing, and does not measure up in the depths of the severe economic crisis today.

The clear implication of this argument is that those outside of education either cannot or will not impact on the broader political life. As well as being incredibly patronising towards workers, the unemployed, younger people and all those who have not had the chance to go to university (and will be denied if the movement fails), it is fundamentally wrong.

Ideas come from experience. This is especially true of ideas of struggle and for building an alternative society. The student movement and all those individually involved learned a huge amount very quickly during the course of the movement. The demonstration on 30 November, organised so that the police could not kettle it, was a successful example of that.

It is possible for students to win some victories: for example, they defeated Margaret Thatcher’s plans to introduce university fees in 1984. But it depends on the scale of the tasks confronting the movement. The nature of the battle against the cuts means that it is not possible for students to fight alone or to play the leading role. Society functions as a whole, rather than as a series of independent parts. The reason Thatcher retreated in 1984 (until her heir, Tony Blair, succeeded in 1998) was because of the simultaneous miners’ strike, with the capitalist class not wanting to fight on several fronts at the same time.

Last year’s student movement was able to reach such proportions partially because of huge support among the working class. This was evident in the number of trade union banners on the various demonstrations – even 54% of readers of the reactionary Daily Star supported the movement! This was despite the mistakes that every movement makes. To a certain extent the students were channelling a much deeper desire to fight back that has been building up across society.

Since students took to the streets in force, other groups have started to move and the government has faced a number of setbacks, from forest privatisation to NHS reforms. The student movement played a role in “refresh[ing] the political parts a hundred debates, conferences and resolutions could not reach”, as Unite union general secretary, Len McCluskey, said. The 26 March demo saw the working class and trade unions enter the struggle on a mass, generalised scale.

In France 1968, student protest very quickly escalated and laid the basis for a general strike involving ten million workers. This revolutionary movement set as its aim not just opposition to draconian conditions, but demanded a new society, a socialist society. It had the potential to achieve it. The massive student movement in Germany, on the other hand, was sustained over a much larger period yet did not have a comparable effect on the working class. This was because of the very different political conditions and outlook that existed among workers in the two countries. In France, the total domination of capitalists’ interests under the authoritarian rule of General de Gaulle meant that the explosive situation only needed a single spark to set the whole country ablaze.

In the mood for action

IN BRITAIN, THE mood among workers for a fight-back was already present before the NUS/UCU demonstration on 10 November. The huge scale of the cuts had been made abundantly clear by the Con-Dem coalition and the previous New Labour government. Many fighting trade unions and activists had demanded an earlier national demonstration, and a programme of action from the TUC. But because of its right-wing leadership, the TUC put it off until 26 March. This suppressed urge contributed to the depth of support for the student movement.

Among those working-class organisations with a fighting leadership, the PCS (civil servants’ union), RMT (rail and transport union) and others, the seeds of a new political voice are found and have been growing for some time. These unions and their willingness to fight have more accurately represented the developing mood among workers. It is no coincidence that leading members of the RMT and PCS are working with the Socialist Party and others in the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition electoral platform.

Workers’ struggles can also inspire young people, especially school students, to struggle. The two waves of school student action in the 20th century, 1911 and 1985, were linked to industrial battles. In 1985, a school student movement of a quarter-of-a-million – in which Militant supporters (predecessors of the Socialist Party) played a leading role – blew up in the immediate aftermath of the year-long miners’ strike, from which it took direct inspiration. Before the student movement last year, walkouts in individual schools were growing, often in support of teachers’ action against cuts or academies.

As industrial struggle develops, the questions of how to defeat the cuts and of developing an alternative to big-business domination will be debated throughout society. The answer will be glimpsed in the struggle. The principles of solidarity, cooperation, democratic and open discussion, and implacable opposition to capitalism will take shape and lay the basis for a socialist society.

A new generation has crashed into political activity and will play a huge role in the coming struggles in the next months and years. The student movement has inspired many who took part and supported it. Ideas for struggle have been tested out, some found wanting while others have proved their worth. As students continue to fight back, alongside workers and others, these ideas will continue to be debated. When the movement steps into full swing again, it will be richer and stronger because of these debates.

Danny Byrne, CWI

The impact of the revolutionary conflagration which is sweeping North Africa and the Middle East in Europe has been immense. But the youth revolt currently taking place across Spain, with demos and “campouts” across Europe and beyond, is one of the most direct and powerful reflection of this impact yet to be seen. The revolt of the Spanish youth, with wide support in society, does contain elements of revolution. Anyone attending the mass assemblies throughout the Spanish state will be struck by the depth of hatred for the current system in its entirety and the rejection of the old order of things. “Revolution” can be seen on placards and heard in chants taken up by hundreds and thousands. This movement comprises of thousands of people who identify with the idea of transforming society along revolutionary lines and that the present situation can not continue. Although a clear conception of what revolution is or involves is not yet present. For revolutionary socialists, the question is, how can this sentiment be translated into genuine revolutionary change?

Whatever the exact development of events in the short term, it is clear that this movement has opened the gates to a new period of struggle, with people determined to fight for a decent existence, which capitalism cannot provide. This movement is the first phase in a process of social and class battles and marks the end of the period of relative ’stability’ in Spain. In these titanic battles the question of: who runs society and in whose interests will continue to be posed.

Inevitable explosion

Generally speaking, the explosion of the current movement has confirmed the perspective of the CWI. Throughout Europe, the working class found itself relatively unprepared to face the current onslaught of capitalism on the living standards and the gains of the past. The main trade union leaders have pursued a strategy of de-mobilisation and collaboration with capital, rather than acting upon the desire from below to fight. Generally workers and youth are without a political reference point to express their anger against the system and the anti-social, pro-rich policies being pursued by the government. These factors weighed heavily on the situation in the first years of the crisis in Spain.

However, despite all of this, capitalism was laying the basis for new and inevitable social earthquakes. The economic boom of the last 2 decades lifted Spain, and its young generation in particular, to new heights with living standards up and a “golden future” was promised to them. These expectations have now come crashing down. Almost 5 million people fill the ranks of those officially unemployed. Almost half the population under 25 years old are without work – most entitled to absolutely nothing in benefits. 11 million work in precarious jobs. A tidal wave of anger has been accumulating as a result of this devastating situation. The movement that developed in the recent period was able to overcome the obstacles placed in its path. Spain will not return to what it was before this movement erupted.

Where should the movement go from here?
Having said this, the 15-M movement, called after the starting point on 15 May, is at present passing through a crucial stage. A clear, united and offensive plan to develop the movement is now especially necessary to strengthen and develop it, in order to avoid a temporary retreat or derailing of the movement. The “acampadas” plaza occupations have had an electrifying effect. They have become vibrant centres of debate and resistance in every major town. They have enjoyed overwhelming support, collecting hundreds of thousands of signatures, as well as attracting massive numbers of visitors – workers, the unemployed, pensioners and others. These visitors come not as passive observers but participate in the debates and assemblies, inspired by the movement’s energy and militant spirit. A form of protest inspired by the Egyptian revolution has taken Spain and now Greece by storm.

However, it is also clear that only the occupation of city squares and plazas throughout the country alone will not be enough to win real and lasting change change. Although in recent weeks, the plaza occupations have been decisive in pushing the protest into the public eye, must now move forward, to take effective action to achieve its aims. Mass participation in campouts on stone plazas in noisy town centres is not sustainable in the long term for obvious reasons. Tiredness and infrastructural problems have been impressively overcome by protestors thus far. The capitalist press is full of speculation as to how long the indignados can hold out.

The real significance of the camps, the threat they represent to capitalism and the political elite, of course does not stem from the act of camping itself! What the plaza protests really represent is potential; the potential for a mass movement which could set society alight, drawing the mass of people into a serious struggle which could shake capitalism to its foundations. They represent a mass politicisation not in the sense of joining political parties but in unleashing discussion and debate about how society should or could be run. The emphasis of the movement needs now to develop beyond the occupation of squares – to change society. It should take place on the basis of a democratically discussed and agreed programme of action, with a sustained plan of continued mobilisations based around agreed demands and objectives. And on the basis of the continued right to use the people’s plazas as gathering points for regular assemblies and other actions of the movement.

It should be a bold step forwards not backwards, to ensure that the movement is widened out. A layer of activists in the struggle argue that dismantling the camps should be avoided at all costs, that the movement’s perspective should be to dig in for the ’long haul’, “until the system changes”. Some even have illusions that a “new world” can be built within the plazas themselves, a parallel world which rejects capitalist society. In some areas, campers have even begun to build huts and houses in trees and on grass patches in preparation! But the tens of thousands of youths, with the working class behind them, have joined this struggle not to build a parallel world in town squares, but to change the world around the squares! The key to such a struggle lies not in the plaza, but in the workplace, the school, university, community, hospital and other centres were workers, the unemployed, students and all those exploited by capitalism are to be found.

The “decentralisation” of the movement, into the ’barrios’, (workers districts) with local assemblies and protests, is a positive step. If consolidated, coordinated and built upon, it could be a key element in the creation of a sustained, broad, democratic movement with real roots amongst workers and youth. The participation of a wide layer of community and anti-cuts activists and trade unionists in many local assemblies shows the potential for the movement to galvanise the resistance to austerity and capitalism. However, “decentralisation” alone will not lead to this. A mass movement needs to co-ordinate actions on a city-wide, regional and state-wide level, to maximise their impact, and to democratically agree its main demands and aims. We support the formation of assemblies of a united movement in every barrio, and for the extension of the assemblies into workplaces, schools and universities. We also call for a democratisation of the movement, with barrio assemblies electing delegates to city and region-wide assemblies, with the right to change or recall representatives, and for these in turn to elect representatives to regular state-wide assemblies to plan the next steps of the struggle.

Towards a general strike now!
The 15-M revolt is obviously the worst nightmare of Spanish capitalism at the present time as it is struggling to give an image of “stability” to the international markets. But it is a nightmare not only for them. In the offices and headquarters of the UGT and CCOO (Spain’s largest trade union federations), the movement is also causing headaches. After the general strike of 29 September, which saw over 10 million workers down tools, the leaders began to demobilise the resistance to the government’s programme of attacks. Pacts were agreed on the labour reform package (which since its passing has seen unemployment swell by hundreds of thousands!) and the raising of the retirement age. They have now set their sights on accepting an attack on the right to collective bargaining, a long-held ambition of Spanish bosses since the fall of Franco.

However, the revolt of the youth has put a spanner in the works. With its impact and the brutal cuts set to be implemented in the next months, whether the leaders will be able to continue with their policy of agreement with the bosses and the government without provoking a revolt from below remains to be seen. The consequences of 15-M will be to increase the confidence and pressure from the workers for a determined struggle. This may be reflected in more militant rhetoric from the union leaders. They may be compelled to call a general strike soon to try to regain their diminishing authority.

In the fight for a widening out of the current youth movement, the demand for a new general strike is crucially important. This importance primarily stems from the need for the movement to take effective and powerful action, using all of the potential power of those under the boot of austerity. It is crucial for the youth to link up in struggle with the workers in the workplaces. The working class, facing attack after attack, represents the most decisive power in Spain and in any capitalist society. It is the decisive force in production and with its collective consciousness as a class can lead the building of a new democratic socialist society. It has also the power to paralyse economic life, the workings of the state and society. The general strike is the most powerful expression of this potential power. As part of a sustained programme of struggle, and armed with an alternative to the austerity of capitalism, the general strike is a weapon which can break governments and shake the ruling classes. After all, the Egyptian revolution, which brought down Mubarak, reached its most intense point not through the occupation of Tahrir square alone, but when workers entered the struggle as a class, through a widespread strike movement. The coming Spanish revolution must learn this lesson (of the role of the working class) in the fight to topple the dictatorship of the markets.

The demand for a general strike has huge popularity within the movement. In Barcelona, organised delegations of young activists from the plaza protests, have visited factories and other workplaces in the area facing redundancies and wage-cuts, to show solidarity and raise the need for a general strike. But this instinctive solidarity and appeal to join forces in action needs to be given a concrete form, through democratic mechanisms of discussion and decision-making within the movement, as outlined in our proposals above. The 15-M revolt, as a movement, must come out in favour of a general strike as the next step in the struggle. This would have an enormous impact, with many workers and trade unionists already looking to the plazas for inspiration in the absence of the same from their so-called leaders.

However, the general strike which is necessary is not one like on 29 September, which from the point of view of the trade union leadership, was merely an exercise in letting off steam, a one-day parade before going back to business as usual. A new 24-hour general strike must be built from below, fought for by the movement and rank and file trade unionists, giving the leaders no choice but to follow. And it should be planned, controlled and followed up by workers themselves, through democratic assemblies, which draw up demands and plans for a sustained struggle. Moreover, one 24-hour strike will not be sufficient to resist the agenda of a ruthless and determined capitalist class. A plan for a series of 24 hour general strikes, escalating to 48 hours if necessary, with other co-ordinated mobilisations must be drawn up and acted upon. This has to be part of a strategy to enforce fundamental changes to alter society as a whole and end the dictatorship of the markets and profit.

Unity between the precarious and unemployed youth and students, and organised workers with powerful traditions of trade union militancy is essential. The CWI does not agree with idea that has emerged amongst from some during this movement that the “precariado” (precarious workers) represents a different, ’more revolutionary’ class to the ’more privileged’ unionised “proletariado” (proletariat). The worse, more desperate conditions of the precarious younger layer of the working class are a direct result an offensive over the last 20 years against the power of the trade union movement, pursued by successive neo-liberal governments, with easy and cheap sackings, short term contracts and poverty wages the norm. The improved conditions of organised workers are not proof that they are “less revolutionary” (!), but on the contrary, proof that class organisation and struggle can be effective in achieving better conditions.

That the trade union movement is currently mostly led by those who want to collaborate with the bosses and the government, does not negate the potential power of these organisations, built up during periods of revolutionary class battles. 29 September was a glimpse of this power. The hostility of some towards the trade union movement as a whole, fails to distinguish between the rank and file of the unions and its bureaucratic leadership. These wrong ideas can potentially split the movement and weaken it rather than unite the workers and the youth and unemployed. However, these are sentiments that can be quickly overcome when the real power of the workers is demonstrated in struggle. If the union organisations can be claimed back and transformed into democratic, fighting instruments of struggle, and together with workers forming committees or organisations of struggle, they can become to be seen by the majority of the youth as points of reference for militant action, instead of conservative relics of the old order.

“Our dreams don’t fit in your ballot boxes“
Another feature of the movement has been its complete rejection of the political establishment. We saw how the movement almost pushed aside the electoral fiasco between the capitalist parties in the days leading up to the local and autonomous elections on 22 May. It seemed as if the two main parties, PSOE and the PP, along with right-wing nationalist formations like the Catalan CiU and Basque PNV, were living in a different country. They tried to turn the non-existent differences between them into the focus of public discussion and debate. But the tens of thousands of youth mobilized all around the state were the ones with their fingers on the real pulse of “public opinion”: massive opposition to the policies of all of these parties! PSOE was forced to move its main final election rally in Madrid, from close to the Puerta del Sol (epicentre of the acamapadas movement) to outside city boundaries and was virtually thrown out of the capital by thousands of indignant youths.

“Our dreams don’t fit in your ballot boxes” is a widespread slogan, etched on placards in every plaza. It reflects very well both the antipathy towards the capitalist political establishment, and the audacious and radical ambitions of the youth for change, which are given no clear expression on the political plane by any important force. It also reflects the failure of the left, most importantly of Izquierda Unida, to put forward a consistent anti-capitalist alternative programme capable of channelling these dreams and ambitions. Like the trade unions, the “old” left, with its history of government pacts with capitalist parties, has come to be seen by many young people as simply “part of the furniture” of capitalist society.

Anti-political?
The movement is not “a-political” in the slightest. Despite not putting forward clear proposals or policies for change, the movement is definitely anti-capitalist in an undeveloped sense. In fact, in the first days of the movement, the assemblies at Puerta del Sol even agreed upon many demands of a socialistic type. These were not fully rounded out or part of a comprehensive programme. They included the nationalisation of empty property to tackle the housing crisis, the lowering of the retirement age to fight youth unemployment, the nationalisation of the bailed-out banks etc. Aside from some conscious and convinced “anti-political” elements, there is a general appetite in the movement to discuss political alternatives, although this is often found alongside a hostility to all political parties and organisations in general. Most plaza occupations have taken votes “forbidding” political interventions of any type in assemblies etc. In some areas, even the mention of “left” or “socialist” at an assembly will get a speaker’s microphone cut off!

The CWI is opposed to the ‘traditional’ pro-capitalist policies and methods of the established political parties. We defend the idea of new political organisations of the youth and workers to democratically organise and channel the struggle for a new revolutionary democratic socialist society. The history of capitalism, of struggles and movements, has demonstrated time and time again that a successful break with the old order cannot be achieved without a widely-understood political programme which expresses the concrete needs of the hour. Without a clear alternative to existing policies, capitalism’s attacks can be fought and stalled for sure, with a struggle powerful and determined enough. But in the long run, capitalism can only function on the basis of its own logic, the logic of profit and the dictatorship of the markets. And as long as this system remains intact, as long as it continues to be seen that “no alternative exists”, then policies dictated by this logic – i.e austerity, misery and declining living standards to pay for the crisis of the bankers and the rich – will continue to prevail. Thus arises the need for political proposals, which attack the problems facing workers and youth at their root, the dictatorship of capital, and can take society to a higher plane, through taking society’s wealth into the hands of the majority. This is the essence of the revolutionary socialist politics put forward by the CWI.

On the other hand, we understand perfectly the roots of this mood of hostility to political organisations. In analysing, and intervening into the current movement it is necessary to remember that it represents the beginning, the entry of a new generation of fighters into battle, after a period of relative “social peace”, despite the constant class struggle from the ruling class on wages, living conditions and jobs. As such, it is inevitable that some complications, inherited from the past, will be present in the movement. The past decades of political betrayals and the corrupt, bureaucratic monstrosities which have dominated the political scene, from left to right, were bound to leave their impact on the consciousness of young people. But the experience of struggle and of counter-attacks by a united capitalist political elite will push this anti-capitalist generation en masse towards the recognition that a political alternative is necessary.

Democracy or dictatorship?
’Real democracy now!’ was the main slogan around which the Spanish youth began their revolt on 15 May. And what better indictment of the rotten capitalist system, which values the tranquility of the all-powerful markets over the misery of millions. A system in which all the decisions affecting our lives the most, on jobs, housing, the economy etc, are taken by a small elite in the interests of maximising their profits can know no real democracy. “Democracy for an insignificant minority, democracy for the rich — that is the democracy of capitalist society.”, is how it was put by Lenin. Life under this sham democracy has pushed millions towards revolutionary conclusions, that in order to achieve a real democracy, the system must be changed.

The task now is how can these sentiments be given real revolutionary content. The axis of the dictatorship of the markets and the super-rich is their control over the means of survival, the economy, the banks, jobs etc. Therefore, the key to a revolutionary programme is measures that could be taken to break that control. Revolutionary socialist measures, the nationalisation under democratic control of the banks, finance sector, and main industries and services would turn economic life on its head, with the economy planned to meet the needs and ambitions of workers and youth. Widely supported measures such as the lowering of the retirement age to 60, the shortening of the working week with no loss of pay, public investment to create millions of jobs, could only be really and sustainably achieved with the wealth of society under democratic control.

This movement has opened the eyes of many. In a way, the mass participation in the movement, the democracy and discussions of the assemblies, the assertion of popular control over the country’s town squares etc, gives a glimpse of real democracy. It is not voting every few years for representatives who will represent your class enemies. It is active and genuine participation in the organisation of society and the economy, which is only possible on the basis of public ownership. Real democracy has no truck with corrupt, millionaire MPs, or royal families, or the denial of the right to national self-determination. The assemblies of the 15-M movement must be developed and extended, democratised and structured on local, city, regional and state-wide levels and ultimately, united in fighting for revolutionary socialist policies as outlined above. On such a basis, these bodies could form the basis for an alternative government and society, infinitely more democratic than the status quo.

The rapid international spread of the “#spanishrevolution” also gives a glimpse of how such an example would be met around Europe and the world. With jubilation, and rapid action to emulate such a revolutionary change. Thus could a democratic socialist federation of Europe, as an alternative to the capitalist EU be built, as part of a new world of real revolutionary socialist democracy.

For real democracy – break the dictatorship of the bankers

and bosses!

Young people demand revolutionary change

International Socialist Resistance (ISR)

This is not democracy! Established politicians decide in the interest of the bankers and bosses over the future of billions around the globe. Putting the burden of their crisis on the shoulders of the mass of the people, they drive millions into a hopeless future made up of mass unemployment, ‘trash’contracts, low-paid jobs, squeezed services, reduced benefits, inaccessible education, soaring prices and police repression.

What they call democracy is the brutal takeover by the “troika” of the European Central Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the European Union of Greece, Ireland and Portugal. This is their Europe, not ours!

We fight for real democracy, in Europe and internationally

The “real democracy”movement expresses the genuine aspirations for a society in which people have a real control over their lives, and are no longer at the mercy of a handful of ultra-rich “banksters” and corrupt politicians who hijack jobs, public services and living standards of millions just to increase their profits.

We have all been inspired by the revolutionary struggles in Egypt and Tunisia, which has put the idea of revolution back onto the agenda. Then the new wave of hope awaken by the “real democracy”movement which started in Spain has rapidly been echoed to one degree or another in Greece, Portugal, Italy, France, Belgium, Britain and Poland.

The assemblies in squares all over Spain gave a lively picture of people coming together, discussing and making their own decisions for the future. The debates on the Sytagma square in Athens showed how Greek workers and youth have taken this up.

Assemblies in factories and workplaces, neighbourhoods, schools and universities are needed to continue the struggle and to build a powerful and united movement of workers, young people and the poor, democratically organised from below with a fully accountable, and removable, leadership. These can be linked together at local, regional and national levels. Therefore, delegates of these assemblies should come together – but always under the control of these assemblies and subject to recall.

These assemblies can be the basis of a struggle for real change in the interest of workers, youth, the unemployed and pensioners. A struggle that would replace the corrupt politicians living the lives of the upper class and disconnected from the majority’s concerns by elected representatives living on an ordinary worker’s wage.

Putting people’s interests rather than the profits of the bankers, bosses and rich as its main objective, a real democracy would use the wealth of society to end poverty, unemployment and the destruction of natural resources, put in danger by nuclear disasters or climate change.

Be part of the movement

The Spanish movement is mobilising on 15^th June for a demonstration in Barcelona against the vote on the cutbacks in the Catalan parliament. The Madrid assembly calls for demonstrations in all European cities on the 19^th June. The Greek movement is mobilising for a general strike on the 15^th June and asks all participants to occupy the squares afterwards.

We call for international solidarity action on and around the 15^th and 19^th June:

• For real democracy – end the dictatorship of the bankers, bosses and their politicians. For a democratically planned economy putting the wealth of society in the hands of the millions not the millionaires.
• We are not commodities! Free health and education, decent jobs and contracts for all. Money for jobs & education – not for bankers, share the work without loss in pay!
• No to cuts, privatisations and redundancies! Make the big companies, the hedge funds and the banks pay for their crisis – nationalise these institutions under democratic control and management!
• Kick out the troika of thieves – EU, IMF, European Central Bank – from Greece, Ireland and Portugal!  This is not our debt, we won’t pay it!
• International solidarity against cutbacks, racism, unemployment and poverty. For international joint action including strikes and general strikes.
• For a Europe of the workers and the poor, not for the greedy capitalists!

Organise and support protests, walk outs, strikes and occupations – campaign for international solidarity actions on the 15^th and 19th June, as a first step towards the building of an internationally coordinated mass struggle against austerity!

Click here to sign the ISR statment:
ISR Statement