After witnessing an explosive workers’ movement since 2008, with several national
strikes and a wave of radical mass actions, the working class movement
seems to have been interrupted by the “carnival” of bourgeois democracy.
However, the euphoria surrounding this year’s LOK-SABHA election cannot
be seen as separate from the political developments that brought about
the recent explosions in the workers’ movement. It is indeed its wider
expression discontent. It is the expression of the political and
economic impasse of capitalism that is becoming deeper and more acute,
especially since the 2008 financial crisis that refuses to end.
INTERNATIONAL SCENARIO : Capitalism establishes an accumulation of misery, corresponding with accumulation of capital,” and that capitalism will produce “accumulation of wealth at one pole and at the same time accumulation of misery, agony of toil slavery, ignorance, brutality, mental degradation, at the opposite pole, i.e., on the side of the class that produces its own product in the form of capital produces. In day-to-day language, as all working people will agree, the rich are getting richer, the poor are getting poorer.
INTERNATIONAL SCENARIO : Capitalism establishes an accumulation of misery, corresponding with accumulation of capital,” and that capitalism will produce “accumulation of wealth at one pole and at the same time accumulation of misery, agony of toil slavery, ignorance, brutality, mental degradation, at the opposite pole, i.e., on the side of the class that produces its own product in the form of capital produces. In day-to-day language, as all working people will agree, the rich are getting richer, the poor are getting poorer.
A. This capitalist reality becomes more gut wrenching when the
capitalists are making record profits while the workers are being asked
to tighten their belts and work harder. Stock indexes have recovered to
their Pre-crisis level and some have even gone beyond it, but the
toiling masses are not feeling that their lives are getting any better
or have recovered to the level they were at before the crisis hit them.
B. There is an atmosphere of uncertainty amongst the people, which they can feel but not – or not yet – fully understand. This feeling is a feeling of uncertainty about the future, not only amongst the poor but also increasingly amongst the “middle classes”, those layers of workers who have been enjoying a relatively better economic position. They see this uncertainty not only in the reality around them, but also in what has been happening around the world over the past decade. Social, political, and economic instability is sharpening, especially since 2008. Earth shattering events are piling up one after another and coming in waves at an increasing speed. Let us mention a few: the 2008 financial crisis, Obama’s election as the first black president with a euphoria that was immediately followed by disappointment; the 2011 Occupy movement; the 2011 Arab Revolution that spread and took down several dictatorships; civil war in Syria; chaos in Libya; EU economic bankruptcy; the breakup of Ukraine; scandals that are rocking Western countries one after another; the shutdown of the US government; the resignation of Pope Benedict, something that hasn’t happened since the 12th century; even the World Cup was not immune from political turmoil, with large demonstrations and strikes against its extravagance; etc. etc. The toiling masses might not know in detail about all these events and only get bits and pieces of news about them directly or indirectly. However their instinct rightly says that there is something different in this period, something that is rotten and the putrid smell of it is obvious to all. They do not know exactly what it is, but they are feeling it and starting to reject it. This is what is the molecular process of revolution.
The class struggle that had been sharpening over the past few years has been temporarily interrupted by recent elections. The reformist leaders of the trade unions have successfully channeled workers' political aspirations into one or other of the bourgeois camps. However, the workers will quickly learn that neither of these can fulfill their demands. This will be a political lesson for the workers, that they cannot surrender their fate to the bourgeois parties, just like they do not surrender their fate to the bosses in the industrial struggle. It is here that the call for the formation of a workers’ party becomes important, and this slogan has to be pushed forward in a consistent and determined manner. This will accelerate the political tutoring of the workers, so that they can reach the correct conclusion: only the independence of the working class can show the way forward for the workers and the whole of the oppressed masses.
B. There is an atmosphere of uncertainty amongst the people, which they can feel but not – or not yet – fully understand. This feeling is a feeling of uncertainty about the future, not only amongst the poor but also increasingly amongst the “middle classes”, those layers of workers who have been enjoying a relatively better economic position. They see this uncertainty not only in the reality around them, but also in what has been happening around the world over the past decade. Social, political, and economic instability is sharpening, especially since 2008. Earth shattering events are piling up one after another and coming in waves at an increasing speed. Let us mention a few: the 2008 financial crisis, Obama’s election as the first black president with a euphoria that was immediately followed by disappointment; the 2011 Occupy movement; the 2011 Arab Revolution that spread and took down several dictatorships; civil war in Syria; chaos in Libya; EU economic bankruptcy; the breakup of Ukraine; scandals that are rocking Western countries one after another; the shutdown of the US government; the resignation of Pope Benedict, something that hasn’t happened since the 12th century; even the World Cup was not immune from political turmoil, with large demonstrations and strikes against its extravagance; etc. etc. The toiling masses might not know in detail about all these events and only get bits and pieces of news about them directly or indirectly. However their instinct rightly says that there is something different in this period, something that is rotten and the putrid smell of it is obvious to all. They do not know exactly what it is, but they are feeling it and starting to reject it. This is what is the molecular process of revolution.
The class struggle that had been sharpening over the past few years has been temporarily interrupted by recent elections. The reformist leaders of the trade unions have successfully channeled workers' political aspirations into one or other of the bourgeois camps. However, the workers will quickly learn that neither of these can fulfill their demands. This will be a political lesson for the workers, that they cannot surrender their fate to the bourgeois parties, just like they do not surrender their fate to the bosses in the industrial struggle. It is here that the call for the formation of a workers’ party becomes important, and this slogan has to be pushed forward in a consistent and determined manner. This will accelerate the political tutoring of the workers, so that they can reach the correct conclusion: only the independence of the working class can show the way forward for the workers and the whole of the oppressed masses.
Internal crisis is waiting around the corner for these trade
unions when their tactics of "riding the bourgeois parties" are proved
to be impotent. The workers will not just sit in silence. They will
respond to the mistakes made by their leaders, and there could be
changes in these trade unions. The reformist leadership will begin to be
discredited and find themselves challenged by their members. There will
be clashes and frictions in these unions.
After going en masse to the election booth, the workers are once again turning to the streets. As long as the questions of wages and standards of living have not been solved, and the coming regime will not be able to solve these questions especially during this world economic crisis, then workers will return to the ABCs of class struggle. But this time they will have learned a lot, from the past few years’ experiences and from recent elections, and the coming struggle will be on a higher plane than before. The next general strike will not be a repetition of the previous ones.
After going en masse to the election booth, the workers are once again turning to the streets. As long as the questions of wages and standards of living have not been solved, and the coming regime will not be able to solve these questions especially during this world economic crisis, then workers will return to the ABCs of class struggle. But this time they will have learned a lot, from the past few years’ experiences and from recent elections, and the coming struggle will be on a higher plane than before. The next general strike will not be a repetition of the previous ones.
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