Class struggle

Metalworkers’ strike in Vigo, Spain: the proletarian method of struggle

Submitted by World Revolution on

We want to welcome and express our solidarity with the struggle that the metal workers of Vigo in NW Spain have been waging since 3 May. The official media, union websites and those of so-called ‘radical’ groups maintain almost total silence about this strike. It is important that we discuss this experience, draw its lessons with a critical spirit, and put them into practice, since all workers are affected by the same problems: precarious working, increasingly unbearable working conditions, sky high prices, lay-offs, the announcement of yet more cuts in pensions…

From New York to Delhi, from Belfast to Paris: The rebirth of workers’ solidarity

Submitted by World Revolution on

The exploiting class and the class of wage workers have nothing in common. They have no choice but to try to drive us into the ground. We have no choice but to resist. And it is in resisting that we will discover the confidence and strength to raise the prospect of abolishing exploitation once and for all.

"Latino" demonstrations in the USA: Yes to the unity of the working class! No to unity with the exploiters!

Submitted by ICConline on

This spring hundreds of thousands of immigrant workers, most of them “illegal aliens,” as the bourgeoisie calls them, predominantly from Latin American countries, took to the streets in major American cities across the country, from Los Angeles, to Dallas, to Chicago, to Washington DC, and New York City, protesting a threatened crackdown proposed in legislation advocated by the rightwing of the Republican party. The movement seemed to erupt overnight, coming from nowhere. What is the meaning of these events and what is the class nature of this movement?

Editorial: a new period of class confrontations

Submitted by International Review on

The mobilisation of the young generations of future proletarians in France, in the universities and high-schools, and in demonstrations, as well as the inter-generational solidarity around the struggle, confirms the opening of a new period of class confrontations. The real control of the struggle by the general assemblies (mass meetings), the latter’s combativeness but also the reflection and maturity that found expression within them – especially their ability to avoid most of the traps set for them by the ruling class – are signs that a profound development is under way in the class struggle.

Theses on the spring 2006 students' movement in France

Submitted by International Review on

These Theses were adopted by the Congress of the ICC's section in France while the movement was still under way - they place the movement in its historical context and show that, in comparison with May 68, it represents a potentially far deeper development in the consciousness and organisation of the working class.

Workers Must Keep the Lessons of the MTA Strike Alive

Submitted by Internationalism USA on

As we went to press, the situation in New York City transit remains unresolved. The tentative agreement which ended the 3-day strike that paralyzed New York before Christmas was narrowly rejected by a 7-vote margin out of more that 22,000 votes cast (more than 11,000 workers did not vote). The Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) responded to the contract rejection with a provocation, proposing an offer  even more onerous than the original one they had quickly abandoned at the beginning of the first round of negotiations...

The only answer to the attacks on pensions is the solidarity of all workers!

Submitted by World Revolution on

The strike by council workers against attacks on pensions is taking place on the same day as the general strike in France against an attack on the job security of young workers. Thus, two of the oldest and most experienced parts of the international working class are making it clear to the ruling class that they are not willing to accept their attacks.

In France, students mobilise against the CPE: All together in the struggle against capitalism!

Submitted by ICConline on

University and high-school students, future unemployed, future part-time or temporary workers: All together in the struggle against capitalism!

Since early February, despite being dispersed by the school holidays, university and high-school students have mobilised in most of France’s major cities to express their anger at the government and the bosses’ economic attacks, and against the CPE (Contrat Première Embauche). And this is happening despite the blackout by the media  (especially by the television), which have preferred instead to focus their attention on the sinister exploits of the "Barbarian gang".

Strike at Seat in Spain: Our intervention against union sabotage

Submitted by World Revolution on

We are publishing an account of our intervention in the SEAT workers’ struggle against redundancies. The central axis of this intervention was to support the beginning of an authentic workers’ struggle and to denounce the union sabotage of this expression of workers’ militancy and solidarity...

Faced with massive attacks on its living standards, the international working class is beginning to fight back

Submitted by World Revolution on

All over the planet, the living standards of the working class are under attack. Whether it’s through redundancies, speed-ups and flexibility at work, the imposition of precarious job contracts, attempts to reduce pensions or put off the retirement age, cuts in funding for health and education, there is no let up. No sector of the working class is spared: young or old, public or private employee, in work or out of work, full time or casual, native or immigrant.

Strike at SEAT, Spain: The need to confront union sabotage

Submitted by World Revolution on

On 23 December, in the SEAT car factory in Barcelona, the workers on the morning and afternoon shifts spontaneously went on strike, in solidarity with 660 comrades who the day before had received dismissal letters from management. It was the beginning of a response to a criminal attack on their living conditions...

The meaning of the New York City transit strike

Submitted by Internationalism USA on

A common tactic in the capitalist onslaught against pensions and medical benefits is the attempt to create “multi-tier” systems, in which new employees receive lower benefits or pensions. It was precisely this attempt to divide the workers that was at the heart of the recent struggle in NYC transit. It was precisely this attempt to divide the workers that was at the heart of the recent struggle in NYC transit.

The Hoax of Union Resurgence: Unions Continue to Lose Legitimacy in Workers' Eyes

Submitted by Internationalism USA on

The American unions have been in the news often lately.  The decision by the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and several other unions to split from the AFL-CIO and set-up the new “Change to Win Federation” has many commentators predicting a new burst of union activism, as the split will supposedly force both sides to compete with one another and thus organize more workers and step-up their political activity.

ICC leaflet on the transport strike in Sweden

Submitted by ICConline on

We are publishing here a leaflet distributed by our section in Sweden during a workers’ struggle at SL-Connex public transport (SL is a state company that has recently contracted out a number of its functions to private firms like Connex). This strike was part of a wider movement among Swedish workers – none of them particularly powerful in themselves, but still expressions of a general revival of struggles that has been going on across the world over the past two years.

The future is class struggle!

Submitted by World Revolution on

For the past 15 years all the propaganda of the ruling class has been trying to tell us that the working class is dead, a thing of the past. But reality is showing that the proletariat is very much alive and that all over the world it has no choice but to develop its struggle. Over the summer we saw a clear expression of working class solidarity in the Heathrow strike...

Editorial: bombs and strikes in London - what future for humanity?

Submitted by International Review on

In 1867 in the preface to the first edition of his famous work Capital Karl Marx observed that the economic conditions of England, the first industrialised country, were the model of future capitalist development in other lands. England was then the “locus classicus” of capitalist relations of production. From here ascendant capitalism would come to dominate the world.

Heathrow: Unions sell defeat as victory

Submitted by World Revolution on

The dispute at Gate Gourmet has been brought to an end. The 670 catering staff were sacked in August for taking unofficial action when they heard of the scale of the attacks their employers were planning to implement. The dispute lead to a secondary walkout by British Airways baggage handlers and ground staff at Heathrow airport, which led to massive disruption for several days.

India - World's largest democracy Shows its ugly face

Submitted by Communist Inter... on

Police Brutality against striking Honda Workers in Gurgaon, India

When several thousand striking workers of Honda Motorcycles, and workers from nearby factories expressing solidarity with them, gathered at mini secretariat in Gurgaon in the afternoon of 25th July 2005, they were immediately surrounded by police and para-military forces. These forces were assembled by the Gurgaon administration from other districts during the day.  What followed was a premeditated attack on unarmed workers captured and broadcast live by the bourgeoisie media. When the brutal attack ended by 8 PM, 800 workers have been seriously wounded, most of them sustaining head injuries. To cap this repression, at least 400 workers were put in the jail. That the intent of the administration was to teach the workers a lesson is clear from the fact that repression did not stop on 25th July itself. When workers and their families went to meet injured workers at civil hospital the next day, they have to face the wrath of the police again. 

Strikes at Heathrow: Class solidarity is our only defence

Submitted by World Revolution on

The solidarity shown by the workers at BA and Gate Gourmet is an example to the whole working class. The article below, written by the ICC shortly after the strike by BA workers, draws out the main lessons of this action. These deserve to be studied and understood by everyone who really wants to defend the working class. The weeks since then have provided a lesson of a different kind, but one that is equally important and worthy of study. It is an example of how the ruling class works together against the working class.

Crisis in the AFL-CIO: A Falling Out Among Thieves

Submitted by Internationalism USA on

The AFL-CIO is primed for a possible split at its upcoming quadrennial convention. A coalition of unions, led by the Services Employees International Union (SEIU) and including the Teamsters, Laborers, United Commercial Food Workers, and UNITE HERE are threatening to leave the federation if it does not adopt a broad set of “reforms” ostensibly designed to once again make the union movement a powerful force in national and international politics...

Working Class Struggles to Regain Political Identity

Submitted by Internationalism USA on

Alaska Airlines has proposed a contract to its workers that, if signed, will cut their salaries by 20%, while United Airlines has succeeded in cutting wages by 25%. On a different front, the number of American deserters from the Iraq war over the last two years has grown to 8,000, and is still growing. Far away, across the Atlantic Ocean, in several European countries the working class has staged massive struggles...

Strikes at the BBC: management and unions keep the workers under control

Submitted by World Revolution on

The dispute at the BBC that led to a strike on 23 May is an indication of the difficulties facing the working class. Ever since the plans were published in December last year they have been presented as unavoidable; and the whole argument has been presented as being about how best to preserve the supposed excellence of the BBC...

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