[Please
note: I added the links to the original leaflet in order to make this a
study guide for workers and a guide for promoting cross-border
understanding between workers and joint working class action &
solidarity. I hope you find this information useful. Feel free to copy, use and distribute... yours in struggle and solidarity, Alan L. Maki]
Our northern working class friends across the border say:
Capitalism is Not
Working
As delegates to the British Columbia Federation of Labour convention
you will be aware that there is a continuing economic crisis in the developed
capitalist countries. This is a crisis
brought on by the greed of the 1%. The origins of this greed are not abstract;
they are rooted inextricably in the capitalist system.
Since the 1970s capital was faced
with falling rates of profit from manufacturing, so capital sought out new and higher sources of profit. In general
terms, this meant a shift of capital from the manufacturing to the financial
sectors of the economy.
A second attempt to spur profits was
to close plants in the U.S. etc and to open branch plants of new plants in the
Maquiladora zone or in the “free economic” zones in China,
Vietnam
or wherever labour was cheap. This had
the desired effect on profits but contributed to unemployment at home. Unemployment meant competition for jobs and a
harder negotiating climate for unions and eventually declining real wages.
The right wing pundits called for tax
reductions in order to stimulate spending to boost their economies. Significant tax reductions were carried out
for both the wealthy and for corporations.
Working people got small cuts,but user fees seem to have absorbed
these. The long term effect of tax
reductions is that national governments had deficits and reduced transfer
payments (education, health) to regions, provinces, and states. The regional governments having also reduced
taxes then found themselves in deficit positions and passed on many expenses to
cities and municipalities who pass them on to us. In the end the infrastructure suffers because
there are limits to property taxes that people will accept.
In Europe
the solution to the crisis has varied but it always seems that it is the working
class that suffers. In Greece,
bond-holders lost a significant portion of the “value” held but the government
also had to reduce wages for the public sector and had to lay off many workers
in order to get the financial relief needed to keep the country going. In Spain
as in the U.S.,
there have been large transfers of money to the banks so that they do not
default. This money does not seem to be
stimulating either economy - just the banks’ profits and their managers’
bonuses. The situations in Ireland, Portugal,
Italy, and Cyprus seem to
be facing the same problems. However,
there always seems to be enough money for the military - F35's, warships, but
not for First Nations housing. Of course there is also corporate welfare; “And
in Canada,
between 1994 and 2007, governments spent $202 billion on all types of subsidies
to multiple corporations in all sort of industries.” (Vancouver Sun 2012/09/26) but not for marine
safety.
Working Class
Reaction?
In Europe
there have been continuing massive demonstrations against these cut backs. The reaction to these demonstrations has
primarily been police and tear gas. Yet in many cases these governments are led
by, or have large components of, social democrats (and in some cases socialists)
who are going along with the European Union’s and European Central Bank’s
insistence that major reforms be carried out in order to protect the integrity
of the European Union itself. Their goal is only to improve and moderate
capitalism and not to replace it with a better economic model. They fail to
recognize that the interests of the bosses are opposed to those of workers and
that capitalism can not be reformed to serve working peoples interests.
In the Arab countries we have seen
what has been termed the “Arab Spring”, a democracy movement which was spurred by
the neoliberal austerity measures of governments. In some cases these movements
even had success in overturning reactionary governments.
But here in Canada the
labour movement has reacted to austerity assault launched at the behest of the
1% by the Harper government largely like a deer in the headlights. The Quebec student movement
have demonstrated the type of organizing and action that is required across the
country if we are to defeat the neoliberal austerity agenda. The Occupy
movement, and other movements, demonstrate that there is an appetite for
change. The labour movement has a key role to play in making that change
possible.
The NDP
The
NDP appears poised to take office here in BC in 2013. Given the level of
support provided to the NDP by the labour movement, not to mention its
historical origins, the issues of this Convention should be its top priority.
Yet we are concerned that important
issues such as Labour Code reform i.e. card check, sectoral bargaining, and
successorship rights for workers whose jobs are contracted out may be avoided
as controversial during the election campaign, and rejected as inexpedient
after the formation of the new government. The labour movement must be prepared
to fight tooth and nail for the interests of working people, regardless of what
government is in power.
At this convention delegates should
bring pressure on the incoming leadership to develop labour’s independent
programme - independent of all political parties. Such a programme could
include the previous issues as well as the use of BC resources for BC jobs, and
end to private public partnerships, stopping and reversing privatization, and
more.
Included in such a programme is the
need to pressure any and all political parties to enact such legislation as
soon as possible - not when politically expedient. This programme can not be limited to mere
lobbying. Action is needed, from teach-ins to sit-ins, rallies, marches,
pickets, and strikes.
We also need to ensure that the
labour movement is a movement that represents, and fights for, the working
class – not just those with union cards. It must be activist oriented, and
rooted in solidarity and struggle, not business unionism.
Ultimately we also need to discard
the mistaken belief that the interest of workers and bosses can be reconciled,
and that the labour movement has a role in helping to better manage capitalism
as if it is a system with the potential to serve workers interests.
What we need is the Socialism as
defined by Marx and Engels in the 1800s; a society in which the value produced by labour is used by society rather than expropriated by corporations and sold
for profit. This of course means the
public ownership of banks, major resources, and producers, and placing
political and economic power in the hands of working people.
Labour Bureau, Communist Party of British Columbia
November
2012