A.K. Padmanabhan
May Day in 2011 comes in the midst of serious political developments in various continents. In India, working class is involved in political and economical battles against the reactionary forces, who had grouped together in their offensive against the working class and also against the Left forces. This struggle has been intensified in view of the electoral battle in five state legislatures and especially in the states of West Bengal and Kerala.
During the last one year, working people all over the world have faced intensive offensives of the finance capital and also the Imperialist forces. Working people in all the continents have come out on the streets enmasse, to protest against these offensives.
In the United States, UK and other developed countries, recent efforts have been to go for severe reduction in public spending aimed at reducing wages, social security and other hard earned benefits of the employees and the masses in General. ‘Tea-Party’ led campaign in US, with advisors from think tanks of the like from The Economist, put every issues of workers and employees in Public Sector as issues of ‘Tax eaters’ Vs the ‘Tax payers’.
Recent enactments in the state of Wisconsin in US, curtailing democratic and Trade Union rights and rights of collective bargaining has seen huge and unprecedented demonstrations and struggles. There have been huge job cuts in health, education and other departments in many states in the US including Ohio, Indiana. Nobel laureate Paul Krugman in an article on 22nd February noted that these austerity measures are really aimed at taking away the bargaining capacity of workers. Referring to the so called austerity measures of British Govt., Paul Krugman, recently (March 2011) noted that “the Economy has stalled and business confidence has fallen to a two year low”. Even the Managing Director of IMF, Dominique Strauss Kahn, (Hindu, 16 April) “made a strong case for reducing global inequality, if economic growth has to be sustained”. Mr. Kahn argued that because unemployment was at “record” levels, the global economic recovery underway was “not creating jobs and is not shared broadly, as a result of which many people across nations faced a Social Crisis that was every bit as serious as the financial crisis”. “Mr. Kahn also warned that “what should have been a brief spell in unemployment is turning into a life sentence, possibly for a whole lost generation”.
These struggles in certain regions like North Africa and the Middle East, turned into big political upsurges – The basic slogans being bread, jobs and freedom. From Egypt and Tunisia where the authoritarian rulers had to flee, the struggle spread to various other countries in the region where repressions have been let loose on the protestors and many have been killed. There have been massive mobilisations in Yemen, Baharin, Jordan, Oman, Morocco, Turkey and in Iraq also.
Various forces have been involved in these struggles and we saw the imperialist forces led by the US and others militarily intervening in Libya while in Baharin, armies of other Gulf countries had marched in to suppress the protesters with the connivance of imperialist forces. While in Libya, NATO has moved in with heavy armoury in the name of saving the Libyan people, in Baharin it is at the request of the hated rulers to ‘save the country’. In Yemen, the much hated President Ali Abdullah Saleh a trusted ally of the Western Countries, continues his massive repression; about which the democracy loving Western Countries have no concern!
As Comrade Fidel Castro has rightly said on the war on Libya, we should raise our voice “in favour of immediate peace and full respect for life and rights of all citizens, with no foreign intervention that would only serve to prolong the conflict and NATO interests.”
We saw the Nobel Peace laureate US President Obama declaring war against a sovereign country, all in the name of a UN Security Council resolution, on which even the permanent members as well as a few other members of UN Security Council had expressed apprehension. Recently BRICS summit in China has also opposed use of force! The game plan of the imperialist forces have to be understood by the working people all over the world. For the imperialists, the only question to use their deadly armed forces with most modern weaponry to attack a sovereign country is whether it is with them or not!
HORROR IN JAPAN
During this period we experienced the nature’s fury in various countries in different parts of the world but the most dreaded situation has been that in Japan. Added to the earth quake and Tsunami, the meltdown in nuclear plant in Fukushima have brought out many issues regarding the safety of nuclear power stations and also how the profit mongering corporations, both equipment manufactures and power producers have not been caring for the safety of the people. These types of questions, though not such a very serious and threatening situation, were also raised at the time of Oil Spilling by BP in the Mexican waters! For the corporates, it is profits and profits alone that matters!
These happenings in nuclear plants in Japan, now have their repercussions in various countries including India. The much hyped campaigns on nuclear agreements with US are now being questioned. It is becoming more and more clear to even those who supported it at that time, that the nuclear agreements and related issues were part of a large-scale programme of subjugating India into an ever obliging ‘strategic’ ally. While Wikileaks, on the whole exposed the U.S. imperialists, the India related exposures have brought out the extent to which the U.S. tentacles are spreading. There is no area of administration where they are not involved directly or indirectly. It is also exposed how political and administrative leadership in the country has willingly become their tools.
It is for the working people in the country to be vigilant and to understand the severity of these developments and take up real class positions and mobilise themselves to challenge these reactionary, anti people forces.
INDIAN SITUATION
Working people and their Trade Union organisations in India can take credit to the fact they could come up on a united platform to take up at least some of the immediate demands of the people as a whole and demand a change in policies related to these issues!
The powerful countrywide strike after the last May Day, on 7th September 2010 and the massive March to Parliament on 23rd February 2011, with an unprecedented participation of men and women workers are the silver linings in the present situation. The neo liberal policy offensive finds the ruling alliance and the main ‘opposition’ party coming together on ‘policy’ issues, while they continue to quarrel and grab head lines on various other issues! Latest in these ‘united moves’ was the unity expressed by voting for the introduction of the PFRDA bill in the Lok Sabha on 23rd March! Exactly after a month of the Delhi rally by all unions, which demanded social security to unorganised workers, the bill is being brought to snatch away even existing benefits and mobilise every possible rupee even from unorganised workers, to the share markets!
This brings out the reality of the situation that when it comes to policies of liberalisation and serving the interests of the multinationals and investors, it is the class that matters and not the colour of the flags or the location of seats in the Parliament!
It is our responsibility to see that the unity that could be forged among the Central trade Unions and National Federations is further expanded and strengthened with the anti-working class, reactionary forces preparing to further unleash all out attacks on the working people in this country. The importance of united resistance, that too at the grassroots level have to be underscored. It is obvious, that more and more attacks are in the offing. This unity of the working people have to be further strengthened by also mobilising all the progressive sections of masses and their organisations like that of peasants, agricultural workers, youth and women who are prepared to take up these issues along with their own issues and struggles, For the workers, various forms of inhuman exploitations have to end. We should be able to link up this with our day to day issues. With the deepening crisis of the capitalist system, the offensive against workers are bound to increase. This reality has now been underlined once again by the just concluded 16th Congress of World Federation of Trade Unions in Athens, Greece. WFTU, after its reorientations to its class characteristics at the time of its foundation in 1945 and the presently required updating has declared itself as a platform for more united movements and struggles of the working people all over the world. The clarion call of the Congress, for struggles against imperialist offensives and the barbaric capitalist system and for a exploitation free world has to be taken down to the workers and toiling masses in our country, so as to further enlighten them towards the class orientation of our trade union movement.
At the same time, the issue based united movement in our country has to be further strengthened. On this May Day, when we raise our clinched to salute our class brethren all over the world, let us pledge to carry forward these tasks and the revolutionary tradition of this Historic Day.
Long live May Day.
Long live Working Class Unity.
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