General strikes all across Europe: Why not here?

Yesterday there were general strikes in Greece and the Basque Country. Last week workers in France and Italy walked out as well. Across Europe the working class is waking up to the threat posed by the attacks of European governments, but in the UK the response has still been quite muted.

SSY has been involved in building opposition to the ConDem cuts over recent weeks, with our members taking part in last Saturday’s street rally against the “emergency” budget for instance. But it’s clear that if we really want to stop the neoliberal assault on our rights, we need to learn a thing or two from our friends in Europe.

- In Greece yesterday workers came out on to the streets in the tens of thousands to protest the latest stage in the handover of their country to the control of the IMF and the EU: the government is trying to raise the retirement age to 65 for men and women. Discussion of this began in the Greek parliament yesterday, and is expected to be voted on July 8th.

Demonstrators pelt riot cops with water bottles

The strike was particularly strong in transport, with flights grounded, railway links cut off and ports closed. On Monday, the courts had ruled a strike by dockworkers illegal, but they just ignored it. Early yesterday morning there was a massive police occupation of the main port of Piraeus, to try and prevent workers from getting in to blockade it. But, through clouds of teargas, the workers managed to break through and take the port from the police, and it was successfully blockaded until they left to take part in the mass marches taking place in Athens.

50,000 people were estimated to have been on the streets of Athens, and more again on the streets of the northern city of Thessaloniki. When riot police tried to cut through the middle of the march they were attacked by workers brandishing water bottles and their bare hands. Also, a small group of fascists appeared on the march draped in Greek flags and wearing military gear. They were chased away and beaten with their own flagpoles by strikers, forcing them to take refuge behind the police lines.

Before the demo some of the participants invaded a supermarket, taking food and other essentials which they then distributed for free to the strikers. This also happened in Thessaloniki, with those doing so giving out a leaflet explaining what they were doing to those who benefited.

Greek cops beat strikers on the metro platform

The police response was to wait until after the demo had finished, and attack people as they left. A group of riot cops stormed the metro and beat people on the platforms, as their colleagues did the same on the streets above. However, the demonstrators weren’t the only ones that were hurt by police, as two motorcycle cops collided in the chaos, knocking each other off their bikes. At least 13 people were detained from the Athens demo alone.

Greek unions have already announced there will be another general strike next week.

As one banner on the march read: “When injustice becomes law, resistance is a duty.”

Motorcycle cops knock each other down. We say: (In a Nelson Muntz voice) Ha Ha!

- In the Basque Country yesterday there was a general strike organised by the LAB trade union federation, which is a socialist, pro-independence grouping which represents 70% of the organised Basque workers. This general strike was ahead of the rest of the Spanish state, showing the different conditions there are in the Basque Country, with their history of national and social struggle, than other parts of the Spanish state.

The strike was against the “reforms” being imposed by the Spanish government, which will reduce the time needed to inform people of being made redundant and how much redundancy pay they are entitled to; give companies more rights to breach the collective agreements they have reached with their workers, imposing new shift patterns, hours and duties without consent; and expands the role of agencies, allowing insecure agency jobs to be created in areas where previously the law said workers would have to be properly employed.

A statement from the Basque unions said:

“Of all the crises there have been, this one has worked out the cheapest for employers. They abused temporality and have laid off the majority of people without the right to severance payments. With this reform they are taking advantage of the fear that exists and they are attempting to impose a system that replaces those people that have decent conditions in favour of precarious staff. They throw people onto the street with a pittance in severance pay. And this reform affects all of us collectively. . . They are all very harsh measures that require a decisive response.”

Over 80% of industrial enterprises in the Basque Country were shut down, and transport was brought to a standstill. Over 65,000 people took part in demonstrations in all the four major cities of the southern Basque Country (the part governed by Spain.) Meanwhile, in the Basque province of Gipuzkoa, construction workers have gone on indefinite strike.

- In Spain itself, unfortunately, many unions are trying to enter into a “dialogue” with the government to try and get the measures watered down, instead of taking militant action to try and defeat them outright. One notable exception however are the metro workers in the Spanish capital Madrid. The regional authorities there are trying to impose a 5% pay cut on them, which they are tackling head on. Normally during metro strikes the workers provide a minimal service, but this time they’re so angry that, for the first time since 1991, they’ve gone on total strike, completely shutting the system down.

Meanwhile last week there were other days of action:

- In Italy last Friday, the CGIL trade union federation called a four hour general strike, and for workers to come out on to the streets. The response was fantastic, with 100,000 on the streets of Bologna, in Milan 70,000, in Naples 70,000, in Rome more than 40,000, in Palermo 25,000, in L̢۪Aquila 20,000, in Cagliari 10,000, in Bari 10,000 and across the whole of the Veneto region (in the northeast) 80,000. Over a million people were on the streets in different parts of Italy.

The streets of Bologna filled with strikers

The strikes are against the measures of the right wing government of media baron Silvio Berlusconi, and his measures to freeze pay for public sector workers and make draconian cuts to local government funding. The strikers demanded an end to sackings, more benefits for those out of work, and more help to defend casualised workers and immigrants.

Demonstrators across the country were keen to show solidarity with the Fiat workers in the plant Pomigliano, near Naples, who are struggling for their rights against a particularly brutal management regime. Many wore t shirts showing their support, and any mention of the Fiat workers at the rallies drew applause. These workers are represented by FIOM, the metalworkers union which is particularly left wing, and has driven the union leadership to organise the general strike rather than compromise with Berlusconi. They’ve called for a national assembly of all Fiat workers on July 1st, which promises to be a huge event, and for a national campaign of solidarity with the Fiat workers.

- In France last Thursday around 2 million workers took part in 200 different strike rallies across the country, as workers walked out over plans by President Sarkozy to raise the retirement age to 62. Transport, including the TGV high speed trains, was shut down, along with schools and shops.

It’s hard for people in the UK to conceive of a general strike, since there hasn’t really been one in living memory. A general strike is when a critical mass of workers in most different industry come out together on strike. Some socialists have seen it historically as a key revolutionary weapon in moving towards socialism. What’s clear to day is that it’s hard to see what less than a general strike would deflect the determination of European governments to impose a new age of austerity on the working class.

The good news is, at least one UK union leader has called for a general strike, even if the others are a bit far behind. Bob Crow, leader of the RMT transport union, says that:

Time to take down zombie capitalism

“This ConDem administration has thrown down the biggest challenge to the trade union movement since Margaret Thatcher took on the National Union of Mineworkers. I have no hesitation in saying that it will take general and co-ordinated strike action across the public and private sectors to stop their savage assault on jobs, living standards and public services.”

“The trade unions must form alliances with community groups, campaigns and pensioners’ organisations in the biggest show of united resistance since the success of the anti-poll tax movement. Waving banners and placards will not be enough – it will take direct action to stop the Cameron and Clegg cuts machine.”

Crow puts the blame for the crisis at the door of “zombie capitalism”, so called because it’s the fault of banks which have died but are being kept alive by government support, which they are paying for through attacks on the working class. In this way, the dead continue to have a terrible affect on the living.

We all know there’s only one way to deal with zombies. A shotgun shell to the head. And in this case, the working class’ best shotgun is a general strike.