Paper of the International Communist Party Number 4 - September 2016 40p / 60c / 6Kr What distinguishes our party : – The line running from Marx to Lenin to the foundation of the III International and the birth of the Communist Party of Italy at Leghorn (Livorno) 1921, and from there to the struggle of the Italian Communist Left against the degeneration in Moscow and to the rejection of popular fronts and coalition of resistance groups – The tough work of restoring the revolutionary doctrine and the party organ, in contact with the working class, outside the realm of personalized politics and electoralist manoeuvrings

Summary: creasing the “flexibility” of the labour market by abandoning the industry wide labour agreements – Demonstrations in France against the El Khomri and promulgating agreements at individual com - law and the ambiguous attitude of the CGT pany level by decreasing the legal protections and – Italy: Ikea workers divided in struggle: Introduc - business and State costs in matters of social pro - tion - Italian Base Unions still divided - Still oppos - tection (health, family, pensions). Just as in the ing the Base Unions - Class murder 1930s, the crisis of the global capitalist economy, which nothing can stop, pushes the ruling class in – UK: Brexit was no “working class revolt”: The rise of UKIP - Racism for dividing the oppressed - France and worldwide to war and to militarism, as Britain votes out - What happens next? Britain is well as to a new assault against the wage earning in no position to negotiate - The Disunited Kingdom class, which produces all economic wealth. - Brexit and the working class It is in this context that the El Khomri law was an - nounced, the purpose of which was to allow further Questions from the USA on the SI COBAS and the freedom for businesses. Introduced in 2016 by the Trade Unions Minister of Labour, Myriam El Khomri, on behalf of the Socialist government of President François Hol - ______lande and Prime Minister Manuel Valls, the project follows a report written in January 2016 by a com - France: mittee chaired by Robert Badinter, advocating an overhaul of the labour code. Demonstrations against On 24 May 2016 the International Monetary Fund declared that “The El Khomri law is another the El Khomri law necessary step towards a more dynamic labour and the ambiguous market” ! While a wave of protests was developing in Bel - attitude of the CGT gium, more or less participatory strikes occurred in For decades, and especially since the 35-hour France, in oil refineries, ports, civil aviation, rail - work week law implemented in 1998-2000, the ways, energy, transport and construction, under the issue of labour law has been regularly put on the leadership most of the time by unions CGT, FO and table by both left and right governments; several the SUD, but without causing a real paralysis of the changes have cut workers’ rights and protections economy. in France and in all industrialized countries, and The CGT is presented as the most combative or - this in a context of global economic crisis. The In - ganization and the leadership of the movement, ac - ternational Monetary Fund, the European Central tually plays a role of firefighter – deadly to the class Bank and other financial institutions and govern - struggle – working to prevent the spreading of the ments require “structural reforms” to increase the independent working class action and the radical rate of profit of capitalism, which decreases in - unification of its struggles. evitably. These measures have been designed in The CGT rides the struggles of workers against close collaboration with Berlin, and in particular with the labour reform, seeking to benefit from it in the Peter Hartz, the Social Democrat, union bureaucrat competition with the other French regime unions. and author of the Hartz laws which were imple - In the last union elections, in March 2013 (partici - mented in Germany ten years ago to reduce work - pation was very low, only 5.460.000 voted), the ers wages and living conditions. CGT received 26.7% of the vote, making it the It is wholesale attack on the conditions of life and largest trade union in France; the CFDT received of the employees work in facilitating layoffs, in - 26.0% of the votes, FO 15.9%, CFE-CGC 9.4%, 1 CFTC 9.3%, UNSA 4.2%, and SUD 3.4%. But the ment is welcomed by the CFDT, while the CGT, FO, CGT membership has continually decreased (now and the UNEF continue to request the withdrawal 676,000 members) and is likely to be overtaken by of the project. the CFDT by the beginning of 2017. Three more days of demonstrations are an - After his election in February 2015, Philippe Mar - nounced: On March 17 th and 24 protests called by tinez, the new head of the CGT, has sought to rein - the student organizations are attended by between vigorate an organization which has been in crisis 69,000 and 150,000 demonstrators depending on for several years by organizing some national the source. And on March 31 a demonstration is protests, which very few participants turned out to also called by the CGT, FO, SUD and FSU unions. most of the time. On the occasion of the CGT’s 51 st This last protest sees a growing involvement, Congress, held April 19 th , 2016, Martinez disowned high schools and universities are blocked, clashes the policy of reconciliation with the CFDT, initiated between youths and police occur in Paris, Nantes, by Bernard Thibault, Martinez’ predecessor and Toulouse, Grenoble and Rennes. ended the CGT’s strategy of “Reunified Unionism”. In the capital, many demonstrators, mostly He jumps today on the bandwagon of a move - young, are found in the Place de la République and ment against the El Khomri law started by a young this becomes the “Nuit debout” [Rise Up at Night] people’s movement. But the CGT doesn’t call for a movement that presents itself as a citizen and paci - general strike, but for a “generalization” of the strike. fist, inspired by the movement of the Spanish “In - In fact, the CGT opposes a general strike, that is, a dignados” movement as well as the “Occupy Wall struggle to mobilize and unify all movements. Street” movement from the USA. Here is a timeline of the progress of the El Another two days of demonstrations take place Khomri Protests. on April 28 th , with 209 marches numbering between The El Khomri project is announced February 170,000 (Police) and 500,000 (CGT) demonstra - 17 th , 2016 . tors and on May 1 st , in which the police broke up Ten unions (CFDT, CFE-CGC, FO, FSU, SUD, the march by cutting off the young, to the “indiffer - UNSA, UNL, FIDL) meet on February 23 rd to de - ence” of the CGT’s security detail. mand the withdrawal of compensation rates in case On May 10 th Manuel Valls decides to invoke Arti - of dismissal. The CGT, FSU and SUD are in favour cle 49 paragraph 3 of the Constitution which allows of organizing demonstrations. In the Socialist Party, for the adoption of a proposed law without going the text is criticized by dissidents who denounce its through a parliamentary vote. On May 12 nd , as new “liberal drift”. demonstrations erupt, a motion to censure Valls is By March 3 rd , the five so called “Reformist” cen - presented to the National Assembly and receives tral trade unions (CFDT, CFE-CGC, CFTC and the favorable vote of a heterogeneous political UNSA) sign a joint statement in which they ask that array (right, Republicans, UDI, Left Front) but not the bill be amended, while the so-called “Protester” of the dissident fringe of the Socialist Party. The unions (CGT, FO and FSU) refuse to sign and ask vote does not get the required 288 votes. There - its withdrawal. fore, the motion is rejected and the Khomri bill is The UNEF College Student Union and the UNL adopted on first reading. The bill must now be re - High School student union have joined the “Protest viewed by the Senate. Unions”, while the FAGE student union has joined On May 12 nd , dockers and oil and railroad work - the “Reformist Unions”. The spectre of the youth ers take to the struggle in Le Havre, one of the protests against the 1994 Occupational Integration nerve centers of the French economy, ushering in Contract and those in 2006 which spread against a real strike movement. the CPE First Job Contract come back to haunt the During the week of May 16 th to 22 nd , new demon - government. strations take place and workers take to the strug - On March 9 th the El Khomri Bill is submitted to gle all over France – truck drivers, railroad workers, the Council of Ministers, and the CGT, FO, SUD refineries workers, airports and ports. But the and student organizations (UNEF, UNL, FIDL) or - movement, limited by the CGT, does not cause any ganize many local demonstrations. Estimates of crisis in transports. protesters range from 224,000 (Police) to 500,000 The situation is better in refineries, where the (Unions) which is very small in comparison with the strikes starting May 23 rd cause partial interruption big protests of 2006 in which 2 million took to the of fuel distribution in several petrol chains. The the street, forcing the withdraw the CPE laws. same day the police intervene by force to unblock On March 14 th , after meeting with Trade Unions the Gas terminals in Fos sur Mer [Port of Mar - and Student Organizations, the government an - seilles]. The next day, in reply, all eight French oil nounced that it amended the draft law. The amend - refineries are closed by strikes. On May 19 th the 2 fuel depot of Douchy les Mines in the North is the approval of the law. On the evening of Monday blockaded by about 80 trade unionists, mostly CGT 31, during a radio interview/debate with the head but also some SUD. On May 25 th access to the of the CFDT, Martinez claimed to be “ready to re- depot is cleared by the police. discuss” with the government without requiring the On May 26 th a “national day” of strikes is pro - withdrawal of the Khomri Bill. He only listed four claimed by the CGT-FO union. In Paris, the govern - points of disagreement: the reversal of the hierar - ment counts 18,000 to 19,000 protesters with union chy of the contracts with the preeminence of cor - estimates of 100,000. The fuel shortages now cover porate ones on organization of work; the definition over 20% of service stations while nuclear power of economic layoffs; the holding of a referendum in plants reduce their electricity production. The CGT- the event of a minority agreement and finally, the Energy union announces that for two days, May 25 th reform of occupational medicine. and 26 th , the equivalent of five nuclear reactors out In Belgium, May 31 st was another day of demon - of 58 were removed from the French power grid. strations and strikes in public services. The move - While this is not the first time that the strikes in ment, which affects public transport, schools, post power plants cause loss in production, it is rare for office, was long planned. Other actions, demonstra - it to happen as part of a social movement not tied tions and general strikes have already been to the company’s specific internal issues. planned for June 24 th and October 7 th . On the same day the Typographers Union of the It is obvious that the state of emergency put into CGT stops the publication of the national newspa - place in France and Belgium shortly after the ter - pers which have refused to publish a statement by rorist attacks in Paris last year was meant for not Philippe Martinez. just Islamic terrorist networks, but also for the de - th On May 28 between 150,000 and 300,000 peo - veloping social opposition. ple participate in protests; while continuing the Workers across Europe are closely following the blocks at service stations, fuel depots and in nu - struggles in France, Belgium, Greece, and must re - clear power plants. In Le Havre 10,000 dock work - ject any attempt to divide their struggles along na - ers march in the streets. tional lines. th On May 31 , ten days before the European foot - Rather, they should seek to unite their struggles ball championship begins, the three main trade on their territory and beyond national borders. But unions (CGT, UNSA, SUD-RAIL) start an indefinite none of the existing trade union confederations will strike in the National Railway (SNCF) system. The help do this ! Quite the contrary. CFDT, the fourth largest railway workers union, does not participate in these strikes, as it did in all ______former strikes, thus dividing the SNCF unions. There are also negotiations occurring in the Rail - roads. in the final phase, on the project of reform of Italy: Ikea workers the Staff Regulations of railway workers, in particu - lar on working time (more flexibility in view of the divided in struggle opening up to competition from 2020 onwards). The Introduction UNSA, the second largest SNCF union, is opposed In Italy we have three big trade union confeder - only to the draft reform in the Railroads and doesn’t ations, all ‘regime unions’; the CGL is the main one, demand for the withdrawal of the Khomri bill, as do and is historically considered the most combative the CGT and SUD-Rail. The CGT has solid strong - of the three; the CISL and the UIL arose in the pe - holds of engine drivers and controllers, the two riod immediately following the Second World War trades most able to block train traffic. However, the after splits in the CGIL and they are still more strike seems to have had limited participation. openly collaborationist than the latter. These trade According to the Transport Minister 60% of the union confederations are composed of various fed - high-speed trains (TGV) have circulated, as well as erations, that is, of sindacati di categoria, trade 50% of the Parisian regional trains and 45% of in - unions that unite a particular category or trade. For tercity. The Paris Transport Authority has also been example the Filcams CGIL for shop workers and called to strike, but has limited participation; the Fiom CGIL for metal workers. CGT has instead called for an unlimited strike. In the second half of the nineteen seventies, in In the meanwhile, Sunday, May 30, Philippe Mar - reaction to the definitive incorporation of the CGIL tinez celebrated that the Prime Minister had called into the capitalist regime, groups of workers started him, confirming that, despite strikes, the CGT has to struggle outside and against them. This move - continued behind the scenes meetings with the So - ment led to the birth of various sindacati di base, cialist Party and wants to reach an agreement for rank-and-file or base unions. Today in Italy the main 3 ones are: I’Unione Sindacale di Base (USB), the ways been to nurture the so-called company bar - Confederazione Unitaria di Base (CUB), and the gaining, rather than national bargaining. Thus, in Sindacato Intercategoriale Cobas (SI Cobas). the past, thanks to these contracts some workers, From the end of the Second World War up to the usually in large companies, obtained better wages birth of the rank-and-file unions our party advised and conditions than the rest of the working class. workers to militate and fight within the CGIL. Since This has aggravated the division between such then our line has been that workers should organ - workers and the rest of the class. ize “outside and against the regime unions The interest to fight for a good national labour (CGIL,CISL,UIL)” contract has therefore diminished, while mobilizing * * * workers for a good company contract was In our Italian language paper, “Il Partito Comu - favoured. Workers were therefore encouraged to nista”, we dealt with the fierce attack being waged company loyalty, at the expense of class interests. against the freedom to strike: Over time, the share of wage perceived thanks to - in Italy, with an agreement reached between the company contracts has grown, at the expense of regime unions and industrial bosses, called Testo that coming from national contracts. Unico sulla Rappresentanza (TUR, or Consolida - With the advance of the crisis, however, it is the tion Act on Representation), which puts one of the share of wages tied to company bargaining that is two types of company union representation, the questioned; company contracts are repudiated, and most widespread one, the RSU, under the strict draconian cuts are imposed. control of regime unions. If those pay rises had been won on the nation - - in Germany, with a special law for Uniform Con - wide industrial labour contract, the bosses would tract, (“Tarifeinheit”), i. e., according to which the encounter difficulties in imposing wage cuts, having agreement made by the union with most members to deal with entire categories. It is evident, therefore, must apply to all workers; as to the formula “Ein Be - how the Regime Unions have facilitated their task. trieb, ein Tarifvertrag” (One company, one contract). The examples are numerous, in public transport, - in Turkey, where the government made use of health, Electrolux... but here we’ll report on IKEA. existing legislation in the past two years against In late May 2015, IKEA announced to the unions powerful workers’ strikes. a unilateral cancellation of the company contract, We explained how this political action is due to effective September 1st. In response, Filcams the bourgeois regimes’ awareness of the fact that CGIL, Fisascat CISL and Uiltucs UIL (belonging to the crisis will force them to relentlessly worsen the the tree main regime union confederations) called working class living conditions and that this will in - for a 16 hour strike, of which 8 were to be con - evitably cause a revival of workers struggles. This ducted on a local level, at the local store discretion, is already ongoing, with growing, although limited, and the remainder on a national level. On June 6, strikes, in Germany and England. local actions were conducted in more than half of In Italy, an example of this process is last year’s the stores. Participation was high, and determina - strike at IKEA, which has been a model company tion too. This is explained by the not insignificant for peaceful industrial relations for 25 years; wage stakes: wage cuts averaging 20%! This through the cuts averaging 20% led workers to strike to the bit - review of the pay for Sunday and holiday work, and ter end, for nine consecutive days. the transformation of the company bonus, from a Class struggle was not born out of a theoretical fixed salary item into a flexible one. view of society, with communists propagandising it The attitude of the regime unions so far is ex - amongst workers, it is rather the product of the ma - plained by the national secretary of the CGIL Fil - terial contradictions of capitalism, which Marxism cams: “There is a section, which amounts to has studied with scientific method. The national approximately 10% of the workforce, which has the bourgeoisies consequently erect new walls, rein - most favourable conditions; they work in the older force the old ramparts in defence of their regime, stores and have better deals than the bulk of the against the gathering wave of class struggle. workers, who get 70% [of Sundays and holidays in - Such actions are caused by the internal laws of crease]. There are also some who get 50, 45, 40%, the capitalist economy and are implemented in the then the system is very varied.” Originally the in - most diverse countries by the bourgeois govern - crease was 130% for all. ments of all colours, proving our point. On a global This differentiation was not created against the scale, the laws of capitalism are the same, same wishes of the unions, Filcams CGIL included, but are the solutions of capitalism’s governments, and in agreement with them. As a matter of fact, IKEA consequently same is the need for workers to fight. has been for twentyfive years a model of peaceful One of the fortes of Regime Unionism has al - and collaborative industrial relations, without trou - 4 bles with its employees. which can’t be taken for granted, the fact remains Let’s read what the company says about its pro - that, given the determination of the workers of the posed wage cut: «IKEA’s proposal is aimed at main stores, this was the strike to be deployed, to making treatment for work on Sundays and public bend an international giant like IKEA. holidays fairer than it is today, since it differs from To win companies of similar size it would be store to store, and within the same store (between needed to organize international strikes: call all old and new employees). An example: currently an IKEA workers in all European countries to fight, associate in Catania has to work 3 Sundays to today in defence of those of Italy, tomorrow for earn the salary of a Corsico colleague». So, the those of France, the day after tomorrow for those T.U. confederations have favoured the “defence” in Spain... all for all. Regime Unions run in the op - of employees with greater seniority to the detri - posite direction – choosing local actions! ment of new employees, supporting the division of In Genoa the strike, which lasted nine days, was workers, encouraging the bosses’ offensive today conducted by a current of the CGIL which appears which can exploit the scarce interest to fight of the to workers to be more militant than the rest of the worst paid workers in defence of those in better union and that is characterized by appealing for a conditions, which are those who have most to lose European union. The distance between these in this battle. words and the real union practices is measured in The exact opposite of what a class union should the stubborn defence by the CGIL delegate of the do: mobilize workers in a better position to defend work of her union in the face of criticism by the mil - the most vulnerable ones, because they thus also itants of Genoa SICobas, during a flyer distribution defend themselves from competition of the lower at the picket, carefully placed by confederals fifty paid. Basic notions of class unionism, so elemen - meters away from the entrance. tary but also so daily trampled on by these anti- The conduct of CGIL, CISL and UIL is obviously labour unions. not unique to IKEA. We saw these methods applied After several meetings that did not lead to any to bus drivers – in the historic strike of December result a new 8 hours stop was called for Saturday, 2002 – by dividing them by city and even bus de - July 11, for all 6,000 employees of 21 stores in Italy. pots in the same city; most recently in Fincantieri This strike was successful but did not produce any (shipyard) and Electrolux (household agreement. So it was announced another 24-hour appliances).Divisions pursued with most petty and strike – four days – to be managed locally. deceitful means. In Fincantieri, Electrolux, IKEA In late July the strikes began, which in many exist national union coordinating bodies who obvi - cases were protracted beyond what had initially ously have the express purpose of preventing any been established, to the bitter end, as in Genoa, real coordination among workers! Naples, Padua, Rome. As a rule the unions indicated to organize inef - Italian Base Unions still divided fectual permanent pickets in front of stores, where In summer 2015, the major Italian Trade Union workers, because they were not familiar with strug - Confederations suspended ongoing strikes at IKEA gles, saw no need to conduct stronger action. due to the company being open to meeting. In view In this manner, those who wanted to cross the of this meeting, on 7 September, 2015 a National picket line were not in any way deterred by strength Coordination meeting was held in Rome of the RSA and unity of strikers. If there were not the conditions (Government sponsored workplace councils) and to operate a hard picket, which would prevent the of RSU. USB Base Union delegates, active in the entry of strikebreakers, it would however be effec - Carugate and Corsico IKEA Milan stores were pre - tive to stand still in front of store entrances. In some vented from attending. cases marches were organized inside the stores, This episode was correctly denounced in a state - such as in Milan, which produced a significant ef - ment by the USB union’s Private Sector National fect on strikebreakers and foremen. Executive but they made no mention of the CUB Another way in which the trade union confeder - union, which is in the same situation – for example ations have weakened this great movement of in Rome’s Anagnina store CUB is the largest union, struggle was the strategy of favouring the action of with 150 members against 17 belonging to confed - the various individual stores, limiting unified striking eral unions, within a total of 350 workers – but it is to a few exceptional cases. Thus, on the one hand not recognized, even at the individual store level. it wore out most militant workers, and on the other This is an important detail because it shows a hand the company was not hit by the force of a lack of will of the leaderships of the base unions to strike to the bitter end, carried out in all the stores. conduct unified action to offer workers an alternative Although a chance existed for it to fail completely, to the collaborationist unions CGIL, CISL and UIL. 5 The attitude of the Base Union leaderships is one picket organized by his union, the USB. of competition between acronyms instead of unity Considering the weakness of the labour and of action. This competition was certainly one of the trade union movement at the moment, the reaction causes that held back the formation of a national provoked by the tragedy was a positive one. coordination of the base unions, as an alternative Strikes were called not only in the GLS ware - to that of the Confederations, that would include houses and in other firms in the logistics sector, but USB groups of Milan (Corsico and Carugate) – and also in some engineering works, even if only for a Sesto Fiorentino stores, newly formed, the self-or - few hours. ganized committee of workers of Brescia IKEA, The most important aspect is that the SI Cobas, formed during this fight and breakaway from the by far the biggest rank-and-file union in logistics, Confederations, the CUB of the Anagnina store in and the ADL Cobas acted jointly with the USB both Rome. Also the SI Cobas should be included, who in certain strike actions, such as at GLS Riano led the harsh struggles in November 2013 and May (Rome), and in the local demonstrations in Bologna, 2014 in IKEA logistics warehouse of Piacenza, the Pavia and Milan, as well as the national demo, most important in Southern Europe, of contractors’ which was organized in just three days and was workers, whose involvement would give additional where we distributed the leaflet, published below. strength to the strike movement. A grievous omission, on the other hand, was the From late May to early September there was absence from the national demonstration of the enough time, and even the necessary fight temper - CUB and the Confederazione Cobas. ature, but, in spite of the will to do so by some del - It should be made clear that the united action be - egates, there hasn’t been any appreciable result. tween SI Cobas and USB resulted from circum - Even Friday, September 18, the Flaica CUB organ - stances and was not prompted by a definite ized a strike at an IKEA in Rome which the USB agreement between the leaders of the two unions. IKEA Milan did not join. On the contrary – and its not that surprising given This struggle has two elements which are very in - its past conduct – it appears the leadership of the structive. The Flaica CUB Anagnina organized USB didn’t really want any part of it. strikes, even after the Confederations decided to However the latter certainly couldn’t oppose it suspend them on September 18, despite not having and it had to grin and bear it, not wanting to appear recognized their union representation by the com - hostile to workers’ unity of action precisely at a time pany. The USB, which instead has had its delegates when its necessity had been highlighted in such a elected in RSU of Corsico and Carugate, had no dramatic way. such strength. This shows how, even today, being The decision of the SI Cobas to take part in the inside the official trade unions doesn’t equal devel - demonstrations organized by the USB , which oping greater trade union strength. It probably plays meant it had to overcome the contrariness of the a negative effect because grassroots/base unions USB leadership, and rise above earlier disagree - delegates get entangled in wars and play games ments between the two unions over fundamental with the regime union delegates of the Confedera - points regarding the SDA dispute in Bologna, and tions, and these with their territorial structures. then at the GLS at Piacenza, takes on, therefore, Think of what will happen in the future, when with a still greater value. It was certainly a calculated de - contract renewal will also be enforced the Consol - cision, conscious that it tallied with organizational idation Act on Representation , which the USB has objectives, and also, we believe, spurred on by a accepted. In these RSU the delegates of this union sincere faith in the importance of the working class will not be able to strike against the unfavourable acting together. Both commendable qualities. agreements signed by the Confederations. The unitary action resulted on September 22 in This important element partly explains the ineffi - the joint signing by SI Cobas, ADL Cobas and USB ciency to set common action by these unions. The of an agreement at the GLS depot in Piacenza. USB leadership must necessarily already set its ac - This agreement fully met the demands for which tion, and those of the delegates, aiming at the elec - the USB had organized the picket: the permanent toral race in the RSU. This is inevitably going to employment of temporary workers. diverge with the action of those base unions that This important event – which has seen the death have not signed the Consolidated Act, like the CUB. of a striker in Italy for the first time in many decades – confirms the correctness of our line on worker’s Class murder unity of action, discussed here in relation to last On the night of Wednesday 14 September, a year’s struggle in Italy at IKEA, and shows how the worker employed in the GLS depot in Piacenza natural course of the class struggle is heading in was knocked down and killed by a lorry while on a that direction, through creating better conditions in 6 which to defeat opportunism in the rank-and-file stroying British sovereignty. As it became clear that trade unions and in which to empty those which are they were fighting a losing battle, they demanded inextricably linked to the regime. Britain’s complete withdrawal from the European project – “Brexit”. Those who were frustrated with the lack of ______progress within the Tory Party set up a new one, first named the Referendum Party, to demand a plebiscite on the issue. However the party’s lead - UK: Brexit was no ership was captured by the nativist supporters of Nigel Farage, who put the party’s entire focus on “working class revolt” immigration. The United Kingdom Independence The British vote of 52% to 48% to leave the Eu - Party (UKIP) gained in popularity and influence fol - ropean Union left the future of the economic bloc lowing the financial crisis of 2008 and the collapse uncertain, financial markets in freefall and the or near-collapse of the economies of Greece, British political establishment in complete turmoil. Spain, Italy, Portugal and Ireland that ensued. The outcome has been depicted by politicians and media on both sides of the debate as a “work - The rise of UKIP ing class revolt” against the “elite”. It was nothing Brexit has always been a revolt of the petty-bour - of the kind. While it is true that many working class geois foot soldiers of the Tory Party. These are the people took the opportunity to turn the vote on the utter dregs of British society, the kind of people who European Union into a protest against austerity, begin every sentence with “I am not a racist but … the government, globalism and international fi - ” and then say something racist. Many of them, nance, and to register their sense of hopelessness, having become frustrated with the Tories, now char - this protest was channelled by the pro-Brexit camp acterized the three main ruling parties – “LibLab - in one direction: against migrant workers, not only Con” in UKIP parlance – as an anti-patriotic bloc. from the EU but beyond. The rallying cry of the Like most petty bourgeois movements, it was es - Brexit camp was “We want our country back”. As if sentially a desperate and ultimately doomed revolt we , the working class, ever owned it! The Bremain against modernism by a class that has no future in camp conceded to this argument, blaming the a globalized economy in which the divisions be - Labour Party for failing to “listen to its core voters” tween capital and labour are ever-sharpening. The on immigration while issuing warnings of job losses people who for years stuffed envelopes and can - and cuts in wages in the event of exit from the EU. vassed on doorsteps on behalf of their “betters” in As if the working class had not already suffered the Tory Party hierarchy, the people who put out year after year of austerity! But the Bremainers bunting for royal weddings, the people who believe had no choice: the alternative to a phony “working everything they read about the European Union in class revolt” was, from their perspective, far worse: The Daily Mail and The Sun – they wanted the glory a real one! days of the British Empire back and they did not In fact, far from being a “working class revolt” the want to hear foreign languages being spoken on whole issue originated as an attempt to heal a fes - “their” streets. tering wound within the ruling Tory Party which As this was too narrow a social base to achieve goes back decades, and resulted in the fall of two a political breakthrough, and UKIP failed to gain previous Tory Prime Ministers, Margaret Thatcher any representation in the British parliament, it be - and John Major. The divisions erupted into open came clear to the circle around Nigel Farage that civil war over the Maastricht Treaty in 1992, which in order to make progress, UKIP had to broaden its began the process of ever-greater political and eco - appeal by turning working class voters against mi - nomic union. grants. This demagoguery succeeded in winning The British bourgeoisie generally regarded these support in those areas of the United Kingdom that developments as broadly positive: they provided have seen the decline of heavy industry, such as free access on equal terms to an increasingly large the North East of England and South Wales, al - market and the ability to recruit workers and pro - though ironically, for the most part these regions fessionals from a bigger pool. Tories who opposed have experienced low levels of immigration. Maastricht – euphemistically called “Eurosceptics” UKIP also gained ground in rural areas such as wanted the EU limited to a free trade area with min - Lincolnshire where farmers have taken advantage imal or no political interference from EU institutions, of agricultural labourers arriving in large numbers in particular the European Commission, whom they from Eastern Europe: UKIP claimed that these portrayed as “unelected bureaucrats” intent on de - workers were making access to schools and the 7 health service more difficult for the indigenous pop - medium and large sized enterprises that are not ex - ulation. While this may be superficially true, the re - port-oriented (an example of which is the Wether - ality is that it is the UK’s mounting debt burden and spoons chain of pubs, which employs 35,000 the consequent lack of funds for public investment low-paid people, many of whom, ironically, come that are the true cause of tensions. The taxes paid from Eastern Europe); sections of the financial by migrants to the British Exchequer were just pay - services industry that find the costs of regulation al - ing off interest on debt and bailing out failed banks ready imposed, or to be imposed at some future rather than building new hospitals and schools, date, too onerous to bear; enterprises whose while Britain’s transport and sanitation infrastruc - bosses feel that have been put at a competitive dis - ture sank into ever greater disrepair. advantage by Brussels legislation on issues such LibLabCon and the “political correctness” of the as environmental standards (a prominent example “liberal elite”, it was argued, made it impossible for being Dyson, the manufacturer of energy-inefficient “ordinary people” to get a hearing. Their concerns vacuum cleaners) and finally but most decisively, about immigration, UKIP argued, were being ig - some large enterprises based in non-EU countries, nored by the elite. Liberal Britain responded by giv - most notably media empires, which exercise huge ing ground to this argument. Prime Minister David influence over the public through their control of the Cameron promised to cut immigration to tens of yellow press and TV. thousands – a promise he could not possibly keep, Being more closely tied to American than Euro - because the EU’s single market guarantees free - pean capitalism, advocates of both Brexit and dom of movement, and because many sectors of “Brexit Lite”, and even some in the Bremain camp, the British economy, especially in London and the tend to see Britain’s future as more closely aligned South East, were suffering a labour shortage. It to US imperialism than that of Europe. They are es - was easier to recruit skilled workers from Poland, pecially hostile to the idea of a European army. On or experienced agricultural labourers from Bulgaria, the international stage, therefore, Russia sees the than to retrain workers from England’s North East political crisis in Britain as an opportunity: its role in and West Midlands. strengthening the anti-Russian faction in Berlin will Confident of winning a majority, David Cameron be diminished. Poland and the Baltic States have therefore took a massive gamble by declaring in the every reason to be worried. Tory Party’s 2014 General Election that he would renegotiate the UK’s terms of membership of the Racism for dividing the oppressed EU and put the issue to the country. He believed In the course of the campaign, the promises he would get a majority remain vote and thereby made by the Brexit camp became increasingly out - heal the rift within his own party. As we now know, landish. Grossly exaggerating Britain’s economic he failed. clout and political influence in the wider world, they Ranged against him in the Brexit camp were not asserted that capitalists in countries like China and only UKIP and the grassroots supporters of the “our Commonwealth” would beat a path to Britain’s Tory Party, but several prominent Tory Ministers of door once it threw off the shackles of Brussels. State such as erstwhile ally Michael Gove and, They claimed that the £350 million “sent to Brus - most prominently of all, his old chum from Eton and sels” every week could be spent on the NHS (in re - the ultra-privileged Oxford University Bullingdon ality, Britain’s net contribution is half that amount). Club, former Mayor of London Boris Johnson. The same money was promised time and time Johnson had left it to the last moment to lead the again for myriad other projects. They said that im - Brexit campaign: clearly an unprincipled and oppor - migration would be cut to a trickle, and wages tunistic bid to oust David Cameron and capture the would rise for indigenous workers. Naturally, they leadership of the Tory Party. Until relatively recently, have since backtracked on these and other com - he had been singing the praises of the EU, claiming mitments, though the speed with which they did so that Britain had the best of both worlds being a shocked many who were conned into voting for member while outside the Euro bloc and the Brexit. For its part, the Bremain side, dominated by Schengen area, which allows travel between coun - the Tory hierarchy with vocal support from business tries without border checks. and financial leaders, as well as foreign potentates Opportunism aside, politicians such as Johnson such as IMF President Christine Lagarde and Ger - and Gove were giving expression to sections of the man Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble, showed British bourgeoisie who were hoping for “Brexit just how divorced they are from everyday reality. Lite”: not a complete exit from the EU, but a further The entire Bremain campaign was dominated by weakening of the regulatory environment that Brus - threats of economic Armageddon in the event of sels is imposing on Britain. Under this heading fall Brexit: yet for huge numbers of British workers who 8 have lost their jobs or seen their pay and conditions Cameron off the hook is quite another matter. UKIP worsen over eight years of austerity, economic Ar - will go on the offensive, stirring up even greater re - mageddon has already happened. sentment against migrant workers. We will see vi - In the last few days the campaigns got increas - olent attacks against them – of that there is no ingly heated on both sides. Many on the Bremain doubt, in fact it is already starting. side believed that the killing of Jo Cox by a pro- Brexit fascist, and UKIP’s overtly racist poster Britain is in no position to negotiate campaign, together with claims that 75 million Soon after the Brexit vote Britain’s most senior Turks were about to descend on Britain, might fill diplomat, the EU Commissioner Jonathan Hill, enough people with revulsion to win the day. But it tended his resignation. Hardly surprising: the task was not to be. of renegotiating Britain’s relationship with the EU will be Gargantuan. Austerity measures have meant Britain votes out that the British civil service has been pared to the You need to listen carefully to what bourgeois bone and the EU could drag out withdrawal discus - politicians say, and equally important, what they sions interminably over the detail if it so chose. don’t say. Thus while Nigel Farage and UKIP were While some EU leaders, including Angela declaring that 23 June was Britain’s “indepen - Merkel, might take a relatively soft line on the ne - dence day”, there were no celebrations or popping gotiations, others will want to play hardball in order of champagne corks at the morning-after press to stop the Brexit contagion spreading and giving conference given by Johnson and Gove. If you did encouragement to their own “Eurosceptic” populist not know better, you would think they had lost. movements: most notably two core EU countries, What they said was pure waffle; there were no France and The Netherlands. specifics on what should or would happen next. This, however, cannot be done just yet because Johnson even laughably claimed that the Brexit the bourgeoisie needs to give some credibility to vote made Britain “more European than ever”. Sig - the fairytale that “the people have spoken” and that nificantly, they made no mention of next steps to the referendum really matters: otherwise the myth get out of the EU. of “democracy” will be once again exposedThere - Johnson and many of his business supporters fore the “get on with it” message issued by Martin were clearly hoping for a narrow Bremain majority: Schulz, Donald Tusk and others in the immediate a vote to stay in, but a big enough to weaken aftermath. Cameron’s credibility, allowing Johnson to make a leadership, and big enough to give the UK further The Disunited Kingdom leverage over Brussels in order to further roll back With the Labour Party disintegrating after the regulation. Brexit vote (more than half the Shadow Cabinet re - The plain fact is, the bourgeoisie as a whole does signed) and Plaid Cymru’s call for Bremain rejected not want Brexit and woke up on 24 June in a state in Wales, the only bourgeois political parties that of shock. The genie was out of the bottle and could have emerged from this whole affair with a sense not very easily be put back. The value of sterling of victory have been the Scottish Nationalist Party tumbled, with the Governor of the Bank of England and Sinn Fein. The SNP signalled its intention to needing to set aside £250 billion in foreign reserves hold a second referendum on independence, while to prop up the currency. Billions were wiped off Sinn Fein demanded an all-Ireland referendum on share valuations. The reverberations were felt unification. worldwide: with share prices falling as far afield as The threat of dissolution of the UK will provide a Singapore and Hong Kong. The biggest impact, further incentive for the government to ignore the however, was felt in the weaker members of the Brexit vote. On the other hand, it is likely that the Eurozone such as Spain. EU will reject any application from Scotland for a fast-track admission: many countries (such as What happens next? Spain) with strong separatist movements will veto The simple answer to that is we don’t know what such a move. In any case, the admission of Scot - will happen in the short term; but it is unlikely that land will also take several years’ negotiation. As to Brexit will actually happen at all Ireland, leaders in the Republic intervened on the It is clear that the UK’s political establishment is Bremain side as Irish capital is inextricably linked trying to kick the referendum result into the long to the UK and politicians in the South fear the grow - grass. Whether the other EU leaders are prepared ing populist appeal of Sinn Fein. to tolerate prolonged uncertainty to get David In short, there will be a period of intense volatility 9 and realignment within the ruling class as they try for capitalism regardless of who is in government. to grapple with the situation on multiple fronts. (Over the past 20 years it has been the job of polit - For a number of reasons we therefore predict ical parties to focus on symptoms of economic that a future British Prime Minister, whoever that is, malaise and offer phony solutions to capitalism’s will find some reason to avoid Article 50 notification problems without identifying the root cause: Farage and perhaps call a second referendum (though this blames Europe, the Tories blame Labour incompe - is not necessary with 80% of parliament pro-EU). tence, Labour blames Tory austerity, the SNP If there is a second referendum, the Remain side blames the Westminster establishment, George will win 60-40% at minimum. Alternatively, there Galloway blames defence spending and wars, and could be a General Election. so it goes on. Just don’t, under any circumstances mention the fundamental contradictions of the cap - Brexit and the working class italist system: that is strictly forbidden.) We can take some comfort from the fact that A “working class revolt” only has any meaning democracy has been revealed as a sham. But we when the working class embarks on its own strug - cannot celebrate until we see a genuine working gles against that capitalist system, autonomously of class response. other classes, in its own interests, and most impor - Whatever the outcome of this period of turmoil, tantly, as a class, not as atomized individuals in a one thing is certain: the working class will not get bourgeois election or plebiscite. This cannot be any of the “rewards” promised by either the Brexit achieved without unity across national, ethnic and or the Bremain side. While the working class has other artificial divisions, including “traditional loyalty” an interest in following events and responding to to bourgeois and opportunist parties. The fragmen - the outcome should events prove favourable, it has tation of the working class can only be overcome by absolutely no interest in taking sides in a bourgeois class-wide forms of organization, uniting workers on dispute. It is not the task of the working class to sort the shop-floor, in offices and services, and not al - out the mess that the ruling class has made for it - lowing their struggles to be diverted by the Labour self! This has been true in all Western European Party and trade union officials, who have a stake in countries since the late nineteenth century, and in the capitalist system. The working class can only Britain, the first industrialized capitalist country, at protect its interests by means of its own organiza - least since 1848 when Karl Marx and Frederick ob - tion – the international communist party – and by served the scene across Europe and declared that opposing attacks wherever they originate. “The workers have no country”. While the world’s attention was fixed on the EU Therefore, those who have fallen for the lie that referendum, workers were waging such struggles “we have taken back control of our country” or that across Europe: rail workers, junior doctors and there will be some dividend from Brexit for the NHS teachers in Britain, at fuel depots, ports and power will be sadly disillusioned. Those who think that im - plants in France, and in the Italian logistics sector, migration policy is determined by “the people” to name but a few. A true “working class revolt” con - rather than business interests likewise. Those who sists not in casting a vote at the ballot box, but in think that wages will rise as a result of curtailing im - extending and uniting such struggles across indus - migration are also in for a shock. The working class trial sectors and across national borders. For this is never more vulnerable than when bourgeois not only to happen but to be sustained right through politicians, of any party or current, succeed in per - to the final assault on the bastions of capital, an in - suading workers that the enemy is “foreign” work - ternational class party is indispensible. ers rather than the capitalist system itself. In or out of the EU, Britain is part of a global eco - It goes without saying, therefore, that the Bre - nomic system that is overloaded with debt and on main side, and especially Labour leader Jeremy the brink of another crisis. Economic crisis is not, as Corbyn, never once put a positive case for working the Leave campaign would have us believe, the re - class unity. The best Corbyn could come up with sult of “Brussels bureaucrats” or “over-regulation” or was a lukewarm defence of the EU’s legislation even the weakness of the Euro. Nor can an eco - such as the Working Time Directive, which is nomic crisis be put off indefinitely by more political largely ignored and at best only imposes uniform and economic integration within Europe or free misery on the entire European working class. His trade deals between the EU and other economic role was otherwise to ensure that a class position blocs, such as the Transatlantic Trade and Invest - never emerged among traditional Labour voters, ment Partnership (TTIP) supported by the Bremain - and to attribute their economic difficulties to “Tory” ers. austerity, as though austerity is an act of nastiness No, the coming economic crisis is, like those that by a particular political party rather than a necessity went before, inseparable from the inescapable con - 10 tradictions of the capitalist system. Every country federates’, which is published in The Communist in the world is increasingly affected, even those that Party, No.3 (international-communist-party.org/ have until recently enjoyed rapid growth, such as English/TheCPart/TCP_003.htm#SICobas). the so-called BRIC countries. 3) You are a territorial union instead of a “com - In order to take these struggles forward, the pany” one. What does it mean inpractice? How are working class must utterly reject the bourgeois idea the SI Cobas different from the mainstream Italian of “popular sovereignty” or “the sovereignty of par - unions, which are integrated into the State? What liament”. The argument of the Brexiters that “we differentiates them from the other rank and file need to take back control” is meaningless as the “base” unions? working class cannot exercise control over the cap - The reasons why a trade union organization on italist economy – its only option is to break the cap - a territorial basis is to be preferred is explained in italist system and replace it with a new society. The a leaflet, ‘For territorial reorganization of the work - argument of the Bremainers that “we have greater ing class’, which also appears in the first issue of control by being at the EU negotiating table” is The Communist Party (international-communist- equally meaningless: the EU negotiating table is party.org/English/TheCPart/TCP_001.htm#Territo only there to regulate capitalism on across the con - rial). tinent, in the interests of European capital. In so doing, it can perhaps delay the next economic 4) What metods do you use in your struggles? calamity, only to see it reappear worse than ever. Are you using “direct action” or are you also using The simple reality is that there is no “we” – the lawyers and other legal means? idea of popular sovereignty is a fiction to masquer - This and other fundamental questions are cov - ade the fact that there are only opposing class in - ered in the speech made by one of our comrades terests. The workers have no country – we cannot at the First SI Cobas conference, which can be lose what we have never had. We will only ever ex - found in The Communist Party, no.2. (international- ercise “sovereignty” as an international class, communist-party.org/ English/ TheCPart/ TCP_002# through the dictatorship of the proletariat. FirstCongress). ______5) Do you cooperate with other organisations in your struggles? I saw you had joint general strike with USI-AIT. Questions from the The SI Cobas doesn’t offer preferential status or collaborate on a permanent basis with any particu - USA on the SI COBAS lar trade union. Indeed, during a strike, it has shown and the Trade Unions that it is prepared to unite the forces at its disposal From Communist League, Tampa with those mobilized by other trade unions, sup - porting the principle of unity of action. This has hap - A) QUESTIONS REGARDING THE SICOBAS pened in conjunction with other rank and file trade Introduction unions, as was the case during the last general strike on March 18 last year, when it organized The party did not form the SICobas: the SICobas alongside the CUB and the USI-AIT. But also with arose entirely independently of the party and there regards to mobilizations organized by the CGIL, the are no particular ties binding the two organizations. biggest of the Italian regime unions: on 14 Novem - The party is not now, nor has it been in the past, in ber 2014 a thousand SI COBAS logistics workers the SICobas executive. joined the march organized by the FIOM, the CGIL 1) How did the SI Cobas come to be formed? metal-workers’ federation and the main trade union The formation of the SICobas is described in the in the category. A month later, on 12 December, it article “A Report on Rank and File Movements in saw to it that the general strike in the category Italy” published in The Communist Party (No.1) (in - within which the majority of its members are con - ternational-communist-party.org/English/TheC centrated – logistics – coincided with the general Part.htm/TCP_001.htm#AReport). strike of all categories proclaimed by the CGIL. In our view the latter policy is the right practical 2) What are some of the more recent struggles policy, and it is classist, because by uniting the they have been involved in? workers it means strikes acquire greater force and A survey of the SI Cobas’s recent struggles is in - that is the initial condition needed for them to break cluded in the article ‘No “Christmas truce” for the free from the control of the regime unions. Thus struggles of the SI Cobas.: Against police and Con - uniting with the mobilizations of these unions does - 11 n’t in fact strengthen them. 9) What are some of the potential weaknesses This policy has been rejected by the other rank of the SI Cobas? Any suggestions on how to deal and file unions, which have always boycotted strikes with these potential weaknesses? when called by the regime unions, and organized The main questions were covered in our speech their own ones in competition with them, on different made at the First SI Cobas Congress, referred to dates, thus weakening the workers’ mobilization. above. In our eyes this practical policy adopted by the SI Cobas is one of the positive elements which dis - B) QUESTIONS REGARDING PARTY tinguishes it from other rank and file trade unions, AND TRADE UNIONS IN THE USA as we have explained on various occasions, for ex - ample during our speech at the first congress of the 10) While in the USA the situation of the unions is radically different, are there any lessons to be SI Cobas. learned from the experiences of the SI Cobas for 6) A big debate amongst proponents of class militants in the United States who want to build struggle unionism here in the USA is on the use of class struggle unions and connect this with the paid staff. Do the SI Cobas use paid staff and if so struggle for a Communist programme? Are there for what functions? any developments in the class struggle here that have caught your attention? It is not a matter of principle at stake here: large trade unions will always need a certain number of Communists do not pretend that the various full-time organizers. The prevalence of a conserva - forms within which the class struggle finds expres - tive, self-serving trade-union bureaucracy isn’t sion should conform to a fixed pattern. The history therefore the cause of the conciliatory policies pur - of class trade unionism has shown that the types sued by the union and of its betrayal, but the effect: of organization that most lend themselves to lead - the bulk of its members and organizers have not ing the working class against the bosses’ State are proved strong enough either to prevent the leaders the ones to be preferred, thus those open to all from betraying or to get rid of them and replace workers, independently of their ideas, political be - them with leaders they can have faith in. liefs, party membership and religious faith. For the 7) What does the organizational structure of the same reason are to be prefigured industrial trade SI Cobas look like? How are decisions made? unions as compared to those of a particular trade; those of a category as compared to those a partic - The SI Cobas is a young trade union which ular firm; and national as opposed to local ones. wants to equip itself wit a more robust organiza - The vast majority of the base unions in Italy apply, tional structure. It is composed of committees [co - or attempt to apply, these organizational models. ordinamenti] and provincial and national On the history of the American workers’ move - executives. In the case of enterprises which are ment we are publishing a long study in our English spread out over several sites across the country review Communist Left the 5th instalment of which there are also Company National Committees. will appear in the forthcoming issue. The general These organs are not always that effective. conclusion of this study confirms what the Ameri - The Provincial Committees are made up of dele - can working class has often lacked in its history is gates from the various companies in the province. not trade unions, and examples of great mobiliza - The Committee elects a smaller group as its Exec - tions and bravery, but a communist party which is, utive. The provincial Comm. is supposed to meet at 1) firmly founded on the uncorrupted doctrine of least once a month and the Executive once a week. revolutionary Marxism, 2) which is committed to 8) As far as we know there are a lot of immigrant tactics which are intransigently anti-opportunist, workers in your union. What is the union’s position and which, 3) lives according to a corresponding on the”European refugee crisis” and you act some - type of internal organization which is centralised, how to help people arriving in Italy? fraternal and anti-personalistic. It is necessary to come up with a class, rather than a vaguely humanitarian, solution to the prob - C) QUESTIONS REGARDING PARTY lem: the immigrants are workers and are doubly op - AND TRADE UNIONS pressed, as proletarians and as foreigners. 11 ) In the USA many who identify with the Com - On 16 September the SI Cobas organised a na - munist Left take a hard-line anti-union stance and tional demonstration in solidarity with the immi - argue that all unions inevitably become integrated grants and refugees. We distributed this leaflet: into the state. The ICP, regarding the SI Cobas, (international-communist-party.org/ English/The takes a different stance. How did you did come to CPart/TCP_002#FirstCongress). this political conclusion?

12 It is true that we have witnessed, since the end unions, as trade unions composed only of revolu - of the nineteenth century, the progressive submis - tionaries or communists, is to ignore the real his - sion of the trade unions to bourgeois ideology, to torical revolutionary process. In the course of the the nation and to the capitalist states, to the point transition from capitalist society to communism, that they participated in disciplining proletarians in that’s to say in the period when the dictatorship is two world wars and the defense of national capital exercised by the party, the wage-earning class in both peacetime and war. But this process, even abolishes itself. Where there are trade unions there if it has now become irreversible for many of the is no communism, and vice-versa. The trade union large existing trade unions, which have become vir - emerges as and remains a product of bourgeois tually institutionalized as organs of the bourgeoisie, mercantile society and remains subsumed within it, does not detract from the imperative necessity of with many of its defects. workers’ defense against the growing pressure It is only when directed by the communist party from the ruling class; this will lead to the rebirth of that the trade union, functioning as a transmission new trade unions freed from bourgeois condition - belt between the party and the class in general, be - ing. And in fact, we are seeing this rebirth. Whether comes a powerful and indispensible instrument for they succeed in maintaining their independence will the revolutionary overthrow of bourgeois power; depend on the balance of forces between the and, after the seizure of power by the proletariat, classes and the ability of capitalism to continue to for the reorganization of production and the distri - hand out a few corrupting crumbs – something bution of goods. which today seems ever more unlikely. How the communist party relates to the trade union movement has been definitively outlined by 12) What kind of political work does the ICP do Marx: 1871, London Conference of First Interna - within the SI Cobas? How does the organization tional (www.international-communist-party.org/ Basic work to politicize workers within the union? Texts/English/IWMA.htm#Resolution_1871): « Con - This is the authentic Marxist position on the trade sidering, that against this collective power of the unions, summarized to the extreme. propertied classes the working class cannot act, as The economic struggle is a necessary defensive a class, except by constituting itself into a political and spontaneous response of those who sell their party, distinct from, and opposed to, all old parties labor power: given the balance of forces between formed by the propertied classes; That this consti - capitalists, who monopolize the means of produc - tution of the working class into a political party is in - tion, and the destitute proletarians, if the latter dispensable in order to ensure the triumph of the stopped defending the level of wages and of work - social revolution and its ultimate end – the abolition ing hours they would soon be reduced to conditions of classes; That the combination of forces which the lower than those necessary for their own physical working class has already effected by its economic subsistence. struggles ought at the same time to serve as a lever Since it soon became evident that this was not a for its struggles against the political power of land - matter of a dispute between capitalist and worker lords and capitalists. The Conference recalls to the as individual citizens, but a clash between the op - members of the International: That in the militant posing interests of two classes within society, from state of the working class, its economic movement the very beginning trade union type organizations and its political action are indissolubly united ». arose with the aim of defending more or less vast In What is To Be Done (1901), Lenin wrote that groups of workers. «Social-Democratic consciousness could only be These working class associations arose sponta - brought to the workers from without. «The history neously, not through the will and intervention of a of all countries shows that the working class, exclu - political party. The process by which the Marxist sively by its own effort, is able to develop only trade communist party, possessor of the doctrine and union consciousness, i.e., the conviction that it is program of the working class, and the trade unions necessary to combine in unions, fight the employ - were born and developed was of no short duration, ers, and strive to compel the government to pass and though it happened side by side, it was not si - necessary labor legislation, etc. ». multaneous as regards time and place. Over the The Communist Left, 1957, The Fundamentals of course of the years there have often been situa - Revolutionary Communism (international-commu - tions in which the trade union movement and work - nist-party.org/ BasicTexts/ English/ 57Fundam.htm): ing class combativeness extended itself greatly on «Syndicalists are actually far removed from Marxist the level of economic demands, but there was min - determinism, and the interaction which occurs be - imal response to the communist party’s directives tween the economic and political spheres is a dead within the class. letter to them. Since they are individualist and vol - To anticipate revolutionary or communist trade untarist, they see revolution as an act of force which 13 can only take place after an impossible act of con - sciousness. As Lenin demonstrated in What is To For Contact: Be Done? they turn Marxism on its head. They treat www.international-communist-party.org consciousness and will as though they came from [email protected] the inner-self, from the ‘person’, and thus, in one deft movement, they sweep away bourgeois State, The Party’s Postal Addresses: class divisions, and class psychology. Since they - ICP Editions are unable to understand the inevitable alternative c/o 96 Bold Street – capitalist dictatorship or communist dictatorship – Liverpool L1 4HY they evade the dilemma in the only way that is his - UK torically possible: by re-establishing the former ». - Associazione La Sinistra Comunista Therefore the specific and principal task of the Cas.Postale 1157 party within the union is not to politicize workers. 50121 Firenze The communist party does not work to make the Italy trade union a watered-down version of itself, nor, in the revolutionary process, does the party dis - Details and down-loadable files of our solve itself and blend in with the trade union. publications in other languages are The communist party, from outside, with the sup - available on our web-site. port of the communist fraction within the trade unions, which is composed of the minority of com - Our publications: munists among the militants and members of the union, comes to conquer its leadership. The work - - in English: ing class, as an army, is already organized in the “Communist Left” trade unions: the party sets out to lead this army; “The Communist Party” first in its defensive economic struggle, and then, - in Italian: when the historical situation allows it, in its political “Il Partito Comunista” and offensive struggle. “Comunismo” The guidelines for practical behavior that the - in Spanish: party advocates inside the trade union, on how best “El Partido Comunista” to defend itself in a particular situation, entail no contradiction with the party’s task of reorganizing Collections of our Current’s press or - the forces of the proletarian class towards the gen - gans from 1907 to 1999 available eral and vaster end of the struggle for communism. on Compact Disc Propagandizing the party’s general positions, the diffusion of its press, manifestos, invitations to pub - Annual Subscription to “Communist lic conferences, takes place, as in every other en - Left” is £ 2.00, € 3, $ 3 or equiva - vironment, but not at the same time s its trade lent. union organizational work. Please double the subscription to Only in this sense is “connecting class struggle also receive regular copies of “The unions with the struggle for a communist program” Communist Party”. conceivable. Some party comrades are militating within Printed and Produced by ICP Edi - SICobas (as in other rank-and-file trade unions) tions, c/o 96 Bold Street, Liverpool L1 and observing discipline to it: they bring their en - 4HY - UK ergy to bear as members and as communist sym - pathizers. Being known and respected, and openly Previous editions of Communist Left declaring their allegiance to the international com - still available (donations for postage munist party, they regularly make the party’s point costs outside UK welcome) of view known within the trade union with respect to the struggle under way, denouncing any possible For details on costs and on of the con - strategic errors and indicating the best way to ob - tents of previous editions see on the tain the hoped-for results. They perform the orga - web-site. nizational and propaganda work of the trade union: being present on picket lines, distributing the Please let us know if you can help in union’s flyers, building links, and editing and distrib - the circulation of our press. uting press releases. 14 15