No. 742, September 22, 2000
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, soe No. 742 ....~ 22 September 2000 Fuel Protests Rock Europe The following article was written for Workers Vanguard by our comrades of the Spartacist League/Britain. LONDON, September 17-A blockade of oil refineries and depots by protesters brought Britain to the brink of total shut down in a matter of days and gave vent to the seething anger felt by millions of people against Tony Blair's Labour gov ernment. The protests were called off as Blair moved army fuel tankers into posi tion to break the blockade. Crucially aid ing Blair in this was the Labourite Trades Union Congress (TUC) bureauc racy which, meeting at its annual confer Truckers block road at German-Belgian ence at the height of the protests, moved border, September 13. Pr~tests against a resolution denouncing the blockades high fuel prices have paralyzed Britain as "a crude attempt to hold the country and other European countries. to ransom." The protesters have given the government 60 days to meet their the fundamental question is one of polit demand for lower fuel prices and, while ical programme and leadership. Forging a the petrol tankers have started rolling revolutionary proletarian party as the nec again, Labour's crisis is far from over. essary instrument to lead the working The effects of the blockade will be felt class in struggle, committed to nothing for weeks, while the hatred toward the less than victorious workers revolution arrogant Blair government remains. against the whole rotting capitalist Protests in Britain followed closely system, is the urgent task posed. It is such on similar blockades by French truckers a party that we in the Spartacist League! and farmers; protests have since erupted Britain seek to. build. throughout Europe and continue to spread Tony Blair, having been chased around from Ireland to Germany and Poland. Yorkshire by angry protesters, summoned These actions are hugely popular expres oil bosses and police chiefs to Downing sions of opposition to the social-demo Street, reportedly demanded they get cratic administrations of Blair, France's tough with the protesters and declared on Jospin and Germany's SchrOder which, as national television that within 24 hours capitalist governments, seek to jack up the oil tankers would be back on the the bosses' bloated profits through devas roads. In order for Blair's boast to tating attacks on the livelihoods of the become a reality, unionised tanker drivers working people, dismantling welfare pro had to drive the tankers out and break the grammes and grinding down the poor. blockade which they had supported until Exorbitant taxes on items such as petrol then. Enter the trade-union bureaucrats, and diesel fuel are regressive taxes which AP whose slavish loyalty to "their" anti hit poor and working people hardest. In stake-cheaper fuel prices-is clearly in direct them clearly against the real cul working-class Labour government and "rip-off Britain," fuel prices are higher the interests of .the working class, as was prit: capitalism and the Labour govern the bourgeois order it upholds knows no than anywhere else in Europe. Taxes and reflected in the overwhelming support ment which administers it. The fuel cri bounds. Initially, many drivers refused to duties make up 76 per cent of the price of for the protests among the population as sis is the most acute social crisis Britain move oil except for emergency supplies. unleaded petrol, which costs around 80 a whole. has seen since the great miners strike of But the bureaucracy of the Transport and pence a litre [$4.37 a gallon]. In the past , The attitude of Marxists to such petty 1984-85. It has starkly illustrated the General Workers Union (TGWU) scan 18 months alone, the cost of petrol has bourgeois mobilizations is based upon the venal nature not only of Labour but par dalously instructed their members to risen by 18 pence a litre. The cost of pub target of the protests and the nature of the ticularly of the trade-union bure.aucracy, bring the oil out. A TGWU press release lic transport is astronomical, as is the cost demands raised: do they further the inter which acted as Blair's partners in crime issued 12 September, the same day as of running a car. In an industrial society, ests of the proletariat? In this case, the . and played a decisive role in saving the Blair's ultimatum, said: "The Union cars are not a lUXUry but are essential for protests were clearly aimed at the Blair government's hide. which represents tanker drivers urged its vast numbers of workers to get to work. government and indeed the demand is one A tanker drivers strike would trans members to continue working as long as The blockades were initiated and led supportable from a proletarian stand form the protests into a mighty class it was safe to do so," adding "We urge the by farmers organisations and road haul point. Because of their position in society struggle against the Labour government. protesters to remove the blockades and age companies-small and medium-sized between the two classes with social It could appeal to rail and all transport allow our members to resume deliveries." capitalist companies, often employers power-the capitalists and the working workers to strike the railways and the TGWU general secretary Bill Morris in their own right-who are driven by class-groups like the farmers and haul privati sed public transport system which egged on the cops, saying "If they are the need to compete with their rivals iers will swing widely in their orientation, is equally hated. Such a mobilisation by breaking the law, the protesters should be in other countries, particularly within sometimes militantly protesting along the union membership requires impla arrested" (Guardian, 13 September). the European Union.The protests also side the workers and sometimes becoming cable opposition to the pro-capitalist According to a report in the Sunday enjoyed tacit support from the giant oil the recruiting grounds for the fascists. trade-union bureaucracy. While the oil Telegraph (17 September): "While Mr corporations, at least at first. While the A revolutionary leadership of the blockade used militant tactics, and gen Blair pondered sending in the troops, forces leading this revolt were for the workers movement must seek to t~e the tleman farmers were heard to repeat the [finance minister] Mr [Gordon] Brown most part petty-bourgeois, the issue at lead of protests such as these in order to fashionable phrase "direct action works," continued on page 11 ~e~,... o o1""1 ..- 00 ...:t "Marxist Politics or " N lI'\ N Unprincipled Combinationism?': .. " ,... LOS ANGELES, September 18-For the clerks, who are also without a contract, past three days, a solid strike by 4,300 bus are walking the UTU picket lines carry drivers and train operators has shut down ing handmade signs in solidarity with the the Los Angeles Metropolitan Transit strike. Teamsters members are refusing Authority (MTA). The heavily black and to drive the extra buses set up by the sub Latino strikers are members of the United urban Metrolink light-rail system to Transportation Union (UTU). The union shuttle passengers from Union Station has refused to give in to the MTA's de to other parts cif the city, stymying the mand to switch 400 drivers to a four-day bosses' strikebreaking scheme. L.A. transit strikers workweek, forcing them to be on the job All the MTA unions are targeted by have won wide for 13 hours a day at ten hours' pay. This a union-busting plan long pushed by support from working people would mean a pay cut of at least 15 per Republican mayor Richard Riordan, and minorities. cent for many drivers, and the increased MTA chief Julian Burke and Democrats hours, stress and fatigue are a recipe for on the MTA board like Zev Yaroslavsky to killing both workers and riders. create "regional transportation zones" While L.A. still relies heavily on cars, under so-called "local control." Their with the transit system expanding the model is the Foothill Transit zone, spun potential power of the transit workers off in 1987, which contracts out to private contracting out and the creation of a divi ica. If! was a driver, I would be on strike." has increased. On its first weekday bus companies with low pay and few ben sive "two-tier" wage system. In 1997, the The fabulous profits being raked in by today, the strike has shut down service efits. This was the core issue in an eight UTU leadership likewise agreed to the the capitalists in the much-touted "new for 450,000 riders. Amalgamated Transit day ATU strike six years ago, but the imposition of a "two-tier" scheme under economy" are the result of enormous Union (ATt]) mechanics and Transporta union tops caved in to MTA demands to which hundreds of part-time drivers have speedup and forced overtime and wage tion Communications International Union allow privatization of bus lines through been hired for as little as $8 an hour, slashing through "multi-tier" pay scales undercutting one of the few decent union and increasing use of low-paid part jobs available to blacks and Latinos in timers. These issues have repeatedly Bourgeois "Democracy": the city. fueled strikes in the last few years, from The city's rulers have tried to pit the the UPS Teamsters in 1997 to GM Flint Mask for Dictatorship of Capital largely poor and minority MTA ridership in '98 and Verizon phone workers this From the day the Bolshevik-led proletar against the strikers.