#1 summer 2016

A new generation rises up Reemplazar por France: The "Nuit Debout" at a crossroads archivo de Tapa Bernie Sanders and the Left

DOSSIER: RIGHT TURN IN SYRIZA AND PODEMOS: THE WOMEN'S LIBERATION IN LATIN AMERICA ONLY "CHANGE" POSSIBLE? TIMES OF GLOBAL CRISIS Left 2 | Voice Index

Dossier 3 16 36 eDITORIAL The Soft Coup in Brazil and South Palestine: Ethnic Cleansing America’s Right Turn Interview with Ilan Pappé Eduardo Molina 4 19 38 France: The “Nuit Débout” at a crossroads Brazil: A Right-Wing Coup, the Failure of the PT and Women’s Emancipation in Times of Global Crisis Juan Chingo and Emmanuel Barot the Coming Storm Andrea D’Atri and Laura Lif Leandro Lanfredi and Tatiana Cozzarelli 7 22 41 Bernie and the Indignation of the Youth Argentina’s CEOcracy and New Tests for the Left "Equality in Law Does not Mean Equality in Life” Juan Andrés Gallardo and Celeste Murillo Matías Maiello Interview with a trans health worker from Brazil 10 26 43 Sanders, a Third Party, or a Working Class Party? Syriza and Podemos: The only “change” possible? An Independent, Anti-Capitalist Campaign in Robert Belano Josefina Martínez and Diego Lotito Mexico City Oscar Fernández 13 29 45 A Year After the Baltimore Rebellion Economy: The Long Depression and the Future of Inheritance and Situation Tracy Kwon, Juan Cruz Ferre and Julia Wallace Capitalism Interview with a New Generation of Interview with Marxist economist Michael Roberts Revolutionary Marxists in China 32 Cuba after Obama: Closer to Capitalism? Claudia Cinatti

STAFF

editorial board Rachel Sohl, Leo Broun, Moisés Delgado. Robert Belano, Tatiana Cozzarelli, Juan Cruz Ferre, Design Tracy Kwon, Julia Wallace, Ian Steinman. Gonzalo Bar, Gloria Grinberg, Martín Cozzarini, Natalia Rizzo, Rodrigo Aranibar. contributing editors Gloria Grinberg, Sara Jayne, Eduardo Molina, Valeria Cover Illustration: Natalia Rizzo Molina, Alejandra Ríos, Sean Robertson. Translators LAYOUT Tatiana Cozzarelli, Juan Cruz Ferre, Tracy Kwon, Gonzalo Bar Ivan Matewan, Sean Robertson, Emma Vignola. Acknowledgements Pavi Jaisankar, Paula Bach, Mike McGuire, www.leftvoice.org Jonathan Estey, Esteban Mercatante, Helen Park, [email protected] LEFT VOICE Summer 2016 | 3 Editorial

World capitalism is knee-deep in mud since 2008, with no pros- capitalist system— it is rotten to the core. pects of exiting the swamp any time soon. Despite hefty economic In these pages, we present an account from the frontlines of the stimulus and billionaire bailouts, global markets cannot escape their fight against labor precaritization in France and discuss the strate- fragile instability. The ruling class is everywhere attempting to make gy needed to win. We consider the tasks of the left amidst a gener- us pay for their crisis, through austerity, cutbacks, layoffs, repres- alized right turn in South America and a new soft coup in Brazil. sion, deportations, and imperialist wars. We attempt a balance sheet on the uprisings in Baltimore, a year Neither neoliberal nor social democratic governments have after the killing of Freddie Gray. We look at the roots behind Bernie been able to offer a way out of the crisis at hand. In both the U.S. Sanders’s meteoric rise and debate with the left organizations which and Europe, the establishment parties who governed for decades today find hope in Sanders. We examine the new reformist phenom- are being undermined by their roles in the expanding crisis, while ena of Syriza in Greece and Podemos in Spain and their prospects new political phenomena on the left and right have quickly gained for achieving reform. These are just a few of the questions we take ground. The extreme right has made serious inroads in Austria, Ger- up in our first printed issue of Left Voice. many, France, the U.S. and elsewhere by channeling class anger This magazine and our ongoing Left Voice website are part of the away from the ruling class and toward most precarious sectors of La Izquierda Diario international news network, launched first in the working class—refugees and immigrants. 2014 in Argentina, and now with editions in Chile, Mexico, Spain, But despite all obstacles, a new generation is rising up and resist- Germany, France, Brazil, Uruguay and Bolivia. Together, the net- ing their attacks. Massive mobilizations and occupations led by an work has over 200,000 weekly readers. Our outlets in Argentina, increasingly radicalized youth have shaken Paris and other cities Brazil, and France are the most widely read left news sites in their across France demanding an end to Hollande’s labor reforms. In respective countries. A project of the Trotskyist Fraction - Fourth Brazil, over 100 high schools have been occupied by students who International, we are supported by revolutionary socialists in 13 are fighting cutbacks and protesting dire conditions. In the U.S., a countries. new generation of Black youth has taken to the streets to fight for We invite you to join us in this project and we welcome discussion their lives and their own vision of liberation and radical change. on the ideas presented in this magazine. Opportunities for a new Left Voice aims to amplify the struggles of these and other hero- anticapitalist left in the U.S. and around the world are emerging. It ic youth and working class fighters and to tell the truth about the is our duty to seize these opportunities. History is ours.

Photo: María Paula Avila/EnfoqueRojo. 4 | France

General Strike or Occupy? A Movement at a Crossroads

Juan Chingo & Emmanuel Barot Translation: Ivan Matewan

On March 9, 2016 students and workers in France took to the streets to protest pro-busi- ness labor reforms proposed by Hollande’s government. Since then, numerous univer- sities and high schools have been on strike, uniting their forces in coordinated nation- Illustration: Dienteleche. al strikes. Protests and street demonstra- tions in March and April brought together tens of thousands of youth across the coun- try. On March 31, workers joined the youth in growing movement. Throughout April, the first is directly related to the need for youth what was one of the largest demonstrations in movement has been stuck in strategic limbo. and working-class movements to strengthen recent years, with more than 1.2 million peo- School vacation have emptied the country’s their self-organization to overcome the obsta- ple in the streets. Those who refused to clear high schools and universities. No major sec- cles to a general strike. The second is whether the streets afterwards have been occupying tor of the working class has yet entered the or not the imagination and practices associ- the Place de la République in Paris ever since struggle yet. Nevertheless, at the time of writ- ated with the occupation of public squares as and became known as Nuit Debout (Night, ing, a national day of interprofessional (multi- they currently exist in France will encourage Standing Up). Hundreds, even thousands of industry) strike action is planned for April this strike dynamic. If the goal of a victori- people can be seen at the square daily, debat- 28, which will define the next stage of the ous May ‘68 – and not of a poly-classist 1789 ing politics and the movement’s way forward. mobilization. – has significance today, it can be found in This day of massive strike action did not, Two distinct yet inseparable questions have the need to “block everything,” i.e., to para- however, mark a clear turning point in the become important in the past few weeks. The lyze production in both the private and public LEFT VOICE Summer 2016 | 5

sectors. If the occupation of public squares May 1968. François Hollande’s former electorate. They develops in this sense, the government will be After May 13, 1968 and the largest general believe that the existing order of things can be rapidly confronted with its downfall. strike ever known in Western European his- improved, but not through the state of emer- tory put the working class back in the spot- gency, pro-business labor reforms, truncheons Class Struggle in 20th Century France light, the past reared its ugly head. Like the or tear gas. Many teachers, middle managers, Whether in 1848, 1871, 1936, or 1968, Matignon Agreements, the Grenelle Agree- and middle-class professionals belong to this France has been the country in which, as ments signed by trade-union bureaucrats category and find themselves without political Marx was fond of saying, class struggle gets demonstrated once again the extent to which representation. to the bottom of things. France has a long counterrevolutionary political and union The third element is the generation of rebel- history of mass movements capable of put- leadership can undermine a revolutionary lious workers formed in the struggles of the ting the capitalist system in jeopardy. How- dynamic. first decade of the 21st Century. This tradition ever this history is peppered with the same was revived recently by workers of Air France system’s counterrevolutionary abilities, espe- If Working-Class Rebellion and Student and Goodyear. Alongside them are the unem- cially when the proper tools, perspectives and Radicalism Join Forces... ployed and ultra-precarious workers who confidence are lacking to turn mass revolt May 1968 in France inaugurated a decade- refuse to yield to the demands of capital or into revolution. Today we can draw impor- long period of upsurge in class struggle. This their own trade unions. tant lessons from the experiences of 1936 and period was characterized by numerous strikes, There is also a fourth potentially explosive 1968 in France. factory occupations and workers taking bosses element: the youth of the banlieues. They The year 1936 is associated with not only the hostage, in what would later become known as struggle daily against the neo-colonial rac- major protests that took place and the spread “boss-nappings.” There was growing working- ism that is so inherent to the French Repub- of factory occupations throughout the coun- class rebellion which made the self-organiza- lic plays a key role. They know more than any try, but also the victorious electoral front – tion of factories and workplaces the reference other segment of the population in France the the Popular Front – led by the socialist Leon point for political action. reality of social misery, unemployment and Blum. It is also associated with the historic With growing unemployment in the 1970s, oppression. social rights won by the signing of the Mati- followed by economic stagnation and the An orientation and a program of action gnon Agreements. The real “popular front,” beginning of neoliberalism in the 1980s, the capable of unifying these four sectors would however, was the one that materialized in bourgeoisie put an end to this insubordina- be a terrifying prospect for the ruling class. the streets and the factories. The confusion tion. Ideologically they waged a war against between these “two popular fronts,” as Dan- the philosophy of May 1968 and its “unob- Stop the Bosses from Winning iel Guerin wrote in 1963 in Popular Front in tainable revolution.” These ideas quick- The first limit of the current movement is France – A Lost Revolution, has been inten- ly became hegemonic and its main political its self-organization, which is in an embryon- tionally maintained by those who do not representation was the conservative revolu- ic state. There is a need for proper structures want the betrayal of the workers’ movement tion within the French Socialist Party that through which anger, rebellion, the youth and by the electoral front to be known. began in 1981. This became the origin of workers can join together; structures through In Whither France?, Trotsky analyzed the social-liberal neo-conservatism, represented which these forces can propose a radical- events of 1936 according to the general sche- by the reactionary policies of current Presi- ly different orientation to that of the nation- ma of 1917. In this schema, he noted two dent François Hollande and Prime Minister al inter-union. The slow pace at which these qualitatively, yet indissociable stages: (1) con- Manuel Valls. are developing is explained not only by the tagious spontaneous revolt, illustrated in this 2010 defeat, but also by the fact that the so- case by the general strike of May-June 1936; Ingredients and Contrasts of Spontaneous called “protest” unions (CGT, Solidaires) are and (2) the passage from revolt to a revolu- Revolt currently leading the struggle. tionary confrontation for the seizure of polit- Since 1968, the spectre of spontaneous and The only tool that the working class can ical and economic power. What happened contagious revolt has periodically returned to deploy independently is a strike, a tool that exactly? The revolutionary potential that haunt the ruling class. What makes them par- can attack the foundations of capitalist and expressed itself through action committees ticularly fearful is the possibility of a conver- state power. Such a strike should not only aim was completely subdued by trade union lead- gence between the rebellious youth and the for street demonstrations or blocking produc- ership and the Socialist and Communist par- working class around an anti-capitalist plat- tion, but must also allow workers to organize ties. The Matignon Agreements were signed form. The calls in the general assemblies for themselves in order to challenge the power in exchange for the evacuation of occupied a “general strike until there is the complete of their bosses in the workplace. It must be factories – in other words, in exchange for the withdrawal of the labor reforms” offer the accompanied by calls for factory occupations end of the struggle against private property possibility that this threat will materialize. and the democratic seizure of production by and the power of the bourgeoisie. In France, an explosive combination of three the workers themselves. This same dynamic There are at least two major differences important elements could very well be near. can develop in the high schools and univer- between the 1930s and the 1960s: (1) the The first element is the radicalization of the sities. The key is for the youth and workers profound economic crisis and the catastroph- youth – high school and university students to coordinate their struggles, supporting and ic development of fascism in the 1930s versus who have taken to the streets against the bru- mutually strengthening their movements. the full-employment of a “glorious” capital- tal and arbitrary repression that has become For decades now, bosses and bourgeois gov- ism in the 1960s; and (2) the student strug- the norm. The second is the aspiration for ernments have accepted small losses in order gle, which played a key role in the events of a more just society by major segments of to win in the long term. Their social partners 6 | France

– the unions and reformist organizations – must fight against the dilution of class into set by various bureaucracies,” and we recog- continue to play the game of “social dialogue” the nebulous category of “citizens.” Through nize the validity of the desire to “stay in the and “negotiations.” The struggle for workers’ centering workers, the occupation of space streets and occupy places.” The signatories self-organization is the struggle to prevent can be closely linked to the General Strike. A are also aware of this process’ limits and do the bosses from turning their apparent losses “let’s block everything” spirit would be highly not make the occupations an end in them- into a win; we must prevent the trade union progressive in this situation. However, it must selves: “We have learned in recent years that bureaucracies from masking major defeats also go beyond this. The General Confeder- only occupying places is not enough to block with tiny victories. ation of Labor (CGT) claims that it fights the functioning of institutions. The risk that “against capital.” However, this has not pre- this contains is to simply exist and wait for Night, Standing Up: Occupations and vented it from adopting reformist strategies their eviction or exhaustion.” We agree with General Strike and undermining the most combative sectors this diagnosis. Another limit could rapidly emerge from the of the labor movement. Therefore, we must However, we disagree with the alternative Occupy-style Nuit Debout (“Night, Stand- also fight against the “citizen”-based bureau- perspective that is proposed: “In our view, ing Up”) movement in Paris – a movement cracy which would attempt to contain the they should rather serve as bases from which that has been replicated across France. The movement within a reformist framework. to occupy the places of power where the ‘rep- National Student Strike Coordinating Com- resentatives of the people’ claim to govern. mittee has called for student strikers to join Yes, We Have Demands, But Not Only Town halls, various city councils, so-called this movement. More and more local trade Demands regional or national assemblies, all of these unions are also including it in their plans What is one of the main lessons we can take must be taken over, besieged or blocked. We of action. Will Nuit Debout be the locus for from May 1968 and 2010? The need to build must aim and organize a blockade of politi- the current protest movement? Will it finally structures of self-organization from which cal power.” break the routine of traditional organization- alternative political leadership can resist In what sense, and against what power al divisions? Can it be the base for a general bureaucratic attempts to limit the movement. exactly should these spaces serve as “bases”? strike and encourage confrontation with the What lessons can we take from the capitula- Can we simply re-appropriate local organs current government? tions of Syriza and Podemos? That we can- of bourgeois democracy without confront- The worst-case scenario is if occupations not let a new reformist political party claim ing the social system that structures their very become a substitute for a general strike. leadership of the movement in France today. existence? Nothing points to such substitutionism so Frédéric Lordon, who is set to play the role We must instead take over spaces of mate- far. Nonetheless, the problem would remain that Pierre Bourdieu played in 1995, has pro- rial power, for which political power is the the same: blocking production is the strategic posed a strategic hypothesis that demands support and the extension. Workplaces and foundation of any potentially victorious con- our attention. He is an emerging important schools are not only the places to formulate frontation with the bourgeoisie. In May 2011, figure of the mobilizations, and, like the cur- “demands” or even just to “block” capitalist similar questions emerged with the 15M rent movement as whole, is at a crossroads. production: their reappropriation is the only indignados movement in Spain, raising the Lordon has supported the mobilization of way to bring about an alternative political spectre of a Spanish 1968, but also demand- both the youth and workers. Through his par- power. ing a better understanding of this type of mass ticipation in Nuit Debout, he has shown how It is in this sense that the construction of a movement. these two processes are perfectly compatible general strike is much more than the gener- In 2011, between the Arab Spring, the Span- and carry together an explosive conjuncture alization of a long list of “demands.” It must ish and Greek movements and Occupy Wall between the workers, the youth and the activ- be based on claims that channel the anger of Street, the occupation of public squares was a ists at Nuit Debout. millions of people who are ready to enter the socio-political phenomenon that swept aside When Lordon says, “We have no demands” struggle. the accumulated defeats of the labor and in this movement and instead, “We only have The demand for “total withdrawal without social movements. In a similar sense, Nuit affirmations,” he is emphasizing the need negotiations” of the proposed labor reforms Debout is the current incarnation of a grow- to reject negotiations as well as the existing is a powerful rallying cry that can unite the ing political process that tends towards the order. However beyond affirming a “sense existing struggles to defend social rights. The reappropriation of both space and time, ordi- of possibilities,” not all strategic options are tactic of occupations can add to this dynamic narily controlled by the institutional powers. equal. A collective text that he co-authored by animating it, extending it, making it echo It is especially progressive in the face of the and released on March 21, “Writers and intel- throughout ideological, media, and political French state’s militarization of public space. lectuals support the street actions against space-time. The movement can consciously The movement also expresses tremendous labor reforms. Why we support the youth,” use the general strike as the strategic pivot of aspirations to change society, reinvent and had already formulated certain hypotheses its own aspirations. In this way a social, eco- rebuild a collective existence. It rejects the on how the movement should structure itself. nomic, and political alternative to bourgeois division and isolation created by capitalism. The article provides some important points power can be established. Without this, we However, these movements that are focused for discussion and debate. will lose. on spaces ultimately fail to shake the foun- dations of capitalist power and political Between Political Affirmation and Political April 24, 2016. institutions. Alternative Should we occupy spaces? Of course, but We obviously agree with the need, as assert- workers must be given a central role and we ed in the article, to “step outside the limits LEFT VOICE Summer 2016 | 7

Illustration: Anahí Rivera.

Bernie and the indignation of the youth

Juan Andrés Gallardo and Celeste Murillo

How did a septuagenarian self-proclaimed (in delegates awarded by popular vote) to a And this year, massive protests erupted in socialist become the candidate of the youth? 22-percent lead with the addition of super- France against the labor law reform proposed What will remain of the Sanders phenome- delegates. This is a total scam for Democratic by the Hollande government. non after the primaries? What is meant by primary voters, which Sanders rarely points The common thread among them is the “socialism”? out. central role of youth. This was demonstrat- The Sanders campaign has captured the at- Nevertheless, the enthusiasm around Sand- ed by the enormous wave of young people tention of both the mainstream media and in- ers has turned his campaign into a true politi- who signed up to join the British Labor Par- ternational left. Since Sanders began his run cal phenomenon (see table below). ty to vote for Corbyn; the average age of party as a candidate in the Democratic primaries, members took a dive from 53 to 42 years old. he has drawn large crowds and organized Anti-establishment sentiment across the In the case of Sanders, people 30 and below thousands of volunteers around the country. world are the life-blood of the campaign – a phe- His campaign broke the record for individu- Discontent with the establishment is not a nomenon that no other candidate, Republi- al contributions—previously set by Obama in phenomenon exclusive to the United States. can or Democrat has experienced. the 2008 Democratic primaries. Many analysts have compared Sanders to Jer- The indignation of the youth and their re- Although Clinton is still the front-runner emy Corbyn in the UK and Podemos in Spain, pudiation of the establishment does not au- and will likely get the nomination, the com- which arose after the indignados movement. tomatically translate into a progressive or petition has become unexpectedly stiff, with Sanders expanding his influence and appeal among young people and steadily gaining Including % with Candidate Delegates % delegates ground among women, Blacks, and Latinos. Superdelegates Superdelegates However, after Sanders’ seven straight wins in April, Clinton once again gained the upper Hillary Clinton 1.446 55% 1.948 61% hand with her victory in the New York State Bernie Sanders 1.200 45% 1.238 39% primaries. Meanwhile, the numbers reveal that there 10% 22% is little chance for Sanders to win the nom- *This chart includes delegates up to and including the New York State primary elections on April 19, ination. A completely undemocratic system 2016. has transformed Clinton’s 10-percent lead 8 | US Elections

leftist phenomenon, as is demonstrated by the by creating an obstacle to Hillary’s corona- himself a “democratic socialist”). What is in- growth of right-wing groups like the Ciudada- tion. Thanks to the vote of 18 to 30-some- teresting is that a large sector of young people nos in Spain, the UK Independence Party, thing year-olds, Sanders has put up a strong not only accept this descriptor, but are drawn the National Front in France and the Gold- battle for electoral blocs that until recent- to it. en Dawn in Greece. We have also seen the ly overwhelmingly favored Clinton, such as American society is highly polarized. A se- growth of neonazi and xenophobic groups women and Blacks. In January 2016, the un- ries of surveys say as much. Among those un- like Pegida in Germany in reaction to the ref- employment rate was 4.9 percent according der 30, 43 percent have a favorable view of ugee crisis. to official statistics. Yet it was up to 16 per- socialism while only 32 percent have a fa- In the US, the anti-establishment sentiment cent for 16-19 year olds and 8 percent for vorable vision of capitalism (YouGov). A has most benefited the Sanders campaign, al- 20-24 year olds. Twelve percent of millenni- conservative consulting firm found a simi- though Trump has taken advantage of some als live under the poverty line and 14.9 per- lar phenomenon and expressed worry about aspects of this phenomenon. cent of college graduates are underemployed the degree of “radicalism” among youth. Not (EPI, The Class of 2015). A third of all mil- only did 58 percent respond that socialism is Before Sanders lennials return to their parents’ homes after the political system that most takes into ac- Many of the youth who today support Sand- graduating college due to the economic im- count people’s problems (9 percent said com- ers made up the social movements that have possibility of living independently. Those who munism), but 66 percent believe corporations emerged and developed over the past few graduated in 2015 are the most indebted of “represent everything that is wrong with the years. Within these movements a type of syn- all time; on average, each student owes more United States.” These are not classic national- ergy exists, in which the new movements than $35,000 after graduation (an increase of ists who admire America’s greatness. In fact, draw from the progressive aspects of the old- $2,000 since 2014). Debt as a result of stu- 35 percent of the people between 18 and 26 er ones and incorporate their demands. For dent loans ($1.2 billion) are only surpassed by years old feel more like citizens of the world example, while Occupy Wall Street is not an home mortgages. Forty million people have than of the United States. How do we explain active movement today, its idea of building a student loan debt in the US today. that? resistance against the 1% is present in all US Millennials know they will likely have a Journalist Owen Jones put it well when he social movements today, and is even a funda- worse standard of living than their parents said that this generation was nearer to the fall mental aspect of Sanders’ rhetoric. and do not have access to home ownership. If of Lehman Brothers than the fall of the Berlin With the exception of the anti-war move- they are able to attend college, they will be in Wall. He is not the only one who thinks so. ment, the lack of major defeats to the social debt for most of their lives and will enter the John Cassidy of The New Yorker wrote, “The movements has allowed for this continuity of workforce with a lower wage and more pre- stigmatization of left-wing politicians and left- ideas. Black Lives Matter and the movement carious work than older workers. This gloomy wing ideas dates back to the Cold War, which against police brutality connected the rac- future for American youth has not pushed ended twenty-five years ago.” In The Guard- ist murder of Black youth with economic in- them to individualism or ideological apathy, ian, well-known economist Thomas Piketty equality, poverty, and at times, class. as it did with previous generations who were stated, “We are faced with the end of the po- Something similar has happened in the marked by the fall of the Soviet Union and litico-ideological cycle opened by the victory struggle for a $15 minimum wage, where the triumphant rhetoric of capitalism. Millenni- of Ronald Reagan at the 1980 elections.” demand has been linked to immigrant rights als did not live through the era of neoliber- While many millennials may only have a and the fight against racism. Sanders has tak- al triumph. They have only seen the misery vague understanding of socialism, linked to en up some of the demands of these social that followed. a general notion of equality, what is certain movements and has even altered his political What is it about Bernie Sanders’ message is that they have been given no reason to be- platform to incorporate them after being chal- that attracts these young people? Put sim- lieve in capitalism. Since 1975, almost half of lenged by BLM activists in the early stages of ply, it’s because Sanders talks about what is the growth in per capita income in the US his campaign. These movements are hetero- happening in their lives: economic inequali- went to the richest 1 percent (OECD). The geneous and are often propelled by small core ty, mountains of debt, and unemployment. He youth are the big losers of the recession and groups. Yet the impact of their actions have transforms their demands into campaign slo- the economic recovery. In them, we can catch generated enormous sympathy from millions gans, like free college education, pardoning a glimpse of what a future capitalist society of millennials. portions of student loan debt, and expanding offers. access to health care. Furthermore, his idea The rhetoric of capitalist triumph after the The Youth Behind Sanders of a political revolution gives the youth a bea- fall of the Soviet Union is as foreign to this In 2015, millennials became the largest gen- con for the fight against those responsible for generation as the ideological arguments that eration in the United States, surpassing the inequalities and against the political and fi- are remnants of the Cold War era. After the baby boomer generation. They are general- nancial elite: Wall Street and Washington. fall of the Berlin Wall, the US found new ene- ly overqualified, underemployed and face mies, forced unpopular wars, and entered in- loads of debt, namely student loans. This gen- No longer a dirty word to a period of economic crisis with historic eration has become the main protagonist in One of the unique characteristics of Sand- depths. This eroded the celebratory rhetoric the primary elections. Their participation has ers is that he calls himself a socialist (even and sharpened the crisis of American hege- wrecked havoc on the Democratic primaries though in recent months he has been calling mony. The “positive effects” are evident: a LEFT VOICE Summer 2016 | 9

significant portion of the population thinks run in the ‘80s. Clearly, none of these candi- In response to this campaign, Sanders him- socialism is a better system than capitalism, dates ended up being the Democratic nom- self began to put conditions upon his support an idea that was unthinkable 25 years ago inee. These “anti-systemic” candidates were for the candidacy of Hillary Clinton, likely in the heart of imperialism. Yet the devastat- thwarted by party mechanisms and backroom due to pressure from his base, rather than his ing effects of the conservative and neoliber- deals. This pattern is repeating itself today as own political convictions. al restoration at the end of the 20th century the Democrats attempt to channel the discon- and the beginning of the 21st century erased tent aimed at the political elite and the econo- The Left’s orientation toward Sanders the idea of revolution from the horizon. This my back into the Democratic Party. Sanders’ A large part of the global left has placed its means that today, socialism is often thought candidacy has played a key role toward ad- faith in reformist phenomena, considering of as a mix of undefined, romantic ideals, or a vancing that objective. these to be the most that can be hoped for social-democratic welfare state. Another problem is that there are impor- today. This includes relatively uncritical sup- This combination has created a generation tant contradictions between Sanders and his port for Syriza and Podemos and for figures without previous prejudices against social- base. In the first place, he voted – with the like Jeremy Corbyn or Bernie Sanders. In the ism, which when coupled with the down- Democrats – in favor of the war in Afghani- US, this translated into a discussion around fall of American hegemony, is fertile ground stan, has firmly supported the state of Israel, the possibility that a Sanders candidacy might to counter the disastrous ideological conse- and is in favor of the use of drones. Through lead to a political movement — and that the quences of neoliberalism. This has not tak- these actions, he has expressed a commit- left could capitalize on such a movement. en and will not take a harmonious and linear ment to imperialist foreign policies. Second- At least on a small scale, the US left knows path, but rather a chaotic and confusing one. ly, he has committed to supporting Clinton how to make ties with social movements as It is in this framework that we can find sup- if/when she wins the nomination in August. the election of Kshama Sawant demonstrat- port and hope in the “political revolution” Lastly, he rarely questions the anti-democrat- ed with her support from the Fight for $15 that Sanders promises. ic mechanisms within the Democratic Par- campaign. The ties can amplify and expand ty itself, such as the superdelegates, which when the left does not renounce an open crit- Life after Sanders? go against the basic principle of “one per- icism of Sanders’ program and other contra- With Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential son, one vote.” The elite superdelegates (gov- dictions of his candidacy, beginning with his campaign, there was a perceptible shift from ernors, party officials, and legislators) have a decision to run within the Democratic Par- a previously detached and apathetic gener- vote that is approximately equivalent to 10 ty. Above all, the left must maintain the cen- ation that placed their hopes in change that thousand ordinary voters. They are the mech- ter of their strategy on the construction of a the first Black President represented. Howev- anism by which the party and their donors working-class organization that is indepen- er, to them, the Obama government has been impose candidates. dent of the establishment parties. The idea of a disappointment, with his unfulfilled promis- The blatantly undemocratic nature of the the rise of a new movement has its detractors. es of closing down Guantanamo and bringing superdelegates system has been obvious since James Petras reduces the Sanders question to about immigration reform, along with bank the beginning of the election. In the New its electoral expression and says that Sand- bailouts and employing public assistance for Hampshire primary, Sanders decisively won ers’ electoral base “has a strategic weakness: multinational corporations. This disappoint- the popular vote, but the candidates ended up it is in the nature of electoral movements to ment, along with the effects of the crisis, led with an even number of delegates due to su- coalesce for elections and to dissolve after to greater political participation, an ideologi- perdelegates who had already committed to the vote, leaving only one possible scenario: cal inquisitiveness, and the rise of new social Clinton. massive demoralization after Sanders’ defeat movements. This explains why the Sanders In the end, Sanders will call on his passion- in the primaries.” However, the continuation campaign has become so attractive and why ate, young base to vote for the establishment and development of social movements and his platform targets these sectors. candidate of an irreformable party. It remains their entrance in the political terrain show Yet the expectations created by his campaign to be seen what percentage of Sanders voters that the current phenomenon goes beyond have major limitations. One of the central will support Clinton in the general elections – the candidate. Instead, it is found in its vot- problems is that Sanders ran as a Democrat. some surveys have shown that as many as 50 ers, and it is very likely that this phenomenon The Democratic and Republican party are percent of Sanders’ supporters may not vote will continue to develop after the elections. the complementary wings of a two-party sys- for Clinton. Even if these figures are hypo- tem, which has always maintained and ad- thetical, they are consistent with polls show- April 28, 2016. vocated for the interests of imperialists and ing that in the general elections, Sanders is the American establishment. The Democrat- the best competitor against any of the poten- ic Party in particular has a long history of co- tial candidates including Trump, whom Sand- opting and de-mobilizing political and social ers would defeat by 8 points, while Hillary movements such as the anti-war movement would do so by only a 3.4 point margin.1 In during the Vietnam War or the Civil Rights the past few weeks, Clinton has begun to raise movement. This is demonstrated by the failed the spectre of Trump to push the logic of the candidacies of anti-war candidates in the ‘60s “lesser evil,” insinuating that Sanders could 1 Survey about the presidential race, “2016 Presi- (Kennedy and McCarthy) and Jesse Jackson’s be the new Ralph Nader. dential Race” on www.realclearpolitics.com. 10 | US Elections

Sanders, a Third Party, or a Working Class Party?

Without a doubt, the Bernie Sanders Robert Belano phenomenon offers new opportunities In January, Socialist Alternative launched its Movement4Bernie, a full-scale campaign for as well as potential pitfalls for the left Sanders, with marches, fundraisers, and local chapters. The group maintains that Sand- in the U.S. We intend to discuss the ers should run as an independent outside of the Democratic Party. Still, the group would positions of various socialist left parties “welcome it if Bernie Sanders were to win the Democratic nomination” and urges its mem- vis-à-vis the presidential elections and the bers to vote for Sanders wherever state pri- maries allow them to do so. Sanders candidacy in the coming weeks Given Socialist Alternative’s success in the Seattle city council race in 2013 and 2015, and months. In our first article in this opposing the Democrats each time, it is sur- prising that the group has now decided to back series, we will examine the position of a candidate of the very party they correctly denounce as one of the two “parties of big Socialist Alternative, which made a major business.” While Sanders may be outside the Democratic Party’s traditional establishment statement in 2013 by winning a seat on the and has rejected corporate contributions, his candidacy is squarely aimed at corralling Seattle city council, the biggest electoral youth and workers back into a party which is fundamentally opposed to their interests. victory by any socialist group in decades. Sanders has already declared he will vote for Clinton if she wins the party’s nomination LEFT VOICE Summer 2016 | 11

—all but assured at this stage— and that he will need to build a working class alternative to reformism offers any alternative to workers call on his supporters to do the same. the Democratic Party. These youth and work- and oppressed people over the openly neo- ers, many of whom are calling themselves liberal candidates. One needs only to look An historic opportunity socialists for the first time in their lives, will at the recent record of the European social Kshama Sawant’s election in 2013 to the play an indispensible role in the building of democratic parties to understand the fail- Seattle city council was one of the biggest such a party, as will the youth who have par- ure of the reformist strategy. This is true not victories for socialists in the U.S. in decades. ticipated in the struggles for black and immi- only of the traditional social democratic par- Before Bernie Sanders was a household name, grant liberation and the Occupy movement. ties which now govern in France and Italy Sawant ran representing an openly socialist However, Sanders is no socialist. What but also the new reformist phenomena such party against the Democrats and won nearly Sanders represents is social democracy; he as Syriza in Greece, which employs anti-aus- 80,000 votes. Her platform was based on the might seek to grant a few concessions to terity rhetoric while administering the capi- demand for a $15-an-hour minimum wage, workers and poor people, but above all he talist state and carrying out further austerity. dismissed by the corporate media as a pipe acts as a brake on the workers’ and popular In France, the Socialist Party government of dream at the time but set to become a real- movements that have erupted in recent years Francois Hollande has maintained an indef- ity in Seattle in 2017. In 2015, she defeated (Black Lives Matter, Occupy, the fast food inite state of emergency for over five months the Democratic Party challenger again, prov- workers’ struggle). Sanders has made clear in which hundreds of innocent Muslims have ing her win two years earlier was no fluke. that he has no intentions to nationalize any been placed under house arrest and surveil- Despite our political differences with Social- industries or expropriate any capitalists. He lance has been massively expanded. At the ist Alternative, Sawant’s election was a major plans to break up the big banks, but keep the same time Hollande is now attempting to gut victory for workers and youth and a big blow new smaller banks in the hands of million- worker protections through “reform” of the to Seattle’s Democratic Party machine and its aires and billionaires. He has not put forward labor code. In Italy, the social-democratic big business backers. any plan to close U.S. military bases abroad. president Renzi has frozen salaries, cut pen- Why then has Socialist Alternative turned In fact, he does not even support withdraw- sions, and implemented new labor flexibility away from the strategy of building a work- ing troops from Afghanistan or ending U.S. laws. ing class party and instead thrown its support funding for Israel’s occupation of Palestine. And in Greece, the left-reformist Syriza behind the Bernie Sanders candidacy in the Socialist Alternative concedes that “Sanders government, which was elected on a plat- Democratic primaries? limits himself to a program of reforming capi- form opposed to the austerity of the tradi- There is no doubt that the Sanders candi- talism along the lines of Western Europe” but tional parties, has completely capitulated to dacy has captured the attention of millions of does not consider that reformist perspective German imperialism and the international young people, despite the opposition of the to be an impediment to their support. financial institutions, selling off state assets entire party establishment, a lack of support This logic was taken to its conclusions dur- —including 14 airports— to German capital, from nearly all the union bureaucracies, and ing the most recent elections in Seattle when and is forcing new structural adjustment pro- the undemocratic rules of the primary system. Socialist Alternative publicly endorsed sever- grams down the throats of the Greek people. The platforms of his campaign, from a nation- al Democrats in city council races with the These are measures which could never have al $15-an-hour minimum wage, to free pub- slogan “Kick Out the Conservative Majori- been achieved by the neoliberal parties. lic higher education and free universal health ty!” The slippery slope of critical support for Do these European reformist projects repre- care, echo the demands of important social Sanders has led to openly backing candidates sent the interests of the working class or the movements like the fast food workers’ strug- from one of the two parties of Wall Street. capitalist class? We don’t need to think too gle and the Occupy movement. long about the answer. It is essential for the U.S. left to begin to The dead end of reformism engage with the tens of thousands of youth Socialist Alternative is correct to liken Another way forward for the left and workers who today place their hopes in Sanders’ program to European reformism. Only a revolutionary and independent work- Bernie Sanders and to patiently explain the Where they are mistaken is in thinking that ing class party can achieve the overthrow of 12 | US Elections

capitalism. Socialist Alternative cannot, of utilities under worker and consumer control, Senate 98% of the time and receiving tens of course, play that role alone today, nor can among other demands. thousands in campaign contributions from any existing socialist group in the U.S. But In the last elections, hundreds of workers groups like the Democratic Senatorial Cam- if the groups of the socialist left —Social- stood as candidates for the FIT —workers paign Committee —but also fails to make any ist Alternative, the ISO, Solidarity, Socialist who led rank-and-file battles in Argentina’s class distinctions. The point is not simply Action, etc.— did run a campaign based on most important episodes of class struggle in that we need a party independent of the two the principle of class independence, it could recent years. Above all, the FIT emphasizes mainstream parties, but that we need a par- be an important first step in building the par- the primary role of the mobilization and orga- ty independent of the entire capitalist class. ty we need. That candidate would obviously nization of the working class united with the While it may be true that the Green Par- have no chance at winning the elections. But oppressed as the main force behind a revo- ty does not count on the massive support of such a candidate could raise demands that no lutionary movement for socialism. While still individual capitalists, its program remains a other candidate, including Bernie Sanders, far from a mass workers party, the FIT earned bourgeois program. It seeks “sustainable cap- has raised in these elections so far: an end to between 3% and 5% nationally in recent elec- italism,” as if such a thing were possible. The all U.S. military interventions abroad, imme- tions, obtained over 1 million votes and won capitalist class cannot be convinced to sacri- diate citizenship rights for all immigrants, five seats in congress. fice its profits for the sake of the environment for the nationalization of the banks and for- However, the FIT was not simply created to or workers’ well being. The only sustainable eign trade under worker and popular control, stand in elections. Since the inauguration of path —if by “sustainable” we mean the pre- and for the police out of Black and Latino the right wing president Mauricio Macri, the vention of environmental ruin and an end to communities. parties that make up the FIT, and in partic- interminable war and widespread poverty —is That candidate would not limit him or her- ular the PTS, have played a leading role in socialism. self to campaign speechifying, but would workers’ struggles against Macri’s austerity Socialists should support every progressive actively support and take part in strikes, pro- measures, and layoffs —and have become a initiative such as the creation of a Workers’ tests, and other workers’ struggles. This is the force within the unions in opposition to the Party or Labor Party. However, the starting type of candidacy that would attract the most bureaucracy. point must be independence from the capital- politically advanced workers and oppressed ists and their parties. Were such a class con- people and lay the foundations for the con- Independent of the Democrats vs. scious party to arise, the socialist left should struction of a revolutionary class-struggle independent of the capitalist class participate in these initiatives, without sec- party. We must stress that an independent working tarianism, and fight for an anti-capitalist and In Argentina, we have witnessed a powerful class candidacy cannot simply be indepen- revolutionary program and against all forms example in the Left and Workers’ Front (FIT), dent of the Democrats —such as the Green of racism, sexism, homophobia, and xeno- an electoral alliance of three revolutionary Party, figures like Ralph Nader, or even Sand- phobia. This, as part of a revolutionary strate- working-class organizations —the Partido de ers himself (pre-2015)— but must maintain gy, as the great Russian revolutionaries Lenin los Trabajadores Socialistas (PTS), the Par- class independence. That is to say, a par- and Trotsky laid out in the fight for a true rev- tido Obrero (PO) and Izquierda Socialista ty with no participation from the capitalists olutionary party. This strategy places its faith (IS). The organizations which form the FIT and which clearly fights for working class in the working class to provide a way out of have put forward a common platform based objectives. the capitalist crisis and the environmental on class independence, anti-imperialism, Socialist Alternative says it was a mistake degradation, war, and misery to which cap- and a rejection of all collaboration with cap- for Sanders to join the Democratic Party and italism inevitably leads. italist parties. Together they have raised the that he should run as an independent —a demands for a minimum wage equal to the position held more or less by the ISO and cost of living, an end to layoffs and outsourc- Solidarity. This demand not only ignores the ing, for the nonpayment of the external debt, fact that Sanders has been a de facto Demo- and the re-nationalization of all privatized crat for years— voting with Democrats in the LEFT VOICE Summer 2016 | 13

A year after the Baltimore Uprising

Tracy kwon Juan Cruz Ferre Julia Wallace

During the last five years, a barrage of police challenged Bernie Sanders on his platform, diseases,” numerous policies have maintained killings and racist hate crimes—many caught which left much to be desired when it came to spatial segregation.2 Over time, formal racial on tape—spurred protests that claimed the slo- the concerns of people of color. All the major segregation became less permissible and was gan Black Lives Matter and crescendoed over presidential candidates were asked about replaced by insidious redlining practices that the course of two years. Until these events Black Lives Matter and police brutality. denied Blacks access to insurance, loans, and broke out, the liberal hegemonic discourse The notion of a colorblind America is being mortgages.3 insisted on the idea that we had achieved a replaced by a heightened awareness of police In addition to police brutality, a confluence post-racial society, especially with Obama’s killings and attacks on Black people. Howev- of social and economic problems affect Bal- election. Oppressed people and Blacks in par- er, the murder of Black people by police has timore’s Black population. Public schools in ticular—with their daily encounters with sys- not ceased. In 2015 alone, 1,134 people were poor areas are grossly under-resourced and temic racism—could not afford the luxury of murdered by police.1 The outcry and organi- constantly threatened with privatization and these illusions. zation against police violence exposes the lie closures, as school systems are largely fund- of a post-racial society. The Black Lives Mat- ed through local property taxes.4 Joblessness Post-Racial Myth, Dispelled ter movement laid bare the systemic nature is highest among Blacks: 37 percent of young The myth that US society had overcome of racism. Black men are unemployed compared to 10 racial divisions and inequality was shattered percent of young white men.5 Because of the by people’s response to the repeated mur- A Disjointed City targeted imprisonment of Black people, about ders of Black people by police.1 Protests led Within a nationwide context of racial oppres- a third of Black people have criminal records, by Black youth, women, and LGBT people sion, the city of Baltimore is a striking example which employers check before hiring, making successfully shut down highways, malls, and of segregation and poverty. Since 1910, when it even more difficult for them to get jobs. This bridges. Die-ins took place on university cam- local officials passed a bill restricting Blacks makes it extremely difficult to break out of puses around the country. to certain blocks with the aim of “reducing the vicious cycle of joblessness, poverty, ille- Through disruptive tactics, BLM activists civil disturbance and preventing the spread of gal activities, and prison. Police 14 | Brutality

In poor Black neighborhoods, police ten thousand people took to the streets and workers of various sectors to fight against employ violence with impunity. Their actions circled the city twice over, chanting, “If we police brutality. These are not merely orga- are protected and perpetuated by the legal don’t get no justice, then you won’t get no nizational or tactical issues. The rejection of system. Only 11 of the 65 officers charged peace!” the united front tactic against state repres- in fatal shootings over the past decade were sion and racism belies a strategic revolution- convicted.6 A Necessary Balance Sheet ary perspective. The indictment—a significant departure While few and far between, there have been Baltimore’s Rebellion from the system’s sanction of police mur- key examples of organized labor taking a After Freddie Gray was murdered on April der—was a direct result of the mobilizations. stand against police brutality. On May Day, 19, 2016, the first stirrings of resistance began The boldest actions were highly spontaneous, 2015, ILWU Local 10 shutdown the Port of in his neighborhood. Initially, protesters were but without these confrontations, the news Oakland in protest of police terror. Unite almost entirely Black youth, children, and of Freddie Gray’s murder would not have Here Local 7 mobilized its members for sev- some elders from the surrounding neigh- entered the world’s purview. At the same eral days of protest following Freddie Gray’s borhood. After several days, the mobiliza- time, these isolated, unorganized acts of rage death. Later that summer, University of Cali- tions spread throughout the city with massive alone would not have drawn the same aware- fornia graduate students and faculty of Unit- participation by students, community activ- ness and ultimate results. If not for the wide- ed Auto Workers (UAW) Local 2865 passed ists, labor unions, faith-based groups, and spread support of workers, students, labor a resolution calling on the AFL-CIO to end left political organizations. People traveled unions and community organizations, the its affiliation with the International Union of from New York, Charlottesville, Philadelphia state could simply have extinguished the pro- Police Associations.7 Local 2865’s resolution and Ferguson, where Black communities tests through repression and refused to offer stated that police unionization “allows police were waging similar struggles against police any concessions. to masquerade as members of the working- brutality. After May 1, mobilizations quickly waned. class and obfuscates their role in enforcing The protests captured national headlines Black religious leaders and reformist politi- racism, capitalism, colonialism, [and] oppres- and the target of people’s rage became direct- cal parties cheered the results and hastened sion.” These are all methods for workers to ed more and more toward city government to bring the raw street resistance to an end. take up the fight against police brutality at leaders. The main demand was for officials Ministers, the New Black Panther Party and their workplaces. to lock up and charge the officers who mur- other self-appointed Black community lead- All workers should push their unions to not dered Gray. ers held celebratory closing rallies in front only call for the expulsion of the police, but After an enormous rally at city hall, pro- of city hall, while one hundred people were act in concert and in solidarity with oppressed testers broke away and swept through Inner still locked up in central booking a few miles communities: in this case, with Black youth Harbor, an upscale commercial district in away. A small minority continued to fight and in resistance against police brutality. Beyond downtown Baltimore. Seething with rage, demanded that the detainees be released and any single tactic or gesture, it is fundamen- hundreds ended up outside of Orioles’ Stadi- their charges dropped. However, the major- tal for labor unions and working-class people um. Two police vehicles were trashed before ity of organizations failed to mount a unit- to organize against racism and for an end to protesters were intercepted by heavily armed ed response. Black and Brown oppression. riot police. A few days later, dozens of Black high school students engaged in open con- The Lack of Coordination in a United Front A Fledgling Movement at an Impasse frontation with Baltimore police—throwing Overall, the widespread mobilizations BLM is the most dynamic political move- stones and exchanging blows. At a press con- assembled loose groupings of activists, left ment in the US today. Women, youth and ference that evening, Mayor Rawlings-Blake, political parties, labor organizations, com- LGBT people have taken on the police and a Black woman who commanded the nearly munity groups and students whose combined capitalist politicians and called for an end 50 percent Black Baltimore police force, con- response brought ten thousand people to the to systematic racism. The BLM movement demned the youth, labelled them thugs and streets, resulting in the indictment of Freddie has forced the hand of a few bourgeois pol- pronounced the city under a state of emer- Gray’s killers. iticians. Presidential rally disruptions, free- gency. In addition to deploying three thou- However, the movement never achieved any way shutdowns, occupations, and bridge sand police officers from the Baltimore PD, real coordination between the various sec- takeovers have influenced the policies of Rawlings-Black called in reinforcement from tors involved in the protests. Actions were local police; prosecutors uncharacteristical- the State Troopers and National Guard. In the highly fragmented and undirected. Multiple ly indicted cops; commissioners and elected days that followed, the state cracked down groups refused to march together and instead officials have stepped down; the Department ruthlessly on protesters, locking up more than called for separate, competing rallies, split- of Justice has opened up (useless but highly 480 demonstrators. The show of force and ting the potential force of the mobilizations. publicized) investigations. BLM has brought baseless arrests were aimed at debilitating the Some community leaders dismissed out-of- international attention to the mass incarcera- movement. Undeterred, about four thousand towners and labeled them “outsiders” rather tion of people of color. students from high schools and universities than embracing them in a common struggle Highly spontaneous and politically hetero- throughout Maryland marched through the against police brutality. geneous, the movement has demonstrated the city a few days later. The lack of coordination and unwillingness propensity to fall to the pressures of two over- On May 1, State Prosecutor Mosby to call for a workers’ united front turned out lapping ideologies: Black nationalism and announced the decision to file criminal charg- to be detrimental to the uprising’s political reformism. es against the six police officers involved in potential, which was all too quickly subdued BLM is a decentralized network, with chap- Freddie Gray’s death. That same day marked by the state’s nominal concessions. Such a ters that are autonomous in character and the height of the mobilizations; an estimated front would have been a step towards uniting action. Around the country, some political LEFT VOICE Summer 2016 | 15

disagreements are being articulated. Some cameras, cultural sensitivity trainings, and on the side of the capitalists, as they have minority sectors have claimed the organiza- “community control” and organize copwatch always been. When postulated outside of a tion is being “co-opted” but no such grouping against police violence. These are all damag- revolutionary context, however, the idea of has successfully advanced a program delin- ing in the long run because they channel the the police fighting on the side of the working eating these political differences or proposing anti-systemic rage of the people through insti- class is an entirely fantastical notion. a strong alternative. tutional and reformist channels, fomenting The Stalinist Workers’ World Party’s central Predominant tendencies within Black trust in the master’s tools and the vile bour- demand for community control of the police nationalism are no longer tied to the idea of geois legal system. reveals the organization’s utterly reformist secession or territory, but are certainly tied to Since professionalized policing first emerged character. Similarly, Socialist Alternative’s the socio-cultural “secession” of Black peo- in the 1820s, its primary role has been to push for unionization of the police force is ple. Black nationalism is expressed through control the “dangerous classes”: to break totally mistaken. Police unions have only the call for Black leadership, for an end to up labor strikes and work stoppages, arrest been shown to push for reactionary politics, white supremacy, for greater equality and social and political “deviants,” etc. Radicals, officers’ impunity and discretionary use of access to schools and against police brutali- Blacks, immigrants, LGBT people, the poor, force. ty. Despite the militant history of Black peo- the homeless, and people with disabilities are ple under the banner of Black Nationalism, constant targets. The capitalist state has an Challenges and the Role of the Left most famously the Black Panthers, the devel- unmistakable monopoly on the “legitimate” Black workers—along with immigrant work- opment of these tendencies has led to a cross- use of force. The police and their murder- ers—make up some of the most exploited lay- class collaborationist response to anti-Black ous, debasing methods are designed to pro- ers of the U.S. working class. Due to the fact racism. This perspective fails to provide a cri- tect the private property of the owning class; that they’re subjected to the double burden of tique of the “Black elite,” who have reached they exist to protect the status quo. The same racism and capitalist exploitation, they have positions of (political or economic) power; goes for detention and corrections officers, as a potential energy to fight longer, harder, and in fact, some Black nationalists celebrate this well as border patrol. with more resolve. Thus, Black and minority elite. How then can the community “control” workers are an indispensable component of Reformism, which often expresses itself cops without exterminating their masters, the any left organization with serious revolution- in different forms of nationalism, has found capitalist class, and controlling society? How ary aspirations. ample expression in the Black Lives Matter can the community control the police with- The left can win the confidence of youth, movement. It is led by trust in capitalist insti- out destroying the current capitalist state? people of color, workers, and activists by tutions and the belief in a smooth transition Capitalist regimes utilize and foment rac- fighting shoulder-to-shoulder on the streets to a “free society”; it feeds the illusion that ism to divide workers and enable the super- and offering a revolutionary program to gradual reforms will achieve a free and dem- exploitation of certain sectors. How do we end police brutality. One progressive step ocratic society. end racism, driven by capitalism, if we do not in building a revolutionary party would be A cohort of Black activists is paving the way organize resistance against capitalism and the the formation of a workers’ united front that for institutionalization, heading straight for bourgeoisie, along with its political parties? could effectively fight against police brutality. one of the major “trenches” of American cap- Reformism flies in the face of reality. The italism—in Gramscian terms—the nonprof- capitalist class will never hand over pow- it sector. A tendency towards incorporation, er and the material basis of production to social entrepreneurship and professional the working and oppressed for the sake of activism pervades the BLM National leader- progress, democracy, the betterment of our ship. Furthermore, many BLM leaders have conditions. pleaded for presidential candidates to address Cops are enemies of the working class. Even race issues. While presenting a subversive or as Black men and women are being shot radical appearance, in practice, these prom- dead in cold blood by cops, even after the 1 This statistic reflects the number of known deaths inent activists seek to move bourgeois pol- US has undergone a radicalization and mas- caused by police from January 1 to April 29, 2016. iticians to the left—or even become those sive uprising of people against racist policing Source: The Guardian. “The counted: people killed by police in the US.” politicians. Prominent BLM activist DeRay and brutality, some “progressives” and even McKesson ran for Baltimore City mayor in socialist organizations cling to the incorrect 2 The Poverty and Segregation in Baltimore and Ferguson- It is All Connected to Racist U.S. Hou- April 2016. He won three percent of the vote notion that police collectively form a part of sing Policies. (2015). and came in sixth place. It was the first time the working class. 3 The Poverty and Segregation in Baltimore and that a well-known figure of the BLM move- Some argue that police may one day shed Ferguson- It is All Connected to Racist U.S. Hou- ment ran for elected office. McKesson’s cam- their roles as strikebreakers, repressors, and sing Policies. (2015). paign actually represented the right wing of racist murderers, and instead join their work- 4 http://www.epi.org/publication/african-ameri- the heterogeneous movement. A week before ing-class brothers and sisters to fight against cans-concentrated-neighborhoods/ he announced his plans to run, he met with their capitalist masters. In a revolutionary 5 http://money.cnn.com/2015/04/29/news/eco- Obama. situation, when class struggle has taken the nomy/baltimore-economy/ form of civil war, and mutual attacks are open 6 Washington Post, A year of reckoning: police fa- Reform the Police or Destroy the System and unfettered, it is possible that a few indi- tally nearly 1,000, December 26, 2015. Some activists promote the installation of vidual police officers may resign from their 7 See No place for cops in our unions, Left Voice, Black (or “Black-friendly”) bourgeois politi- posts and take the side of the working class. August 7, 2015. cians. They issue recommendations for body However, the police, as a category, will be 16 | SOUTH AMERICA

The Soft Coup and South America’s Right Turn

Illustration: Fer Lendoiro.

Eduardo Molina Translation: Juan Cruz Ferre

Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff’s gov- put in place. In Argentina, President Mac- CEO-government, the plan of attacks on the ernment faces an imminent institutional coup ri’s “government of managers” has begun to working class, and subordination to global that is part of a broader right turn and end orchestrate a series of austerity measures. In capital. of the “Pink Tide” (a cycle of center-left re- Venezuela, the reactionary opposition made Because of the country’s sheer economic gimes) that has defined the region for over unprecedented gains in last November’s elec- and political weight, what happens in Brazil a decade. The hegemony of relatively “pro- tions and won the majority in the National has enormous implications for the entire re- gressive” governments (including those led Assembly, leaving Nicolas Maduro’s govern- gion. Should the “soft coup” consolidate, it by nationalists like Chavez in Venezuela or ment debilitated in the face of an acute eco- may be the tipping point for South American center-left regimes like the Brazilian Work- nomic and political crisis. politics. It could open the door to a reaction- ers’ Party (PT) is disintegrating in a context of ary period, with conservative governments economic stagnation and efforts by the Unit- The rightward shift in South American like Macri’s in Argentina or the one emerging ed States to regain its political dominance in politics from the runoff elections in Peru. Needless to the region. The events in Brazil will have important re- say, the U.S. will attempt to make the most From Brazil to Argentina to Venezuela, there percussions on a regional and international of this political conjuncture to obtain greater is a common thread – the advance of the right scale. Today, the conservative winds buffet- influence in the region and to leverage more wing and its attacks on the working class. The ing the region are being seriously reinforced, pressure on countries like Venezuela, Cuba or Parliamentary impeachment of President Dil- enticing the continent’s Right to go for more. Bolivia by imposing new economic and finan- ma Rousseff is an effort to replace her with In Venezuela, the pro-imperialist opposition cial agreements. Vice President Temer. If successful, Temer’s feels emboldened to hasten its plans to oust We are facing the end of the “cycle of pro- government will implement an austerity pro- Maduro through maneuvers in the Nation- gressivism” in Latin America – the decline of gram even harsher than the one the PT had al Assembly. It will also invigorate Macri’s governments that ruled for over a decade and LEFT VOICE Summer 2016 | 17

presented themselves as the “Latin American The Exhaustion of Progressivism threaten the social order in its entirety. Left.” For these dependent, capitalist national The international crisis has brought an end Once out of government, these “progres- economies, the period of economic prosper- to years of growth in the region, revealing sive” forces guarantee governability of the ity fueled by the high price of raw materials the meager progress made by the Kirchner- Right and share responsibility for austerity has come to a close and class-conciliation ists, despite their laying claim on what they measures against workers and the people. projects have been stripped of their materi- call the “decade of conquests” (década gana- al foundation. da) or period of labor-friendly policies. The The Capitalist “War Plan” Must Be “Progressive” governments have played contradictions of a capitalist Latin America Confronted a role in this conservative turn and contin- have come to light. In this context, progres- The discourse of the new Right deploys ue to do so through incessant structural ad- sive speech rings hollow. demagoguery and prejudice to capture the justment measures, devaluation and inflation, The post-neoliberal governments came to popular vote and broaden its social base. wage erosion and exacerbation of the prob- power during the wave of political crises and Thanks to progressivism’s fall from populari- lems rife in education, health, transportation, uprisings that toppled neoliberal regimes run ty, the New Right (ie., in Brazil and Venezue- and housing. In addition, they have hard- by the likes of De la Rúa (Argentina) and Sán- la) is thriving, riding the coattails of the main ened their response to the struggles of the chez de Losada (Bolivia). This shift served to bourgeois blocs and mainstream media. But working class and poor, while at the same demobilize and channel popular discontent it remains to be seen whether the Right will time incorporating elements of the reaction- through partial concessions. While preserving be able to transform its political and electoral ary agenda (ie., the increasing emphasis on and cohabitating with the power of corpora- successes into a new dynamic of social forces, “security”). They have remained loyal to the tions and large landowners, these post-neo- and thus impose a reactionary agenda – in- continued payment of foreign debt and made liberal governments continued privatization creasing exploitation and reducing workers’ major concessions to big business and mul- (with partial exceptions), precarious employ- rights, “cutting costs,” encouraging ”competi- tinational groups. Furthermore, the author- ment, the deepening of export-oriented, ex- tion ” at the expense of the national econo- itarian, bonapartist nature of these regimes traction models and overall dependence on my, favoring landowners, and increasing the has alienated segments of the population and foreign capital. commitment to foreign capital. caused greater dissatisfaction with the eco- With the fall in revenues derived from ex- There are unresolved contradictions be- nomic situation. ports (soy, mining, oil), the possibility of me- tween the reactionary political turn and the Thus, these populist governments and their diating and arbitrating between classes has structural situation. This is particularly clear decline have paved the way for the advance greatly diminished. It is no longer possible to in the Brazilian crisis. Even the imperial- of the Right. Conservative forces have taken prolong inclusive social policies and at the ist press (New York Times, Financial Times on the appearance of “renewal and change” same time maintain the smooth order of cap- and The Economist), which constantly cham- with a rhetoric of corruption-busting and italist business. The “national and popular” pion the positions of the Right, pointed out even “democracy.” The ultimately defeated regimes have managed the developing crisis political risks in the impeachment of Rous- electoral campaign of Daniel Scioli, Kirch- at the expense of wages, employment and liv- seff, and El País warned that “political divi- nerist presidential candidate, centered on se- ing conditions. Meanwhile, the expectations sion, social clashes and economic crisis” lead curity and “gradual” austerity. of the masses lingered, unsatisfied. to a “dangerous transition” that could trigger In fact, the Kirchnerists are now support- Despite their efforts, progressive rulers have social unrest. ing Macri’s new governance plan; despite not fulfilled the demands of the bourgeoisie. In the midst of major social discontent, their oppositional posturing, many Peronist Instead, they have weakened their own so- the political regimes and governing parties congressmen voted in favor of the deal with cial and political base, as seen in the electoral have allowed rotten corruption schemes to the vulture funds, and Kirchnerist governors defeats of the Kirchnerist government in Ar- run the show, ensuring capitalist profitabili- of Santa Cruz and Tierra del Fuego are lay- gentina, Chavism in Venezuela, and Morales’ ty. A new government led by Michel Temer ing off state employees and lowering wages. setback during the referendum in Bolivia. may still prove incapable of implementing In Venezuela, Maduro did not take real mea- In face of an economic crisis that extends the bourgeoisie’s desired (harsher) austeri- sures against the capitalists despite his rhet- throughout the region and an unfavorable in- ty program. Any new “governability” will de- oric of “economic war,” making it easier for ternational situation, the local ruling classes mand the joint efforts of the PT and the union a demagogic opposition to penetrate popular demand more functional governments. They bureaucracy. sectors. demand greater loyalty and willingness to im- This political division is an acute expres- In Brazil, the PT’s unpopular measures plement a full-fledged program of attacks on sion of a broader pattern of crisis faced by have provided traction to the right wing op- the working class and open the doors to glob- political regimes, party systems and “political position’s agenda. The governing party’s out- al capital. This is how they expect to restore castes.” It also affects opportunistic progres- cry against the soft coup rings hollow against conditions for a new cycle of (dependent) sives, who while administering the bourgeois the backdrop of many years spent managing capitalist accumulation. state have shared the same corrupt practic- the capitalist state, brokering deals with con- Whether they are pushed against the ropes es and have strengthened their ties with the servative and religious sectors and partaking by the Right or thrown into the opposition, bourgeoisie. The central role being taken up in the worst methods of corruption. They lay nationalists and progressives stay true to their in Brazil, Argentina, and Peru by the “judi- the groundwork for the current right-wing nature – preferring defeat over mass mobiliza- ciary party” (court system), the most conser- offensive. tion. Such mobilizations would go up against vative of the State’s powers, is a symptom of the implementation of austerity measures and the weakness of the political systems in these 18 | SOUTH AMERICA

countries and a sign of the Right’s bonapartist embraces the “lesser evil”to support “progres- to differing positions within the Left and tendencies. Macri’s rule-by-decree is another sive” governments, justifying their austerity Workers’ Front (FIT - composed of the Izqui- example of this. programs. This left is the enemy of any inde- erda Socialista, Partido Obrero, and Partido The fear of social unrest is a response to the pendent workers’ and people’s mobilizations, de los Trabajadores Socialistas) in Argentina. increasing polarization exacerbated by the which are also the only means of defeating The Izquierda Socialista has joined the an- economic crisis and austerity measures. The the Right. In this text, we will only address ti-Dilma camp by claiming there is no coup, dynamics of “upward social mobility” and the debates within the socialist left. instead characterizing the impeachment “social inclusion” that propped up the so- First off, it is paramount for any self-pro- as simply a dispute between two bourgeois cial peace that prevailed during the years of claimed workers’ and socialist group to de- blocs. At the same time, the IS denounces the growth are now disintegrating. As a result, we nounce the Brazilian coup and call for a governability pact between the PSDB and are seeing class realignments to the left and resistance to defeat it using the methods of PMDB. right. the working class. This is not a minor tactical The Partido Obrero in Argentina, in turn, The Right is winning over a social base in problem. It is a strategic problem. The bour- has drawn the definition of a soft coup and large sectors of the middle class, particularly geoisie today is resorting to a “constitution- opposes Dilma’s austerity policies, but con- in the wealthiest and most economically dy- al” approach to oust undesired governments siders it a minor problem that should not af- namic regions, like the Pampas in Argentina and prepare the terrain for imposing major fect the internal functioning of the FIT in and the Southeastern states of Brazil. How- defeats onto the working class, tipping the re- Argentina. This attitude, characteristic of so- ever, the petty-bourgeoisie can split and be- lation of forces in its favor. However, with the called national-trotskyism, responds to op- come polarized under the weight of the crisis, intensification of class struggle and crisis, the portunist tactical preferences at a national when frontal attacks – service fee hikes, tax future possibility of more “classic” forms like level, ignoring the internationalist responsi- increases, recession – affect their interests. a military coup and openly counter-revolu- bilities prompted by an event of such mag- What’s more, the short-term electoral trust tionary methods can not be excluded. nitude as the coup in Brazil. It is necessary given to the New Right in Latin America by In fact, various combinations of the sort to advance an international campaign against the popular segments that are dissatisfied have taken place in the last few years. The the coup. with “progressive austerity” can quickly van- 2002 civil-military coup attempt in Venezue- It is crucial to defend a consistently in- ish into thin air. la was defeated by a mass uprising. In 2009, dependent position against both the re- Until now, the labor bureaucracy and the former Honduran President Manuel Zelaya actionary offensive and the austerity and leadership of the “social movements” under was ousted from government exiled from the bonapartist measures of progressivism. Our the control of nationalist reformist forces have country by the Supreme Court, with the help international current defends these posi- striven to keep the working class from inter- of the military and widespread repression. tions, as our MRT comrades are doing in vening in the crisis. However, the workers are In Paraguay in 2012, Former President Fer- Brazil (see article, “Brazil: a right-wing not willing to give away salary, employment, nando Lugo was ousted through a conspiracy Coup, the failure of the PT and the Coming and living conditions, nor are they willing to that unfolded in Congress – also accompa- Storm,” LeftVoice.org). renounce their democratic aspirations. nied by repression. The left and the vanguard We must fight against the Right without Over the years, the working class has made cannot disregard these experiences. lending any political support to the pseudo- some gains, albeit with increasing precariza- Some left groups – like the majority with- left governments, through a program of mass tion and internal fragmentation. In addition, in the Socialism and Freedom Party (PSOL) mobilizations and a United Front against re- the working class holds the experience and – formally reject the Brazilian coup, but end actionary attacks. The duty of resistance is in- tradition of a long history of struggle. up “critically”capitulating to the PT and Dil- separable from the struggle for a politically There is an awakening of a new generation ma’s government. On the other hand, groups independent workers’ organization. of youth who see their prospects closed down like PSTU and the MES (a current within It is necessary to advance a revolutionary in the current situation, who do not identi- the PSOL), while claiming to fight against regroupment of the vanguard at a regional fy with decaying progressivism or the New Dilma’s government’s cuts, have declined to level. This can be done through campaigns Right. There have been student and youth even denounce the impeachment as a coup like the resistance against the Brazilian coup mobilizations in Santiago de Chile, Sao Pau- and take the fight against it in their hands. and through conferences and other initiatives lo, and Rio de Janeiro. The convergence of In this case, under pressure from the mid- that offer a socialist working-class alternative workers and youth could reinforce and am- dle class opposition, formal leftism functions to decaying progressivism. plify resistance, and give way to the great to conceal its own adaptation to the demo- Over the past few years, revolutionary so- class battles of the coming period. The out- cratic-bourgeois regime’s settings, with con- cialists have accumulated militant forces; comes of these struggles will determine the stitutional mechanisms that the “republican” gained insertion into sectors of the working nature of the next political stage in the region. right utilizes in its drive to depose Dilma. class and vanguard youth; and won parlia- Both positions – the critical support of the mentary positions. These forces must be de- Tasks of the Left progressives as well as the surrender to the ployed to achieve the task of regroupment The crisis in Brazil presents the Left – not opposition – are opposite but symmetrical ex- and forge a socialist, internationalist work- just in Brazil but in Latin America and be- pressions of adaptation to the bourgeois po- ing-class Left. yond – with the task of drawing important litical camps in dispute. political definitions. Here, we leave aside the The debate cuts across the Latin American April 28, 2016. analysis of the reformist and populist left that and international revolutionary left, leading LEFT VOICE Summer 2016 | 19

A Right-Wing Coup, the Failure of the PT and the Coming Storm

Leandro Lanfredi Tatiana Cozzarelli

Setting the Stage for the Crisis her vice-president from the PMDB (Brazil- also supported by the PT’s right wing neolib- In mid-April, Brazil’s House of Representa- ian Democratic Movement Party). This will eral opposition, the Brazilian Social Democ- tives voted in favor of President Dilma Rous- secure the success of a right-wing coup. racy Party (PSDB). The impeachment was seff’s impeachment. What took place was a The coup was planned and executed by facilitated by Brazil’s judicial system through barbaric scene, with countless speeches by reactionary political parties, the Chamber of orchestrated, selective attacks against the PT reactionary politicians who dedicated their Commerce and oligarchical mass media. Glo- while ignoring charges against other parties vote to God, family and the police. Right- bo, the largest TV and news channel in Brazil, involved in the Petrobras scandal, the largest wing political leaders also spoke out against has actively supported right-wing measures corruption scandal in Brazil’s history. the president, accusing her not only of cor- throughout the process. From 1964 to 1985, How did the coup come about and how did ruption, but also of creating a “communist it served as a propaganda tool for the mili- the once-popular PT lose the reigns of pow- dictatorship” in the country. It is clear that tary dictatorship. Despite its subsequent apol- er? It is necessary to answer these questions the push for impeachment has nothing to do ogy for supporting the dictatorship, today it before examining the deep political and eco- with the formal charges of budget mismanage- continues its reactionary role. Globo anchors nomic crisis the country is facing. The coup ment brought against Dilma; in fact, this was promoted the pro-impeachment demonstra- will not resolve this underlying crisis. On the hardly mentioned. Instead, it is an attempt tions and called for the population to par- contrary, growing tensions and conflicts are to break with Brazil’s constitution and disre- ticipate. These protests got round-the-clock likely to emerge. At this historic moment, the gard the outcome of an election. It is a coup coverage, while the struggles of workers and situation in Brazil poses a tremendous chal- orchestrated by a corrupt right wing to seize left forces got little air time. lenge for revolutionary socialists. political power from the Workers’ Party (PT). The coup was led by the Brazilian Demo- It is more than likely that the Senate will cratic Movement Party (PMDB), a right wing The failure of class conciliation ratify the impeachment and oust Dilma, who party which previously backed the PT and The PT emerged out of working-class will likely be succeeded by Michel Temer, had the Vice Presidency under Dilma. It was struggle. In the early 1980’s, metalworker 20 | BRAZIL strikes in Sao Paulo marked the end of the the streets and challenged the whole politi- with its former right wing allies spearhead- dictatorship´s complete control over work- cal class in the momentous protests of June ing impeachment efforts and the working ers and labor. Luiz Ignacio Lula da Silva, 2013- late in President Dilma’s first term. class nowhere to be seen. then president of the steelworkers’ union, As the economic crisis deepened, the PT became a major figure in the labor move- could no longer maintain the social pact The PT Refuses to Mobilize Workers to Fight ment during these strikes. He went on to that it represented. There had emerged a Against the Coup create the Workers’ Party as well as the crisis characterized by growing budget def- The division between the PT’s political CUT (national labor confederation), cre- icits, a gigantic corruption scandal involv- party and its labor organization, CUT, was ating a division between the PT’s political ing one of the most prominent corporations, maintained during the impeachment pro- party and their labor organization, in other and a decrease in the price of commodities. ceedings. In the past, the Brazilian working words, between the political superstructure From December 2015 to April, over one mil- class has engaged in strikes and work stop- and labor’s economic struggles. lion workers joined the ranks of the unem- pages against cutoffs and other measures tak- Although the PT was built on workers’ ployed; the unemployment rate jumped from en by the bosses or the government. The CUT support, it has employed a politics of class- 6 percent to over 10 percent in less than two engaged in these struggles only when giv- conciliation. The PT’s 13 years in the pres- years. The crisis has made it impossible for en great pressure by its base to organize an idency have been marked by minor social all sides to “win” or even maintain the illu- action. Likewise, the CUT did not put up a welfare measures that assisted people in sion that they are winning. The PT has made real fight against the current right wing coup, extreme poverty. In the process, millions clear that they will implement cuts and aus- largely because the PT did not want them to. of precarious jobs were generated. PT mea- terity measures, forcing workers to pay for The CUT called for inoffensive rallies that sures broadened the consumer market and the economic crisis. were more spectacle than struggle. This is provided larger sections of the popula- Aggravating this harsh economic u-turn particularly egregious when one considers tion with access to credit, giving the illu- from prosperity to crisis, a political rever- that the CUT has approximately 25 million sion of more prosperity than there actually sal has also taken place: from the PT’s dom- workers in its ranks, within strategic sec- was. It is not uncommon for Brazilians to inant political position to Dilma’s ongoing tors of the economy, including metal, oil and say that President Lula eliminated starva- impeachment. Dilma Rousseff was re-elect- banking sector workers. Yet CUT did not call tion, or for poor people to say that thanks ed in October 2014 while campaigning on for a single strike, assembly or picket – work- to the Workers’ Party, they can buy meat an anti-austerity platform. However, once ing class methods of struggle to challenge the to eat with their rice. The PT years greatly in office she implemented harsh austerity. impeachment. expanded access to a university education. She even cut down many of the education Why would the PT, a party that emerged At the same time, however, the education reforms that the PT implemented - in one from the great metal worker strikes of the 80’s system was highly privatized; large govern- case, cutting the available seats in the tech- refrain from employing all of the weapons in ment loans were handed over to corporate nical college program by half. its arsenal to fight the coup? Why wouldn’t executives. Free public university education Social discontent from these policies has the party use the same methods that brought has limited spaces and students are select- caused Dilma’s approval rating to plum- it into existence? The answer is because the ed based on a highly competitive standard- met to the lowest levels in decades (rough- PT is implementing budget cuts and privati- ized test. Therefore, most spots are taken ly 10 percent). The well-off middle class, zation, attacking workers and making them by students from wealthy families who can not as affected by the economic situation as pay for the economic crisis. If the PT were afford test prep classes and quality pri- the poor, began to mobilize a year ago. Pro- to unleash the power of the working class vate schools, making free public education tests were organized by the PSDB, the right to fight against the impeachment, who is to inaccessible to the vast majority of Brazil’s wing opposition of the PT, which refused say that they won’t fight against the PT and working class. to accept the election results. Propelled by their austerity measures next? CUT opened During the Lula years, everything seemed the mass media and widespread indignation the way for the coup by its lack of resistance, in order: he used to say, “All sides are over corruption practices, enormous crowds showing more fear of working class radical- winning,” yet this concealed the underly- demanded Dilma’s removal. They praised the ization than of the right wing coup. Instead ing contradictions. The working class was judiciary heroes cooked up by the media and of employing the CUT to fight against the scraping by, while the wealthy were profit- railed against the left. Some even praised the impeachment, Lula attempted to form more ing. The measures that alleviated the con- military dictatorship. coalitions by unsuccessfully trying to buy off ditions of the working class were minimal In the process, the PT’s allies defected. right-wing representatives. compared to the massive profits raked in by Above all, they were pressured by powerful Despite the PT’s dismal mobilizations, many the banks, commodity industries and indus- business lobbies and perceived a situation in Brazilians opposed the impeachment. A sub- tries in general. Of the 10 million jobs creat- which the media, the judiciary powers, and stantial portion of the coup’s opposition did ed during Lula’s two terms, over 90 percent sectors of the middle class supported Dil- not support Dilma’s government, but rath- paid less than 1,500 reais per month (about ma’s impeachment. All the right wing and er, demanded democracy and were against $450 USD). Furthermore, the PT imple- center parties that once supported the gov- the right wing. Many correctly understood mented pension reforms that obligated ernment joined the opposition and pushed that the coup would bring to power a more public employees work more years before for impeachment trials. Most important- aggressive, unelected austerity government. retirement. Even prior to taking executive ly, Michel Temer’s PMDB began to call for office, the PT held local and statewide posi- impeachment. The Challenges Facing Temer tions and operated like any other neoliberal It is notable that the impeachment was The most likely scenario is that Vice Presi- party, privatizing industries and betraying orchestrated by the PT’s political allies. In dent Temer will become president and enact strikes. the past, these right wing figures were not a series of new cuts. Last November, Temer The PT´s tenuous class-conciliation pact opposed or criticized by the PT government, and the PMDB published a document called was also challenged by the left. Resist- which used this alliance of convenience to the “Bridge to the Future,” which outlined ing austerity measures (ie., fare hikes) and gain the presidency. The PT dug its own strict austerity measures, such as reform- fueled by a generalized discontent with grave by allying with these forces to main- ing labor laws, dismantling workers’ rights, political and economic conditions, the tain power. Its strategy of class conciliation raising the retirement age, and privatizing masses, the left, youth and workers took to has proven an utter and complete failure, public health and education. The big media LEFT VOICE Summer 2016 | 21 corporations in the country demand that the privatization of Brazil’s oil, increased unem- were to mobilize and oust the governing par- upcoming government implement such a pro- ployment, billions in cuts to education and ty due to its cuts and betrayals, it would signal gram right away and “shock” the nation in 10 healthcare, and for the growth of the reac- a major advance in a revolutionary process. days, much like Argentina’s neoliberal Mauri- tionary figures who led the coup. The left However, a victory by the right while the cio Macri. Forecasting difficulties, they advise must fight these cuts. Yet opposing the PT working class passively watches is far from him to implement the measures by presiden- and its austerity program does not mean sup- revolutionary, or even progressive. tial decree - authoritarian measures for an porting a right wing coup. While this seems On overcrowded buses, in workplaces, at unelected President Temer. to be an obvious difference, many Brazilian neighborhood bars, everyone is discussing Yet Temer potentially faces various obsta- socialists have fallen into this logic. the impeachment. Esquerda Diario, the most- cles that will weaken his presidency. First, The most important group to the left of the read left digital news in Brazil, releases articles the working class could finally become a pro- PT, the Socialism and Liberty Party (PSOL), every day that reach thousands with the call tagonist by fighting against austerity mea- closed ranks with the PT and used their par- to create a movement against the impeach- sures. Although the CUT did not mobilize liamentary leaders to denounce the coup. ment that is independent of the PT. The Rev- to keep Dilma in power, the union may be Yet like the PT, they demanded absolutely no olutionary Workers’ Movement (MRT), the forced to mobilize against the cuts due to action from the labor unions. However, with- political party behind Esquerda Diario, has growing workers’ discontent. Also, the inter- in the PSOL, other sectors acted differently. been pushing for a real plan to fight against national media has not expressed support The PSOL’s ex-presidential candidate Luci- the cuts and the impeachment. While the PT for the impeachment, further weakening the ana Genro, who received nearly 1.5 million seeks to contain struggles, it is time for work- strength of a possible Temer government. votes in 2014, demanded general elections in ers and students to knock down all the barri- Furthermore, Temer has been implicated in the crucial days leading up to the impeach- ers created by the PT and the CUT to defend the Petrobras corruption probe and investi- ment. Only on the eve of the vote in the our democratic rights. gations into election finance practices. Both House of Representatives did Genro final- The only solution to the putrid regime we issues could bring about a new impeachment ly release a statement against the impeach- live in is a socialist revolution. However, we process and the cancellation of his presiden- ment. Her silence contributed to the absence are not in a revolutionary period. There are cy by Brazil’s Electoral Court, which would of mobilizations and promoted the illusion many who wish to defend democracy against give way to new presidential elections. How- that general elections could be an advance the coup, want to end corruption and get rid ever, at this moment, that situation doesn’t for the working class at this juncture. The call of a regime that opens the door to proto-fas- seem to be plausible. Brazil’s elite wants a for general elections, now echoed by the The cist representatives in parliament. Therefore, strong government as quickly as possible in Economist, was supported by another ex pres- mass worker mobilizations against the coup order to implement austerity measures. idential contender, Marina Silva. Silva’s pres- and against the PT cuts should culminate in With midterm elections coming up next idential bid was strongly financed by Brazil’s a Constitutional Assembly to implement rad- year, Temer is in a difficult position. His sup- largest bank and Brazil’s most-read newspa- ical democratic measures. Such measures port from the bourgeoisie is based on his abil- per Folha de São Paulo. Sectors of the right should include instituting the direct election ity to implement austerity measures, but these are on the same boat, calling for new elec- and revocability of all government officials, measures could prove detrimental to PMDB’s tions ever since Dilma was elected. from the currently state-appointed court jus- popularity in the midterm elections. Anoth- The Unified Socialist Workers’ Party (PSTU), tices to the representatives in Congress. Each er challenge for the Temer government is a another left party in Brazil that has a stronger politician and judge should receive no more floundering economy which austerity mea- working class presence than PSOL, took an than the salary of a school teacher. A Consti- sures cannot fix. What is more likely is that even more disastrous position. The PSTU’s tutional Assembly should address unemploy- there will be further economic recession, pos- main slogan was “out with all of them,” and ment by prohibiting companies from firing sibly deepening into an economic depression. it called for “general elections” via hypothet- workers. The assembly should also suspend Based on economic forecasts, by the end of ical general strike. The PSTU’s hypothesis of the payment of the public debt that consumes 2016 the country’s GDP will have fallen 9 general strike has no basis in reality: there is 43 percent of the national budget, while pub- percent since 2014. no movement towards a strike and workers lic necessities like education and healthcare One thing is certain: there is growing resis- are not the subjects bringing about President suffer aggressive cuts. tance against austerity measures. Students Dilma’s ouster, or anyone else for that mat- The submission of labor and student unions have occupied nearly one hundred schools ter. Those who are yelling, “Out with all,” are to the PT and its conciliatory strategy under- in Rio de Janeiro in support of teachers who in fact yelling, “Out with Dilma.” The PSTU’s mines the struggle of youth and workers have been on a month-long strike demand- call helps conceal the right wing nature of against unemployment, budget cuts and the ing increased wages and denouncing constant the coup. Certainly “out with all of them” coup. This political surrender inhibits work- delays in pension distributions. Throughout would be progressive if it came from a work- ers and students from building radical solu- the country, university students are fighting ers’ uprising against all of those in the gov- tions to the grave situation Brazilians face. against cuts to the education budget, and vot- ernment. But the reactionary nature of the But this chapter is not over. In the upcom- ing to strike and mobilize against the presi- coup was demonstrated through the vote in ing months in Brazil, these lessons are funda- dential impeachment. These actions point a Congress - with speeches dedicated to God mental. They will be used address the growing way towards fighting the impeachment with- and military dictatorship - if it wasn’t already grievances and offer a clear strategic position: out supporting the PT government and its cuts. clear. However, the PSTU did not speak out fight the right-wing, oppose austerity and The defeat of the PT is not synonymous with against the right and instead echoed them by overcome the PT, which serves as an obsta- the defeat of Brazil’s working class. The wors- calling for the immediate ousting of Dilma. cle to a militant and revolutionary working ening economic situation and Temer´s antic- The toppling of government by the work- class - a class which must be organized not ipated austerity measures will be a major test ing class is one thing; the toppling of gov- in a corrupt pro-business party, but in a rev- for Latin America´s largest working class. ernment by corrupt reactionaries is another olutionary party to put an end to capitalism. thing entirely. Drawing Revolutionary Lessons From the The essential lesson in Brazil is that one April 28, 2016. Fall of the PT Government cannot characterize a movement solely by It is clear to socialists that Lula and his what happens, but rather, by who is the pri- successor Dilma are responsible for the mary subject. Certainly, if the working class 22 | argentina

Argentina’s CEOcracy and New Tests for the Left Matias Maiello Translation: Tracy Kwon

Mauricio Macri’s ascent to power in Argen- austerity programs. Now more than ever, it is ging the common affairs of the whole bour- tina takes place within the context of a wi- necessary to organize a fight back against the- geoisie.” despread conservative shift in Latin America. se attacks. The Left and Workers’ Front (FIT), Macri’s cabinet is almost exclusively ma- In Venezuela, the opposition overwhelmin- whose candidate Nicolás del Caño of the Par- de up of multinational business executives gly defeated the Chavista candidates in the tido de los Trabajadores Socialistas (Socialist who moved seamlessly from corporate boar- 2015 parliamentary elections. In Brazil, whe- Workers’ Party, PTS) earned fourth place in drooms to government posts, people who re the situation is most critical, an institutio- the recent presidential elections, is at the fo- unvaryingly represent the top layers of nal coup against President Dilma Rousseff refront of a nascent resistance. Argentina’s business elite: Gustavo Lopete- represents a qualitative leap in the right-wing gui, CEO of LAN Airlines, now Macri’s chief advance. Despite Rousseff’s willingness to es- The Macri government: A clique of CEOs of staff; Susana Malcorra, CEO of Telecom calate austerity measures, reactionary attacks The presidential elections of 2015 which en- and current Minister of Foreign Affairs; Isela have crescendoed. The events unfolding in ded in a victory for Mauricio Macri over the Costantini, CEO of General Motors Argenti- Brazil signal a reactionary offensive that, on- Kirchnerist candidate Daniel Scioli (Victory na, now president of the state airline Aerolí- ce consolidated, will have lasting consequen- Front – FpV) represented a momentous shi- neas Argentinas; Juan José Aranguren, CEO ces throughout the region. ft in the political panorama. Rising to power of Shell Argentina until he was appointed Mi- Meanwhile, we are quickly approaching the was a man straight from the heart of the nister of Energy and Mining in December. In end of the Pink Tide era. For over a decade, country’s clan of corporate elites. His party, the farming sector, the long-time agro-busi- the post-neoliberal governments ruled in La- the Republican Proposal (PRO), emerged in ness leader, Ricardo Buryaile, now steers the tin America on widespread illusions of gra- the wake of the economic crisis of 2001 as Ministry of Agriculture. The Ministry of Fi- dual reformist progress. Today the weakening a new right with a rhetoric of “management nance is bursting with former executives from of national economies throughout the conti- and efficacy.” the banking sector like Alfonso Prat Gay nent has taken the wind out of their sails. The composition of the Argentinean gover- from JP Morgan and Luis Caputo from Deuts- In Argentina, the newly inaugurated Presi- nment today – boasting the greatest satura- che Bank. dent Mauricio Macri has launched a full-fled- tion of CEO-officials in the country’s history In less than four months, the new govern- ged attack on workers and the poor. Even – starkly illustrates the definition of govern- ment and its war of capital against labor have outside of the capital of Buenos Aires, in the ment made by Marx and Engels in the Com- brought to life a mammoth austerity program. provinces where Kirchnerist politicians do- munist Manifesto: “The executive of the The Macri administration passed a mega-de- minate, there has been no exception to the modern State is but a committee for mana- valuation that dropped the currency from 9 LEFT VOICE Summer 2016 | 23

pesos to the dollar to 16 pesos to the dollar re he and his party, the Republican Proposal During the course of her two terms, Cristi- nearly overnight. Public transport, gas and (PRO), have less institutional sway. na Fernández attempted to cut Kirchnerism electricity fees have increased by up to 300 Therefore it came as no surprise that Barack from its roots and demonstrate that she was percent. There have been thousands of layoffs Obama prioritized a trip to Argentina, which capable of establishing a government of ca- among public sector and subcontracted wor- can now be counted on as a close ally in ad- pital and order. Regardless of these efforts, kers (with estimates ranging from 25 thou- vancing imperialist interests in the region. Cristina failed — whether as a result of the sand to 55 thousand dismissals), alongside a The public demonstration of new ties with conflict around tax retentions to grain ex- lesser but still significant number of layoffs in Macri served as a consolation for the hardco- ports in 2008, or due to contradictions within the private sector. re conservatives in the US who were up in her own coalition. These policies, meanwhile, have produced arms about Obama’s trip to Cuba immedia- In the end, it was Daniel Scioli – named a windfall for capitalists. The peso devalua- tely prior. the Victory Front’s sole presidential candida- tion and the reduction of taxes on agro ex- Gestures of rapprochement with both La- te by Cristina herself – who took on the task ports served to transfer wealth directly to the tin American countries are part of the United of bringing this winding “detour” to an end. pockets of the agribusiness bosses, large lan- States’ overall strategy to advance its com- He sought to hold onto the Kirchnerist ba- downers and exporters. Companies providing mercial, financial, and military position, as se and at the same time win over a portion of gas, electricity, transport, and highway servi- well as limit the presence of China and un- the opposition on the right. These efforts en- ces have also been bolstered by the fee hikes. dermine the regional blocs. ded in defeat in the 2015 presidential elec- Today’s new order has the Argentinean tions. Instead, Macri came to power to wrap commander-in-chief looking a lot like Ro- End to “detour” governments and the up unfinished business, fifteen years after the bin Hood in reverse: taking from the working relations of forces 2001 crisis gave rise to a situation that rema- class and poor to give to the rich. One of the What we see in Argentina with Macri is an ins open today. Despite the restoration of sta- primary beneficiaries is international finance end to “detour” regimes, embodied by Kir- te authority, at the core, the relations of forces capital. With the go-ahead from a significant chnerism, that served to divert the path to between the classes that laid the groundwork wing of the Kirchnerists, in March, Macri socialism. After the revolutionary days of for Kirchnerism (and led to its transforma- successfully obtained parliamentary authori- December 19-20, 2001, which led to the re- tions) have not changed. zation to pay off the usurious international signation of President Fernando de la Rúa, Furthermore, the laboring classes that we- hedge funds (“vulture funds”), Argentina’s Kirchnerism was forced to adopt a progres- re on the outside the struggle of 2001 have imperialist debt holders that will now get re- sive discourse. Enormous social movements won economic gains and have breathed new turns worth vastly more than their original in- shook the country during the years that fo- life into the labor movement. It remains to be vestments. llowed, seen in the upsurge of unemployed seen whether the current government will be The doors to Argentina’s national sovereign- workers’ organizations, the radicalization of capable of shifting the relationship of forces ty and public coffers have been flung open to sectors of the middle class, and proliferation in order to stabilize its government of CEOs. the usurious devices of the speculative finan- of occupied and worker-managed factories. This will depend on the outcome of collisions cial capitalists. For over a decade, the vulture The primary means of deactivating these mo- between the classes. The class conscious le- funds turned down all debt swap agreements vements was through the recovery of the ca- ft, which has taken great steps over the years, and instead battled in the New York courts, pitalist economy. will be tested in these coming battles. betting on a bigger cut (thus the name, “hol- The Kirchners – first Nestor and then Cris- douts”). Their dogged greed paid off. With the tina Fernández – went on to establish close Peronism, transformed: surrender, austerity, March 31 passage of the “Public Debt Nor- relationships with human rights groups such and containment malization and Access to Public Credit” bill, as the Mothers and Grandmothers of the Pla- The austerity program currently underway the imperialist capitalists will pocket profits za de Mayo as the only means of maintaining could not come to pass without the support between 800% to 1,300%, costing the coun- dialogue with sectors of the middle and po- of the Peronist forces in the government and try almost $10 billion. pular classes that played a decisive role in the trade unions. Five Peronist legislators in the During his first days in office, Macri attemp- rebellion that unseated de la Rúa in 2001. Chamber of Deputies broke with the Kirch- ted to paint a picture of dialogue and coo- The main strategic task of the Kirchner go- nerist Victory Front to openly collaborate peration, inviting his former rivals, former vernments was the reconstruction of the le- with rightwing forces, moving forward legis- presidential candidates of all stripes, to meet gitimacy of the capitalist state, which had lation favoring the vulture funds. While the at the presidential palace. At the same time, become badly undermined, in order to esta- legislators in the lower house played an un- he began implementing a dizzying series of blish a bourgeois government that would gua- doubtedly key role, the most craven act of su- austerity measures through the use of “Ne- rantee order. The Kirchner administrations rrender to financial capital took place in the cessary and Urgent Decrees” (similar to exe- were successful in large measure, but failed Senate, where Majority Leader Miguel Ángel cutive actions), ministerial resolutions, and to fully insulate the country from the conti- Picheto rounded up over twenty senators of other bonapartist tools. Macri stated clearly nuing reverberations of the 2001 crisis. This the Kirchnerist party to pass the bill. that he would not call for special legislative led them, in a certain sense, to respect the re- Macri has not been alone in leading a neo- sessions, instead carrying out these policies in lations of forces that were established then liberal advance. Since the beginning of the the absence of discussion in Congress – whe- and are still playing out today. year, the Kirchnerists have also successfully 24 | argentina carried out a multitude of attacks. Tierra del away with 812,530 votes (3.23%) for the pre- slate, in August 2016, for the first time since Fuego Governor Rosana Bertone has virtua- sidential ticket led by Nicolás del Caño and the Left and Workers’ Front was established, lly transformed the southern province into a Myriam Bregman (PTS-FIT) — the best re- two FIT slates faced off in the primaries. List laboratory of austerity and repression, rolling sults for a left slate since 1983 and a consi- 1A, “Renew and Strengthen the Front,” led by out brutal policies against workers like the derable accomplishment, considering the Nicolás del Caño y Myriam Bregman of the hike in retirement age, increased taxes, and a general shift to the right and the fact that the PTS ran against the “Unity” List 2U, led by wage freeze. In the face of workers’ resistan- public tends vote more conservatively during Jorge Altamira (PO) y Juan Carlos Giordano ce, she did not hesitate to unleash hired thugs presidential elections than in midterm elec- (Izquierda Socialista - IS). to physically assault public sector workers, tions. The FIT candidates for the national List 1A won the primary elections, with causing severe injuries and hospitalizations. assembly obtained 1,062,000 votes, surpas- 375,874 votes (against List 2U’s 356,978 vo- Santa Cruz Governor Alicia Kirchner, Cris- sing 1 million votes for the second time since tes). This came as a surprise to many who tina Fernández’s sister-in-law, is also perse- the front was created (in the 2013 legislative expected the well-known Altamira and 2U cuting and attacking the rights of government elections, the FIT obtained 1.2 million votes). candidates to come away with a substantial employees and teachers in the province. The FIT earned four additional congressional lead. The results reflect the PTS’s real advan- This scenario and the actions taken by va- seats, two seats in legislature of the City of ces in relation to other left forces, most nota- rious sectors within the Victory Front have Buenos Aires, one in Buenos Aires Province bly its recruitment within the working class, proven the position of the Left & Workers’ (PBA), three in Córdoba, two in Neuquén, six youth, and women’s movement (through the Front (FIT) correct, when it called for a blank in Mendoza, one in Santiago del Estero, and Bread and Roses organization), and the 2014 vote during the runoff between Mauricio Ma- four representatives from the Partido Obrero launch of La Izquierda Diario, the first left di- cri and his rival, Kirchnerist candidate Daniel (PO) in Salta. gital news site in Argentina and branch of an Scioli. In the lead-up to the final vote, the FIT In addition, the FIT contended for city cou- international network. did not yield to the pressure to stand behind ncil posts in various municipal governments, Notably, the PTS has gained an important Scioli as the “lesser evil” candidate. mainly Mendoza, where at the beginning of insertion within the industrial and service 2015, it gained 17 percent of the vote for Ni- sectors of the working class, winning new tra- Kirchner’s comeback colás del Caño as mayoral candidate, putting de union delegates and left shop-floor com- After four months of absence, Cristina Fer- him in second place behind the Victory Front mittees, and playing a leading role in key nández de Kirchner has been returned to candidate. At the same time, Noelia Barbeito workers’ struggles during the Kirchner pe- center stage in Argentinean politics. In mid- of the FIT obtained 10 percent of the vote for riod: The Jabon Federal soap factory, Mafissa April, she was called to court to be questio- the Governor. fiber factory, Kraft Foods, the Lear auto parts ned by Federal Judge Claudio Bonadio as part These developments mark a significant tur- plant, Donnelley Graphics, and subcontrac- of an investigation into the sale of dollar fu- ning point for the left, which has never before ted railway workers, to name a few examples. tures. On the day of her court appearance, conquered such a space in the country’s su- Cristina used the opportunity to call for a mo- perstructure, providing a key base with which Resistance against Macri and new tests for bilization in her defence. Over 40,000 people to build resistance to the new right-wing go- the left gathered at the entrance of the court house. vernment. The Partido de los Trabajadores The influence of the FIT did not appear out There, Kirchner announced her proposal to Socialistas (PTS) in particular has continued of nowhere. It is an expression of the persis- create the Citizen’s Front, a strategy for re- the tradition of revolutionary parliamenta- tent struggle of the working-class left, which organizing the country’s political landscape, rism, paying its representatives and legisla- has differentiated itself from both Kirchne- which would situate Kirchnerism-Peronism tors a school teacher’s salary and donating rism and the right-wing opposition by acti- as the “party of containment” after years of the remainder of their salaries to workers’ or- vely intervening and taking up a key role in having been the “party of order.” She pain- ganizations and struggles. The parliamentary a period of evolution, which saw the advan- ted the Citizens’ Front as an open proposal seat has been utilized to amplify the demands cement in political consciousness of certain for sectors that have abandoned the Victory of the exploited who are in the streets in the sectors of the vanguard and youth. Front in order to form closer ties with Ma- frontlines of mobilizations and call upon an The current bleak conditions of capitalist crismo, such as members of Congress who extra-parliamentary struggle to counterpose crisis have yet to generate major advances voted in favor of the vulture funds and the the capitalist plans with a working-class, so- in working-class independent political cons- Peronist union bureaucracy. With the ex- cialist program. ciousness; for ten to fifteen years, the anti- pected erosion of Macri’s government, the In the 2015 presidential and legislative elec- neoliberal discontent that once predominated Front would permit the return of Peronism tions, the FIT ran a campaign that, at its co- in South America was channeled through go- to power in 2019 and serve as a strategic re, denounced the austerity measures that the vernments that employed a “progressive, an- method of containment in the face of a pos- principal bourgeois candidates (Macri, Scio- ti-neoliberal” discourse. sible uptick in class struggle generated in res- li and Massa) were preparing to usher in. The The FIT can be credited with the enor- ponse to Macri’s attacks. FIT’s program demanded that the capitalists mous feat of transforming into an electoral pay for the crisis, not only through immedia- reference that expresses class independen- The PTS and FIT fight back te demands (a minimum wage to equal the ce and calls for a workers’ government -- so- From the outset, the Partido de los Traba- cost of living; an end to the wage tax; a halt to mething that is not evident in other countries, jadores Socialistas (PTS) and the Left and labor precaritization; pensions set at 82 per- where the majority of the left has taken the Workers’ Front (Frente de Izquierda y de los cent of a person’s income), but also to natio- form of coalitions and parties that espou- Trabajadores – FIT) have formed part of the nalize the banks and foreign commerce under se reformist programs within capitalist pro- resistance against Macri’s policies. Today, the worker control, as well as strategic industries duction, like Syriza in Greece, Podemos in left has a greater presence on the national le- of the economy; for the expropriation of the Spain, Die Linke in Germany, and the Left vel than it has for a long time. 4,000 largest landowners who control half Bloc in Portugal; and in South America, go- The FIT, composed of the PTS, the Partido the agricultural industry in Argentina, and verning parties that promote the subordina- Obrero (PO), and Izquierda Socialista (IS), the struggle for a workers’ government as the tion of workers and peasants to the national was established in 2011 and has emerged as way out of the crisis. bourgeoisie, like the PSUV in Venezuela or a political force in the country. In the 2015 After the Partido Obrero (PO) rejected the the MAS in Bolivia; in Brazil, the reformist elections, the FIT earned third place, coming PTS’s initial proposal to form a single unified politics of currents that form the PSOL are LEFT VOICE Summer 2016 | 25

dominating, with sectors that have ceded ex- The right-wing government is currently ri- te sector in just the first few months of 2016. tensively to the right-wing opposition that is sing to the seat of power--not as a result of de- Although no major struggles have taken pla- currently implementing an institutional coup feats in the realm of class struggle, but rather, ce, there have been countless denunciations against Dilma. from the exhaustion of “diversionary” gover- and dispersed conflicts. The central trade After having developed into an independent nments as well as the working class’ relative union confederations would be taking a real alternative to the Kirchnerist government and weakness to act as an independent political step forward in resisting the nationwide aus- the bourgeois opposition, the FIT now fa- subject. The landscape is marked by an inter- terity measures if they were to initiate a re- ces the challenge of leading the resistance to national economic crisis that is extending in- al plan of action, beginning with an all-out Macri’s right-wing government through Uni- to its eighth year with few signs of dissipating. general strike. However, the divided Peronist ted Front tactics with working-class organi- The era of high prices for raw materials is a bureaucracy of the General Confederation of zations. The challenge is especially heavy for thing of the past. The workers’ movement has Labor (CGT) has so far guaranteed a truce the PTS, as a result of its position of leaders- undergone reconfiguration and now contains with the Macri government. Although the po- hip and influence within the FIT, with Nico- a left minority that has gained experiences of tential power of public sector workers was re- lás del Caño as the main figure of the left. struggle in the past years. vealed in the February 24 mobilization, the Overall, the Macri administration aims to For the bourgeoisie, having one of their own bureaucracy has limited itself to feeble, iso- slow down inflation through more recession, personnel at the head of the government po- lated actions which will exacerbate unemployment. Accor- ses an important inconvenience: there is no The PTS and the FIT are elbow-to-elbow ding to the polls, inflation and unemployment pretense of popular representation. When with the working class in all of these battles, are the main concerns of the Argentinean discontent breaks out, those who hold re- driving the regroupment of the working-class people, who increasingly consider Macri’s al power will be recognized as directly res- vanguard to struggle within the trade unions Cambiemos coalition the “government for the ponsible for the people’s grievances. Cristina and oppose the union bureaucracy’s truce, to rich.” The recent incrimination of President Kirchner launched the Citizen’s Front preci- instead force the capitalists to pay for the cri- Macri and several members of his cabinet in sely to address that potential. The idea is to sis. This effort reaches beyond workers who the Panama Papers scandal only reinforced coalesce the forces of the Peronist Justicialist are organized within the trade union confe- this idea. Party (PJ), the union bureaucracy, and lead derations to align with the struggles of preca- However, despite these numerous, unmis- a domesticated, contained, and preventative rious and unemployed workers, the women’s takably market-friendly measures, it is diffi- opposition against the Macri government. movement, and the combative sectors of the cult to say which element will act as catalyst As mentioned before, Macri’s attacks ha- youth. The task today is to utilize the expe- for economic growth in a regional context of ve multiplied exponentially during his first rience and galvanization of the masses who escalating economic crisis, with the deepe- months as president-elect. According to Ten- are fighting Macri’s austerity policies to forge ning political conflict in Brazil and a larger dencias Economicas, there were a total of 127 a revolutionary tool for workers to win. global context of generalized recession. thousand dismissals in the public and priva- 26 | EUROPE

Syriza and Podemos: The only “change” possible?

Josefina Martínez and Diego Lotito Translation: Juan Cruz Ferre

Syriza and Podemos emerged in Southern models for a new possible, renewed Left; one with NATO officials to defend military oper- Europe in the context of a deep capitalist cri- adapted to our times. ations in the Aegean Sea; an agreement with sis and a concomitant crisis of the political re- However, it has not taken long for both or- Turkey to expel refugees; police crackdowns gimes. Both political formations occupied the ganizations to demonstrate their narrow on demonstrations. These are some of the ac- vacant space left by the decline in populari- limits and failure to become instruments of tions taken by the government of Alexis Tsip- ty of European social democracies, who are change. Confronted with the test of power, ras just in the last month. responsible for rigorously implementing the they turned into moderate social-democrat- Since the onset of the Syriza government, neoliberal agenda against workers and youth ic projects –a reformism without reforms. the workers and youth of Greece have al- over the last decades. They have utterly abandoned any question- ready held three general strikes, along with The full expression of these formations was ing of the status quo and the real powers of strikes of government employees, seafarers, preceded by the buildup of generalized rejec- capitalism. and press workers, youth mobilizations and tion of the traditional parties of the “extreme protests by peasants and retirees. Greeks are center” (in Tariq Ali’s words), which had de- A Greek Tragedy returning to the struggle, taking to the streets veloped an incestuous relationship with pow- A meeting with Chinese businessmen to ne- and fighting a party that many of them voted er. This, along with the resistance in the gotiate the terms of privatization of Piraeus, into power barely over a year ago. streets, fostered electoral illusions in the neo- the largest port in Greece; drastic cuts to pen- They voted for Syriza with the hope of put- reformist parties. A large part of the interna- sions and public spending in order to com- ting an end to decades of neoliberalism and tional left pointed to Syriza and Podemos as ply with the Troika; a joint press conference austerity and winning back better living LEFT VOICE Summer 2016 | 27 conditions. However, in the span of 6 months, Sweeping privatizations, pension cuts, re- and other “citizen” or grassroots platforms Syriza capitulated to the Troika and adopted pression and a reactionary foreign policy. The originated in e 15M (indignados) move- its neoliberal discourse of “there is no alter- Syriza government’s abandonment of its stat- ment served as vehicles for a gradualist illu- native.” Syriza adopted their politics, too. ed goals brutally demonstrates the limits of a sion that peaked during the 2015 municipal On March 8, an important meeting be- reformist strategy in the context of European elections. In major cities throughout Spain, tween Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras imperialist capitalism. Podemos’ and other left platforms’ citizen- and Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutog- candidates were elected to various local gov- lu took place in Esmirna. The two reached a Podemos, a degraded illusion ernments. Soon after, their first tests of power deal that led to the EU-Turkey agreement for Just like Syriza, Podemos in Spain is the ex- demonstrated the insurmountable limits of the mass expulsion of refugees from Greece pression of the diversion and blockade of the neo-reformism. back to Turkey. rising class struggle that followed the capi- With their embedded logic of controlling the Since then, thousands of European police talist crisis. The bureaucratic leadership of State, these candidates quickly began to con- officers and agents of Turkey’s security forc- the workers’ movement and reformist polit- fine themselves to the margins of what is pos- es have arrived in Greece to jointly carry out ical apparatus were key players in containing sible within their processes of change. Their these deportations. The Greek government and diverting the resistance to “electoral illu- absolute respect for capitalist legality and aims to evict millions of refugees living in in- sions.” Podemos was the political crystalliza- the “sacred” property of the banks prevents humane conditions on the border of Mace- tion of this illusion. them from carrying out the social measures donia and across the Greek islands. Refugee Since its origins, Pablo Iglesias’ party dif- they pledged to implement. We have seen this centers have been turned into open air pris- fered in many ways from classic reformism, in Madrid and Barcelona, where these can- ons where men, women and children are where party structure and recruitment of didates renounced their previous demands incarcerated. working-class elements prevailed. Instead, of non-payment of debt and re-municipaliza- Europe has closed its borders to hundreds Podemos emerged as a “broad” organization: tion of privatized public services. Moreover, of thousands of refugees desperately flee- reliant on “video politics” and well-known these governments have directly come into ing the war in Syria. The central role of the media figures like Pablo Iglesias. Thus from confrontation with workers in struggle. Bar- Syriza government in this racist and crimi- its inception, the leadership has always re- celona Mayor Ada Colau urged local subway nal joint operation represents its second great served enormous autonomy from its base. workers to call off their strike even before they capitulation. The circles of rank-and-file members have sat down negotiate. In the last few weeks, the Some of Syriza’s defenders argue that the since disintegrated and lost all decision-mak- government has orchestrated ruthless police Greek government had no other option; that ing power. The leadership imposed a conser- raids against undocumented migrants who it does not have the resources to accept any vative revision of the party’s already moderate work as street vendors –a repressive policy more refugees, given the harsh budget cuts program, and then embraced a populist dis- that mirrors right-wing governments. imposed by the Troika. But the fact is, Syriza course and a plebiscite method of online vot- After the December elections, Podemos did not need to accept those neoliberal poli- ing. Along the way, Pablo Iglesias forced his made a qualitative leap in its “turn to mod- cies. Moreover, the government has not just former allies of Izquierda Anticapitalista (IA) eration” when it adopted a completely con- accepted this racist agreement, but has turned to dissolve their organisation (which later be- ciliatory policy towards the social-liberal itself into its defender and enforcer. This is came the Anticapitalistas movement) as a re- PSOE, calling them to jointly form a govern- tragic. quirement for staying in Podemos. The IA’s ment. This failed attempt was the catalyst for At the March 8 meeting, Tsipras cheerful- leadership unconditionally surrendered with- an internal crisis that was only resolved with ly handed out flowers and called on people out a fight. “purges” and battles within the apparatus- to have confidence in the treaty with Turkey. The Podemos leadership was convinced -methods which resembled those of Stalinism Just days earlier, the Turkish government bru- that it could take power in one fell swoop, and bourgeois political manoeuvering. tally repressed protesters at an International and massively overestimated the potential For two months following the elections, Women’s Day demonstration. Tsipras did not of its increasingly moderate discourse --one Podemos tried to form a government pact utter a word about the crackdown; nor did he which denied the need for mobilization and with the Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party mention the massacre that the Turkish mili- class struggle as a part of the political strug- (PSOE). Pablo Iglesias initially wanted the tary is carrying out against the Kurds or the gle. However, despite its success at local Vice Presidency for himself, along with sever- repression and the persecution of the opposi- elections and the remarkable results in the al ministries. With this objective in mind, he tion press. It seems that these topics are best December 20 elections, the rise of Podemos abandoned all programmatic principles dur- left unmentioned if one does not want to lose was not enough to surpass the vote of the So- ing the negotiations and put forward a min- “good allies.” cialist Party of Spain (PSOE). One could ar- imal social democratic terms. Ultimately, the NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg gue that Podemos has fallen into its own trap: PSOE opted for a pact with the new center- visited Athens in April and held a joint press the fragmentation of social mobilization has right Ciudadanos in an attempt to form a gov- conference with Alexis Tsipras. The Syriza helped the PSOE to avoid “pasokification” ernment of the “political center.” However, leader urged NATO to expand its naval mis- (total collapse a la PASOK in Greece) and since no party or coalition has been able to sions in the Aegean Sea to prevent thousands maintained a higher vote than Podemos was achieve a simple majority in Congress, new of refugees from arriving on the Greek Is- capable of. elections will most likely take place in June. lands and for the international institution “to Since its initial breakthrough onto the po- In the case of new elections, Podemos has show its credibility and its effectiveness” in litical scene in the European elections of reached a preliminary agreement with Izqui- the face of pressing challenges. 2014, Podemos undergone through numer- erda Unida (United Left) to appear on the The Greek Left and the social movements ous stages. Initially, it took the form of a pure same ticket: a marriage of convenience where have historically demanded that the country expression of the illusion of politics: propa- no discussion takes place around the political withdraw from NATO and shut down its mil- gating the possibility to revive democracy program. What is also true is that they do not itary bases. The Syriza government has aban- and escape the crisis while staying within the differ in their embrace of a gradualist strategy, doned this program and now defends NATO framework of the capitalist system and liber- which leaves the door open for them to form operations along the Greek coast that seal off al democracy. a government of progress. European borders from refugees. On this basis, Podemos, Izquierda Unida In other words, Podemos may end up 28 | EUROPE forming government with a party that has totalitarian conception of society and secure It is the logical outcome of abandoning the applied harsh cuts and neoliberal austerity a “democratic road to socialism.” The new insurrectional hypothesis as well as the path measures against the working class, a party version of reformism renounced this ultimate of revolutionary mass mobilization, the cen- that has been one of the pillars of the polit- goal as well. trality of the working class, and the necessity ical regime since 1978, and a representative In the absence of organic relations with of building revolutionary parties with an in- of the corrupt “political caste” the leaders of broad sections of the workers’ movement on ternationalist and socialist program. Podemos once denounced. top of decades of neoliberal advances and Experience has shown that in a very short Podemos’ proposal to join forces with the retreat of the working class worldwide, the period, far from combatting the reformist and PSOE and form a “government of change” leaders of Syriza and Podemos do not even “statist” deviations of Podemos and Syriza, nurtures the illusion that some kind of change advance the idea of socialism as political these policies have contributed to the stra- is possible with this social-liberal party. Fur- goal. They instead undertake the more nar- tegic disarmament of the working-class and thermore, it would catalyze a bourgeois re- row and senile objective of a return to the popular sectors when the task is to break generation of the political regime, which is welfare state and a revival of social democra- with the machinery of the capitalist state and now submerged in a deep crisis. This strategy, cy. Although these new renditions of reform- fight the attacks of the bourgeoisie. which leads inevitably back to the old experi- ism are far removed from the bureaucratized With the failure of neo-reformism, it has be- ence of social democracy, is presented as the party apparatuses of the historical social come a vital task to develop an anti-capital- only possible alternative, the “lesser evil” –a democrats and Stalinist community parties, ist, revolutionary project in Europe. In Spain, testament to the degradation of illusions that their program and strategy contain much of there are new promising initiatives like the arose at the time of the 15M movement. “the bad” in them (starting with their reform- No Time to Lose campaign (“No Hay Tiem- ist strategy) and none of the “good” (their im- po Que Perder”), which Clase contra Clase, A new anti-capitalist revolutionary plantation in the mass organizations of the independent activists, and other radical left hypothesis working class). organizations have launched together. This Despite their political and organizational The strategic poverty of the leadership of initiative is an attempt to regroup all those differences and particular developments over Syriza and Podemos also applies to the pol- who agree with the need to take up a work- the past few years, both Syriza and Podem- itics of the “critical” sectors within them. ing-class, anti-capitalist program. No Time to os have defended a program and strategy of While Syriza’s dissident elements were stron- Lose is a nascent and modest initiative, but reforming capitalism within the boundaries ger and better organized as a tendency, they with great potential to take strong steps to- of parliamentary democracy. They have ap- still defended a return to Nicos Poulantzas’ ward the construction of a political front pealed to an eclectic mix of ideas taken from strategy of combining positions internal and across Spain; one that rejects the strategy of the arsenal of Eurocommunism, old Social external to the State in order to advance a both old and new reformism, the regime that Democracy and Post-Marxism. But at least process of radicalizing democracy. This ul- was restored back in 1978; one which takes Eurocommunism and the reformist left of timately means being incorporated into re- up the challenge of laying the groundwork the 1970s redefined socialism as the broad- formist organizations and adapting to their for a genuine alternative for workers, wom- ening and development of bourgeois de- strategy and program. This perspective erases en, and youth. mocracy, the only way to avoid falling into a the idea of revolution as a moment of rupture. LEFT VOICE Summer 2016 | 29

Illustration: Gloria Grinberg.

The Long Depression and the Future of Capitalism

Michael Roberts is one of the most prolif- However, in the history of modern industri- In this interview ic marxist writers on the economic crisis that al capitalism over the last 150 years, there are began in 2007. just a few times when the slump is very deep with Marxist and long-lasting and the ’recovery’ afterwards The title of your upcoming new book is is so weak that the previous rates of growth economist Michael The Long Depression. The book begins by in output and investment are never fully stating that “the global economy remains restored. These periods are what I define as Roberts he discusses in the throes of a depression.” Considering ’depressions’ in the book. Capitalism (and the that most analysts of global economy speak rest of us) have suffered three depressions in the concepts from of the “great recession” beginning in 2008 the last 150 years. The depression of the late and ending in 2009 – followed by a period 19th century (1873-1890s); the Great Depres- his new book and of extremely weak growth – what elements sion of the 1930s (1929-1942) and now what lead you to believe that the world economy I call the Long Depression (2008-20??). argues that the is undergoing a “long depression”? Recessions come along regularly because In my book, I try to make a distinction of what I call the cycle of profitability. What world economy between a so-called ’normal recession’ and decides whether capitalist companies invest a depression. Capitalist production does not is whether the investment will make a profit. today remains in expand in a harmonious way, with steady Companies do not invest or produce things or growth of investment, output, incomes and services in order to provide what people need. the grips of a “long employment. It is subject to booms and That is secondary. Capitalism is a money- slumps in a recurring and cyclical process. making, profit- making mode of production. depression,” one The cycle of boom and slump (when invest- No profit, no investment, no production. This ment collapses and output and employment creates a fundamental contradiction in the which started with contracts) usually occurs every 8-10 years in capitalist process of investment and output. modern economies. The degree of contrac- Capitalists can only get profit by employing the crisis of 2008. tion varies. the blood, sweat and effort of workers who 30 | ECONOMY

own nothing but their ability to work. Cap- Europe and Japan), but also in value (as in Golden Age of post-war capitalism (1948- italists are competing against each other on the US) as well as a sharp rise in the rate of 1965). That keeps investment low and thus the market to sell the products or services for exploitation. Thus after the war, the rate of productivity growth is very weak and there the maximum profit. This forces them to try profit in the US and eventually elsewhere was is no full employment. Capitalism can break and squeeze wages to their lowest and make very high, new technology developed during out of this low profitability in only one way – workers work as long and as hard as possi- the war and massive supplies of surplus labor by cutting the cost of capital. But that means ble. Capitalists also try to introduce labor- plus credit from US finance laid the basis for closing down old plants and equipment, let- saving machines that cut the size of the labor a long boom (1946-65). However eventual- ting weaker capitalist companies go bust, force while increasing the productivity of ly, Marx’s law of profitability began to exert mopping up their assets cheaply and laying the remaining workers. Costs per hour are its influence and profitability fell sharply from off workers (in other words, another slump). reduced and capitalists with the latest labor- 1965 culminating in two major recessions, Second, one of the major triggers or causes saving technology can get a better profit than 1974-5 and 1980-2. of the Great Recession was the huge expan- others on the market. These slumps weakened the working class sion of credit and speculation in property and But if everybody introduces the same tech- and gave an opportunity for the ruling class financial instruments before the global finan- nology, that means the labor force shrinks to impose neo-liberal policies of anti-labor cial crash in 2007-8. This was a response of relative to the value of machinery being laws, spending cuts, tax cuts for corporations, capitalists to the falling profitability of pro- employed. On the one hand the productivi- relaxation of regulations on finance and busi- ductive capital outlined above. Investors ty of the labor force is rising, but on the other ness etc. Profitability rose from 1980s to the looked to better returns in financial specula- hand, the value exploited from the labor force late 1990s; globalization of capital spread tion or in what Marx called ’fictitious capital’, tends to shrink (relatively). Thus, there is a and we had the Great Moderation. This could the ownership in stocks and bonds of a por- tendency for the overall rate of profit from not last, however, and Marx’s law began to tion in what productive capital might make investing in technology and the labor force to dominate again from the late 1990s, leading in profit. When the banks collapsed because fall. This is the fundamental contradiction of eventually to the Great Recession. this fictitious capital turned out to be just that capitalist production because it is production - fictitious -, governments had to step in and for profit, not needs. Capitalists invest more On your blog, you point out that the U.S. bail them out. The alternative would have to boost profit; that boosts productivity and economy is likely to enter a recession next been an even deeper slump. But that meant production, but after a while the profitabili- year. What are the structural contradictions governments had to issue more debt and raise ty of invested capital starts to fall. At a cer- you observe in US economy, and how are more revenue in taxes and cuts in govern- tain point, more investment means less profit they related to the possibility of a recession ment spending and services. and capitalists stop investing and there is a in 2017? Capitalism was saved (although it is still slump. As I said, this seems to happen every To be more careful in forecasting (a difficult crawling along) by huge injections of money 8-10 years or so. and some say impossible task), I said that and credit by governments and central banks. But more than this, the tendency of the rate another recession or slump is likely within As a result, overall debt (private and public of profit to fall as capitalism develops across one to three years. Say there is a 20% chance sector) has not fallen globally; on the con- the world eventually leads to a long-term fall. in 2016, but a 75% chance by 2018. I think trary, it has risen even more. The profitability of capital in all the major this will happen because capitalist invest- So capitalism is in a state of low profitabil- economies was much higher in the 19th cen- ment globally remains too weak to restore ity, low investment and high debt. That’s the tury or at the end of WWII than it is now. output growth and employment globally. combination for a weak recovery. All the That is a sign that capitalism has a limited Indeed, every month, the international eco- attempts of the central banks and govern- shelf life in the history of human social orga- nomic agencies like the IMF or the OECD ments to get economies going have failed. nization. But profitability does not fall in a or the World Bank lower their estimates for The depression can only be broken by anoth- straight line. There are periods when the prof- global GDP growth for the next year or so. er slump that gets rid of ’unproductive’ capi- itability of capital rises (for up to two decades) Even the US economy, which has made a bet- tal and reduces the debt burden through debt and then a period when it falls (for up to two ter relative recovery since the Great Reces- defaults. There is worse to come! decades). A depression happens (every 50-70 sion of 2008-9, is growing in real terms by years or so) because of a set of contradic- little more than 2% a year, compared to its When it comes to the recovery of the US tions: a down phase in profitability, falling long-term average of 3.3% a year. Europe is economy since 2008/09, there appears to product prices, the collapse of a credit bub- hardly growing above 1% as is Japan. China, be a sharp contrast between the recovery ble in finance and property; i.e. a number of the great growth miracle of the last 30 years in service sectors (including finance) and things come together to turn a recession into with double-digit annual growth, is struggling the production of industrial goods, the a depression, as we have seen since 2008. to grow at more than 5-6% a year, while the latter being somewhat weaker. What is your other major ’emerging economies’ of Brazil, assessment of the situation? Following up on your response to the Russia, South Africa are in recessions. Yes, in each of the major economies, the so- first question, what is your appraisal of The failure to recover is due mainly to two called domestic service sectors are doing a bit the period of crisis ending the post-WWII structural contradictions. The first is that the better than the industrial and manufacturing economic boom and the recovery that took profitability of capital has not been restored sectors. That’s because households and con- place beginning in the ’80s, often described to its previous levels before the Great Reces- sumers can still borrow at very low rates of by mainstream economist as the “Great sion. Even then, profitability in the major interest and so can spend more even though Moderation”? economies was in a downwave from a peak wage growth is feeble. That helps retail, ser- World War II allowed for a massive destruc- in the late 1990s and is now well below the vices, construction, property etc. tion of capital values (not just physical as in level of profitability achieved in the so-called But the key manufacturing sector growth is LEFT VOICE Summer 2016 | 31

very weak and even falling: there is limited further destruction of capital value of major by the expropriation of the landlords and investment here and world trade has ground proportions not seen since WWII (but not capitalist lackeys of imperialism in the rev- to halt. Will the services sectors get the indus- through war this time). It will only be possible olution and civil war of 1946-9. A predomi- trial sectors going or vice versa? The latter if the working class in the major economies nantly state-owned economy with a national are smaller as a share of GDP but the latter do nothing to replace the capitalist system plan for investment proved way more suc- are the most important for driving investment through a class struggle. cessful than capitalism could be in China. in productive assets and productivity. Invest- The opening-up of sections of the economy to ment there is what matters, not the consum- Regarding the level of destruction of foreign capitalist investment, while the state ers going to the shops. capital value that would require a recovery remained dominant, also took the economy of world economy, how do you consider it forward from the 1980s. What is your opinion of the debate on feasible in the absence of a cataclysm like But further growth is hampered by an secular stagnation? WWII? Considering that the question of authoritarian regime that allows no dem- Secular stagnation is an explanation of the war (especially among Great Powers) is an ocratic freedoms and toys with the idea of current Long Depression from the Keynesian aspect of debate in Marxism today, why moving to outright capitalist domination of wing of mainstream economics. I have cov- would you consider that an event of such the economy with its leaders as billionaires. ered this in detail in various posts on my blog. magnitude is out of the picture? The post-war development of China has It is a return to the idea that what is wrong Yes, I do think it is feasible for capitalism been the result of the failure (so far) of impe- with capitalism right now is that it is suffer- to recover to another ’golden age’ without rialism to gain control of the Chinese econo- ing from a lack of demand for goods and is another world war (there are of course wars my. The state and the party bureaucrats still caught in a ’liquidity trap’ where even low or everywhere every day under imperialism). dominate investment, employment and trade, zero interest rates cannot get the economy The depression of the late 19th century came much to the chagrin of the economists and going because investment is being held back. to an end without a world war, although the governments of the West. During this Long The proponents of this theory claim that recovery in the 1890s onwards was based on Depression, China’s predominantly state- under secular (long term) stagnation, con- a battle between imperialist powers for col- owned and controlled economy has contrib- tinual injections of money or lower interest onies that eventually led to WW1. But as I uted the bulk of economic growth globally rates will just cause more credit bubbles in said previously, the current Long Depression while the West has faltered. But the weakness the stock market and not achieve any real will not end without another slump at least. of global growth and the increased influence recovery. What is needed is fiscal stimulus If there is no action by the working class in of pro-capitalist policy makers in China has and investment. That is correct, but secular the major economies, the ruling classes will brought a major slowdown that threatens the stagnation theorists do not explain why there be able to revive their economies again on future progress of the economy. is stagnation (it just has happened). The rea- the backs of the workers. However, the impe- son is as I explained in the previous answers: rialist rivalry will intensify, with the conflict Do you believe there is any possibility for low profitability and high debt. Also, stagna- with China and India becoming key from the world capital to find some equivalent of tion implies some slow and unending pace 2020s onwards. But the ruling class in the US the role China has played since the 80s as a due to low productivity and slowing popula- and its allies would want to avoid a world war provider of cheap labor? tion growth. There is no understanding of the (it’s bad for business) and it could only hap- Capitalism is always seeking new avenues role of profit and how it affects investment in pen if fascist or military regimes were to gain for sucking value out of working people. The the theory. power in the US, Japan etc. globalization of the labor force into the cap- italist mode of production after the 1980s You point out that we are going through An important debate in recent times was a powerful factor in counteracting the a severe long depression. However, you concerns the future of China, and whether fall in profitability of capital that the major don’t seem to discard the possibility that it is on the way to transforming into a imperialist economies suffered in the 1970s. a recovery could happen after a very deep great power in every sense, or if it remains Exploiting new sources of labor in Asia, Latin sinking. Isn’t a very extended destruction a dependent economy dominated by America, Africa and in the post-Soviet econ- of capital value necessary to clear the path imperialism, no matter how big and central omies was significant. for a recovery? How do you consider this to the dynamic of the world economy it has Also the world’s reserve army of labor in destruction could take place? turned out to be. How would you define peasants, rural laborers and under-employed Nothing is permanent. There is no perma- the position of China in the world capitalist urbanites is not yet exhausted. There is noth- nent crisis in capitalism or in any system. I system? Related to that, what role do you ing like China’s labor force, but that could argue that for global capitalism to get out of consider China has played in sustaining not be utilized fully for capitalist profit any- this long depression, there will have to be economic growth from 2009 onwards? way. However there is still more value to be another slump that raises the profitability of I have been discussing this issue of the role extracted from India, Burma, Vietnam, Indo- capital and reduces the burden of debt. But of China and imperialism in general recently nesia, Brazil, Africa etc. then capitalists can start to increase invest- on my blog with many comments from vari- Capitalism is not dead yet. ment, particularly in all the exciting new tech- ous readers. China has been an economic mir- nologies like artificial intelligence, robots, acle, growing faster for longer than any other Interviewed by Paula Bach and genetic medicine, nano technology, 3D print- economy in human history, taking hundreds Esteban Mercatante ers, driverless cars etc. of millions out of dire poverty since 1949. It Capitalism could enter a period of upwave is now the world’s largest manufacturer and in profitability and growth that could last for the second largest economy in GDP (but not 20 years. But yes, this is only possible after a in income per head). This was made possible 32 | CUBA

Cuba after Obama: Closer to Capitalism?

Claudia Cinatti Translation: Sean Robertson

In Cuba, two unprecedented events took listen to our music here in Cuba, but here we with the United States is now part of the Cu- place in the span of one week: Barack Obama are, playing for you in your beautiful land. I ban government’s official policy. The hope became the first US President to visit the is- think that finally things have changed, haven’t is that the economic blockade, which has land in over 80 years, and the Rolling Stones they?” About 500,000 Cubans cheered eu- caused over $120 billion dollars in losses, will played a free open air concert just 10 minutes phorically, still incredulous at what they were be lifted. This much is very likely. However, away from Revolution Plaza. These events, seeing live. with his deliberate and well-planned gestures, while different in nature and political mean- Days earlier, President Obama also forced Obama has painted a friendly face on im- ing, have both added to the sense of imminent some Spanish, declaring, “The future of Cu- perialism. He quickly gained popularity and change that seems to be taking over Havana. ba must be in the hands of the Cuban peo- even appeared on Cuba’s most-watched TV For better or worse, this change signals that ple!” during his speech at the Gran Teatro in program. the future of the Cuban revolution is at stake. Havana. Those who waited for the equiva- That is precisely the charm of “soft power” – Despite the fatalism of many, the final out- lent of Ronald Reagan’s “Mr. Gorbachev, tear disguising an offensive strategy with a friendly come is still an open question and yet to be down this wall!” were sorely disappointed. tactic. In Cuba’s case, the objective is to em- decided. This will depend not only on what Yet more important than this is the sympathy power the pro-capitalist sectors that are slow- happens in Cuba, but also on international being generated for the Commander in Chief ly being bred within society and the State. By dynamics. of Empire. these means, United states will achieve the For the Cuban regime, allowing the Roll- “regime change” it has sought out and failed A historic visit ing Stones to play a free concert was a sim- to achieve in over half a century of imperial- From the stage at the Ciudad Deportiva, ple choice. But it is still too soon to assess ist hostility. This policy seems even more at- Mick Jagger broke into impromptu Spanish: the exact consequences of Obama’s visit. The tractive when you take into account the fact “We know that years ago it was difficult to resumption of diplomatic and trade relations that by 2018, neither the Castro brothers nor LEFT VOICE Summer 2016 | 33

the old guard of the revolution will hold exec- percent in 1991 to 48 percent in 2014) and has alternated between opening and central- utive governmental positions. it continues to fall. Even prominent gusanos izing the economy in response to the back- Perhaps in an attempt to counter the effect like Carlos Gutiérrez, the former Secretary of lash from changing internal and external of this propaganda coup, Granma published Commerce under George W. Bush, are now conditions. a series of articles that came out against US campaigning for an end to the embargo. In the 90s, during the “special period of policy soon after Obama’s departure. The This will undoubtedly have repercussions peace,” there was an economic opening most important account was Fidel Castro’s in the upcoming presidential election. Tradi- alongside an iron grip over social life by the balance sheet of the visit.1 Castro sought to tionally, the Cuban exiles have been the Re- State. Mixed businesses and small property mitigate the heightened enthusiasm and re- publican’s electoral base, and Republican ownership were legalized, and with the ex- minded his readers that, despite Obama’s candidate Ted Cruz’s presidential campaign ception of the areas of health, education and gracious manners and endearing words, US included the continuation of the economic defense, the mechanisms of state economic imperialism is still Cuba’s main enemy and embargo. However, Obama was able to gain planning were suspended.3 This move prac- that its strategy is the colonial subjugation of the support of important individuals and Cu- tically dismantled the state monopoly on for- the island – just like Spain before it. ban-American businesspeople, winning the eign trade. The 1995 foreign investment law state of Florida in 2008 and 2012. The Dem- was enacted, which allowed for Free Trade The tactical agreement between Obama ocratic Party hopes to repeat this result with Zones with exceptional conditions for capi- and Castro Hillary Clinton. tal. The government also implemented “busi- For the United States, the “normalization” Obama’s ultimate goal is to use the seduc- ness development,” a type of management of diplomatic relations is part of a general tive power of goods and capital to develop with capitalist criteria of profitability and ef- orientation of foreign policy – the so-called a material force with the potential to tear ficiency. This was alongside the payment of Obama doctrine. According to this model, down what is left of the property relations es- wages based on productivity and incentives. within the current balance of forces, the most tablished by the revolution and the political At the begining of 2003, in the context of appropriate means of lessening the intensity monopoly of the Communist Party. The new- changing international economic conditions of potentially explosive conflicts is through est development in US policy towards Cuba, and the rise of populism in Latin America, the diplomacy. This is the approach that we have seen as a betrayal by the rabidly anti-Commu- pendulum swung back towards centraliza- seen in relation to the Iran nuclear deal as nist Cuban “dissidents” is that its minimum tion. Cuba received strong economic support well as in support for the peace agreement objective is to settle for a model of restoration from Chavez in Venezuela through subsidized that Cuba hosted between the Colombian the likes of Vietnam or China, pushing for oil and the purchase of Cuban medical servic- Government and the FARC. It is another way political liberalization without making this a es at preferential prices. During Fidel’s final of securing imperial interests and rebuilding condition for doing business. For now, that period in government (the “Battle of Ideas”), the weakened international leadership of the means accepting the leadership of the Com- the volume of the self-employed sector, joint United States. In this same bloc is Pope Fran- munist Party of Cuba (PCC). enterprises, and foreign direct investment cis, who preceded Obama’s visit to Cuba, The fact is, Obama’s minimum objective co- shrank. Although the structural measures ad- along with the island’s Catholic Church. The incides neatly with the Cuban state apparatus’ opted during the special period were not re- Pope was a main architect of the rapproche- plan – including Raul Castro and the majority versed the State regained control of areas of ment between the two countries. in the PCC – which, in short, can be summed the economy by reintroducing state bureau- All Latin American governments, even the up as a “gradual economic opening plus PCC cratic planning and the centralization of for- ardently pro-imperialist, have rejected the control.” Thus, the supposed thaw is a mutu- eign exchange. This directly affected foreign economic embargo and incorporated Cuba ally beneficial deal – for the time being. trade although it did not restore the previous into their regional institutions and commer- 100% state monopoly (that mostly exists in cial trading blocs. The United States is the Is Cuba inexorably heading towards practice). only country grasping onto a policy of iso- capitalist restoration? Raul Castro’s rise to power and the inter- lating Cuba. With Obama’s shift, the US will For those who uncritically support the pol- national economic crisis of 2008 occcured take advantage of the new situation in the re- icies of the Cuban regime, merely asking if alongside a process of economic reforms gion -- namely, the end of the cycle of popu- Cuba is heading towards capitalist restora- called “Updating the Model.”4 These policies list governments and economic decline – to tion amounts to playing the game of the right were based on a gradual, sustained reintro- regain ground lost over the past decade in its and imperialism. There is no remedy for those duction of capitalist relations in certain areas historic backyard. who do not want to think. At the other ex- of the economy. This course was accelerat- The main opposition to this Cuba-friendly treme, some left currents argue that capital- ed by the oil crisis and the enormous diffi- policy and the lifting of the economic embar- ism has already been restored in Cuba and culties facing Venezuela, one of Cuba’s the go is the hard right of the Republican Par- the task at hand is to overthrow the dicta- main economic supporters. Measures that al- ty along with the most recalcitrant sectors of torial regime similar to the ones that have low for greater social and cultural freedoms the Miami gusanos and their Cuban dissident plagued Latin America in the past.2 This posi- were passed and the government no longer allies (some of whom have made very lucra- tion places them in the same political front as required direct authorization for foreign trav- tive businesses out of the embargo). Howev- the Miami gusanos and imperialism (before el (though this is still limited by the difficul- er the younger generations of exiles no longer Obama adopted his current stance). ty of obtaining overseas visas and the high subscribe to this hard line. Support for the The reality is much more complex. Since the costs that preclude travel for most of the blockade has fallen dramatically (from 87 end of the Soviet Union, the Cuban regime population). 34 | CUBA

However, similar measures did not take (FAR), the Cuban military. There is also a economic sectors place in the political arena. The document substantial base in a minority sector of the adopted by the Sixth Congress of the PCC self-employed that are benefitting from prim- Just like any other country in the world, an in 2011, Economic Policy Guidelines for the itive accumulation.8 Of the two proto-capital- increase in social inequality means an in- Party and the Revolution, aimed primarily ist forces, those embedded within the FAR are crease in injustice. The competition of the at shoring up the emerging non-State sector. undoubtedly decisive. These military leaders “NEPmen” has awoken the egalitarian con- Since then, important changes have occurred play a central role in both the economy and science that has historically characterized the in the economic and social structure of the is- government. Their cadre are filling manage- Cuban people, a conscience that has waned land: the self-employed sector has expanded, ment positions at capitalist companies. The in recent years. While an enriched sector around 500,000 state employees have been FAR’s main business is the holding compa- pushes for deeper measures for capitalist res- laid off (part of a plan to dismiss more than ny called Grupo de Administración Empre- toration, in other sectors there is increasing one million workers), along with cuts to ra- sarial, SA (GAESA - Enterprise Management resentment against those who are getting rich tion cards and the expansion of private “usu- Group), which is in charge of tourism busi- without working and against the privileges of fruct.”5 This allows farmers or co-operatives nesses, hotels, transportation (Cubanacán, government employees and the military.This to work unused government land and keep or Gaviota, Cubataxi, etc.), foreign currency re- is entirely understandable when we consid- sell the produce without affecting the proper- cuperation stores (TDR-Caribe y Panamer- er the enormous difficulties that the majori- ty structure. The private sale of housing has icana) chains of foreign currency exhange ty of the population has in ensuring its daily also been authorized, sparking a process of (CUC) stores as well as Almacenes Univer- survival on an average salary of around $24 capitalist accumulation in real estate, mainly sales (Universal Storage, which operates in USD per month.11 for the purchase of properties to rent to tour- the Special Development Zone at the port of Pro-capitalist reforms did not resolve the ists. In 2014 a new foreign investment law Mariel). economy’s structural problems: low produc- was passed which provides more ways to at- Another holding company is the Cuban Ex- tivity and technological backwardness. Cu- tract elusive foreign capital.6 This law main- port-Import Corporation (CIMEX). Its oper- ba continues to import around 80 percent of tains the ban on the direct hiring of Cuban ations include the provision of immigration all the food it consumes. In the absence of workers by firms, but allows them to be hired documents, control of remittances, man- any real prospects and the fear that the Unit- through a special state agency that keeps the agement of travel agencies (ie., Havanatur), ed States may end its preferential policies bulk of the earned wages. It is expected that car rentals (Havanautos), and the Cuban oil towards Cuban migration, many young peo- the Seventh Party Congress (which will oc- company (CUPET),9 as well as retail stores, ple are choosing to migrate.12 Others simply cur as this article goes to print) will reaffirm “paladares” (restaurants owned by the self- abandon their university studies to work in this course, although this is more speculation employed), bars, and other businesses. This shops or other private sector services, where than certainty as the Congress documents is not to mention the specific companies that they are sometimes forces to work for over 15 have not been made public. The econom- deal with areas of defense and communica- hours a day, but earn five times more than the ic situation is complicated. The regime has tion. Heading up all these businesses is Gen- average wage in the public sector. yet to deal with the dual currency system eral Luis Alberto Rodríguez López-Callejas, Perhaps that is why US journalist Jon Lee of the national peso (CUP) and convert- the son-in-law (or former son-in-law) of Raúl Anderson – an expert on Cuban reality – said ible peso (CUC) and the dual exchange rate, Castro.10 in a recent interview that “Cuba will not let which sets U.S. dollar-CUP parity for busi- Along with high-ranking state officials, the McDonald’s open like they did in Prague ness and 24 CUPs to the dollar for the public. FAR hierarchy enjoys access to privileges for- and Warsaw,” predicting that the bureaucra- The result of these oscillations is not neutral. bidden for the rest of the population. They cy will opt for maintaining the balance be- On the one hand, the fact that the process has live in military neighborhoods complete with tween openness and control. This remains been gradual, and up to now at a snail’s pace, resorts and marinas, and have access to goods to be seen. The upcoming Congress is the fi- has prevented the generalization of the capi- such as household appliances, computers and nal one in which the “old guard” will be pres- talist relations which have started to develop automobiles at subsidized prices. ent. It appears that Raul’s successor, Miguel in certain areas of the economy. Even today, This economic power of the top FAR leaders Díaz-Canel, born one year after the revolu- state ownership of the means of production contains a clear contradiction: as individuals, tion, will be the current First Vice President is predominant: between 75 and 80 percent they are company managers who have con- of the Council of State. He has yet to demon- of the economy remains within the orbit of tact with foreign capital (and even bank ac- strate that he can maintain the unity of the the State, which also continues to govern the counts abroad), therefore in the best position State and the Armed Forces if social tensions mechanisms for control of foreign trade. At to make the leap from bureaucratic caste to rise once Castro steps down. the same time, this gradual introduction of possessing class whenever the pace of resto- According to the ruling bureaucracy’s dis- capitalist relations is utilizing pragmatic mea- ration speeds up. However, at the same time, course, in order to achieve “a prosperous and sures to implement a scheme of capitalist res- as a corporation, their interests lie in main- sustainable socialism,” it is necessary to up- toration à la Vietnam (praised by the ruling taining a gradual approach so as to avoid an date the model with necessary pro-capitalist party leadership) that preserves the political indiscriminate opening up to foreign capital, reforms, which will produce a more unequal, monopoly of the Communist Party.7 or a generalized process of privatization (as but more just society. This is not dialectical The principle restorationist forces are with- in Vietnam). These top leaders have no de- sophistication but rather merely a contradic- in the State – in particular at the top of the sire to submit to further competition or give tion in terms. hierarchy of the Revolutionary Armed Forces up their monopoly control of these strategic The situation is far from simple. The LEFT VOICE Summer 2016 | 35

Information). pressures to move towards capitalism are the perspective of transforming the working very powerful and arise from within the State, class into the true ruling class of the State and 6 In his presentation to the National Assembly of People’s Power at the end of 2015, Marino Mu- Cuban society, and the world. The ruling bu- society. rillo, Minister of Economy and Planning, reported reaucracy with its privileges and business that only 37 businesses have been established un- deals creates within this same State a cyni- der the new regulations, of which around six are cal moralism that spreads throughout society in the Special Devlopment Zone (SDZ) of Mariel and undermines revolutionary ideals. On the (Granma, 28 December 2015). other hand, there are the conquests that the 7 This is pending a reform of the electoral law. 1 “El hermano Obama” (Brother Obama), Gran- Some speculate that the regime could establish a revolution still conserves (free health, educa- ma, March 28, 2016 [http://en.granma.cu/cu- system that allows for satellite parties, as occurred tion and housing – even if the buildings are in ba/2016-03-28/brother-obama]. in some countries in East Europe, but there is still poor condition, especially in Havana) – con- 2 This is the position of the Brazilian Parti- no clear signal indicating that this will happen. quests that the population values highly. do Socialista dos Trabalhadores Unificado (PS- 8 Richard E. Feinberg, Soft Landing in Cuba? Despite the advance towards restoration, TU – United Socialist Workers’ Party) and its in- Emerging Entrepreneurs and Middle Classes, No- ternational organization the Liga Internacional the bourgeoisie has not begun to reassem- vember 2013. In this interesting study, the author de los Trabajadores (LIT - International Workers ble itself. It exists only in exile. An intense discusses the heterogeneous character of self-em- League), which argues that Cuba is a direct colo- ployment (which runs from the “carretillero” - per- debate has developed around these points ny of Spanish and Canadian capital (sic) and that son who sell vegetables from the back of a cart - and despite being monitored by the regime a the key is to bring down the regime that they com- to small entrepreneurs that exploit manual labour). new Cuban left has developed on blogs and pare to the “dictatorship of [Argentine military dic- His analysis suggests that the majority the self-em- websites.13 tator] Videla.” ployed consider that they are only doing extra Some argue that the solution is a mixed 3 Y. Martínez Pérez, “El proceso de planificación work to add to their meager family income, with empresarial en Cuba” (The Process of Business only a small minority being able to overcome the model favoring cooperative self-management. Planning in Cuba), University of Cienfuegos, 2008 initial stage of “primitive family accumulation” and Others look for alternatives to the one-party [http://www.gestiopolis.com/el-proceso-de-plani- become entrepreneurs. The wealthiest sector of the regime in anarchism. However the processes ficacion-empresarial-en-cuba/] self-employed are those who emigrated to the U.S. of restoration in Eastern Europe have shown 4 For an in-depth analysis of these measures, see and then return to invest in Cuba. that these variants are no alternative in the “Transforming the Cuban Economic Model,” Mau- 9 “Grupos empresariales del MINFAR” (Business face of the advance of capital. In order to ricio A. Font Mario Gonzalez-Corzo (comp), Bild- Groups of the MINFAR [Ministry of the Revolu- avoid capitalist restoration in all of its vari- ner Center for Western Hemisphere Studies, The tionary Armed Forces]), Foresight Cuba, January 7, Graduate Center, The City University of New York, 2016 [http://foresightcuba.com/grupos-empresar- ations, it is necessary to raise a transitional 2014. This interesting compilation brings together iales-del-minfar/]. program that includes an end to the econom- articles from important Cuban academics, includ- 10 According to Cuban Economist Omar Everle- ic embargo and the full re-establishment of ing Pavel Vidal Alejandro, Omar Everleny Pérez ny Pérez, the FAR controls 50% of the income pro- the monopoly of foreign trade. Concessions Villanueva, Camilia Piñeiro Harnecker y Juan Tri- duced in Cuba. Other economists put this figure at made to imperialist capital must be reversed ana Cordoví. See also J. Habel, “¿Será posible una closer to 80%. reforma política?” (Will There be Political Re- and genuine democratic planning of the 11 To put this into perspective, a liter of milk in a form?), Le Monde Diplomatique Explorador 1, TDR costs more than 2 CUC, while one hour of in- economy must be established. This program Cuba. Los dilemas del Cambio (Cuba: The Dilem- ternet costs 3 CUC. must be based on the heartfelt and urgent de- mas of Change), March 2016. 12 The lastest major migration crisis is still ongo- mands of the masses: general wage increas- 5 According to the latest available official statis- ing. It involves over 1100 Cubans who at the end es and price controls by the population (the tics, there are 4,949,800 state employees, 1,147,000 of 2015 were stranded in Costa Rica after attempt- in the private sector and 483,400 self-employed, rise in prices are one of the main complaints ing to reach the U.S. by land. of the workers), an end to the ruling bureau- which must add an undetermined number of in- formal workers. The unemployment rate is 2.7% 13 One of the most dynamic is the Cuban Critical cracy’s privileges, end of the one-party regime and the average wage is 584 CUP (US$24). Anu- Observatory (www.observatoriocriticocuba.org) through the legalization of parties that defend ario Estadístico de Cuba 2014 (Yearbook of Cuba that unlike other alternative sites such as 14yme- the conquests of the revolution, and freedom 2014), “Empleo y salarios” (Employment and Wag- dio, more clearly confront capitalist restoration. to form trade unions and political organiza- es), 2015 Edition, Oficina Nacional de Estadísti- tion for workers. This must all be done with ca e Información (National Office of Statistics and 36 | PALESTINE Palestine: Ethnic Cleansing

Interview with Ilan Pappé

Ilan Pappé is a historian, socialist activ- people. In most cases, their solution was the Israel. The vision of a purely de-Arabized ist, professor at the University of Exeter, and genocide of indigenous people. In two cases, Palestine was still there, though the means supporter of the Campaign for Boycott, Di- the solution was different: apartheid in South differed. vestment, and Sanctions (BDS). Of Israe- Africa and ethnic cleansing in Palestine. The means included the imposition of mil- li origin, he is a world-renowned scholar on itary rule over the Palestinians in Israel and the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and has writ- In your book, The Ethnic Cleansing of refusing to allow the refugees to return. The ten numerous books on the subject, includ- Palestine, you suggest that the objectives of space was not enough and the opportuni- ing The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine and Israel have remained the same since 1948. ty to enlarge it came in 1967, but then the The Idea of Israel: A History of Power and Can you elaborate? demographic problem emerged again. This Knowledge. As any settler colonial movement, the Zi- time, the means were apartheid, military oc- onist movement is motivated by the logic of cupation and cutting the land into enclaves You’ve talked and written about the concept elimination of the native. In the period after and Bantustans. of homeland as justification for destroying the second World War, elimination is more the native population. What is the meaning complex and maybe less inhuman, but still You have described Israeli actions in Gaza of this concept and what are some examples drastic. The desire of the Zionist movement as “incremental genocide.” What is the of its use in other places? In what sense to create both a Jewish state and a demo- meaning of this term? is applied differently in Palestine than in cratic one means that there is always a wish “Incremental” means that there is no dra- other countries? to take over as much of Palestine as possible matic, massive killing of people of a cer- The context is the phenomenon of settler and leave in as few Palestinians as possible. tain race or nation. However, a strategy colonialism: the movement of Europeans, This is the background for the Israeli eth- like the one Israel has been conducting because they felt unsafe or endangered, into nic cleansing operation in 1948; an opera- since 2006 has led to what the UN called non-European areas in the Americas, Africa, tion that ended with expulsion of nearly a “the transformation of the Gaza Strip into Australia and Palestine. These people were million Palestinians and a Jewish takeover of an uninhabitable place” – so this not just not only seeking a new home, but also a new 80 percent of the land. the constant killing of civilians that makes homeland. Namely, they had no wish or plan However, the ethnic cleansing of 1948 was it genocidal, but also the destruction of the to come back to Europe. not a complete project. There was still 20 infrastructure. The only problem was that the lands they percent of the land that Israel did not have coveted were already inhabited by other and there was a Palestinian minority within Do you think that Israel is carrying out LEFT VOICE Summer 2016 | 37

ethnic cleansing in the West Bank and East normal Palestinian state, even if one were to is necessary to put more international pres- Jerusalem on a similar scale as what took accept this solution. The best you can hope for sure on Israel. place in 1948? are two Bantustans: one in the West Bank and Well, the fact is, just in the Greater Jerusa- one in the Gaza Strip. This is not a solution. What role do academics or intellectuals lem areas since 1967, hundreds of thousands Finally, there will be no solution to the con- have in the struggle for the liberation of of Palestinians were transferred in various flict without respecting the right of the Pal- Palestine? means – from massive expulsion or by mov- estinian refugees to return and the two-state A very important role. They can tell the sto- ing their neighbourhood to the West Bank or solution does not respect this right. ry about Palestine that Israel wants to hide by not allowing them to return if they left the from the world. There is enough evidence, country. After 1967, ethnic cleansing is more What has been the effect of the growing and today there are enough scholars using it, about moving Palestinian into enclaves rath- international criticism of Israeli actions to tell the history as it really happened. We er than out of the country. against the Palestinian people? How has will need to deal bravely with this history if this affected the peace movement in Israel? we would want to have a genuine process of You argue against a two-state solution on In the last ten years, civil societies around reconciliation in Israel and Palestine. the grounds that it is not viable and instead the world had enough of their government’s are in favour of a bi-national state. What are passivity on Palestine. Therefore, they took How important is the BDS campaign? What your reasons for coming to this conclusion? independent action by supporting the Pales- do you think it can achieve? How do you think a bi-national state could tinian civil-right call for boycott, divestment Very important. It has two major roles: first, be achieved and how would it operate? and sanctions against Israel. to send a painful but necessary message to Is- The two-state solution is not viable for three The world governments are still not pressur- rael that there is a price tag attached to its major reasons. First, it only applies to 20 per- ing Israel to change its policy and therefore continued policy of dispossession and colo- cent of Palestine and to less than half of the it is difficult to expect any change from with- nization. And secondly, to galvanize world Palestinian people. You cannot reduce the in. There is no peace camp in Israel. There public opinion and activism around a cam- problem of Palestine in such a way either geo- is now a small group of activists who are en- paign that would not let the Palestine issue graphically or demographically. couraged by the BDS movement and are try- be forgotten. Second, Israel created such a reality on the ing to educate Israelis about the human and ground, in terms of settlement and coloniza- civil rights violations in the past and present. Interviewed by Alejandra Ríos for tion, that it would be impossible to create a These groups from within will not survive; it Ideas de Izquierda. GENDER & 38 | SEXUALITY

Women’s Emancipation in Times of Global Crisis

The crisis of global capitalism reminds us that the rights oppressed people have obtained are not set in stone, but are subject to cuts imposed by bourgeois governments and international financial institutions. Our rights are subject to the ups and downs of power relations in global capitalism. The economic crisis deepens social polarization, reviving the most reactionary sectors of society to express their virulent xenophobia, homophobia, and misogyny. Knowing this, how can we fight for women’s liberation?

Andrea D’Atri and Laura Lif

Over the last century, women’s lives have with the image of smooth progress towards and highly lucrative industry, which has al- changed in ways that are incomparable to greater gender equality, often used to char- lowed the expansion of trafficking networks? the relatively minor changes in men’s lives acterize the rights of women in imperialist Despite enormous scientific and technologi- over the same period. From the right to vote countries and wealthy semi-colonies. cal advances, 500 thousand women around to greater insertion in the workplace to fe- Given the progress towards gender equity, the world die annually from complications male presidents around the world, the lives how do we explain that each year, between during pregnancy and childbirth, while 500 of women today are almost unrecognizable 1.5 and 3 million women and girls are vic- women die every day because of complica- compared to those of women a century ago. tims of male chauvinist violence? How do we tions from illegal abortions (World Health But there are other facts that sharply contrast explain that prostitution has become a major Organization). LEFT VOICE Summer 2016 | 39

In the same period, the “feminization” of This process extended through time and sexual difference. the workforce has increased exponentially, space in an unprecedented way. While But difference feminism ended up reduc- especially in Latin America, but women find the upper sectors of the middle and work- ing gender to an essentialist category, postu- themselves in the most precarious jobs. They ing classes were brought to the table of the lating that being a woman bestowed certain are subject to market fluctuations, sexual vi- consumerist feast, the vast majority of peo- values that were supposedly universal and olence at work, and other oppressions. The ple were thrown into chronic unemployment had been degraded by male hegemonic dis- current crisis is bearing down on a working and faced overcrowding in poor suburban course. To some extent, this new feminism class that is characterized by a female labor neighborhoods. They were subject to social, rejected political dispute, emerging as a reac- force that accounts for more than 40 percent political and cultural marginalization. Indi- tion to the dominant political system’s assim- of global employment (International Labor vidualism permeated mass culture. In order ilation of equality feminism. Instead, it aimed Organization). Fifty percent of those female to establish a new “integrationist” social con- to create a counterculture based on new val- workers are precariously employed in low tract, it was necessary to incorporate many ues arising from sexual difference. Along with wage and unprotected jobs. They are being democratic demands, including feminism. the rejection of equality feminism, it ultimate- incorporated into the ranks of the global pro- Thus social movements were contained with- ly challenged the movement for an egalitari- letariat for the first time in history. in public policy. an society which was free from exploitation There is a sharp contrast between the rights and oppression. that have been won—including the legitima- Feminism in democracy: from During the advance of the conservative res- cy that the concept of “gender equity” has insubordination to institutionalization toration, neither the egalitarian politics of in- gained in recent decades—and the sobering Whether self-marginalized or assimilated in- tegration within capitalist democracy, nor the picture these statistics depict. Does feminism to battles for “recognition” fought within the difference feminist politics of resistant coun- only offer women restricted emancipation? Is parameters of the “democratic state,” femi- terculture prevented the unprecedented ex- feminist liberation limited to a privileged few nism gave up the fight against the capital’s so- pansion of oppression and violence against that enjoy some democratic rights in certain cial and moral order. At the time of capital’s millions of women worldwide. countries, while brutal aggressions continue largest attack, the absence of a revolution- Lesbians, black women, and women from against the vast majority of women in the rest ary objective and the role of the bureaucra- “Third World” countries would eventually of the world? cy plunged the working class into economic question this celebration of feminine virtues. corporatism. A celebration which concealed differences International power relations and the place A two-sided reformism emerged. On the one and oppressive hierarchies among women. of women hand, feminist politics became limited to ex- Sexual difference then burst into multiple in- This paradoxical situation, created by de- erting lobbying pressure on state institutions tersecting differences among women, making cades of conservative politics, cannot be ex- for an “expansion of citizenship” – quick- way for numerous fluid identities and a frag- plained without examining the international ly proving to be a waste of time as the cri- mented political subject. power relations that emerged with the radi- sis develops. This strategy, which we will call Post-feminism then went further. Given the calization that began in the 1960s. A revolu- equality feminism, has clear limits for work- existence of so many distinct and singular tionary rise of the masses took place from the ing women. At best, working-class women identities, it argued the impossibility of estab- end of the 60s to the mid-80s. People ques- have only been given the right to struggle for lishing any identity at all. Reframing nor- tioned not only the capitalist order, but also wages while leaving the management of pub- mative discourse through parody became a the iron-fisted control of the Stalinist bureau- lic affairs to the bourgeois political elite. political strategy that would undermine hege- cracy in the worker-states of Eastern Europe. During these decades of deep conserva- mony and open up new spaces of meaning. It However the imperialist counter-offensive — tive restoration, women who longed for their established the idea of individual​​ emancipa- under the banner of neo-liberalism - led to a emancipation did not have a model to follow tion, deceptively infused with the possibilities political and cultural defeat.. in countries run by so-called “really existing of consumption and subjective appropria- Unlike the strategy of the two world wars, socialism,” as was the case in the early twen- tion-transformation of one’s own body. the partial recovery achieved by the capital- tieth century. Instead, they found that any at- While individualism proliferated around the ist system in the late 80’s and 90’s was not tempt to oppose the existing regime could world through economic policies that pushed based on the destruction of productive forc- generate new and monstrous forms of op- millions into unemployment and enforced the es through military action. Although “physi- pression and exclusion. Stalinism stained the fragmentation and relocation of the working cal defeats” took place in countries such as Bolsheviks’ liberatory flags which had stood class, feminism moved further away from a Argentina - where 30 million people were for women’s emancipation. It transformed project of collective emancipation. It fell back disappeared - this was not the foundation of these aims into their opposite, destroying and on increasingly solipsistic speech, limited to the emerging world order. In Europe the de- reversing the small, bold steps taken by the inciting an elite that demanded the right to be flection of the revolutionary process was not Russian Revolution in 1917. recognized in its diversity while being tolerat- based on physical defeats but rather on co- As the feminist agenda was co-opted and in- ed by and integrated into consumer culture. opting and dividing the working class. Faced tegrated into the capitalist system, progress with this imperialist attack on the mass- was made in the attainment of basic demo- Post-feminism as “accomplice/opposition” es and its conquests, organizations created cratic rights. The feminist agenda – previ- Equality feminism can be credited with con- by the working class (from social-democrat- ously supported only by some sectors of the ceptualizing gender as a social and relational ic or communist parties to unions and bu- vanguard – became the common sense of the category linked to the concept of power, high- reaucratized workers’ organizations) went on masses. However the radical nature of fem- lighting that the oppression of women has a to help implement these capitalist measures. inism at the dawn of the second wave was history and is not the “natural” consequence The free-market model was the guiding prin- swallowed up by the system. Its subversive of anatomical differences. Meanwhile, femi- ciple of this period of restoration. It diverted challenge was re-directed from the streets nism of difference resisted assimilation into a and halted the rise of the masses by extending to government buildings, from radical so- system of subordination, discrimination and capitalist democratic regimes - leading the cial transformation to institutionalization. oppression that differs from the “universal” way to economic, social, and political mea- Difference feminism, the political current model forged under patriarchy. While differ- sures that reversed many of the victories won that criticized this, sought to create a differ- ence feminism ultimately succumbed to a bi- in prior years. ent symbolic order starting with the idea of ologistic essentialism, post-feminist theories GENDER & 40 | SEXUALITY questioned the notion of sexuality as invari- so in times of economic, social and politi- ultimate objectives rather than strategic mile- able, leading to the conception of desire as cal crisis such as the one we are experienc- stones; an anti-capitalist program was traded situated. Rejecting the idea that difference ing. Only a society of free producers can be a for an anti-neoliberal program with the min- should be transformed into fixed, static iden- society where equality is not based on tyran- imal goal of limiting the scope of the most tity opens up a powerful way forward in the nical standards that seek to hide differences, harmful aspects of conservative restoration. culture and construction of subjectivity, even but is instead based on an equal respect for At the opposite pole, others on the left dis- though it is not a strong political strategy for differences that constitute the particular ele- missed the need for a program and a policy for the creation of a movement for the emancipa- ments of social existence. women’s emancipation that stems from con- tion of those who are oppressed by mandato- quered democratic rights within bourgeois ry heteronormativity. Through women’s eyes democracy. This is another form of adapta- However, the greater degree of political The current global crisis is the result of cap- tion: by default, “issues” of oppression are left equality in capitalist democracies does not italism’s inability to survive without imposing in the hands of multi-class social movements, dissolve social inequality; nor does the shared greater hardship on the masses and further while corporatism and narrow trade union- nature of afflictions common to the exploit- degrading and politically weakening its dem- ism in the labor movement deepen. Ultimate- ed members of a social class dissolve the in- ocratic regimes. The period of conservative ly, the strategy of proletarian hegemony is equalities generated by oppression based on restoration, which led to this new capitalist abandoned by way of sectarian abstention. difference. How can we imagine equality that crisis, created a contradictory scenario: co- The authors of this article believe that a is not based on identity and uniformity? And option and integration of large sections of ruthless critique of the misery bred by capital- difference that is not constituted as identity the middle class and certain sections of the ism in all aspects of life, including subjective and hierarchy? working class, alongside the exclusion of the and interpersonal relationships, must be an Far from taking an unequivocal stand for majority of the masses – leaving behind an integral part of our Marxist world view, our equality, Marxism proposes a materialist uncharacteristic fragmentation of the work- program and our strategy in the struggle to and dialectical analysis of difference; it ques- ing class. At the same time, entire countries radically change class society. While we sup- tions the metaphysical abstraction of formal were becoming incorporated into the world port all struggles that seek to wrest the best equality, which traps concrete differences market and millions of people pushed in- living conditions for the millions of people into an empty universalism. Under capital- to massive cities were forced into salaried who are immersed in the most unimaginable ism, equality can only exist formally through employment. indignities, we aim to achieve a stateless soci- the abstraction of particular elements of so- For the first time in the history of humanity, ety without social classes: a society liberated cial existence. The capitalist State achieves this new period of capitalist crisis has a labor from the chains of exploitation and all forms this fetishistic divorce of politics and econo- force that is highly feminized and more urban of oppression that pit human beings against my, offering a resultant split human being: the than rural. However, while the global situa- each other. people are equally citizens, while being essen- tion pushes women and the most oppressed Those of us who seek the liberation of hu- tially different: either dispossessed workers or social sectors to develop their subversive po- manity from destitution and humiliation can owners of the means of production. tential – shown in historical moments of great only come together from the point of view of Postmodern theories, which propose that crisis or in social, economic and political cat- the most violated among the exploited. For differences be recognized in their specificity aclysms – feminism has become divorced fundamental transformation we must look to such a degree that they dissolve as catego- from the masses, generally distanced from through the eyes of women, and it is from this ries of identity (or that we could do without the perspective of a collective, emancipato- point of view that we try to re-appropriate the them), draw the attention to “the excluded”. ry project. Bolshevik way of thinking, while at the same By not taking into account capitalist relations Reclaiming such a perspective requires the time, understanding the profound social of production in which these exclusions are recognition that, if the working class has the changes of the last century that led to new supported, postfeminism concludes by calling potential power to destroy the resources of problems which must be taken into account. for a struggle for “inclusion” and symbolic capitalist economy, this strategic position We know that merely longing for commu- representation which ends up conforming it- does not suffice to revolutionize the domi- nism will not bring it about, even when it is self to the new market tolerance for diversity nant order if the working class fails to con- longed for by thousands or millions of ex- rather than subverting it. Without consider- quer and command an alliance with sectors ploited people. We must seek not only to es- ing the inextricable relationship between the oppressed by capital—including uniting with tablish a different order, but to overthrow capitalist mode of production and the mul- the ranks of the highly feminized proletariat. the existing one. Any partial conquest that tiple fragmentations that contribute to op- Raising a program for the liberation of wom- is obtained in the narrow margins of degrad- pression, a radical challenge to the stability of en is vital to the working masses, because of ed democracies must be situated within this sexual identities and heteronormativity loses the group’s composition and the need to es- broader strategy. its subversive potential. Hence, Terry Eagle- tablish an alliance with other sectors and so- This is the only real antidote to the post-fem- ton defines postmodernism as “politically in cial strata pushed into misery, ruined by big inist utopia of radical democracies and the opposition, but economically an accomplice.” capital and condemned to discrimination and dystopia of bureaucratic totalitarianism that Claiming difference as such or merely pro- marginalization within a dominant culture betrayed the Bolshevik revolution and trans- claiming the elimination of binary identities that denies their recognition. formed it into its antithesis. In this way, wom- in a world where such differences are cause Faced with this situation, many on the Left en’s struggle for emancipation and a Marxist for brutal insults and injustices, post-femi- have conformed to the status quo of recent critique that is enriched by feminist contribu- nism ends up looking more like a self-con- decades of conservative restoration. From the tions may emerge as a renewed socialist femi- gratulatory speech to an enlightened minority skeptical perspective, which assumes that de- nism waiting to see the light of day. than a critique by a powerful and radical- feat by the imperialist counter-offensive is (*) This is a reduced version, revised by the ly transformative movement. For Marxism, irreversible, the expansion of rights in bour- authors for this edition. You can read the in contrast, the focus is on equal attention to geois democracy was implemented as an ul- original article in Spanish, “La Emancipación the diverse needs of the people: this is the on- timate strategy. Indeed, the ruling classes de las mujeres en tiempos de crisis mundial”, ly way that difference does not become hier- were forced to heed these demands in order Part I and Part II, in Ideas de Izquierda Mag- archy and equality, or uniformity, something to defuse radicalization, to co-opt and inte- azine No. 1 and No. 2. that no “expansion of citizenship” granted by grate large sectors into the regime. Some forc- capitalist democracies may offer – even less es on the left established these conquests as LEFT VOICE Summer 2016 | 41

“Equality in law does not mean equality in life”

An interview with Virginia Guitzel, a trans public health worker who lives in Santo Andre, Sao Paulo. She is a militant of the Movimento Revolucionário de Trabalhadores (Revolutionary Workers’ Movement) and weekly contributor for Esquerda Diario. She is also part of the women’s group Pão e Rosas (Bread and Roses).

confrontation of police repression, the gov- regime of bourgeois domination. In a semi- What are the primary issues for LGBT ernment, and religious fundamentalists seek- colonial country like Brazil, capitalism does people in Brazil and how does the current ing legislation for a “gay cure.” this in clear and obvious ways. The les- movement respond to these struggles? The Workers’ Party (Partido dos Trabalha- sons we are learning about the limits of the How does the government respond to these dores) sold itself to voters as progressive, but degraded bourgeois democracy show us that issues? during over twelve years in power, it has not equality in law does not mean equality in life. The United Nations recognizes Brazil as the taken a single decisive step in defense of our This is because under capitalism, there are no country with the most crimes and murders rights. They were so cowardly, they didn’t material conditions to eradicate oppression. perpetrated against trans people. In Brazil, even take a clear position against the “gay Instead, the system divides workers using ste- there are no laws defending LGBT rights. We cure.” The Workers’ Party makes political reotypes and oppression. It weakens them still don’t have basic rights including quali- deals with leaders of the religious right like with bourgeois ideology that propagates dif- ty public health care and access to educa- Pastor Marco Feliciano, a leading advocate of ferences that hide the fact that we, the work- tion about non heterosexual sexualities and the gay cure. In fact, the PT helped appoint ers, all belong to one class. trans and non-binary gender identities. The him to the head of the Human Rights. Dur- The international movement against trans- trans movement, which emerged during the ing the protests of June 2013, which forev- phobia is getting stronger. It is the fruit of a neo-liberal offensive of the past thirty years, er changed Brazil, many people protested new generation that refuses to restrict itself has not sought to make a difference in our against Feliciano and the “gay cure.” to imposed identities and gender binaries that national reality. Instead, the trans movement serve to oppress women and deny working- has become increasingly institutionalized and How do you see the connection between class men real choices for their own eman- integrated into the bourgeois regime. capitalism and homo-and transphobia? cipation. That’s why the marginalization of This institutionalization has occurred The capitalist system seeks to appropri- trans identities is fundamental to capitalism. despite June 2013’s organized LGBT ate all forms of oppression to perpetuate a On one hand, it maintains the traditional GENDER & 42 | SEXUALITY family (which is being increasingly disman- to build a counter-offensive to the bourgeois The second example was during the biggest tled as single mothers are very much a real- media with an online newspaper based on the strike of the state universities of Sao Pau- ity). On the other hand, it maintains sexual point of view of workers, young people and lo in history, which lasted 118 days. Dur- desire for non-binary and trans people as a oppressed people. ing this strike, for the first time in history, commodity to be consumed by relegating it Is it difficult to build a class-based LGBT a union organized a debate entitled “Sex- to the streets via prostitution. At the same movement and solidarity between LGBT peo- ism, Homophobia and Transphobia” in the time, trans men and women serve as a reserve ple and straight workers? Absolutely. But the midst of the strike. This demonstrates how workforce that allow wages to be lower for difficulty pales to the strategic necessity of an the union can contribute to undermining the everyone. Working as lower paid subcon- LGBT movement united with the working influence of bourgeois ideas on our class, the tracted workers, the most precarious of jobs, class. And we have many examples to build working class. These workers later went on is seen as a great opportunity by many trans upon. We have historic examples, going back to protest the actions of the Sao Paulo police and non-binary people. For them, working a to 1895. In that year, the biggest chapter of who brutally tortured a trans woman, Veron- precarious, low wage job is welcomed due to the Second International was in Germany, ica Bolina. the dangers of commodified sexuality. where the communist party spoke out against the imprisonment of Oscar Wilde. It was the Recently, the United States Supreme Court I have heard you talk about organizing in first time a political party spoke out against ruled in favor of marriage equality. What the spirit of Stonewall. What do you mean sexual repression. But defending LGBT rights steps should the LGBT movement take in by that? What lessons can the international isn’t just a long past history. Wherever we of light of this victory? LGBT movement take from the Stonewall the Trotskyist Fraction do political work, we The passage of marriage equality in the US Rebellion in 1969? revive that history. and its territories rocked Brazil and the world. In Brazil and throughout the world, the For example, last year in Argentina, there Here, we celebrated this as a victory against LGBT and Queer movements lack complete were many important struggles in the North- the conservatives who try to take away our independence from institutions like the police ern Zone of Buenos Aires where one of the rights. To all those who fought for this victo- and the state. Stonewall broke the silence factories, MadyGraft (formerly known as ry, I send you my sincerest congratulations. around us being who we are and it made us Donnelley) is now occupied by its workers. I think the first task that the United States see our own strength. The LGBT struggle in Prior to the workers taking over the facto- LGBT movement faces is to not let this victo- these times of neo-liberalism has turned into ry, they defended a trans worker who was ry be capitalized on by Obama and the White a fight for civil rights without questioning being harassed by her boss, who refused to House who attack immigrants, the poorest capitalism or the limits of emancipation via call her by her name and to allow her access LGBT people and black people who have consumption (“pink money”). Revolutionar- to her own bathroom. The workers had a bravely faced off against the police and the ies in times of neo-liberalism must revive the lively discussion about class unity against government in defense of their right to live. spirit of Stonewall and remember our com- their employers and confronted their boss in Today’s task is to build an international LGBT bative history. defense of their trans co-worker. This action movement based on the most profound expe- This means refusing to compromise with the demonstrates that, in reality, workers are riences of class solidarity and revolutionary police and the bourgeois government and it the only ones capable of guaranteeing the organizing we have seen, like the Homosex- means not seeking the “lesser evil”. We can- rights of oppressed people. If a law had been ual Action Front in France, Somos in Brazil not trust our rights to the goodwill of the passed, their employers would find a million and Our World in Argentina. We need a move- bourgeois political parties. We LGBT workers ways to get around it. Only the workers unit- ment for sexual liberation that is anti-capital- are incompatible with this system of misery ed in defense of their co-worker could guar- ist and intervenes in the class struggle. We and human exploitation. Reviving the spirit antee her rights. need a movement that questions queer theory of the Stonewall rebellion today is not only In Brazil, I was able to experience firsthand that does not have a plan to destroy capital- important, but also a necessary condition for the possibilities of workers in solidarity with ism. We need a movement that also questions LGBT people to take their destiny into their LGBT people. The first was at a strike of sub- institutionalized LGBT movements that ask own hands and stop all forms of oppression. sub contracted workers (they worked at a us to compromise our rights or put them off company that was subcontracted by anoth- for tomorrow in order to support the existing Many people say that workers are er company, which was subcontracted by the regime. This will only reproduce the misery of homophobic. All of us have suffered Sao Paolo metro). The work was very pre- what is possible under capitalism. Our task is homophobia from workers at one time carious and the workers had very little edu- to internationally build an instrument for the or another. Why organize a class-based cation. By the logic of many people in the working class and oppressed people to end LGBT movement rooted in solidarity with LGBT movement, it was almost suicide to be what Marx calls “humanity’s pre-history” — workers? Can you give us examples of times a trans woman in that space. Yet, I went and the system of one person dominating another. that LGBT people united with workers? introduced myself, saying that I came to show For us of the Trotskyist Fraction, this means In Marx’s text, The German Ideology, he solidarity with the workers. Many workers building a movement to rebuild the IV Inter- says that the dominant ideology is the ideol- stared at me and looked at me very strangely. national. This means building communist ogy of the dominant class. That means that However, the days at the strike went on with- parties throughout the world, which, with the the working class is bombarded with divisive out incident. On the last day of the strike, strength of workers and of oppressed people, stereotypes propagated by the bourgeoisie. the union bureaucracy wanted to isolate the can destroy capitalism and create a society in The union bureaucracy, the current model of workers, so they needed to prevent outside which we are all truly free. education, and all of the bourgeois media are support from people such as myself and the transmission belts of these ideas. That is why Revolutionary Workers Movement (the polit- Interviewed and translated we, the international Trotskyist Fraction, cre- ical party I am part of). They started a smear by Tatiana Cozzarelli ated an international network (Esquerda Dia- campaign against me, questioning whether I rio in Brazil, Left Voice in the United States, was a man or woman. The workers respond- Révolution Permanente in France, Klasse ed, “She came here to defend us, long before Gegen Klasse in Germany, and La Izquier- the union. She stays.” This demonstrates how da Diario in Argentina, Chile, Mexico, Spain, the class consciousness of workers advances Venezuela, Bolivia and Uruguay). We hope during a struggle, such as a strike. LEFT VOICE Summer 2016 | 43

An Independent, Anti-Capitalist Campaign in Mexico City

Oscar Fernández

After a militant campaign in the streets, sub- after Pancho Villa and Emiliano Zapata’s The future of Mexico City is at stake. It is way stations, schools, and labor centers, the forces took the capital during the Mexican being contested by numerous forces, includ- “Anti-Capitalist Workers in the Constituent Revolution, the DF will become the last enti- ing President Peña Nieto of the Institution- Assembly” Slate has won legal recognition to ty to adapt its own constitution. al Revolutionary Party (PRI) –with the the run in the Constituent Assembly elections in Mexico City’s new constitution will be writ- support of a sector of Mancera’s degenerat- Mexico City. This was achieved despite the ten by a Constituent Assembly made up of ed Democratic Revolution Party (PRD). Also harsh and undemocratic requirements of the 100 deputy-representatives, of which only 60 in the contest is the MORENA, a new party National Electoral Institute (INE). Through- will be selected by popular vote. The remain- launched by Andrés Manuel López Obrador out the campaign, the candidates of the Anti- ing 40 will be hand-picked by the city’s Head after breaking with the PRD. MORENA grew capitalist Slate have defied the three main of Government Miguel Ángel Mancera, along exponentially during the June 2015 midterm parties in Mexico, all of which are notorious with Mexican President Enrique Peña Nie- elections as a result of the crisis faced by the for governing the city in favor of big business to and members of Congress. Since the start traditional parties following the disappear- while lowering the living standards of the of the campaign, the Anti-capitalist Platform ance of the 43 Ayotzinapa students. In the majority of the city’s population. has denounced Mancera and Peña Nieto for Legislative Assembly elections (Mexico City’s As a result of recent political reforms, the this undemocratic setup. local Congress), MORENA gained almost Federal District (DF) will become a legal Furthermore, reducing the number of dep- 30 percent of the seats. However, since 40 entity called Mexico City, elevating its status uties elected by popular vote lowers the deputies for the Constituent Assembly were to that of other Mexican states. Until now, it chances for new parties like the Nation- directly appointed by the president and head has effectively functioned as the seat of pow- al Regeneration Movement (MORENA) to of Government, MORENA would likely get er, where the executive, legislative, and judi- have a place in the Assembly from which to only 20 percent of the seats. ciary branches reside, and was considered the criticize – though only moderately – the lack For the Constituent Assembly race, there is presidential jurisdiction. Almost 100 years of democracy in Mexico. a clear bias that favors the right-wing parties 44 | MEXICO

the alternate delegate, is a high school teach- er. Their proposals advance the needs of the oppressed of Mexico City –demanding laws against femicides and human trafficking, for the legalization of marijuana and unrestrict- ed access to public higher education. They also demand that elected officials earn no more than the average teacher and that offi- cials be subject to recall at any time. Estra- da and Moissen entered the race to challenge the political order. Interviewed by Left Voice Sergio Moissen stated, “We will struggle on every front so that the voices of workers, women and the youth are heard in the Constituent Assem- bly of Mexico City. We have a lifelong com- mitment to struggle for their rights. We want the demands of the working class and popu- lar sectors to be debated through the process of writing the new Constitution that will rule Mexico City.” “We ask that all worker and human rights organizations and social movements throw (PRI, PRD, and PAN). The PRI has already just one day before the election campaign their support behind our platform in the ensured a safe majority through this scheme. period began, leaving little time for the inde- upcoming elections,” said Sulem Estrada. “It’s They will also have their own candidates pendents to prepare their campaigns against enraging that the people in power always get elected to the Constituent Assembly along the registered establishment parties and away with their corrupt deals. History is ours! with the less-represented PAN and the PRD. MORENA –all of which have much greater Let’s write it together in the streets, schools resources. and labor centers. Let us storm their bunker, Independent Candidates Fight an Uphill break through with the voice of the working Battle A Militant Campaign class and popular sectors. We must expose The Constituent Assembly is yet anoth- In March 2016, the Anti-Capitalist Slate, their secrets and denounce how they legislate er undemocratic measure meant to prevent backed by the Socialist Workers’ Movement and manage resources against us!” the expression of popular discontent, which (Movimiento de Trabajadores Socialistas – Moissen added, “we want to win a platform has been building since 2012. On April 17, MTS), launched a militant campaign in Mex- for workers, women and youth from which the INE passed a resolution approving only ico City. To become eligible for the elections, we can denounce the abuses we suffer every eight of the 38 independent candidacies the Anti-Capitalist Platform had to fulfill all day: the lack of job security, violence against that entered the race. In the lead-up to this of the INE’s rigid requirements. In less than women, educational exclusion faced by the decision, independent campaigns faced sig- one week, the Anti-capitalists established an youth, repression and the criminalization of nificant disadvantages compared to the tra- NGO, obtained over 102,000 signatures (sur- protest. We ask the vote in order to say what ditional registered parties. It was necessary passing the required 73,492), and carried no one else will in the Constituent. We think to meet the INE’s criteria (complete a range out numerous other bureaucratic require- that the minimum criteria for this process to of bureaucratic procedures, form an NGO, ments. During the grueling process, many be democratic is to ensure that all 100 con- establish a bank account, etc.) and gath- MTS militants were harassed and detained by stituent deputies be elected through the pop- er almost 75 thousand signatures within the Mancera’s police while they were gathering ular vote. We’re tired of politicians being at span of one month. Furthermore, indepen- signatures at public transportation centers the service of the rich.” dents had to rely exclusively on their own and plazas. But with the support of workers, “The Anti-Capitalist Platform signals some- resources. students and women, the Anti-Capitalist Plat- thing new. We do not represent the inter- After the process was closed, the INE form and the MTS managed to force an open- ests of those in power. We’re part of the checked the signatures to confirm they were ing in an utterly undemocratic regime. Mexican youth who opposes militarization, all Mexico City residents. Although it is a An anti-capitalist independent candida- this undemocratic system and the collusion fundamental right to call for the revision of cy won without any support from capitalists between politicians and organized crime. decisions made by electoral authorities, inde- or politicians is an unprecedented victory. It We demand that the 43 students of the Ayo- pendent platforms were not permitted to dou- shows that working-class people and youth tzinapa School are returned alive. We want ble check the rejected signatures or take any can be political actors, set apart from the var- the people’s vote to win a platform through part in the validation process. ious parties that only rule in the interest of which we can bring out our proposals to As a result, the signatures of 2,144,000 Mex- capital and U.S. imperialism. It is imperative expand democratic rights for the majority of ico City citizens who backed independent for left organizations, workers, women and this city.” candidates will not be considered. Such is human rights organizations to support this Both candidates stressed that participating the case for the supporters of the “Your Con- initiative. in the Constituent Assembly elections was a stituent” Platform (#TuConstituyente), with step forward in the struggle for the rights of Mónica Tapia, Luis González Plascenc- Candidates for the Women, Workers, and the working class, women and youth. ia, Agustín Martínez, Gabriela Alarcón and Youth Their pre-campaign ended with a rally at Alfredo Lecona – all of whom have links to Sergio Moissen and Sulem Estrada, both the Benito Juárez Monument in the Historic urban social movements and human rights teachers, are leading the Anti-capitalist Slate. Center of Mexico City, with hundreds present activism. Moissen is a professor at the National Autono- to hear their speeches and the musical perfor- The INE’s April 17 resolution was released mous University of Mexico (UNAM). Estrada, mances afterwards. LEFT VOICE Summer 2016 | 45

Inheritance and Situation: Interview with a New Generation of Revolutionary Marxists in China

You recently published The History of Trotskyism. He collates many useful lessons, Left Voice spoke with American Trotskyism by James P. Cannon. including organizing principles, program- This is the first time the book was published matic questions, etc. Today in China, a new Stone Song and Ji Hengge, in Chinese. What was your motivation to generation of revolutionary socialists is con- translate and publish it in China? What lessons fronting the question of constructing some- Trotskyists in China who can the Chinese people learn from it and what thing of their own, something we are lacking kind of readership are you aiming at? and need to learn anew, including by learning translated and published Stone Song: Among American Trotskyists from history. and important figures of the Trotskyist move- The book is aimed towards progressive the first Chinese edition of ment worldwide, James P. Cannon is distin- young people in China so they can under- guished as an organizer and politician. His stand the conditions of socialist organizations The History of American life’s biggest contribution was to establish a and how to construct them. For example, a socialist revolutionary party in America, the normal organization should have the right to Trotskyism by James P. heart of world capitalism. What The Histo- factionalize internally, to allow for the inter- ry of American Trotskyism discusses is the nal democracy that allows discussion of dif- Cannon. history of the early beginnings of American ferent opinions; this is the first principle for 46 | INTERVIEW

establishing a healthy organization. young people who turned toward believing Bukharin, who advocated market reforms. What you can also understand from this in revolutionary Marxism. In today’s China, book is that for a socialist organization, pro- it is no longer forbidden to publish Trotsky’s With the slowdown of the Chinese grammatic questions are of chief importance. works; openly published works include The economy, labor unrest has risen. Do you After having the correct program, you have History of the Russian Revolution, Trotsky on sense increasing eagerness among workers to decide how to realize it according to the the Struggle Against Fascism, Trotsky on the for new ideas, more combative politics and/ development of circumstances. Chinese Revolution, and others. The work or a critique of “Chinese communism” from with the most published editions is My Life. the left? Is this part of a larger project? What other These books are openly sold in bookstores Ji Hengge: From the decline of rapid growth publications do you plan to translate and/or and people can easily buy and read them. of the Chinese economy, there is a rise in the publish and when? But works written by Trotskyist scholars, if number of workers’ protests. Looking at the Stone Song: Translating The History of they are critical of the Mao period or Deng quality of the labor movement however, it’s American Trotskyism is only the beginning. period, are restricted. Even if published, rel- still not very high. Up until now, workers’ We plan to translate other canonical texts of evant sections would have to be deleted. The struggles have focused on economic strug- the revolutionary Marxist tradition, for exam- clearest examples of this are the Chinese gles and not political ones. Class-conscious- ple, Trotsky’s The Spanish Revolution, In translations of Power and Money: A Marx- ness is still at a level of gradually establishing Defense of Marxism, The Transitional Pro- ist Theory of Bureaucracy by Ernest Mandel itself – it’s not very mature. The workers who gram and Discussions on the Program, the and Why Marx Was Right by Terry Eagleton. are capable of coming in contact with revo- Selected Writings and Speeches of James P. As a result, after 1949, China’s politics and lutionary Marxism are very few, almost neg- Cannon, and others. This selection of books culture turned towards – and had a one-sid- ligible. Individual laborers may from criticize is called the “collected renditions of the revo- ed special historical relation with – the Soviet the CCP from the left, but it’s mostly from a lutionary Marxist tradition.” We have decided Union and the average person is not unfamil- Maoist perspective. They absorb ideological to publish one to two every year, to gradually iar with the leaders of the Russian Revolu- information from the government ideology introduce these works. tion. The average person knows the names of pre-1978. Apart from translating these canonical Lenin, Stalin, and Trotsky, but has absorbed works, we plan to address present ques- the historical distortions of Stalinism towards What about young people in China today? tions (for example, on the present situation revolution and leadership. The older gener- Do you see potential for radicalization or a in Greece) by publishing collected works of ation views Trotsky as an opportunist and shift to the left among them? discussions. revisionist, and the number one enemy of Ji Hengge: Up until now, most Chinese socialist revolution. After the disintegration of young people haven’t had strong political How difficult is it to find writings by the Soviet Union, with the exchange of infor- consciousness; young students still pay more Trotsky in mainland China? Is the Russian mation and the publication of the Trotsky’s attention to their studies, individual lives, and revolutionary leader known at all? works, his leadership role in the Russian Rev- future work. Until now, there have been two Stone Song: Before the 1949 revolution, to olution was gradually understood in a new large social tides of thought: nationalism and represent the first generation of Trotskyists, light by people. During the course of this, liberalism. For young people these have had comrades of Chen Duxiu (陳獨秀) translated Beijing non-government affiliated scholars a relatively strong influence, but the influence some of Trotsky’s works. In the 1960s, dur- such as Shi Yongqin (施用勤)and some old- of nationalism is stronger, as seen particularly ing the debates between China and the Soviet er Trotskyists in 1999 translated and open- in CCP general-secretary Xi Jinping strength- Union, the Chinese Communist Party author- ly published the three-volume biography of ening his personality cult and social control, ities organized people to translate Trotsky’s Leon Trotsky by Isaac Deutscher. For a new and increasing the strength of nationalism. The Revolution Betrayed, The Third Interna- generation of young people, this had a very Discussing liberalism on the other side, tional After Lenin, and other works known as large effect on their understanding of Trotsky there are more demands for systemic changes. the “Gray Books” that were circulated inter- and revolutionary Marxism. Their economic advocacy is partial to priva- nally. Only government cadres and special- But scholars with a government background tization and marketization, which is unfavor- ized researchers were allowed to read them. belittled the worth of Trotskyist thought, able for workers and peasants. But politically, With the establishment of the Internet in believing Trotsky and Stalin both advocated the majority of liberal demands are only par- the 1990s came the advancement of the pro- super-industrialization, that even if Trotsky tial ones placed on the authorities. There is motion of Trotskyism. The two works I men- had been victorious in the internal party opposition to radical changes, that is, revolu- tioned earlier could be seen in translation and struggles, there would not be such a big dif- tionary changes of the system (not even capi- this caused a small amount of reflection from ference from Stalin. Instead, they appreciated talist democratic revolution). LEFT VOICE Summer 2016 | 47

But after the fall of Bo Xilai (薄熙來) in are left-wing Maoists). The most important Ji Hengge: Regarding this question, I have 2012, some young people who originally sup- activities are confined to political propagan- to first explain, the CCP’s official theory of ported Bo’s right-wing Maoism (essentially da (and even then, you have to be extremely China’s current central contradiction is “the nationalists) have become disillusioned; after careful: you can only express political opin- contradiction that people gradually have reflection some of these young people have ions in a roundabout manner). Accurately increased their material cultural demands abandoned their originally nationalist posi- speaking, most radical left-wing individuals while at the same time social productivity tions and turned to a more left position. This still cannot unite with present labor strug- lags behind. As a result of internal factors and has caused the number of radical young peo- gles, and very few of those workers who par- international influence, class struggle is still ple to increase after a few years – but fun- ticipate in strikes and other protests have limited in scope to long-term existence and damentally, this is a growth in every shade encountered radical left-wing individuals. may radicalize under some kind of condi- of left-wing Maoism, and the young people But growing worker struggles are in the pro- tion, but that isn’t the central contradiction.” that believe in revolutionary Marxism are still cess of establishing a foundation for increased Qiushi’s “Red Flag Manuscrupt”(紅旗文稿) marginal. In the past, the discussion of topics unity between such struggles and the radi- said that “class struggle still exists in China,” like socialism was bound together with patri- cal Left. Although Chinese laborers are cur- but then Study Times published an article otism and nationalism. More and more radi- rently in a situation without organization, stating, “According to class struggle, deter- cal youth begun to realize now that China has this also means their activities at least do not mine program” (but the truth is, for them, the been a capitalist society for a long time, and suffer the restrictive control of bureaucratic important contradiction isn’t class struggle). socialists should oppose nationalist logic. labor unions. Struggling workers deliberate- The two don’t present fundamental differenc- ly exclude Marxism, as Marxism is thought es – much less a situation of “One Party, Two The government has escalated its of as the government or ruling party ideolo- Publications.” repression against labor activists. In your gy. On the other hand they don’t believe the But relatively speaking, the “Red Flag Man- view, to what extent does this discourage liberals and don’t believe in the government. uscript” more strongly emphasizes the tradi- workers? Do these developments signal the Moreover, they believe they can only rely on tional values of the CCP, hoping to revitalize emergence of a new revolutionary left in their own strength to realize changes. Maybe the CCP’s ideological system, and the other China? in the future this can become the opportunity essay emphasizes the desire to not make class Ji Hengge: Although government actions to realize the Chinese worker’s leap in devel- struggle the central contradiction – to pre- repressing labor NGOs organizers are esca- opment. To be able to use this opportunity, vent disrupting the stability of present China lating, it cannot really put down labor strug- there needs to be revolutionary Marxists in a and establishing the normal establishment of gles of Chinese workers. With the economic large-scale worker’s movement that can push the capitalist market. decline, workers have lost jobs, there are more their political awareness, with the ability for Outside of this, it still needs to be empha- cases of owed wages, and moreover, the quali- propaganda work. sized that the class struggle put forward by ty of Chinese social security is very poor. Cap- The most important task for China’s new the CCP and the class struggle put forward italists’ pressure is very deep, inciting more generation of revolutionary Marxists is to by Communists is not the same. The CCP and more workers to rise up and struggle for explain clearly to the people the fundamen- points to the class struggle as between the the sake of their most fundamental econom- tal difference between the path of socialism “the CCP/people and enemies” and “con- ic security. The total number of worker pro- and Stalinism/Maoism’s bureaucratic social- tinuing to walk the road to socialism with tests in 2016 are predicted to be 1.5 to 2 times ism, to allow the people to clearly understand Chinese characteristics and walking to that of 2015, which saw more than 2,944 pro- the need for socialism and its feasibility, and multiparty western capitalism” as a con- tests. Some workers in the middle of strug- the true meaning of socialist democracy. tradiction (in truth, during the Cultural gle strove to establish their own trade unions Revolution, the CCP’s asserted class strug- or to demand unions founded on principles A controversy known as the “One Party, Two gle was not real class struggle, they had in of democratic choice, because until now Chi- Publications” debate erupted in 2014. The China put an end to the capitalist class and nese laborers haven’t yet been able to throw debate began when the party’s theoretical landowning class, and discussed overthrow- off the control of the official union, the All- journal, Qiushi (求是), stated that class ing party internal and party external cap- China Federation of Trade Unions (ACFTU), struggle still exists in China, a claim that italists and landowners, but this was only and haven’t been able to establish indepen- was flatly rejected by Study Times (學習 a slogan for advancing political purges). dent trade unions. 時報), the publication of the Central Party To put it simply, the real contradiction is At present, China’s far left is still small groups School of the Communist Party. What was supporting the CCP regime or opposing it, of people who rely on individual methods to behind this controversy and what are its which is not really a contradiction between organize (and even then, the large majority implications? capitalists and workers. Reemplazar por archivo de contratapa