On Wednesday, November 14, an unprecedented wave of class struggle swept across Europe. In 23 countries, involving 40 unions, there were general strikes, protests and demonstrations against the austerity cuts and attacks on living standards by the incumbent regimes trying to sustain a decaying and crisis-ridden capitalism in the continent. This ‘Day of Action and Solidarity’ was organised by the European Trade Union Confederation due to the mounting pressure from below of the workers and youth who are suffering tremendously from these cuts in wages, pensions, social benefits and other austerity measures. On a banner of the Communist Trade Union Federation (CCOO) in the Barcelona demonstration it was written, “We are launching a day that will be a milestone in the history of European unionism.” After the economic collapse of 2008 and bank defaults that triggered the biggest financial crash of capitalism after the Depression of 1929, the governments bailed out these parasitic banks and big businesses with billions of Euros from the state exchequers that led to the sovereign defaults of 2012, threatening bankruptcies of several states. The workers were being forced to bear the brunt.
The European proletariat came out in defiance. In Spain, Italy, Greece and Portugal, there were general strikes and violent clashes between the workers and the police. Rubber bullets were fired and tear gas was used against the protesters and 82 people were arrested in Madrid alone. A banner at the march in Madrid read, “They are taking away our future.” There were severe clashes in Milan and Rome was paralysed by the strike. In Naples and Brescia, protesters occupied rail tracks; in Genoa, the entrance to the ferry port was blocked. In Pisa, protesters hung banners from the top of the Leaning Tower, while in Venice protesters draped banners in a bank reading, “You are making money out of our debts.” In Vienna, around 350 people were dancing Sirtaki (a Greek jig) beneath the St. Stephens Cathedral, showing their solidarity with the Greek and European workers fighting austerity. Similar scenes were seen in Lisbon. In Greece this was the 19th general strike in less than two years. Kostas Kapetanakis, a young sociologist protesting in Athens told The Guardian, “Across the board I heard people say that they had been able to survive, so far, because of the handouts from their parents or family support. But when that dries up, and it will with these latest measures, there will be no reason not to descend en masse onto the streets. There will be a revolt because we will have nothing to lose.”
There were massive demonstrations in Brussels and the railway workers went on strike. The famous Thallys fast train services were suspended. Similarly, 700 flights were cancelled. In France, there were 130 mass protests planned in different cities. There have been reports of violent clashes between the police and striking demonstrators in Paris, Toulouse, Marseilles and other cities of France. The German workers also came out in protests to support the class struggle of the proletariat of the rest of Europe. One of the largest unions in Germany, DGB organised protest demonstrations in Berlin, Frankfurt, Hamburg and several other German cities. In London, there was a protest rally held at Westminster along with protests in other British cities. The British Trade Unions Council (TUC) wrote a letter to the European Commission that said, “These austerity measures by the European Commission, IMF and the European Common Bank only serve to worsen imbalances and foster injustice. Workers and citizens are paying the price for a crisis they did not cause…unemployment, falling wages and living standards and cuts in public services.” Europe is facing the highest unemployment in modern history. The overall European Union unemployment has soared to 11.6 percent while the youth unemployment is a staggering 23.3 percent.
The organic crisis of capitalism has become so acute that it has trapped the European societies in a vicious cycle. When they impose draconian austerity measures leading to the dismantling of the social welfare system, they cut into the markets and consumer spending; this retards growth and exacerbates industrial closures leading to even more unemployment. If they continue social spending, sovereign default and the state’s bankruptcy is the result. Now to sustain the rates of profit of the bourgeoisie, they have no choice but to carry out drastic cuts and brutally attack the living standards of the ordinary people. The reality is that in all the advanced capitalist countries the masses are being forced to adopt a new norm. After seven generations, the European masses would not be able to have the benefits of a social welfare state and the reforms that were achieved through intense struggles. Wednesday’s pan-European protests were a rejection, in fact, of a system that is now clearly failing to develop society. After WW II, there was a revolutionary ferment throughout Europe. This movement was defeated at the hands of the leaders of the traditional workers parties and the unions. The western capitalist upswing of 1948-74 was based on massive reconstruction of a war-ravaged Europe and the imperialist super-exploitation of the former colonial countries. Through that surplus the reformist parties and unions could induce reforms to vent and defuse the revolts from below. The revolutionary storm that had engulfed Europe in the late 1960s and early 1970s was diverted through the reformist leaders of the traditional organisations. In the absence of a mass revolutionary party, these revolutionary currents failed to achieve a socialist victory.
Now those options are finished. Capitalism in its terminal decay cannot generate enough surplus to finance the social welfare system. On the contrary, today’s sick capitalism is extracting huge amounts from the state to sustain its obscene rates of profit. The rich are becoming immensely richer while poverty, unemployment and deprivation is pulverising the mass of the population. The movements in the recent period are evidence of the fact that the epicentre of the world revolution is once again moving to Europe. During the ongoing mass upheaval, the Marxist current of the Izquierda Unida (United Left) in Spain, Lucha de Clases put forward an alternate programme to resolve this harrowing crisis of historic proportions. It ended with the following words, “Another Europe is possible, a Europe that defends the overwhelming majority of the population. No to the Europe of the bankers and the rich! This idea can unite the immense majority of the current population of the EU. The only solution for Europe is the Socialist United States of Europe!”
The writer is the editor of Asian Marxist Review and International Secretary of Pakistan Trade Union Defence Campaign. He can be reached at [email protected]