Fracción Trotskista Cuarta Internacional

The call for justice for Freddie Gray on May Day in the U.S.

Robert Belano, Valeria Molina — 2015-05-01T12:07:50Z

On May 1, demonstrations will take place in cities across the U.S. calling for justice for Freddie Gray and all of the countless black youth who have died at the hands of the police in recent years. The movement, which was launched under the rallying cry of Black Lives Matter, will hold protests in Baltimore, New York, Los Angeles, Miami, Seattle, Chicago, and several other cities. Dockworkers in Oakland will shut down the ports in solidarity with the movement.

No more business as usual on May Day in the US

Across the world, workers, youth, and left recognize International Workers Day, as the annual commemoration of the martyrs of Chicago, who in 1886, were hanged for taking part in demonstrations in support of an 8-hour work day. It is notable that five of the eight of the defendants persecuted that day were German immigrants. In recent years, the day has come to represent the struggles of two other super exploited sectors of the U.S. working class–undocumented immigrants and African Americans.

After many decades, in which the tradition had been nearly forgotten in the U.S., more than 1.5 million immigrants took to the streets across the country on May 1, 2006 in protest of the xenophobic Sensenbrenner Bill proposed in Congress. These historic marches breathed new life into the working class and the left in the United States over the last nine years and brought May Day back into the consciousness of millions. This year, the Black Lives Matter movement will also reclaim May Day as a day of struggle and protest.

The cause of black and immigrant workers is the cause of all workers
The chief function of racism against blacks under capitalism, just like the chief function of xenophobia against immigrant workers, is to divide the working class, not only lowering wages, but undercutting class solidarity. For this reason, it is of the utmost necessity that all workers take up the cause of Black Lives Matter and full citizenship rights for immigrant workers.

The dockworkers of Oakland have recognized this, and have called for a shutdown of the ports with the demand of Justice for Freddie Gray. Yet to date, the major union bureaucracies across the country have refused to call for strikes in support of Black Lives Matter. The Service Employees International Union (SEIU), which represents 2 million workers nationally and is the main organizer of the Fight for $15 in the fast food sector could have taken the natural step of linking the struggle of fast food workers, the majority of whom are black and Latino, to the struggles taking place in the streets of Baltimore today. Yet, the union has so far resisted mobilizing its considerable forces to in support of the Black Lives Matter protests.

Largely independent of the unions and major political organizations, thousands of primarily black youth are expected to join the May 1st demonstrations around the country. It is this sector, along with the immigrant workers, who have made May 1st a symbol of militant working class struggle once again in the country, and reminded the U.S. workers of their courageous history and immense potential.

What Can We Expect from Podemos in Spain?

Robert Belano — 2015-04-21T11:32:13Z

A political outsider takes center stage
Outside of Syriza in Greece, there is perhaps no European political party in recent years that has experienced a rise in popularity quite as rapid as that of Podemos in Spain. Like Syriza, Podemos was born out of the widespread discontent with the social democratic, liberal, and conservative parties of the European establishment who have held power for decades and who have all embraced the policies of neoliberalism. However, also like Syriza, Podemos has not offered political solutions that would break from the capitalist status quo that has left millions in poverty and desperation across the continent.

Without a doubt, Podemos is the first party [1]. in recent history to mount a significant challenge to the two parties of the Spanish ruling class–the social democratic Spanish Socialist Workers Party (PSOE) and the conservative People's Party (PP). According to an April 9th poll, Podemos would win the general elections if they were held today, with 22.1 percent of the vote, just ahead of the PSOE, which earned 21.9 percent support. In January, the party had its strongest show of strength yet, when more than 100,000 people filled Puerta del Sol square in Madrid, to show their support for Podemos and denounce the austerity programs carried out by the PP and PSOE. With December's elections fast approaching, all eyes are on Podemos and its charismatic presidential candidate, Pablo Iglesias.

The origins of Podemos
In the days and weeks following May 15, 2011, tens of thousands of young people occupied the plazas throughout Spain, demanding jobs and an end to austerity. The youth, who came to be known as the indignados (the indignant), captured the attention of the world and would later inspire the Occupy movement in the United States.

With an unemployment rate of nearly 25% in the country and austerity programs which brought massive cuts to health care, education, transportation, and other public services, the Spanish workers and oppressed classes lost faith in the ability of the PSOE to provide solutions to the crisis at hand. The fall from grace of both parties of the Spanish political establishment has been hastened too by multiple corruption scandals linked to both the PSOE and PP [2]. This was the context in which the Podemos (We can) party arose. Within a just few months of its founding, the party had won five seats in the European parliament.

The origins of Podemos differ from those of the social democratic and eurocommunist left of years past in that its roots are not in the trade unions. Instead, the party was launched by university professors and public intellectuals, among them the political science professor Pablo Iglesias, who had become a popular television personality. Podemos was also joined by the Izquierda Anticapitalista (Anticapitalist Left) party, a member of the United Secretariat of the Fourth International.

A Participatory Process?
The founding manifesto of Podemos made connections to the indignados movement and declared the need for an "open, participatory process" of organization. Yet, despite its links to the youth movement, which had made decisions by assembly and stressed "horizontalism", the leadership of Podemos has increasingly adopted undemocratic and vertical methods of organization.

In November 2014, following the party's "Citizens' Assembly", Podemos carried out an online vote among its members on three documents which would determine the party's policies, methods of organization, and "ethics". The voting system, which was organized by a "committee of experts" close to Iglesias, only allowed for vote en bloc, whereby a vote for one faction's organizational document also meant a vote for their political and ethical documents as well. In this system, it was inevitable that all the documents of the Iglesias faction would win out. Furthermore, Iglesias, conscious of the power of his charismatic figure, threatened to resign from the leadership, if his documents were not voted upon. An important component of the faction's ethical document was a prohibition on "dual militancy" which would prevent militants of other parties such as Izquierda Anticapitalista (IA) from holding positions of responsibility within Podemos. This restriction prevented Eurodeputy for Podemos, Teresa Rodríguez from holding a position of leadership within Podemos because of her militancy within IA.

Two weeks after the "election of documents", the party held internal elections for its leadership positions. Although the vote was technically not restricted to blocs, the online voting system, thanks to the committee of experts, was such that clicking on one list automatically selected all of the candidates of that slate. In the end, Iglesias was voted General Secretary and all 62 positions available went to the Iglesias faction.

The Economic Platform of Podemos
While described by much of the international bourgeois press as the "far-left", Podemos, like Syriza in Greece, is in essence a new center left party, with a social democratic economic program, and a populist rhetoric, minus the historical links to the unions. In November 2014, the party presented its economic program entitled "An Economic Platform for the People". The program called for the reduction of the workweek to 35 hours, although whether workers will experience a decrease in wages as occurred in France in 2000 is still a question [3]. The program does not include any additional measures which would prevent such a decrease in wages. The platform also called for the creation of new jobs along the lines of a Rooseveltian New Deal and guaranteed "access to credit". It is notable also that Podemos scaled back nearly all of the already moderate demands that had propelled the party's popularity during the European parliamentary elections. Podemos' earlier demand for nonpayment of the international debt was replaced by a call for the "organized restructuring" of the debt and its demand for the minimum age of retirement to be reduced to 60 from 65 was also jettisoned.

The limits of an anti-austerity party
The Podemos program contains various anti-austerity demands, but as a whole, it represents an adaptation to capitalism, rather than a fundamental challenge to it. This adaptation was taken even further recently by the party's Political Secretary Iñigo Errejón. Asked whether, if upon taking office, Podemos would forgive the Greek debt to Spain, Errejón responded "No, we would like to recover that money."

The example of Syriza in Greece has demonstrated that an anti-austerity government, which does not challenge the institutions of capital, will be incapable not only of confronting capitalism but even austerity itself. We can expect that politics of Podemos become more and more moderate as they gain positions in the state structure. Riding the outrage of the indignados movement, the party has striven to divert the popular outrage through institutional channels and electoral politics. Behind a radical rhetoric and a charismatic leadership, the substance of Podemos' political program is to try to "fix" capitalism, not to destroy it.

This article was based on the following previously published articles from La Izquierda Diario:

http://www.laizquierdadiario.com/De-Arquimedes-a-Iglesias-dadme-un-reglamento-de-voto-y-creare-el-partido-que-quiero
http://www.laizquierdadiario.com/Que-es-y-adonde-va-Podemos
http://www.laizquierdadiario.com/Podemos-presenta-su-programa-economico-con-raices-socialdemocratas

Sources
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/04/12/us-spain-poll-idUSKBN0N30C220150412
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jan/31/podemos-spain-austerity-rally-madrid-syriza
https://hiredknaves.wordpress.com/2014/01/20/podemos-translated-manifesto/

[1] We should note that Podemos did not initially refer to itself as a party but rather a "citizens' initiative"

[2] Recent corruption allegations have included the so-called ERE case in Andalusia in which PSOE officials have been accused of siphoning millions in government payouts meant to help the unemployed and the case of Rodrigo Rato, former Vice President in the PP government, and past chief of the International Monetary Fund, who was arrested on charges of tax evasion and money laundering this past week.

[3] http://economics.mit.edu/files/3230

U.S.: Republicans and Democrats Versus Immigrant Workers

Juan Cruz Ferre, Robert Belano — 2015-02-20T00:04:33Z

Republicans and Democrats Versus Immigrant Workers

The dispute over immigration reform and the obstructionism of the Republicans against the timid concessions offered by Obama produce the illusion of a dispute between antagonistic forces. A closer look reveals that, despite differing in tactics and in discourse in order to appeal to their respective electoral bases, the two parties defend similar interests.

The Democratic party, bound by the support of Latinos and the unions, has been forced to make some minimal concessions to immigrant workers in recent years, such as the 2013 immigration reform plan introduced in Congress which ultimately stalled. Having failed in that route and shaken by the defeat in last November's midterm elections, Obama decided to issue an executive order which would give some breathing room to a significant number of undocumented immigrants.

The Republicans, who have no need to respond to the demands of these sectors, have rejected outright all attempts to protect undocumented immigrants and have called for massive deportations. These calls have served to solidify the support of the party's reactionary and racist base, while also shifting attention away from the current economic crisis, for which the Republicans, just like the Democrats have been incapable of providing a solution.

However, both Republicans and Democrats represent industries which profit immensely on exploiting immigrant workers, such as the service industry, construction, and agribusiness. Even under Obama's new immigration plan, between 6 and 7 million immigrants will remain undocumented, and forced to work at low wages with virtually no protections.

Immigrant workers and the state

The dynamic of immigrant workers has been studied by many, including Burrowoy and Arrighi. Both have demonstrated the importance of state policies in generating and perpetuating the systems of exploitation of immigrant labor. The cases of South African and California have served as paradigms to explain this mechanism. First, through policies of disposession, unfair competition, and economic attacks, among other measures, individuals in a subsitance economy (in our case, Mexico and Central America) are deprived of the ability to sustain themselves. As a consequence, they are obliged to abandon their land and seek out work. NAFTA is a good example of a policy of the strangulation of low-skilled and rural workers in Mexico.

The state's second attack comes when the migrant worker arrives in her new country. In order to ensure that this new army of second-class workers keeps its head down and works under the conditions that are imposed upon it, they deny the basic rights of protest, association, and strike. How? By maintaining workers in permanent "illegal" status.

Both the Republican plan, and the Democratic plan serve to discipline any immigrant worker who stands up for her rights, demands a higher wage or seeks better working conditions. Pressured by the growing discontent of its electoral base, the Democrats aim to shield a portion of undocumented workers from raids and deportations. By delivering certain concessions, and more generally, coöpting the immigrant movement through religious and nonprofit organizations, the Democrats have succeeded for the moment in containing the conflict within institutional channels and away from mass mobilization.

But neither the Obama plan, nor of course the Republican plan, offers the chance at citizenship for immigrant workers. We have seen why both parties are interested in maintaining the current status quo.

The struggle of immigrant workers for their democratic rights is of utmost importance. The majority of the unions have underestimated or ignored this sector for decades, although things appear to be changing slightly. In order to win the right to full citizenship for such a large sector of the working class, it will be neccessary for all workers, unionized as well as the the most exploited, to fight arm-in-arm, independent of the Democratic party and its associated organizations. A victory of this magnitude will strenghten enormously not only immigrant workers, but the whole of the working class.