First it was
Tunis, then Cairo, then Wisconsin, and now Spain. The crisis of
capitalism has set in motion a tsunami that is impossible to control.
All the representatives of the old order have combined to halt it:
politicians and police, judges and trade union bureaucrats, the hired
press and the television, priests and “intellectuals”. But the tsunami
of revolt rolls on from one country to another, from one continent to
another.
First it was
Tunis, then Cairo, then Wisconsin, and now Spain. The crisis of
capitalism has set in motion a tsunami that is impossible to control.
All the representatives of the old order have combined to halt it:
politicians and police, judges and trade union bureaucrats, the hired
press and the television, priests and “intellectuals”. But the tsunami
of revolt rolls on from one country to another, from one continent to
another.
Bankruptcy of Spanish capitalism
The
local and regional elections in Spain this weekend come at a time of
ever deeper economic, social and political crisis. For ten years the
Spanish economy was presented as the motor of job creation in the
euro-area. A frenzied speculative boom was followed by a severe slump.
Spain now stands on the edge of bankruptcy. Economists are warning of
revelations about higher debt levels than previously known. And
following the collapse in Greece, Ireland and Portugal, the “market” is
turning its attention to Spain.
Spanish capitalism went up like a
rocket and came down like a stick. The collapse of the construction boom
has left Spain with a painful hangover of falling house prices, huge
debts, one million empty homes and the highest rate of unemployment in
the European Union. The ranks of the jobless in Spain have soared to
about 4.9 million. With unemployment in Spain at 21 percent,
dissatisfaction has been growing. The discontent is reflected in
scepticism towards all the main political parties, which, given their
record, should surprise no-one.
In Spain, there are two main
parties: the right wing PP and the “socialist” PSOE. The first is made
up of the open representatives of Capital, the party of the bankers and
capitalists. We know very well what to expect from this party. The PSOE
is supposed to represent the interests of the working class. But does
it? Millions of workers voted for this party in the hope that it would
defend their living standards. But these hopes have been cruelly
deceived.
The leader of the Socialist Party, José Luis Rodríguez
Zapatero, was supposed to be a “left”. But under conditions of
capitalist crisis, there were only two alternatives: either take action
to break the power of the bankers and capitalists, or else accept the
dictates of big business and attack the living standards of the workers.
There is no third way, as Zapatero soon discovered. The PSOE leaders
surrendered to the bankers and capitalists, just as the reformists have
done in every other country.
Using the excuse of the economic
crisis (that is, the crisis of the capitalist system) the leaders of the
PSOE have joined hands with the bourgeoisie to save the system. They
are trying to place all the burden of the crisis onto the shoulders of
those least able to bear it: the workers, the youth, the old, the sick,
the unemployed. They pour billions into the pockets of the bankers,
while attacking living standards and pensions. 89% of Spaniards think
political parties only care about themselves, according to Metroscopia.
But is it any wonder that people are alienated from political parties
when they see this kind of thing?
The Social Democrats always
prepare the way for right wing reaction. That is their role. Already the
opinion polls indicate that the PSOE could lose to the right wing
Popular Party (PP) in at least one key region. Even Andalucía, which has
always been governed by the Socialists, might fall to the right wing.
This would set the stage for a defeat in general elections next year,
handing the government over to the right wing Popular Party, the open
party of big business.
This is to jump from the frying pan into
the fire. If the PP wins a majority, it will introduce even bigger
cuts. They will say: “You think there was so much debt, but no, there’s
more.” We have already seen this in Catalonia, where regional elections
last year swept out the Socialist-led coalition government, but the new
government of the CiU has introduced a vicious packet of cuts in health
care and education and attacks on living standards that has provoked a
wave of wild cat strikes and a 200,000 strong trade union demonstration
in Barcelona.
May 19, Madrid. Photo: Sergio Rozas
Mood of disappointment
The
leaders of the traditional workers parties are completely enmeshed with
the capitalists and their state. It is an intolerable state of affairs
that leaders who speak in the name of socialism and the working class,
or even “democracy”, preside over huge bailouts to private banks, which
signifies a big increase in the public debt that will be paid for by
years of cuts and austerity. This is done in the name of “the general
interest”, but is in reality a measure in the interest of the rich and
against the interest of the majority.
Under these conditions, the
working class looks to the trade unions for a lead. Under the pressure
from below the leaders of the UGT and CCOO called a general strike on 29
September last year. But the union leaders were desperate to do a deal
with the government, and saw the general strike only as a means of
putting pressure on Zapatero to give some concessions. They think that
they can get what they want through negotiation
the leaders, this is only a means of blowing off steam. For serious
trade unionists, on the contrary, strikes and demonstrations are a means
of getting the workers to understand their power and prepare the ground
for a fundamental change in society. Although they think of themselves
as practical and realistic people, the union leaders have not the
slightest idea of the seriousness of the crisis of capitalism. They
imagine that, by accepting cuts and other impositions in the hope that
everything will be all right in the end. This is an illusion. For every
step back they make, the bosses will demand three more.
In reality
the union leaders are just as out of touch with the real mood of anger
of the workers and youth as the leaders of the political parties. Having
called a general strike, they then agreed to a pension “reform” that
was completely unsatisfactory from the standpoint of the working class.
This led to a wave of disappointment that further reinforced the mood of
alienation, frustration and discontent.
As the class struggle
develops the radicalization of the rank and file of the unions will
undoubtedly enter into conflict with the conservatism of the leadership.
The workers will demand a complete transformation of the unions from
top to bottom, and will strive to turn them into real fighting
organizations. But at the present time the unions are lagging behind the
needs of the workers and youth. Elena Ortega, who has managed to find
only a part-time secretarial job, and helped spread the word on Facebook
about the protests on Wednesday, told CNN: "If this is happening, it’s because the unions weren’t doing what was needed, when it was needed. They haven’t delivered".
These
moods are most intense among young people, who, as always, are the
principal victims of the crisis. The figure of youth unemployment stands
at around 45 percent. Many university graduates, having worked hard to
obtain qualifications, cannot find work, or else are forced to accept
menial jobs on low wages. The levels of “precarious employment”, that
is, casual. part-time work, on short term contracts with no rights, is
at an all-time high in Spain.
This situation is not so very
different to that faced by young people in places like Tunisia and
Egypt. Yet Spain is not a Third World country, but a developed and
prosperous European economy. This glaring contradiction has produced a
mood of anger, frustration and bitterness in the youth, which does not
find any reflection in the existing political parties or trade unions.
The
discontent and frustration has finally burst to the surface. On Sunday
May 15, 150,000 people marched in about 40 cities throughout Spain under
the banner of Democracia Real Ya (Real Democracy Now). The
largest demonstration was in Madrid with 25,000 or more, followed by
Barcelona with 15,000. The main slogan of the demonstration was “We are
not commodities in the hands of bankers and politicians”, which shows an
instinctive anti-capitalist character of the movement.
Politicians
and expert commentators have dismissed this movement as “not having
clear aims”, or even “being opened to right wing manipulation”. The
truth is that the overwhelming majority of people present at the
demonstrations on May 15 would consider themselves as progressive and
left wing. The slogans, about the lack of housing, the lack of jobs, the
lack of future, the lack of genuine democracy, the dictatorship of the
markets, against corrupt politicians and their obscene wages, about the
strength of the organised people, show this clearly.
While May 15
took many by surprise, it had been preceded by a series of mobilisations
which showed the growing pressure building up below the surface. In
January and February, mass demonstrations of civil servants rocked
Murcia, where the regional right wing government of the PP has carried
out particularly vicious cuts. In the same region, activists have
organised and effectively resisted evictions of families who have
defaulted on their mortgage repayments. On April 7th
thousands of youth took to the streets following a call made by the
“Youth without future” platform, a coalition of left wing youth and
student groups.
It is also clear that the wave of the Arab
revolution has been an inspiration to many in Spain. They have seen the
power of ordinary people to change things when they are on the move. The
idea of setting up tent camps, comes directly from Tahrir Square in
Cairo. Many had also looked up to the Greek workers and youth and their
courageous mobilisations throughout last year, the massive strike
movement in France and even the movement of the youth in Portugal. A
sign in Madrid read: “France and Greece fight. Spain wins, in football”,
but not anymore. Despite the complete lack of leadership offered by the
leadership of the official organisations, the Spanish youth is on the
move, and they have the sympathy of wide layers of the workers.
Thousands
have been protesting on and off since Sunday in the Puerta del Sol, the
city centre in Madrid and in more than 80 cities and towns all over
Spain. Protests have also been organised by groups of Spanish youth
outside the embassies in a number of European capitals.
Threat to democracy?
protests took all the politicians by surprise. They have reacted with
hysteria and alarm. The defenders of the existing society are
scandalized: “this is anarchy”, they protest. “This is chaos!” Some even
say it is a “threat to democracy”. Yet what we are seeing on the
streets of Madrid and other Spanish cities is no threat to democracy
but, on the contrary, an attempt to exercise direct democracy: to give a
voice to those who have no voice, to defend the interests of those who
nobody defends.
When they speak of a “threat to democracy”, what
do they mean? Democracy in its literal sense signifies the rule of the
people. But is it true that the people really rule in Spain or anywhere
else? No, it is false. In the framework of capitalist society, the
participation of the majority of people in democracy is limited to
voting every five years or so for one or other of the existing political
parties. Once they are elected, they do whatever they like, and the
people have no means of changing anything.
Under capitalism all
the key decisions are taken by the boards of directors of the big banks
and monopolies. They decide whether people will have jobs and houses or
not. Nobody elects them and they are responsible to nobody but
themselves. The real relationship between the elected governments and
the bourgeoisie was exposed in the recent crisis, when the bankers were
given a present of billions of public money with no questions asked. In
reality, bourgeois “democracy” is only another word for the dictatorship of Capital.
Those
who protest do so because they do not recognize themselves in any of
the existing parties. And who can blame them? Many people are saying:
what is the use in voting when they are all the same? They look at the
election campaign with a mixture of indifference and disgust. If this
represents a “threat to democracy”, those responsible are not the young
people who are protesting in the Puerta del Sol but the ones sitting in
the Palacio de la Moncloa.
The right to peaceful protest is a
basic democratic right. It was for this right that the Spanish working
class fought for decades against the Franco dictatorship. Last Sunday
thousands of people, mainly young but also others, went to the Puerta
del Sol in the centre of Madrid to register their protest against a
system that effectively excludes them. In so doing they were exercising
this basic right. How is this democratic conquest being upheld by those
who are in control of Madrid and the whole of Spain?
Those people
who fill their mouths with the word “democracy” depicted this peaceful
protest as a “threat to democracy”. On the early hours of Tuesday May 17
Madrid authorities sent the riot police to disperse a relatively small
group of protesters who had set up a camp in Puerta del Sol with the
utmost violence. Madrid is ruled by the right wing PP. They must
therefore bear the direct responsibility for this brutal and unprovoked
attack. But they could never have done this without the approval (tacit
or open) of the Zapatero government. This hypocritical chorus was to be
expected from the right wing. But it is shameful that people who call
themselves “socialists” and “lefts” should echo this poison.
tough tactics did not work. On Tuesday night, tens of thousands
protesters returned to Madrid’s central plaza. By Wednesday morning,
many remained in their overnight encampment. On Wednesday afternoon,
Madrid’s elections board banned the planned demonstration at 8 pm at the
Puerta del Sol. A regional office spokesman said the election board was
trying to prevent demonstrations during the final days of the election
campaign because it “could affect the right of citizens to vote freely”.
The board said there were not "extraordinary and serious reasons" to
allow the demonstration on short notice. And to sooth the nerves of
voters, El Pais reported that authorities planned to have sufficient
police officers on hand to prevent the demonstration. The Madrid Metro
system was warning passengers not to go to Plaza del Sol “as the rally
has not been allowed”.
But faced with tens of thousands of people
who once again turned up to show their protest, the authorities realised
it would be unwise to use the riot police to confront them, as this
would have only radicalised the movement further and provoked and even
more massive response.
It is not only in Spain where democratic
rights are being trampled. Not long ago Cossiga, who was Christian
Democrat Minister of the Interior in Italy in the 1970s, later President
of the Republic, and now life Senator, was asked what should be done
about students’ demonstrations. He answered:
“Let them
get on with it for a while. Withdraw the police from the streets and
campuses, infiltrate the movement with agents provocateurs who are ready
for anything, and leave the demonstrators for about ten days as they
devastate shops, burn cars and turn the cities upside down. After that,
having gained the support of the population – making sure that the noise
of the ambulance sirens is louder than those of the police and carabinieri –
the forces of order should ruthlessly attack the students and send them
to hospital. Don’t arrest them, as the judges will only release them
immediately; just beat them up and also the professors who foment the
movement.”
Here is the authentic voice of the
“democratic” bourgeoisie. The moment their privileges are threatened,
they cast aside the smiling mask of “democracy” and resort to violence
and repression. The youth of Spain – like the youth of Britain a few
months earlier – is receiving a splendid lesson in the values of
bourgeois democracy, delivered in the form of truncheon blows. By
dispersing a peaceful demonstration the rulers of Spain showed two
things: firstly their complete contempt for the democratic right to
demonstrate; secondly their fear of the people.
Manifesto of the May 15 Movement
The
youth of Spain is beginning to draw the most advanced conclusions. The
following is the Manifesto of the May 15 Movement. While we do not agree
with every dot and comma of this document, it is an extraordinary
expression of the feelings of millions of people who are now beginning
to awaken to political life, for this is fundamentally a political
document, even though its authors do not use this word. The reason they
do not like the word “political” is because the scandalous conduct of
the existing political parties have made the word stink in their
nostrils:
“We are ordinary people. We are like you: people, who
get up every morning to study, work or find a job, people who have
family and friends. People, who work hard every day to provide a better
future for those around us.
The most important aspect of this is precisely that it is a spontaneous
movement from below, from the real base of society. It is the voice of
those who work in the factories and study in the schools and
universities: the real voice of Spain, not that of the exploiters and
parasites. This represents its inner strength and resilience.
“Some
of us consider ourselves progressive, others conservative. Some of us
are believers, some not. Some of us have clearly defined ideologies,
others are apolitical, but we are all concerned and angry about the
political, economic, and social outlook which we see around us:
corruption among politicians, businessmen, bankers, leaving us helpless,
without a voice.
Comment: This is a mass
movement that is giving a voice to the people who have no voice: the
people who do not feel represented by the professional politicians and
political apparatchiks who sit in the Cortes, that is to say, the great
majority of the Spanish people. It is a protest against corruption and
exploitation. But here we find a contradiction. How is it possible to
hold such radical views and be a conservative? A conservative is
somebody who wishes to conserve the status quo, who defends the existing
order that the present movement seeks to overturn.
To seek to
build a mass movement with the broadest base is very good. But it is not
possible to combine fire with water. Either we stand for a complete
change in society, in which case we are revolutionaries. Or we stand for
its preservation, in which case we are conservatives. One can be one
thing or the other, but one cannot be both.
“This
situation has become normal, a daily suffering, without hope. But if we
join forces, we can change it. It’s time to change things, time to build
a better society together. Therefore, we strongly argue that:“The priorities of any advanced society must be equality, progress,
solidarity, freedom of culture, sustainability and development, welfare
and people’s happiness.“These are inalienable truths that we
should abide by in our society: the right to housing, employment,
culture, health, education, political participation, free personal
development, and consumer rights for a healthy and happy life. ”
Comment:
Yes, we must fight for all these things. But we must understand that
there are powerful interests opposed to change. The bankers, landlords
and capitalists do not accept that the right to housing, employment,
culture, health, education, political participation, free personal
development, and consumer rights for a healthy and happy life are
inalienable rights.
They will tell us that these things are
luxuries we cannot afford. Only the right of the bankers to receive vast
amounts of public money are considered by them to be inalienable.
“The
current status of our government and economic system does not take care
of these rights, and in many ways is an obstacle to human progress. ”
Comment:
That is right, but it needs to be clarified, so that there does not
remain a shadow of doubt concerning the real nature of the problem.
Unemployment is not the result of bad policies by this or that
government. It is an expression of the sickness of a whole system, that
is to say, of capitalism. The problem is not the greed of certain
individuals, nor is it the lack of liquidity or the absence of
confidence. The problem is that the capitalist system on a world scale
is in a complete blind alley.
The root cause of the crisis is that
the development of the productive forces has outgrown the narrow limits
of private ownership and the nation state. The expansion and
contraction of credit is often presented as the cause of the crisis, but
in fact it is only the most visible symptom. Crises are an integral
part of the capitalist system.
Is it really logical that the lives
and destinies of millions of people are determined by the blind play of
market forces? Is it fair that the economic life of the planet is
decided as if it were a gigantic casino? Can it be justified that the
greed for profit is the sole motor force that decides whether men and
women will have a job or a roof over their heads? Those who own the
means of production and control our destinies will answer in the
affirmative because it is in their interest to do so. But the majority
of society, who are the innocent victims of this cannibalistic system,
disagree.
“Democracy belongs to the people (demos =
people, krátos = government) which means that government is made of
every one of us. However, in Spain most of the political class does not
even listen to us. Politicians should be bringing our voice to the
institutions, facilitating the political participation of citizens
through direct channels that provide the greatest benefit to the wider
society, not to get rich and prosper at our expense, attending only to
the dictatorship of major economic powers and holding them in power
through a bipartidism headed by the immovable acronym PP & PSOE.”
Comment:
Under capitalism democracy must necessarily have a restricted,
one-sided and fictitious character. What use is freedom of the press
when all the big newspapers, journals and television companies, meeting
halls and theatres are in the hands of the rich? As long as the land,
the banks and the big monopolies remain in the hands of a few, all the
really important decisions affecting our lives will be taken, not by
parliaments and elected governments but behind locked doors in the
boards of directors of the banks and big companies. The present crisis
has exposed this fact for all to see.
stand for a genuine democracy in which the people would take the
running of industry, society and the state into their own hands. That
would be a genuine democracy, as opposed to the caricature we now have,
in which anyone can say (more or less) what they want, as long as the
most important decisions affecting our lives are taken behind locked
doors by small, unelected groups on the boards of directors of the banks
and big monopolies.
“Lust for power and its
accumulation in only a few; create inequality, tension and injustice,
which leads to violence, which we reject. The obsolete and unnatural
economic model fuels the social machinery in a growing spiral that
consumes itself by enriching a few and sends into poverty the rest.
Until the collapse.“The will and purpose of the current system
is the accumulation of money, not regarding efficiency and the welfare
of society. Wasting resources, destroying the planet, creating
unemployment and unhappy consumers.“Citizens are the gears of a
machine designed to enrich a minority which does not regard our needs.
We are anonymous, but without us none of this would exist, because we
move the world.“If as a society we learn to not trust our future
to an abstract economy, which never returns benefits for the most, we
can eliminate the abuse that we are all suffering.!”
Comment: The right to work is
a fundamental right. What sort of society condemns millions of
able-bodied men and women to a life of enforced inactivity, when their
labour and skills are required to satisfy the needs of the population?
Do we not need more schools and hospitals? Do we not need good roads and
houses? Are the infrastructure and transport systems not in need of
repair and improvement?
The answer to all these questions is well
known to everybody. But the reply of the ruling class is always the
same: we cannot afford these things. Now everybody knows that this
answer is false. We now know that governments can produce extraordinary
sums of money when it suits the interests of the wealthy minority who
own and control the banks and industries. It is only when the majority
of working people request that their needs are attended to that the
government argues that the money is not available.
What does this
prove? It proves that in the system in which we live the profits of the
few are more important than the needs of the many. It proves that the
whole productive system is based on one thing and one thing only: the
profit motive, or, put plainly, greed.
“We need an
ethical revolution. Instead of placing money above human beings, we
shall put it back to our service. We are people, not products. I am not a
product of what I buy, why I buy and who I buy from.”
Comment: The only solution to the problems listed here is the
overthrow of the present corrupt and unjust system and its replacement
by a genuinely humane, rational and democratic society, which is genuine
socialism or communism. In order to achieve this end, however, what is needed is a fundamental change in society – a revolution.
The
Manifesto speaks of an “ethical revolution”. But this formulation is
too vague. The ethics of a given society reflect the economic base of
that society. If we accept an economic system based on profit, we must
accept the ethics that flow from this: “each for himself and let the
devil take the hindermost.”
A cannibalistic society will
inevitably have cannibalistic ethics. Before we can have humane ethics
we must have a society based on genuine human relations. The prior
condition for an ethical revolution is a social revolution.
“For all of the above, I am outraged.
I think I can change it.
I think I can help,
I know that together we can. I think I can help.
I know that together we can.”
This
conclusion contains a most important lesson. It tells us that whereas
I, as a single individual, am powerless, there is no power on earth that
can withstand the masses, once they are mobilized and organized for the
revolutionary transformation of society. That is the lesson of Tunisia
and Egypt. The working class has in its hands a colossal power: not a
light bulb shines, not a wheel turns, and not a telephone rings without
our permission.
Advanced conclusions
The most important
thing is that the youth is on the move, and through the experience of
concrete struggle the conclusions that the movement as a whole is
drawing are becoming more advanced and are coming more openly into
conflict with the capitalist system itself. Thus, at the demonstration
in Madrid on Tuesday, in protest against the brutal eviction of the camp
that same morning, the following slogans could be heard: “it is not the
crisis, it is the system”, “the revolution, has begun”, “they
call it democracy and it is not”, and also the slogans from the 1970s
Chilean movement: “el pueblo unido jamás sera vencido” (the people
united would never be defeated), “luchar, crear, poder popular” (to
fight, to build, peoples’ power).
The
manifesto adopted by the tens of thousands present at Plaza del Sol in
Madrid on May 18 was certainly a step forward. Amongst other things it
recognised the political character of the movement: “we have lost
respect for the main political parties, but we have not lost our
ability to criticise. On the contrary we are not afraid of politics. To express an opinion is politics. To look for alternative ways to participate is politics”.
It also clarified that it did not call for an abstention in the
elections, but rather it demanded that “voting would have a real impact
in our lives”. The manifesto also clearly identified those responsible
for “the situation we face: the IMF, the European Central Bank, the
European Union, the credit rating agencies like Moody’s and Standard and
Poor’s, the Popular Party and the PSOE, ” amongst others. Some are also
questioning the Monarchy as an institution and arguing it should be put
to a referendum.
Now the Electoral Junta has declared that no
protests on Saturday (the “day of reflection” before elections day in
which no political propaganda is allowed) and Sunday (election day
itself) will be allowed. This is a direct challenge to the movement. The
only effect of the repression in Madrid on Tuesday 17, and the banning
of the demonstration on Wednesday 18 has been to radicalise and spread
the movement. Demonstrations in provincial capitals have doubled in size
in the last few days and tent camps have sprung everywhere. There is
now a call for everyone to remain in the squares from midnight today,
thus defying the prohibition of demonstrations.
The Spanish ruling
class is faced with a difficult choice: if they use repression to
enforce the decision to ban the demonstrations then they can provoke a
social explosion, if they do not, then the movement will have won a
victory and shown the power of the masses as opposed to the power of the
official institutions. Vice-president Rubalcaba was today trying to
square the circle by arguing that the fact that people gather despite
gatherings being banned, “is not a reason enough for the police to
intervene unless there is violence”
We Marxists welcome the
protests of the youth. We express our wholehearted solidarity with the
protest movement and call on the working class to support it actively.
It is time to use the power of the working class to change society. It
is time to put an end to all prevarications, unprincipled deals and
compromises. Stop trying to prop up a diseased and moribund system! It
is time to unite and fight! This is the real meaning of the Spanish
protests and the May 15 Movement.
Long live the Spanish protests!
Long live the May 15 Movement!
