Drastic times call for drastic
measures. The price the Tories want ordinary working people to pay for
the crisis of their system is the wholesale destruction of the basic
minimum living standards of a civilised existence for millions. There
are no two ways about it. This is open class conflict, where one class
will succeed and one class will fail.
Drastic times call for drastic
measures. The price the Tories want ordinary working people to pay for
the crisis of their system is the wholesale destruction of the basic
minimum living standards of a civilised existence for millions. There
are no two ways about it. This is open class conflict, where one class
will succeed and one class will fail.
The movement that has started with the heroic march of the students
makes up just part of a general revival of the world working class. In
France we saw society grind to a halt for two months as the workers
mobilised against Sarkozy’s counter-reforms. In Dublin, 100,000 have
demonstrated against austerity. In Portugal we have seen the biggest
general strike since the 1974 revolution, following the September
general strike in Spain. In Greece we have witnessed eight general
strikes this year.
It is against this backdrop that the British ruling class are viewing
the movement of the students. They see that their attempts to blacken
the struggle with accusations of ‘violence’ have fallen on deaf ears. On
the contrary, there is enormous support within society for the
students, and with each passing day links are being built between the
students and the workers. This is what the bosses fear. The working
class is for capitalism the goose that lays the golden egg; the ultimate
source of all their profits. Cameron, Clegg and Osborne fear that the
student movement could have an impact on society as a whole and push
other layers into struggle. That is why the students must consciously
strive for unity with the working class.
The WikiLeaks revelations at the end of November show that US
ambassador, Louis Susman, was confided in by the Governor of the Bank of
England, Mervyn King, "that party leader David Cameron and shadow
chancellor George Osborne have not fully grasped the pressures they will
face from different groups when attempting to cut spending."
Meanwhile, the Liberal Democrats are buckling under pressure. More
than 100 Lib Dem parliamentary candidates have called on Nick Clegg and
his parliamentarians to vote against the rise to £9,000 tuition fees.
Fearing for their future careers, the parliamentary candidates
understand that unless the Lib Dems reverse their election
pledge-breaking, they will be annihilated at the polls next time round.
Party tops like Vince Cable and Danny Alexander also recognise this,
and, fearing they could lose their seats at the next election, are
considering abstention in the parliamentary vote. If the bill were
defeated, the government would be weakened. That is why the Liberals are
under immense pressure to be "responsible" members of government, i.e.
to abide by the wishes of their capitalist masters.
This government is walking a tightrope. They have provoked a movement
which is not just a flash in the pan. It is the first mass reaction to
the austerity measures and the beginning of a generalised movement
within society. This is what we meant when we predicted that every
attempt to restore the economic equilibrium would destroy the social and
political equilibrium.
The NUS leadership has the dual
responsibility to mobilise to the fullest all its reserves for December
9th, and to publicly call on the Trade Union leaders to organise action
against the government attacks.
The mass protests of the students and the sympathy they have received
from working people in general are giving an enormous boost to workers
under attack everywhere and strengthening the confidence of the working
class enormously. For twenty-five years the class struggle has been on a
low ebb after the defeats of the 1980s, in particular that of the
miners. They said “if the miners can’t do it, how can we?”
Now people are saying “if the students can do it, why can’t we?”
However, strike action and mass mobilisations in and of themselves are
not enough: Greece has seen 8 general strikes, and yet the government
still went ahead with its austerity measures. The French workers struck
for 2 months, but did not win. The ruling class can tolerate any number
of marches and strikes, as long as their government carries out the cuts
and stays in power.
For this reason the question must be posed of what government the
workers and youth of this country want: a government for the handful of
rich or a government that defends the interests of working people.
