‘Dockers don’t work for war’: international dockworkers’ meeting in Genoa shows the way forward!

On 26 and 27 September, delegates from important dockworkers’ trade unions in Europe and the Mediterranean convened in Genoa to discuss joint action to stop the genocide in Gaza. The meeting took place at a time when, across Europe, workers and young people are in the mood for open struggle against the barbaric massacre of the Palestinian people, and are blaming their own ruling classes for complicity in the genocide.

In Italy, the aggression of the Israelis against the Sumud Freedom Flotilla as it attempted to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza, sparked a huge mass movement. Before the Flotilla’s interception, the movement had already culminated in two days of national strike action, on 19 and 22 September, and now the situation is rapidly escalating.

Given this general context, this meeting represented an important step forward towards organising an international general strike against the genocide and for the overthrow of the corrupt imperialist governments that enable it, starting from the docks.

In recent months, port workers have been at the front line in the struggle against arms shipments to Israel, blocking vessels and cargo at major European ports. Coordinated action by this militant and bold sector of the European working class could be a springboard to organise broader international class struggle.

Dockers on the frontline

“Dockers don’t work for war” was the slogan that opened the international dockworkers’ meeting on 26 and 27 September. The meeting was held in the port of Genoa, where numerous strikes and mobilisations have taken place in recent months, led by workers – principally dockworkers – and youth. It was organised by the Genoa-based Collettivo Autonomo Portuali (‘Dockers’ Autonomous Collective’), a collective of dockworkers affiliated with the USB, the small Italian trade union federation which initially put out the call for a general strike in defence of the Freedom Flotilla.

The meeting was attended by delegates from the ENEDEP union of the Port of Piraeus in Athens, affiliated with the powerful Greek federation PAME; CGT Ports and Docks, part of the main French union federation CGT; the Basque trade union LAB, with representatives from Bilbao and San Sebastián; the PEO workers’ union of Cyprus; and the SZPD union of the port of Koper, Slovenia. Delegates from the ODT dockers’ union of Tangier and the Turkish Liman-İş dockworkers’ union were expected to attend but were denied visas and thus could not be present. However, they endorsed and signed the final resolution issued by the meeting. Representatives from other countries were invited as observers.

Overall, the workers gathered there represented a fairly representative cross-section of the most militant trade unions in key European ports.

This meeting coincides with a turning point in the Palestine solidarity movement: we are finally seeing the working class emerge as a driving force in the struggle against genocide in Gaza and imperialist war, and dockworkers are now at its forefront.

Since 7 October, Europe and the whole world have been swept by mass mobilisations against Israel’s war in Gaza, demanding an end to the genocide. We have witnessed the streets of European capitals filled with people protesting in solidarity with the Palestinian people. We have seen occupations and encampments in universities and schools in the US and Europe led by radicalised youth. We have also heard calls from pro-Palestinian organisations, the BDS movement, urging individual consumers or governments to boycott Israeli goods.

But governments have refused to take any meaningful action against Israel. Where possible, they repressed the protests, beating and arresting demonstrators, including young students. When repression failed, they resorted to empty and hypocritical gestures to appease the masses. Meanwhile, the flow of money, goods, and weapons towards Israel continued undisturbed, enabling the genocide.

This outrageous scandal is teaching lessons to workers around the world. Consciousness has been growing among broader layers of workers that the only real way forward is to strike at – and ultimately halt – the very machinery that makes this possible, from within.

Until now, however massive and determined, the demonstrations against Israel’s war lacked, in fact, the most important factor: the direct involvement and action of the organised working class – the only class capable of stopping and paralysing the imperialist war machine. Dockworkers have had the honour of being the first to move in that direction.

Workers in the docks play a crucial role within the fabric of global trade and, in particular, in the logistical routes of imperialist war. The fuel, weapons, supplies, components, and goods that enable Israel’s war of extermination often pass through European and Mediterranean harbours. This has become especially true after the rerouting of maritime lanes following the Houthis’ attacks on Israeli vessels in the Red Sea.

The need for international coordination

However, the problem for the imperialists is that they always need the kind permission of the working class to keep their machinery functioning. But this is precisely the thing that cannot be taken for granted. The final resolution of the dockers’ meeting in Genoa put it very clearly:

“We don’t want the ports, our workplaces, or ourselves as workers to become a cog in the war machine. We don’t want to load bombs and war materials to massacre people. We don’t want our governments and the European Union to turn the economy into a war machine, while privatising ports, reducing wages, and depriving people of education, health, social services, bread and a dignified life, in order to allocate 850 bn to rearmament and war multinationals. […]

“With courage, determination and confidence in our cause, we invite workers to take matters into their own hands. There are many of us, we are strong, we can do it and we can win for a free Palestine, for peace, against imperialist war and for workers’ and dockers’ solidarity. We dockworkers have common enemies and a common struggle”.

These are not empty words. Indeed, in the last months we have seen a wave of militant action in major ports across Europe, with dockworkers blocking the loading and shipment of weapon cargoes destined for Israel and other warring states – in Piraeus in Greece, in Gothenburg in Sweden, in Tangier in Morocco, in Fos-sur-Mer in France, and in Genoa in Italy. In July, workers and young people on the Greek island of Syros, an important shipbuilding site, blocked the arrival of an Israeli vessel. In the last weeks, we have seen further action to block shipments to Israel in the Italian ports of Livorno, Taranto, Ravenna, and Genoa.

By crossing their arms and occupying the docks, the workers have shown their own strength and how, ultimately, and in the most concrete manner, the capitalists must rely on the same workers they exploit and brutalise in order to carry out their plans. These successful actions by the dockers have galvanised a broad layer of workers and youth, not only in the ports and the logistics industry, but across all sectors of the economy.

However, the more the wave of actions in the ports widens, the more the need is felt for some kind of coordination. The workers understand this very well. What is the point of blocking the loading of a vessel in France when the shipping company can simply reroute it to another port, for instance, in Italy, and so on? Of course, such a strike would still inflict quite some damage, forcing delays and financial losses. But in most cases, the action would have only a limited effect.

This fact has urged the dockers to start building an international network. They have begun to share information about the vessels and organise joint actions to prevent the rerouting of shipments. The dockers have learned through their own experience that, as capitalism is an international system of production and trade, workers’ actions must necessarily be international as well.

A first meeting in Athens on 28 February laid the foundation for subsequent coordinated action. Thanks to this network, the dockers were able to block three weapon shipments directed to Israel and the Middle East in the ports of France, Italy, and Greece: namely, a vessel from the Zim fleet, an Israeli company; the Cosco Pisces vessel; and the Bahri Yanbu vessel.

Although this network has so far had a limited range, this wonderful achievement represents a shining example of international class struggle that can only serve as a source of inspiration for workers and young people around the world. But we cannot allow ourselves to be content with that alone.

From the docks to the factories and beyond

Dockworkers occupy a strategic position in production. They have the ability to block crucial bottlenecks in the global logistical network of capitalism and imperialism. However, they represent only a small portion of the vast working class of Europe. Dockers can strike hard, but, in the end, they can only serve as the spearhead of a larger mobilisation, which must involve the great majority of the working class in the struggle against genocide and imperialist war.

The dockers’ meeting agreed to call a joint day of action in the next weeks or months. An all-European shutdown in the ports would send a strong message to workers in all countries and could represent an exciting rehearsal, preparing the way for an international general strike. The final resolution issued by the meeting in Genoa declares:

“Through this joint statement, we are calling on all port and critical infrastructure unions to organise any kind of coordinated protest, like strikes and mobilisations, in a common day to send the message that we, the port and infrastructure workers, will not submit, will not serve the profits and will not become accomplices to the war. We urge all port workers’ unions to collaborate throughout the respective collective procedures to ensure the organisation and success of these mobilisations.”

It is very important that the resolution makes a call for other port workers’ unions to join in the struggle. The trade unions that agreed to send delegations to Genoa and that are trying to coordinate their efforts represent only a small fraction of the total workforce in the ports of Europe and the Mediterranean Sea, which includes both organised and non-organised workers.

Dockers can strike hard, but, in the end, they can only serve as the spearhead of a larger mobilisation / Image: usbsindacato, Twitter

But we would be deluding ourselves if we think that it is enough to simply make a call for other unions to join. The powerful bureaucracies entrenched at the top of most of the main trade unions will do everything in their power to prevent such developments on a national and international level. Yet, their power ends where the militancy and the direct involvement of their rank-and-file begins.

In order to defeat the bureaucrats, what is needed is a wide, bold and patient campaign of agitation among workers in all the ports and workplaces. It is obvious that the struggle cannot be limited only to the port workers. Every militant and class-conscious worker – starting from the docks, but seeking to extend to all industries – should commit to a tireless agitation amongst co-workers, inside the trade unions, and in the wider workers’ movement.

Such a campaign should aim to establish committees involving all workers for organising a coordinated general strike in all European countries, thus paralysing the entire imperialist war machine. The dockers’ trade unions who organised the meeting in Genoa, if they are serious about their words, should be at the forefront of such agitation, using all their resources to this end.

Strike action must be preceded, accompanied and followed by the convening of workers’ assemblies in ports, in logistical hubs, in armaments factories and in all workplaces, to involve the broadest section possible of the working class in the European countries and beyond. The discussion about how to organise the struggle should involve all workers, establishing committees in workplaces, democratically coordinated on a national and international level.

Let’s build an all-European general strike for Gaza!

As the resolution correctly explains, the fight for the liberation of Palestine and against imperialist war is tightly linked to the fight against greedy bosses and corrupt bourgeois politicians. In other words, it is tightly linked to the fight against the capitalist class and for a socialist society. “Dockworkers have common enemies and a common struggle”. The same is true for all the workers. Only by putting forward an advanced programme of workers’ demands with a revolutionary perspective could we draw into the struggle the layers of the working class that still keep themselves on the sidelines.

The frenetic drive to rearmament by all the European governments is exposing their cynicism and hypocrisy. For years they have been cutting social spending while pouring billions into the pockets of bankers and bosses. Their criminal support for the Netanyahu regime and the Zionists’ genocidal war is becoming the last straw on the camel’s back.

Recent events in Italy show how explosive the situation is. The pressure from below has forced the main trade union confederation in the country, the CGIL, to pledge to call an immediate general strike as soon as the Flotilla is attacked by the Israeli army. Very soon, we could see a massive political, internationalist general strike in Italy that would send shockwaves throughout Europe. In such a context, an all-European general strike for Gaza and against imperialist war would be far from utopian. [This article was written shortly before the capture of the Flotilla. A general strike has been called for Friday 3 October, and the CGIL leadership, under pressure, has been forced to add its name to that call.]

An international strike of this kind would inevitably raise the question of workers’ control over production, transportation, and society as a whole. Who decides what to load or unload on the docks? Who decides what and how we produce in the factories? Who decides how public money is spent? The overthrow of all the hated imperialist governments across Europe and the establishment of workers’ power would be the next step.

Let’s halt the imperialist war machine!

Stop the genocide! Overthrow Netanyahu and the Zionist state!

Overthrow the corrupt imperialist governments across Europe!

For an all-European general strike for Gaza!

For a socialist programme against war and imperialism!

For workers’ control and workers’ power!

Workers of the world, unite!