Europe

In her usual style Naomi Klein provided many interesting facts, but failed to reach any concrete conclusions of how we can or whether it is actually necessary to abolish capitalism. In essence she would like another kind of capitalism, a more humane capitalism, which of course is utterly utopian.

The conflict in the Ukraine is being presented by the Western media as one of democracy versus authoritarianism. In reality it is a struggle between two capitalist camps, one that favours closer links to Russia, the other that wants closer links with Western imperialism. Neither of them offer a solution to the problems of the Ukrainian workers.

Up until recently the Netherlands had served as a model of social and racial harmony to the rest of the world, a country to emulate or to learn from. This has radically changed with rapid shifts in the fortunes of the main political parties and, more importantly, huge mobilisations of the Dutch working class. Erik Demeester explains how and why.

On November 12, 13 and 14, the XII National Congress of the Spanish Students’ Union took place in Madrid. There were 130 students present from all over the country. The Congress was extremely useful in strengthening the organization and there were lively debates which allowed the Union to ideologically arm themselves to face the events that will take place in the next period.

Fifteen years ago on November 9th 1989, the Berlin Wall fell. Within a year East and West Germany were reunited. But unification was carried out on a capitalist basis. Thus it was a counterrevolution. But the movement in the East did not start with that aim in mind, far from it! The early movement had many elements of the political revolution, i.e. a movement against the bureaucracy and for genuine socialism. Here we provide an analysis and also material produced by the Marxists in East Germany at the time.

In the aftermath of the Beslan massacre President Putin has used the pretext of the fight against terrorism to abolish the direct election of national deputies and regional governors. He has also introduced other measures which are an attempt to gain tight control over the state apparatus. But he is doing this as a growing disillusionments spreads among the Russian masses. At the moment this remains below the surface, but it must emerge in one form or another at some point.

Following the announcement of an unprecedented offensive by the government on its own employees in the civil service the PCS (Public and Commercial Services Union) is mobilising its entire membership to take the government head on.

The Blair government is putting the lessons it has learned in Iraq to good use in attacking workers at home. They have unleashed a campaign of shock and awe against their own workers in the civil service.

The wildcat strike at the Opel plant in Bochum, Germany lasted for six days. It reflected the growing militant mood of the German workers. The situation at Opel also highlights the serious difficulties German capitalism is facing. And yet suddenly after six days the workers voted to go back to work. What was behind this decision? Hans-Gerd Öfinger explains how the trade union officialdom did everything in their power to bring the strike to an end.

GM Europe makers of Vauxhall (Opel) announced this month that they are planning to cut 12,000 workers across the continent – the equivalent to 20% of the European workforce. They are carrying through these attacks to put them back into profit.

70 years ago the mining and industrial region of Asturias in Spain witnessed one of the most fascinating revolutions in the history of the 20th century. During the course of 15 days men and women fought to establish a new society free of exploitation and ruled by the principles of workers’ democracy. This was the beginning of the Asturian Commune.

On Saturday, October 2, Amsterdam saw what is possibly the biggest trade union demonstration in the history of the Netherlands. The workers were protesting against the government’s austerity package.