Spain: June 20 general strike. The fightback against the attacks of the PP government has begun!

The CCOO and UGT trade unions have called a 24-hour, nationwide general strike for June 20. The aim is to protest against the counter-reforms to be introduced by the PP government, which will make it easier for bosses to fire workers and restrict unemployment benefits by forcing those who have been out of work for more than one year to accept any job, whether full time or part time, whether the pay is more or less than unemployment benefit, and whether it is located more or less than 30 km from their place of residence, etc. Furthermore, they also want to do away with the "PER", which is a special system of unemployment benefit used by day labourers in the regions of Andalucia and Extremadura, which was won after many years of struggle. The day after the official call for the general strike on Thursday May 23, the government approved the whole package of measures by decree, declaring that they take effect from Monday May 27.

There is clearly nothing surprising in the form or content of this latest set of measures. In content, there is no difference between the latter and the many other measures introduced over the last few years by the right with the consent of the trade union leaders. For instance, the labour counter-reform of 1997 facilitates the sacking of newly-employed workers with the stated aim of making the jobs market more stable. However, today it is clear that this counter-reform has been a complete failure as the rate of job insecurity only dropped from 33% to 31% of the total workforce. They are no different from other measures, which, despite not being counter-signed by the trade union leaders, only encountered the latter's ineffectual verbal opposition, such as the labour counter-reform decree of March 2001. Neither do they differ from other more serious measures, which barely got a peep out of the union chiefs. Without going into details, the PP government approved a law last December that stipulates that if a worker, when on sick leave, is sacked or comes to the end of his/her contract, he/she will no longer receive benefit payments from the Social Security insurance scheme, but will have to start to use up his/her unemployment benefits (that is if the worker in question has paid in long enough to be able to access these benefits). In reality, this means that if a worker has a workplace accident or is suffering from serious illness and is sacked, he/she might see his/her social security benefits cut off whilst still in hospital and therefore still incapable of working!

In form too, there is no difference between this and the other measures introduced by the PP in the past, no matter how much Fidalgo and Méndez, the general secretaries of the CCOO and UGT respectively, complain about the government's current unwillingness to "talk" this time. If truth be told, the very inaptly named "social dialogue" has had very little dialogue in it recently. Negotiations under the imminent threat of governmental decree, as happened last autumn, is like negotiating with a pistol pointed to one's head.

In reality, the current situation was inevitable. As Marxists, we have explained countless times that the continual backtracking of the trade union leaders would only strengthen the resolve of the right and the bosses. Fidalgo's approval of the pensions reform in April 2001, barely a month after the labour counter-reform decree and Mendez's 180-degree about-turn after having called for a general strike in Galicia and a nationwide one for autumn were not seen as "responsible" acts - as both leaders like to think - by the bourgeoisie but rather as signs of weakness. And, as everyone knows, weakness always invites aggression.

The bourgeoisie is preparing itself

On top of the worsening economic climate, the Spanish ruling class has another problem to deal with: the euro. The introduction of the single European currency means that it can no longer use one of its favourite methods of regaining competitiveness: devaluing the peseta. Therefore, the only option left open to them is to lower the cost of labour. This means not only wage restraint, but attacks on workers' rights (making it easier and cheaper to fire workers, more pressure on workers to move to different areas of the country and assume more responsibilities to get a job, less protection for the unemployed) and living conditions (poorer quality education, less spending on health, regressive fiscal reforms, an increase in indirect taxation, etc). In other words, this amounts to a direct transfer of money from the wallets of the majority into the pockets of the rich. The latest example of this was the tax rebate on housing rents. The PP first scrapped it and then announced its reintroduction - but this time the rebate is to be for the landlord and not the tenant!

The stream of new measures keeps on flowing, the latest of which is the so-called Ley Concursal, which has been designed specifically for an economic recession and the string of bankruptcies that this will undoubtedly cause. Another is the collective bargaining reform which has been temporarily postponed following the signing of agreement to restrain wages for this year.

The ruling class is fully aware that sooner or later these attacks will provoke a reaction from the labour movement, despite the actions of the trade union leaders who have tried to keep a lid on struggle over the past few years. This is the main reason for the increasing authoritarian attitudes that can be seen in the PP. The compulsory arbitration in the Madrid transport strike or the Ley de Partidos (Law of political parties) are examples of this.

Repercussions within the trade unions

This situation is having a profound effect on the trade unions. Sections of the trade union leadership are concerned as they are beginning to realise that the constant capitulation to the right is threatening to discredit them massively in the eyes of the workers. Bending the knee to the government is not usually very popular, especially if it is a right-wing government. This is the main reason for the UGT's more active stance in the first half of last year and the splitting-off of the right-wing of the CCOO, highlighted by Fidalgo's decision to sack the union's second-in-command for his very timid turn to the left. Struggles such as Síntel, the massive grassroots support in the CCOO for the general strike in Galicia last year, despite the opposition of the union bureaucracy, or labour disputes such as the transport strikes in the Balearic islands, the Canaries and Madrid show a glimpse of the enormous anger boiling up within the working class regarding this situation. This is bringing an enormous amount of pressure to bear on the union leaders, some of whom may be forced to turn even further to the left than they would want to go. When the river of working class struggle really begins to flow, there is no use in trying to swim upstream!

The leaders of the CCOO and the UGT are at a crossroads. As they have shown quite clearly, they are doing everything in their power to avoid leading a fightback. However, if they continue to do nothing in reaction to an attack of this amplitude, many workers will be asking themselves "what use are these leaders?" On top of this, the PP government has shown complete contempt for these leaders by not even going through the motions of holding sham negotiations, so that they could have the satisfaction of winning some crumbs and presenting them to the workers as a great victory. Fidalgo is in a particularly tight spot. Following the dispute with a section of his former allies, it is highly possible that he could find himself in the minority in the CCOO's leading body - the Confederal Council. He could be reluctantly forced to take the initiative, for fear of being defeated (which would obviously mean that he would have to resign) or shown up.

We have recently seen a similar process in Italy. Cofferati is as fond of pacts as Fidalgo is. For example, throughout April in many interviews given to the Spanish bourgeois press, he complained that Berlusconi was not as open to dialogue as Aznar was! Now, the Spanish union leaders are complaining that Aznar is being more inflexible than Berlusconi! However, the new set of circumstances have now forced both sets of union leaders to pluck up their courage and use the power of the organised working class.

The union leaders will have to react to the PP as they have no other alternative. To do anything else would be suicidal. However this is not the end of the question. To paraphrase Lenin, "mobilisation, but what for?" Its aim should not just be to give a show of force so that the PP can think twice and open up "negotiations" in order to show how "responsible" they are in backing - by omission or commission - the counter-reforms of the government.

For a 24-hour general strike

If we do not stop them now, the PP will carry out more attacks against our class. In fact, it is most probable that the PP will step up these attacks, since the step-by-step approach no longer has the result of guaranteeing social peace. The general strike of June 20 is so important for this reason. However, although the general strike is very important in the class struggle, as Marxists, we do not have a fixation about it. As with negotiations, a general strike cannot be an end in itself. The problems affecting the working class today go much further than the reform of the unemployment benefit system. Therefore, the strike must embrace a much wider political programme and contain clear and concrete demands for a generalised improvement in the living and working conditions of the working class. In addition to the withdrawal of the government's proposals, the general strike must go much further and be used as the launch pad for a mass mobilisation of the trade union movement around fundamental working-class demands. It must also be used to push a new generation of younger workers on to the path of struggle so that the trade unions can be rejuvenated from top to bottom. The union leaders would be making a mistake in calling the strike just for reasons of expediency - in any case they will be forced to continue the struggle after June 20 as the PP will leave them no room for manoeuvre.

For a revolutionary trade unionism

These counter-reforms introduced by the PP government highlight the complete failure of the strategy of trying to make pacts and coming to a consensus with the bourgeoisie as espoused by the union leaders. The trade union movement will only be able to get itself out of this blind alley if it equips itself with a structure based on mass participation and meetings - a fighting organisation that defends the collective interests of the whole working class tooth and nail, that helps to raise political consciousness (and not to lower it), that favours trade union unity (that can only be won from below, in the course of the struggle itself) and that increases the level of organisation and militancy of the workers, which are our only weapons (that do not help to disorganise us, atomise us and demoralise us, as the reformist trade unionism practiced by the current leaders has been doing). Above all, we need a trade unionism based on a rigorous anti-capitalist platform, inspired by the writings of the great Marxists: Marx, Engels, Lenin and Trotsky.

The reintroduction of Marxist ideas within the workers movement is essential for equipping the trade unions and the workers' parties with a fighting leadership that understands that not to fight is always to lose. A leadership that understands that the interests of the bourgeoisie and the proletariat are and always will be irreconcilable; that understands that the source of all workers' problems is the private ownership of the means of production; that understands therefore that under capitalism all gains will be taken back sooner or later and that the problems of the working class can only be solved definitively and permanently if we get rid of the system; and finally, that as a result, understands that our class can only go forward if it ties up the daily struggle for defence of its immediate interests to the struggle for the socialist transformation of society. Join the Marxists in the fight for socialism!