new organs of power: beyond calls for a general strike

David Broder gave this talk at the March 12 London Communist Forum, discussing calls for a general strike.  Mike Macnair’s talk at the same event can be found here.

But is it that simple?

Different sectors are all facing cuts and, of course, it makes sense to want to link up action against them so as to increase their impact – all public sector workers in a sense have the same employer. The government ultimately has some responsibility for keeping the privatised sector running too – railworkers, for example.

crisis and class struggle in spain

Millie reflects on the crisis in Spain and the recent general strike

The recent boom in the Spanish economy was based on a real estate bubble and most new jobs were in construction and bars and restaurants.

When the crisis started, Spain had one of the biggest public deficits in Europe. The creditors started suggesting that Spain couldn’t pay their debts and was near to bankruptcy, and the credit rating was changed so the cost of the loans went up drastically. The government launched an austerity programme which involved cuts in services, the end of a recent 400 euro a month dole for people who didn’t have access to the contributions based system, and a pay cut for all public sector workers, whether temporary or permanent. So this was an assault on conditions for workers in the public sector.

lightning strikes twice in greece

by David Broder

On 12th February the Evening Standard boards in London proclaimed “Brown: we won’t pay for Greece bailout”, almost as if darkly parodying the left’s slogan “we won’t pay for their crisis”. But much as the Greek government plans harsh austerity measures to appease its European counterparts, millions of workers are refusing to capitulate.

Yesterday a general strike brought Greece’s planes, trains and buses to a standstill; left schools quiet and government offices empty; and brought thousands of raucous demonstrators into the streets of Athens. Not only was this the second nationwide strike against the budget cuts plan in two weeks, but also marked continued defiance against the new social-democratic PASOK government, just over a year after the December 2008 struggle against the right-wing New Democracy administration.