Mula nang sumiklab ang Covid-19 noong 2019, naging larangan ang China ng ilan sa pinaka-brutal at dystopian na lockdown sa mundo, saan sampu-sampung milyong katao ang nakulong sa loob ng maraming linggo, salat sa mga batayang pangangailangan at patuloy na sumasailalim sa panunupil ng pulisya. Ito rin ang larangan ng pinakakahanga-hangang mobilisasyon ng mga rekurso para labanan ang virus: ang espektakular na produksyon ng mga kagamitang medikal, ang pagpapatayo ng mga ospital sa loob ng iilang araw, at ang libu-libong mga kawaning medikal na pinadala sa mga lugar ng krisis.

Itinatampok nito ang malalim na kontradiksyon sa katangian ng China, na hindi isang kapitalistang estado kundi isang depormadong estado ng manggagawa. Sa isang banda, nakasalalay pa rin ang estado sa mga tagumpay ng Rebolusyong 1949, na nagpalaya sa bansa mula sa imperyalismo at nagtatag ng isang planadong ekonomiya. Sa kabilang banda, ang namamahala sa bansa ay isang burukratikong saray sa pamumuno ng Partido Komunistang Tsino (CCP) na umaapi sa uring manggagawa at sumisira sa mga tagumpay na ito. Habang patuloy na pinapatindi ng U.S. at mga kaalyado nito ang mga bantang militar at ekonomiya laban sa China, at sa lalong pag-igting ng mga panlipunang kontradiksyon sa loob ng bansa, mas lalong importante na ang mga Marxista ay magkaroon ng wastong pag-unawa sa China at ipaglaban ang isang programa sa pandemya na magsusulong sa layunin ng mga manggagawang Tsino, gayundin ng buong pandaigdigang uring manggagawa. (read on)

Seit dem Ausbruch von Covid-19 im Jahr 2019 ist China Schauplatz einiger der brutalsten und dystopischsten Lockdowns der Welt, mit zig Millionen Menschen, die wochenlang ohne das Nötigste und unter ständiger Polizeirepression eingesperrt werden. Es ist ebenso Schauplatz der beeindruckendsten Mobilisierung von Ressourcen zur Bekämpfung des Virus: Die Produktion von medizinischer Ausrüstung wurde drastisch hochgefahren, innerhalb von Tagen wurden Krankenhäuser gebaut und medizinisches Personal wurde zu Tausenden in Krisenregionen verlegt.

Dies wirft ein Schlaglicht auf den zutiefst widersprüchlichen Charakter Chinas, das kein kapitalistischer Staat, sondern ein deformierter Arbeiterstaat ist. Einerseits beruht der Staat immer noch auf den Errungenschaften der Revolution von 1949, die das Land vom Imperialismus befreite und eine Planwirtschaft einführte. Andererseits wird das Land von einer Bürokratenkaste unter Führung der Kommunistischen Partei Chinas (KPCh) beherrscht, die die Arbeiterklasse unterdrückt und diese Errungenschaften untergräbt. Angesichts ständig zunehmender militärischer und wirtschaftlicher Drohungen der USA und ihrer Verbündeten gegen China und der Tatsache, dass die sozialen Gegensätze im Lande auf einen Siedepunkt zulaufen, ist es für Marxisten wichtiger denn je, ein korrektes Verständnis von China zu haben und für ein Programm in der Pandemie zu kämpfen, das die Sache der chinesischen Arbeiter wie auch der gesamten internationalen Arbeiterklasse voranbringt. (Weiterlesen)

Cuando se publicó en Spartacist (Edición en español No. 41, octubre de 2022) la polémica contra el Grupo Internacionalista (GI) sobre la guerra en Ucrania, el GI tenía una contradicción. Abogaba por el derrotismo revolucionario en el conflicto, pero su verdadera práctica iba en contra de esta posición formalmente correcta. Esto es precisamente lo que demuestra nuestro artículo. Desde entonces, el GI resolvió su contradicción. Desafortunadamente, no lo hizo llegando a una posición verdaderamente revolucionaria, sino adoptando la posición abiertamente reaccionaria de apoyar a Rusia en la guerra.

En un artículo del 22 de octubre, el GI ahora dice que Rusia está librando una guerra justa de defensa nacional contra los imperialistas. Según el GI, el conflicto ya no se trata de quién dominará Ucrania —los rusos o las potencias imperialistas de la OTAN/UE—, sino de que los imperialistas buscan “derrotar, destruir y desmembrar a Rusia”. El GI va hasta las últimas consecuencias con esta posición, equiparando las tareas de los comunistas con respecto a la “Operación Militar Especial” (OME) de Rusia con la oposición de Trotsky a la expoliación imperialista de China por Japón o a la invasión italiana de Etiopía. ¿Cómo justifica el GI esta posición absurda? Con el argumento de que el apoyo de la OTAN a Ucrania se ha vuelto tal que “la cantidad se ha transformado en calidad” y que “el ejército ucraniano se ha vuelto en realidad una extensión de la OTAN”.

Estos argumentos se hacen añicos al primer contacto con la realidad. Es bastante obvio que nada ha cambiado fundamentalmente desde que se desató la guerra. Ucrania ha sido un agente de los imperialistas desde 2014. Las armas imperialistas inundaron Ucrania desde el inicio mismo del conflicto y las operaciones militares se han coordinado con la OTAN de principio a fin. El GI detalla interminablemente este o aquel sistema de armas, discurso o acto de cooperación militar para “probar” que la ofensiva de Ucrania en septiembre marcó un cambio cualitativo. Pero seamos concretos: en el contexto actual, ¿qué significaría una victoria de Rusia? Tal y como en febrero, significaría la opresión nacional de los ucranianos por Rusia. ¿Y una victoria de Ucrania? Significaría la “libertad” de los imperialistas de saquear Ucrania y la opresión de las minorías rusas dentro de las fronteras ucranianas. El mismo resultado que se ha planteado desde el inicio de la guerra. (continuar leyendo)

When the polemic against the Internationalist Group (IG) on the war in Ukraine was published in Spartacist (English edition No. 67, August 2022), the IG had a contradiction. They advocated revolutionary defeatism in the conflict, but their actual practice ran counter to this formally correct position. This is precisely what our article exposes. Since it was published, the IG has resolved their contradiction. Unfortunately, they have done so not by coming over to a truly revolutionary position but by going over to the overtly reactionary position of supporting Russia in the war.

In a 22 October article, the IG now claims that Russia is waging a just war of national defense against the imperialists. According to them, the conflict is no longer about who will dominate Ukraine—the Russians or the NATO/EU imperialist powers—but about the imperialists seeking to “defeat, destroy and dismember Russia.” The IG goes all the way with this position, equating the task of communists toward Russia’s “Special Military Operation” (SMO) with Trotsky’s opposition to the imperialist rape of China by Japan and the Italian invasion of Ethiopia. How does the IG justify this absurd position? They argue that the support by NATO to Ukraine “has reached the point where quantity turns into quality” and that the Ukrainian army has become “in reality an extension of NATO.”

These arguments shatter at first contact with reality. It is in fact fairly obvious that nothing fundamental has changed since the outbreak of the war. Ukraine has been a proxy for the imperialists going back to 2014. Imperialist weapons flooded Ukraine at the very outset of the conflict and military operations have been coordinated with NATO throughout. The IG goes into interminable detail over this or that weapons system, speech or act of military cooperation to “prove” that Ukraine’s offensive in September marked a qualitative change. But let’s be concrete. In the current context, what would a victory by Russia represent? Just as in February, it would mean the national oppression of Ukrainians by Russia. And a victory by Ukraine? It would mean the “freedom” for the imperialists to pillage Ukraine and the oppression of Russian minorities within Ukrainian borders. Again, the very same result as posed at the start of the war. (read on)

本文译自英文版《斯巴达克派》(2022年8月)。

2019年新冠疫情爆发以来，中国发生了世界上一些最残酷和反乌托邦式的封锁，数以千万计的人经历连续数周封锁，缺乏最基本的生活必需品，并且还不断遭到警察的镇压。中国调动资源抗击病毒的场景也最令人印象深刻：医疗设备的生产大幅增加，医院在几天内建成，成千上万医务人员被调往风险地区。

这凸显了中国的深刻矛盾本质，中国并非资本主义国家，而是畸形的工人国家。一方面，1949年的革命将中国从帝国主义中解放出来并建立了计划经济，那场革命的成果至今依然是这个国家的基础。另一方面，统治这个国家的是中国共产党领导的官僚阶层，这个阶层压迫工人阶级并削弱了这些成果。随着美国及其盟友不断加强对中国的军事和经济威胁，以及中国国内的社会矛盾接近沸点，马克思主义者应该形成对中国的正确认识，在疫情期间努力争取能推动中国工人以及整个国际工人阶级事业的纲领，这比以往任何时候都更加重要。(…)

この記事は、英語版『SPARTACIST』67号（2022年８月）から翻訳されたものである。

2019年に新型コロナウイルス感染症（Covid-19）の勃発以来、中国は世界で最も過酷で暗黒郷に似たロックダウンの幾つかの現場となってきた。数千万の人々が何週間も続けて閉じ込められ、最も基本的な生活必需品に不足し、絶えず警察の弾圧下に置かれてきた。中国はまた、このウイルスと闘うために、最も目覚ましく資源を動員する現場となってきた。医療機器の生産は劇的に増産され、病院が数日で建設され、何千人もの医療スタッフが危機的状況にある地域へと移された。

このことは、中国の根深い矛盾した性格を浮き彫りにしている。中国は資本主義国家ではなく歪曲された労働者国家である。国家は、一方では、依然として1949年の革命の獲得物に基づいている。この革命は、帝国主義から中国を解放し計画経済を確立させた。他方で、この国は、中国共産党に率いられた官僚カーストによって支配されている。そしてこの官僚カーストは、労働者階級を抑圧し革命の獲得物を掘り崩している。米国とその同盟諸国が中国に対する軍事的、経済的な威嚇を絶えず増大させ、中国国内の社会的な諸矛盾が限界点にまで高まっている。こうした中で、マルクス主義者にとっては次のことはこれまで以上に重要である。つまり中国について正しい理解を持つこと、そしてパンデミックの中で中国労働者と国際的な労働者階級全体の事業を前進させる綱領のために闘うこと、これである。

これまでのところ、マルクス主義左翼はこの任務で完全に失敗している。パンデミックの初期段階では、中国共産党による厳しいロックダウン、渡航禁止、大規模検査といった「ゼロコロナ」政策は、スターリニストから社会民主主義者やいわゆるトロツキストに至る全左翼にとって、模範であった。世界中の腐朽化した資本家階級が適切に何ら手を打つことができないなかで、中国の官僚は進むべき方向を示しているとして国際的に称賛された。国際共産主義者同盟（ICL）も例外ではなかった。我々が「中国はコロナウイルスを封じ込めるため動員する」（『Workers Vanguard』1171号、2020年3月6日）の中で記したことは、詳細に引用するのに値する。 (続きを読む)

Le elezioni del 25 settembre cadono nel pieno di una crisi mondiale. La pandemia del Covid ha dimostrato la bancarotta del sistema capitalista e la sua incapacità, persino nei Paesi più avanzati, di soddisfare i bisogni dei lavoratori in materia di salute e assistenza sociale. Per due anni i lockdown e le altre misure di salute pubblica reazionarie, appoggiate dai dirigenti traditori dei sindacati e dei partiti riformisti di sinistra, hanno devastato le condizioni di vita del proletariato e della popolazione più povera. L’invasione dell’Ucraina, provocata dall’accerchiamento della Russia capitalista da parte degli imperialisti americani ed europei, dimostra l’urgenza di rovesciare gli imperialisti di tutto il mondo come unica via per stabilire una pace durevole. Questi eventi cruciali hanno provocato un’inflazione mai vista dagli anni Ottanta e la disarticolazione di molte filiere produttive a scala globale. Le minacce della crisi economica, della miseria e di una guerra combattuta con armi nucleari incombono su miliardi di persone.

L’aumento dei prezzi è un attacco durissimo alle condizioni di lavoro e di vita della classe operaia, alla parte più povera della piccola borghesia e ai milioni di anziani e di disoccupati che il capitalismo considera un peso morto. Quest’inverno molti dovranno scegliere se scaldarsi o mangiare. Il taglio dei consumi energetici che il governo vuole imporre significherà chiusure aziendali, cassa integrazione, scuole e ospedali al freddo e sofferenze per i lavoratori.

Il governo dà la colpa al “ricatto di Putin” e finge di voler aiutare la popolazione a sopravvivere alle difficoltà. Sono menzogne. L’obiettivo del governo è di schierare la popolazione a sostegno dei piani dell’imperialismo italiano e dei suoi alleati della Ue e della Nato: strozzare la Russia, fare dell’Ucraina una neo-colonia dei monopoli industriali e finanziari europei e americani. La guerra in Ucraina è una guerra tra bande di ladri capitalisti: quelli russi vogliono mantenere l’Ucraina nella loro sfera d’influenza, quelli ucraini sottometterla agli imperialisti di Unione europea e Nato. Il governo italiano vuole far pagare il prezzo della sua politica agli operai, ingrassando i monopoli energetici e industriali e impedendo in tutti i modi che scoppino scioperi e lotte operaie per adeguare i salari ai prezzi. Tutti i partiti che si candidano alle elezioni rappresentano la classe capitalista e porteranno avanti questo programma. Le promesse elettorali di combattere l’aumento dei prezzi con qualche elemosina, con l’introduzione di un “salario minimo” farsa e di aggiustamenti fiscali, servono a tenere buoni il proletariato e gli oppressi. (continua…)

The Queen is dead. A tsunami of national unity is sweeping the country and the press is spewing praise for her “greatness” and “sense of duty”. To hell with all that! Queen Elizabeth II lorded over the remnants of the vicious decrepit British Empire—from Quebec to Jamaica to Botswana. Her governments—both Labour and Tory—slaughtered the Mau Mau in Kenya, invaded Suez, bombed and destroyed Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya. Her army was sent to occupy Northern Ireland, murdering, torturing and starving Irish Republican prisoners. Her Kingdom is a prison for the Scottish, Welsh and Irish Catholics. Her police force crushed the miners strike. She was the living embodiment of all these crimes and more. King Charles III carries on this blood-soaked legacy.

The reactions to her death show all that is rotten about the leadership of the working class in this country. Before her body was cold, Mick Lynch of the RMT and Dave Ward of the CWU—the “heroes” of the so-called “summer of discontent”—cancelled strikes in order to join the orgy of patriotism and national unity. Same goes for ASLEF and the list is likely to grow. As the highest representative of class privilege dies, these traitors are telling workers that fighting against their own starvation must wait, out of reverence to the monarch. These are no working class leaders but lackeys of the ruling class.

Like Liz Truss, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer—this pretentious knight of Her Majesty—is also in mourning. No surprise there. But it is not just the Blairites. Jeremy Corbyn, Zarah Sultana, Sam Tarry, John McDonnell, Ian Lavery, Ian Byrne and more; all these left Labourites who claim to stand for the working class and “socialism” are weeping and wailing over the loss of...the monarch “by the Grace of God of the United Kingdom of Great Britain & Northern Ireland & of Her other Realms & Territories Queen, Head of the Commonwealth, Defender of the Faith”. What a pathetic display of subservience before the ruling class. (read on)

4 AUGUST 2022—With the 11th national congress of NUMSA, the largest union in the country, the bosses have issued a massive threat to all working people. The capitalist courts first tried to interdict the congress, and after it went ahead following a two-day delay are now threatening reprisals, including de-registration of the union and possible jail sentences for NUMSA leaders. It’s in the vital interests of workers in all unions—no matter what they may think of the current NUMSA leadership—to defend the union against this attack. The capitalist state seeks to cripple the power of the unions by dictating to them how they shall conduct their affairs. This comes in the midst of a massive onslaught against workers and the poor—soaring costs of living, record high unemployment, sabotage and privatisation of Eskom and other SOEs. To fight against all of this, what’s urgently needed is the mobilisation of the mainly black proletariat, at the head of the broad toiling masses, on a class-struggle basis in opposition to all wings of the bourgeoisie and its black frontmen in the ANC government. The precondition for this is independence of the trade unions from the capitalist state, which is an instrument for defending the rule of the exploiters against the workers and oppressed. Underlining this lesson in blood, the week after enforcing the court interdict against NUMSA, police in Tembisa township gunned down at least two people in one day during protests against electricity price hikes and power cuts.

It was an opposition grouping within the union that invited the state to interdict the NUMSA congress—an act of pure class treason. Led among others by SAFTU president Ruth Ntlokotse, this opposition gathered support among NUMSA members by appealing to discontent over shady dealings at NUMSA’s investment company and bureaucratic suppression of critics of Irvin Jim and his allies. When Jim and Co brazenly suspended Ntlokotse and dozens of others on the eve of the NUMSA congress, the latter ran to the bosses’ courts to get the suspensions overturned. Even after that was done, they complained that proceeding with the congress violated “the sanctity of the court order” and have now filed for arrest warrants against Jim and NUMSA president Andrew Chirwa for contempt of court. The opposition justifies this rotten treachery with the lie that it is a way to defend “worker control” in the union. As the Marikana massacre and countless other bloody acts of strike-breaking violence show, this state is the deadly enemy of strong, militant unions. By using the bosses’ courts against the union, the opposition is helping the capitalists to cripple the workers’ defence organisations, while at the same time disarming workers and shackling them to the state of their class enemy.

If the NUMSA congress has shown anything, it is that politically supporting either side in the bureaucratic faction fight dividing NUMSA and SAFTU can only spell disaster for the working class. This is precisely what the pseudo- Marxist left does, with most of them seeking to pressure the Vavi faction to the left. The pseudo-Trotskyist Marxist Workers Party is an especially craven example. They hailed Ntlokotse’s election as SAFTU president as the “most politically significant of the victories” won by the Vavi faction against the Jim faction at the May SAFTU congress, hyping her “rank-and-file opposition” in NUMSA as the great hope for the “ideological and political rearming” of the workers movement (marxistworkersparty.org.za, 13 June). Less than two months later, Ntlokotse and Co are fighting for the neo-apartheid state to jail the union’s leaders and install them in their place! (read on)

19 JULY—The May congress of the South African Federation of Trade Unions (SAFTU) made it unmistakably clear that both SAFTU and its largest affiliate, the National Union of Metalworkers (NUMSA), are in a massive crisis. The main expression of this crisis so far is a split in the bureaucracy, running up through the top leadership, and a bitter struggle for organisational control between the two factions—supporters of SAFTU general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi on one side and supporters of NUMSA general secretary Irvin Jim on the other. The struggle for positions repeatedly threatened to plunge the May congress into chaos and split the federation. At one point, pro-Jim delegates marched toward the podium singing “ungayiyijahi impi, iyabulala [don’t rush to war, it’s deadly]” as Vavi tried to steamroller obstacles to the election of his slate. Many expect the battle to continue at NUMSA’s 11th national congress, which has now been postponed twice as Jim and his allies try to suppress revolts in a number of regions by NUMSA members aligned to Vavi.

Despite the ferocity of the organisational struggle, both sides try to obscure the political issues while making a big show of unity. Behind this crisis is something neither faction wants to (or can) address: the utter failure, since the split from the ANC/SACP/COSATU Tripartite Alliance in 2013-15, to bring about the revival of a militant and powerful trade-union movement that would defend and advance the interests of the black toiling masses. This is what left-wing workers hoped for at the time of the split. Many also expected it to lay the basis for some kind of new political voice of the working class, feeling thoroughly disillusioned with the wretched pro-capitalist SACP leaders. These hopes have been utterly betrayed. The fundamental reason is not a “lack of urgency” or organisational incapacity, as preached by the pseudo-Marxist left groups whose whole strategic outlook is defined by supporting and pressuring one faction of the bureaucracy or the other—WASP, Marxist Workers Party (MWP), Keep Left!, etc. The root cause is the nationalist, class-collaborationist programme of the NUMSA/SAFTU leaders, who despite their secondary differences all seek to re-furbish the nationalist popular front by building a “left” version of the Tripartite Alliance. (read on)

Narito na uli ang circus. Habang lugmok sa pinakamalalim na recession mula noong World War II kasunod ng isa sa pinakamatagal at pinakamalupit na Covid lockdown sa mundo, nakatakdang isagawa ng Pilipinas ang pambansang halalan sa Mayo 9. Ang eleksyon ay isang re-match sa pagitan ng pinuno ng oposisyon na si Vice President Leni Robredo at ng kanyang dati nang karibal na si Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Marcos Jr., tagapagmana at kapangalan ng diktador na ang 20-taong pamumuno ay karibal sa kasakiman, kalupitan at katiwalian ng dating dinastiyang Pahlavi at Somoza ng Iran at Nicaragua.

Si Marcos Jr., na tinalo ni Robredo sa isang mahigpit na karera noong 2016, ay hindi inilihim ang kanyang ganang ibalik ang kanyang pamilya sa kapangyarihan. Kapwa nakibahagi sina Robredo at Liberal Party running mate na si Senator Kiko Pangilinan sa kilusang protesta na humantong sa pagbagsak ng pamilya Marcos.

Sa loob ng anim na taong marahas na pamumuno ni Pangulong Rodrigo Duterte at ng kanyang mga kaalyado, si Robredo ay naghahanda bilang presidente sa inilalarawan ng lokal media na labanang “Good versus Evil,” ang tinaguriang huling pagkakataon upang “iligtas ang demokrasya ng Pilipinas” mula sa “pagbabalik ng mga Marcos at isang pagpapatuloy ng pamunuan ni Duterte.” Panawagan namin: Robredo, Marcos at lahat ng burges na partido—Huwag iboto!

Habang papalapit ang multo ng muling pagbabalik ni Marcos at mga araw na lang ang natitira, pinagsama-sama ni Robredo ang mga Stalinista, sosyal-demokrata, sikat na artista, liberal na intelektuwal at mga kapitalistang amo sa isang prente popular o prenteng bayan na kawangis ng kilusang nagpabagsak sa diktadurang Marcos. Ang suporta para kay Robredo ay nakakuha ng momentum, habang ang mga paksyong anti-Marcos ay nagbubuhos ng pera sa mga sorties ng kampanya na umaakit ng daan-daang libong mga tagasuporta na kulay rosas ang suot at kilala bilang mga Kakampinks sa mga lungsod sa kapuluan.

Ang ideolohikal na pandikit na nagbubuklod sa prente popular ni Robredo ay fight-the-right bourgeois lesser evilism [pulitika na labanan-ang-mga-maka-kanan sa paraan ng pagsuporta sa burges na hindi gaano ang pagka-masama]. Matapos ang malawakang pagkatalo ng mga Liberal sa eleksyon 2019, nakuha ni Robredo ang aral na kailangan ng partido na magpatakbo ng isang “people’s campaign,” ibig sabihin ay sumakay patungong kapangyarihan sa likod ng mga inaapi. Ngayon ay i-priniprisinta niya ang kanyang sarili kontra kina Duterte at Marcos bilang “people’s champion” na magtatanggol sa demokrasya, lalabanan ang korapsyon at magtataguyod ng pagkakapantay-pantay. (read on)

The circus is back in town. Mired in the deepest recession since World War II following one of the world’s longest and harshest Covid lockdowns, the Philippines is set to hold its national elections on May 9. The elections are a rematch between opposition leader Vice President Leni Robredo and her old rival Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., heir and namesake of the dictator whose 20-year reign rivals the greed, brutality and corruption of the former Pahlavi and Somoza dynasties of Iran and Nicaragua.

Marcos Jr., who Robredo beat in a tight race in 2016, has made no secret of his appetite to return his family to power. Both Robredo and Liberal Party running mate Senator Kiko Pangilinan took part in the protest movement that led to the downfall of the Marcos family.

Largely sidelined during six years of draconian rule by President Rodrigo Duterte and his allies, Robredo is casting for president in what local media portrays as a battle of “Good versus Evil,” the so-called last chance to “save Philippine democracy” from the “return of the Marcoses and a continuation of a Duterte leadership.” We say: No vote to Robredo, Marcos and all bourgeois parties! Robredo, Marcos at lahat ng burges na partido—Huwag iboto!

As the spectre of a Marcos comeback looms and with just days to go, Robredo has brought together Stalinists, social democrats, movie stars, liberal intellectuals and capitalist bosses in a popular front reminiscent of the movement that toppled the Marcos dictatorship. Support for Robredo has gained momentum, as the anti-Marcos factions pour money into campaign sorties which attract hundreds of thousands of pink-clad supporters, known as Kakampinks, in cities across the archipelago.

The ideological glue binding the Robredo popular front together is fight-the-right bourgeois lesser-evilism. After the Liberals’ massive defeat in the 2019 elections, Robredo drew the lesson that the party needed to run a “people’s campaign,” i.e., to ride to power on the backs of the oppressed. Now she is presenting herself against Duterte and Marcos as the “people’s champion” who will defend democracy, fight corruption and promote equality. (read on)

Enternasyonal Komünist Liga (Dördüncü Enternasyonalist), Enternasyonal Yürütme Komitesi (EYK) genel kurulu toplantısını 2019 yazında Almanya’da gerçekleştirdi. EKL’nin konferanslar arası dönemlerde en yüksek karar gövdesi olan EYK’nin toplantısı örgütümüz açısından önemli bir zamana denk geldi. Merkezi kurucumuz ve uzun zamandır parti liderimiz olan ve devrimci pusulamızın devam ettirilmesinde müdahaleleriyle kritik bir rol oynayan Jim Robertson’un Nisan 2019’daki ölümü süreklilik sorusunu aşikar kıldı. Bu toplantı aynı zamanda 2017’de EKL’nin Yedinci Enternasyonal Konferansı’nda seçilen liderliğin ilk toplantısıydı. Bu konferans, ulusal sorunu Leninist bir çerçeveye yerleştirmek ve Büyük Güç şovenizmine yapılan uyarlamaları düzeltmek amacıyla yürüttüğümüz zorlu mücadelenin sonucuydu (“Der Kampf für Leninismus über die nationale Frage” [Ulusal Sorun Üzerinde Leninist Mücadele İçin], Spartacist [Almanca baskı] No. 31, Sonbahar 2017). Genel kurul ve EYK’nin oybirliğıyle benimsediği bildiri, “Leninizm Bayrağıyla İleri!”, bu mücadelenin devamıdır.

Genel kurulun temel amaçlarından biri, 1970lerde Avrupa Birliği’ne (AB) karşı oluşturduğumuz keskin programatik muhalefet çerçevesini yeniden sahiplenmekti. Dejenere olmuş bir işçi devleti olan Sovyetler Birliği’ni ortadan kaldıran 1991-92 karşı-devrimi sürecinde işaretlenen yaşadığımız disoryantasyoun bir parçası olarak, EKL Alman ve daha az da olsa Fransız emperyalizminin domine ettiği eşitsiz kapitalist devletler konsorsiyumu olan AB’ye defalarca teslim olmuştur. Enternasyonal Sekretarya (E.S.) üyesi yoldaş Jay’in genel kurulda belirttiği gibi:

Geride bıraktığımız son birkaç yıl, AB’ye yönelik muhalefetimizi güçlü bir şekilde ortaya koyma mücadeleleri serisine sahne oldu. Genel kurul bildirisinin aşağıdaki yayınlanmak için düzenlenmiş bölümü, bu konuda yürüttüğümüz tartışmaların ve mücadelenin kodlanmış sonuçlarını içeren bölümdür.

Enternasyonal Konferans’dan bu yana temel görevlerimizden biri, EKL’nin sosyal mücadelenin yoksunluğu ve proleter bilincin gerilemesiyle tanımlanmış bu dönemde karşılaştığı büyük zorluklarla başa çıkabilecek yeni bir enternasyonal liderlik kolektifinin sağlamlaştırılmasıdır. Genel kurul bildirisinin belirttiği gibi, “Yoldaş Robertson yokken, devrimci devamlılığımızı koruma kapasitemiz büyük ölçüde EYK’nin yürütme kolu olan E.S.’nin mümkün olan en keskin programatik rehberliği sunma kapasitesine dayanmaktadır. Görevimiz Lenin’in yaptığını yaparak katman katman, düşünen Bolşeviklerden oluşan bir parti kurmaktır.”

E.S. 2017’den beri, bazı üyelerinin uluslararası merkezde ikamet etmediği alışılmadık bir kompozisyondaydı. Coğrafi yayılım zorluklar getirir. Aynı zamanda, bu kompozisyon hayati bir önem taşıyor çünkü her yoldaş daha mesafeli bir görüşe sahip ve hem Enternasyonal’de hem de diğer yoldaşların ulusal bölümlerinde programatik düzeltici bir rol oynamakta. Bu aynı zamanda, merkezimizin dünyadaki en güçlü emperyalist ülke olan ABD’de yer almasından kaynaklanan baskıya karşı-denge işlevi görmekte. (devamı için)

21 février – Le chômage de masse, les hôpitaux bondés et les traitements annulés, la détérioration générale des conditions de travail, l’inflation galopante, les droits démocratiques piétinés, les commerçants ruinés, les écoles fermées, les familles entassées ensemble jour et nuit, une détresse et des souffrances intolérables, la mort : Depuis maintenant deux ans, les travailleurs et les opprimés subissent les conséquences dévastatrices de la réponse de la bourgeoisie à la pandémie et de ses confinements. C’est dans ce contexte que le convoi des camionneurs à Ottawa est venu canaliser le mécontentement largement répandu dans la société.

La bourgeoisie et tous ceux qui lui font écho dans les médias, le Nouveau Parti démocratique et la gauche réformiste ont été pris immédiatement d’une fureur hystérique devant cette première brèche significative dans la campagne d’« unité nationale » de la classe dirigeante dans la pandémie. Leur déferlement de propagande présentant tous ceux qui participent à des manifestations antigouvernementales comme des « extrémistes de droite » n’est qu’un mensonge pour justifier leur répression. Ce n’est pas « le racisme », « un programme d’extrême droite » ou (aux dires de libéraux tordus) un « coup d’État financé par les États-Unis » qui pousse des milliers de personnes à sortir protester dans les grandes villes, mais la colère totalement légitime contre le désastre social provoqué par les mesures sanitaires de la bourgeoisie.

Le premier ministre Justin Trudeau a décrété la Loi sur les mesures d’urgence, la Loi sur les mesures de guerre revampée, avec laquelle le gouvernement se donne des pouvoirs arbitraires pour accroître la répression, suspendre les droits démocratiques, geler les comptes de banque et étendre les pouvoirs de police utilisés pour réprimer les camionneurs et les manifestants. Près de 200 personnes ont déjà été arrêtées en vertu de cette loi. Nous disons : Défense des camionneurs ! Levée de toutes les accusations ! À bas la Loi sur les mesures d’urgence ! (lire la suite)

De tous les groupes qui pataugent dans le marais pseudo-trotskyste au Québec et au Canada, les membres de La Riposte se sont distingués comme les plus ardents partisans des confinements de Trudeau et les opposants les plus acharnés des camionneurs et des manifestants. Il n’y a tout simplement aucune différence entre la ligne avancée par La Riposte et la campagne hystérique de la bourgeoisie et de ses médias dociles. Un dirigeant de La Riposte a calomnié de façon répugnante l’intervention de notre organisation dans un rassemblement à Toronto en soutien aux camionneurs, nous accusant sur les médias sociaux de « soutenir l’extrême droite » ; il ajoutait : « Il est impossible qu’ils se soient mépris sur la nature d’extrême droite nationaliste et trumpiste de ce rassemblement où figuraient des drapeaux de Trump et des pancartes “Make Canada Great Again” ». En pointant du doigt quelques individus de droite pour dépeindre ces manifestations tout entières comme étant d’une « nature d’extrême droite », La Riposte dégurgite ainsi le même mensonge que la bourgeoisie utilise pour justifier la répression. (lire la suite)

21 FEBRUARY—Massive unemployment, overloaded hospitals and cancelled treatments, widespread deterioration of working conditions, crippling inflation, gutting of democratic rights, ruined shopkeepers, closing of schools, families stuck together day and night, unspeakable pain and distress, death: For two years now, the workers and the oppressed have suffered the devastating consequences of the bourgeoisie’s response to the pandemic and its lockdowns. This is the backdrop to the truckers’ convoy on Ottawa, which has become a lightning rod for widespread discontent in society.

Faced with this first significant blowback to the ruling class’s “national unity” campaign in the pandemic, the bourgeoisie, its media mouthpieces, the New Democratic Party and the reformist left immediately went into hysterical overdrive. Their propaganda barrage which portrays anybody participating in anti-government demonstrations as “far-right extremists” is but a lie to justify cracking down on them. What has pushed thousands of people in major cities to come out in protests is not “racism,” a “far-right agenda” or (as tinfoiled-hatted liberals would have it) a “U.S.-funded coup,” but the totally legitimate anger against the social disaster created by the bourgeoisie’s health measures.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has decreed the Emergencies Act—a “rebranding” of the War Measures Act—with which the government gives itself arbitrary powers to increase repression, suspend civil liberties, freeze bank accounts and extend the policing powers which they’ve used to crack down on truckers and protesters. Nearly 200 have already been arrested under this law. We say: Defend the truckers! Drop all the charges! Down with the Emergencies Act! (read on)

Among the pseudo-Trotskyist swamp in Quebec and Canada, members of the Fightback group have distinguished themselves as the most ardent supporters of Trudeau’s lockdowns and vociferous opponents of the truckers and protesters. There’s simply no difference between the line Fightback has been pushing and the hysterical campaign of the bourgeoisie and its subservient media. In a disgusting slander on social media against our organization intervening at a Toronto rally in support of the truckers, a Fightback leader accused us of “supporting the far right,” adding “There is no way that they could have mistaken the far right nationalist and Trumpite nature of this rally which included Trump flags and ‘Make Canada Great Again’ placards.” Painting these entire demonstrations as being of a “far right nature” by pointing to a few right-wing individuals, Fightback parrots the very lie that the government uses to justify its crackdown. (read on)