Faced with the complacency of the union leadership, the workers must remain vigilant and combative

A leaflet distributed by our Romanian comrades to the striking workers in Bucharest

The Nicușor Dan-Bolojan administration has proven to be nothing more than an austerity government, a government of the capitalist class that oppresses the working class. The situation would have been practically the same regardless of who won the elections; neither the nationalist populists nor the so-called social democrats represent the working class in any way. Oppressing the workers is ultimately the function of the capitalist state, and it is therefore irrelevant under which political banner this happens. This is because the state itself is merely a structure of power and class domination, the organized capitalist class representing its own interests against the working class. Politicians are simply the representatives to whom the bourgeoisie delegates the daily management of the state and who sometimes exercise this power, either in the interest of a part of the capitalists or in the interest of the capitalist class as a whole. This is clearly demonstrated by the nature of these new austerity measures, which target only the most vulnerable segments of society. The education sector has been particularly hard hit, jeopardizing the future of both teachers and students. Their response to the austerity measures culminated in a mass protest on September 8th, in which over 30,000 education workers, organized in unions, marched in Bucharest. It is important to emphasize that not only teachers, but also students and parents participated in this protest, as they are all affected by the budget cuts. An emblematic moment was the cheering support from construction workers who were working along the protest route.

Once the protesters arrived at Cotroceni, a discussion took place between the union leaders and the president, in which the prime minister and the minister of education criticized the protests, calling them unpatriotic and “unrealistic”, reprimanding the participants for “disrupting the celebrations of the first day of school.” No agreement was reached between the president and the unions. However, as we had predicted, the leaders of these independent unions, unlike their base, are not so independent after all and succumbed to government pressure, or, more accurately, to the pressure of Capital, postponing further protests until October 5th, late enough to cool down the initiative. They also timidly stated that a general strike “cannot be ruled out.” This was only to appease the workers who, upon hearing the news, were loudly demanding a general strike starting immediately and rightly saying that the next protest would be too late!

Let’s talk about those ridiculous “criticisms” of the protests, formulated by those who should represent education workers, but who clearly boycott them when they fight for their own interests. Teachers, like all other employees who sell their labor in exchange for a wage, are part of the working class. It is not the level of education or the specific field of work that determines a person’s class. The only class contradiction in capitalism is that between those who live by selling their labor power – the proletarians – and those who live by buying and exploiting the labor power of others – the bourgeoisie, the capitalist class. We know very well that the interests of the working class, whether economic, political, or socio-historical, do not coincide at all with those who claim to be at the service of the “Nation,” and the “Homeland.”

These so-called “national interests” would unite the interests of the exploited with those of the exploiter, the capitalist whose sole interest is to obtain the maximum possible surplus value from the worker, acting as an agent of the infinite accumulation of Capital. All talk of sovereignty, meritocracy, competitiveness, national solidarity, and prosperity are empty concepts, used as a veil to cover the true nature of things, the nature of the capitalist system, and to present the interests of the capitalist class as the interests of the people as a whole. This is particularly evident in the rhetoric of war, where the bourgeois class sends the working masses to die in the name of the miserable “homeland.” Nationalist propaganda is fundamental for the bourgeoisie in order to deceive the workers and induce them to put the “nation” above their true class interests. Therefore, being called “unpatriotic” should not be an insult to us, since all that patriotism actually entails is a collaboration between opposing classes, which hides the antagonistic nature of their interests.

Daniel David also stated that teachers should want to go to work (and not protest!)

as an “act of morality,” because “not everything revolves around pay!” Indeed, how easy it is for a bourgeois to preach morality from his comfortable armchair, disconnected from the struggle of the common worker. For the bourgeois, “work ennobles man,” but only to the extent that its fruits go to them; not when he reacts, not when he rebels!

The capitalist economy can only be paralyzed if organized workers in multiple sectors go on strike. Only by interrupting its endless process of reproduction and accumulation do they have the power to exert pressure on capital and advance their demands. Simple verbal protests will therefore fade away without leaving a trace, as they do not harm capital. We fully support the general strike of education sector workers! We also encourage workers in all other sectors to participate. Do not give up!

By “postponing” the strike, the union leaders are showing their true colors. It’s no coincidence that these leaders, who are supposed to represent the workers, have salaries ten times higher than the workers they represent. In the capitalist system, this is essentially a bribe given to them so that, when tensions are high, they side with the interests of the capitalists. Some of them are even capitalists themselves. But there is nothing to postpone, and all the workers know it. No one else will fight for our interests if we don’t!

However, we must state the truth: as long as capitalism exists, cycles of crisis will continue to repeat themselves, periods in which the living standards of workers will worsen and the ruling class will become ever richer, exploiting our misery. The immediate struggle for economic demands is very important, but let’s not delude ourselves: the only way to end recurring crises, exploitation, and poverty is to end capitalism itself, once and for all.

The struggle for “how things were before” is a hopeless struggle, because the past was only slightly less miserable than the present. The goals of the workers must always be maximal, radical, and therefore communist. We fight for a communist society, a truly communist society, and not the farce that was Ceaușescu’s state capitalism with its red flags, which exercised even worse economic oppression than today, proving that it was not a system different from capitalism. Only in communism will education be placed on the pedestal it deserves, and human beings will finally be able to develop fully and reach their true potential, free from the economic yoke of exploitation.

For the abolition of the current state of affairs! For the abolition of the exploitation of man by man!