Strikes and the Situation in Brazil

The recent trucker strike started on May 21^st and as of today, June 11^th, it has not ended.

First, we have to take into account that a good portion of the striking truck drivers either belong to the petty bourgeoisie or they are associated with a transport company,. This means that, while there is legitimate revolt surrounding the price spike on fuels, there is also a confluence of interests between the drivers and the bosses;, the end of negotiations and the refusal of many drivers to end the strike made possible the appearance of a sector of drivers disposed to assume classist positions, that is, close to the demands of the proletariat, going further than the demand of a reducing of fuel prices and better freight prices in demanding a raise in wages and a cutting of work hours.

The truck driver, as a member of the petty bourgeoisie, often goes through many of the difficulties that any other work goes through, but sometimes, their immediate interests end up aligned with the capitalist class, their own bosses, this resulted in the initial collaboration between the autonomous drivers and the employer’s union. This “fluidity” of positions and alliances are characteristic of any petty bourgeois movement, however, this should not mean an abandonment of intervention amidst the strike or the general movement, not in a blind appropriation of the demands of the drivers, but in an assertive and precise manner that aims to not only push it away from it’s petty bourgeois positions towards the immediate demands of the proletariat but also towards its historical program, communism.

It is safe to say that this strike also reveals a confrontation between sectors of the bourgeoisie, in one side ‘shareholders’ of the present government and in the other, the transport industry and international investors: the proletariat has no interest in allying with either and should instead enjoy a renewed struggle.

This opportunity was followed by the declaration by Oil Workers of a 72 hour strike calling for a reduction of fuel prices and the expelling of the current president of Petrobras, Pedro Parente they join in this wave of strikes teachers in Belo Horizonte and São Paulo, freight drivers, subway workers.

It is in the face of this opening and wave of activity that we turn our eyes to the opportunist positions of Social democrats and “Marxists”: the official leadership of our social democratic left has managed to align the position of their bases in defense of the strikes, but don’t let yourself be fooled, they did so in the interest of their electoral hopes, this is a guarantee that they are “by the side of the people”, that the politics of PT are opposed to Temer’s, that this crisis and instability would not take place in a government that “fought for the worker”, the vote is again placed as an alternative to the convulsions of the capitalist system.

This support by the social democrats have not lead to bigger mobilizations, no call for a general strike on behalf of their unions, not even a defense of a new cycle of struggles, it is nothing more than an opportunist declaration in time for the elections.

Our “Marxists” have not acted much different, PCB has also declared its support, not for the opportunity of reorganization of the class, but in defense of “our” companies, of the national interest of our own bourgeois dictatorship and of the old lie of the “united front”; it’s here, facing a notable opportunity to reaffirm revolutionary positions that we see both the representatives of social democracy and of so-called communists placing themselves always in a defensive position, in defense of democratic guarantees, of “our” companies, of national interests and of every other cliche made popular by the ‘left of capital’.

It’s in the replacing of class struggle for the defense of a “united front” and of democratic stability that we can clearly see that their compromise is not with the proletariat and the proletarian revolution but with the legitimation of the bourgeois dictatorship we live under.

We should not mistake ourselves over the consequences of this process of confrontation, the disruption of the bourgeois State and the intensification of social conflict will not take us straight to a revolutionary upheaval, our situation can only be objectively revolutionary when the class – more than breaks with the traitorous unions that abandoned their struggle – founds their own class unions, their own organs of struggle and assume a fundamental defense of the revolutionary program of communism.

What emerges from this wave of strikes is the necessity of a response to the continuous attacks of the bourgeois against our class, it is necessary, therefore, to organize a united front of the proletariat, based on their demands, their strike committees, one that rejects conciliation, cooperation and affirms a true classist organization.

The class struggle, therefore, can’t be directed by old or new electoral parties, but by its own party, an organization of struggle that can transpose the limitations of the economic struggle of the proletariat and direct the class towards a revolutionary conclusion, this is the task undertook by the International Communist Party.

Strikes and the Situation in Brazil

The recent trucker strike started on May 21^st and as of today, June 11^th, it has not ended.

First, we have to take into account that a good portion of the striking truck drivers either belong to the petty bourgeoisie or they are associated with a transport company,. This means that, while there is legitimate revolt surrounding the price spike on fuels, there is also a confluence of interests between the drivers and the bosses;, the end of negotiations and the refusal of many drivers to end the strike made possible the appearance of a sector of drivers disposed to assume classist positions, that is, close to the demands of the proletariat, going further than the demand of a reducing of fuel prices and better freight prices in demanding a raise in wages and a cutting of work hours.

The truck driver, as a member of the petty bourgeoisie, often goes through many of the difficulties that any other work goes through, but sometimes, their immediate interests end up aligned with the capitalist class, their own bosses, this resulted in the initial collaboration between the autonomous drivers and the employer’s union. This “fluidity” of positions and alliances are characteristic of any petty bourgeois movement, however, this should not mean an abandonment of intervention amidst the strike or the general movement, not in a blind appropriation of the demands of the drivers, but in an assertive and precise manner that aims to not only push it away from it’s petty bourgeois positions towards the immediate demands of the proletariat but also towards its historical program, communism.

It is safe to say that this strike also reveals a confrontation between sectors of the bourgeoisie, in one side ‘shareholders’ of the present government and in the other, the transport industry and international investors: the proletariat has no interest in allying with either and should instead enjoy a renewed struggle.

This opportunity was followed by the declaration by Oil Workers of a 72 hour strike calling for a reduction of fuel prices and the expelling of the current president of Petrobras, Pedro Parente they join in this wave of strikes teachers in Belo Horizonte and São Paulo, freight drivers, subway workers.

It is in the face of this opening and wave of activity that we turn our eyes to the opportunist positions of Social democrats and “Marxists”: the official leadership of our social democratic left has managed to align the position of their bases in defense of the strikes, but don’t let yourself be fooled, they did so in the interest of their electoral hopes, this is a guarantee that they are “by the side of the people”, that the politics of PT are opposed to Temer’s, that this crisis and instability would not take place in a government that “fought for the worker”, the vote is again placed as an alternative to the convulsions of the capitalist system.

This support by the social democrats have not lead to bigger mobilizations, no call for a general strike on behalf of their unions, not even a defense of a new cycle of struggles, it is nothing more than an opportunist declaration in time for the elections.

Our “Marxists” have not acted much different, PCB has also declared its support, not for the opportunity of reorganization of the class, but in defense of “our” companies, of the national interest of our own bourgeois dictatorship and of the old lie of the “united front”; it’s here, facing a notable opportunity to reaffirm revolutionary positions that we see both the representatives of social democracy and of so-called communists placing themselves always in a defensive position, in defense of democratic guarantees, of “our” companies, of national interests and of every other cliche made popular by the ‘left of capital’.

It’s in the replacing of class struggle for the defense of a “united front” and of democratic stability that we can clearly see that their compromise is not with the proletariat and the proletarian revolution but with the legitimation of the bourgeois dictatorship we live under.

We should not mistake ourselves over the consequences of this process of confrontation, the disruption of the bourgeois State and the intensification of social conflict will not take us straight to a revolutionary upheaval, our situation can only be objectively revolutionary when the class – more than breaks with the traitorous unions that abandoned their struggle – founds their own class unions, their own organs of struggle and assume a fundamental defense of the revolutionary program of communism.

What emerges from this wave of strikes is the necessity of a response to the continuous attacks of the bourgeois against our class, it is necessary, therefore, to organize a united front of the proletariat, based on their demands, their strike committees, one that rejects conciliation, cooperation and affirms a true classist organization.

The class struggle, therefore, can’t be directed by old or new electoral parties, but by its own party, an organization of struggle that can transpose the limitations of the economic struggle of the proletariat and direct the class towards a revolutionary conclusion, this is the task undertook by the International Communist Party.