May Day means nothing to these mortals

[Die Neue Zeit]

May Day means nothing to these mortals (http://www.deccanherald.com/deccanherald/may12007/state234222007430.asp)


These are the people who barely earn their two square meals a day by working in temperatures ranging from 40 degree to 47 degree Celsius in this region. May Day, supposed to celebrate the rights of the working classes, means not a thing to them...

They are construction workers who grind away in the unforgiving climate, to make the lives of their social better-offs that much, well, better. And they belong to the huge unorganised sector of casual workers...

Moreover, there are scores of trade unions which claim to protect the interests of workers. But, apparently, the army of workers in the unorganised sector do not come under their ‘over’-protective wings. Result: Those in the unorganised sector are left to fend for themselves...

Working is even more torturous for workers engaged in road laying. They have not only to work in the gruelling heat of the sun, but also have to take the the searing heat from boiling tar as it is laid on the road. Sangappa, a worker on a road project on the outskirts of the city, showed small blisters on his legs due to the heat. But he has to go on, just to keep his family from starving, he says...

But if past experience is anything to go by, neither the union leaders nor their political masters have any time for these workers who are thus forced to survive on the fringes of society -- and remain firmly stuck there with no help coming from any side.

How can radicals make excuses for "infiltrating" trade unions when in fact they're now part of the larger economic system?

And for the more idealistic bunch here (anarchists, Marx-Engels-only Marxists like ComradeRed), the material conditions are here already, but the guy above doesn't have the time to educate himself; hence the need for an INTERNATIONAL vanguard.

[black magick hustla]

Originally posted by [email protected] 01, 2007 05:04 am
INTERNATIONAL vanguard.
hence the need for educated trots like you ready to show those poor workers the ills of society right.

hm

[Die Neue Zeit]

^^^ You've got a new PM (and I'm NOT a "Trot").

[Prairie Fire]

You are correct that an international is required, and correct that many labour aristocratic unions, and the bureacracy of most unions are part of the capitalist system, but that doesn't mean that trade unions are "reactionary".

Comrade Enver Hoxha said "...Of course, the trade-unions, play a revolutionary role when they are under correct leadership and a revolutionary situation is created in them, otherwise the trade-union movement is turned into a routine concocted by the trade-union chiefs through stands which are sometimes correct, sometimes deviationist, sometimes liberal, sometimes opportunist, but which, in the final analysis, end up in fruitless talks and compromises with the employers."
("Euro-communism is anti-communism").

I think that this quote reflects a lot of frusteration with the union movement, while at the same time not negating it. Hoxha is saying that the concept of a Trade union is not reactionary, but more often than not the trade-union chiefs and leaders are either reformist or downright capitulationist.

Therefore, the solution is to have a revolutionary leadership to enact revolutionary changes in Union politics.

[VukBZ2005]

Niether the party nor the union can show the international working class the way and if they could have in the past, they can not anymore. They are too outdated and are incapable to be flexible and adjust to new forms of Capitalist production.

The international working class can lead themselves. The only thing real Communists need to do is to help them help themselves. To say that they should be lead is to say that you are not a Communist, but a Capitalist in disguise.