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The violent revolts that are shaking Algeria and Tunisia in these first few days of 2011 speak the language of a proletariat up in arms, in the same way as similar revolts before them elsewhere in the world, such as in Haiti and in Egypt (where, not by chance, in the same few days, we witnessed the classical attempt, invariably made by the ruling classes, to deviate social malcontent down the blind allies of religious clashes).  From the edge (increasingly closer to the centre) of what is still for the bourgeoisie and petit bourgeoisie the “best of all possible worlds”, come unmistakable signals.   Poverty, hunger, unemployment, a total lack of prospects, the impossibility of survival are more and more frequently the conditions in which the proletariat finds itself: only a slight, privileged layer is safe (and not for long now), thanks merely to the crumbs that fell from the rich banqueting tables of imperialist reconstruction in the few decades following the second world war – the economic boom that the bourgeoisie and petit bourgeoisie proclaimed would never end and which, in any case, was only made possible by forced exploitation of the proletariat in all countries.  And so, long live the struggle of Algeria’s and Tunisia’s proletariat, however the situation may develop over the coming days and weeks, because they are providing the whole of the world’s proletariat with precious signs and lessons.

From the FIAT plant in Pomigliano (Italy) to the General Motors one in Indianapolis (USA), and back, with the blessings of mr. Marchionne and president Obama! At the General Motors plant in Indianapolis, the United Auto Workers (UAW), one of GM’s main shareholders, have signed an agreement for the sale of the plant (employing some 650 workers) to the J. D. Norman firm. Among other things, the agreement includes a 50% wage cut (wages p/hour to drop from $29 to $14). End of September, after a series of negotiations accompanied by real intimidations against the workers, the agreement was voted down, 457 against 96. At this point, J. D. Norman declare they have no more intention to buy the plant; on their part, GM and UAW try to use the menace to divide the workers of other local situations: they press for imposing wage reductions and plan real retaliations (for instance, making more difficult any transfer of the Indianapolis workers to other plants of the same GM group). The workers organize a fighting committee (the GM Stamping Rank-and-File Committee) and are now trying to extend their fight beyond the Indianapolis GM plant – in the attempt to involve both the Flint GM workers and the Indianapolis Ford ones, and the local population of cities and towns which in their majority revolve around such big plants. UAW have declared that first and foremost comes “global competitiveness”: the workers become aware of the fact that they have to fight both the bosses and the union. We will trace the developments: meanwhile, hurrah for the fighting US workers! our wish is that their fight be gritty and unyielding and that it may attract other militant sectors of a proletariat who, in the past, was the protagonist of glorious battles.

Two years ago, at the time of Barack Obama’s investiture as President of the United States, we wrote – to sum up briefly – that only a sucker could believe such a position would serve any interests other than those of big capital, with all the inevitable internal contradictions that it generates [1].    Two years have gone by and we all know the economic and social situation in the United States: soaring unemployment, the same trend in the public debt, production mechanisms jammed, commercial war all over the international chess board, clear and growing protectionist trends, industrial policies that heavily penalize the working class (at GM, the unions have accepted drastic salary cuts), an overall sense of discomfort and disillusion… Right in the middle, generous, billion-dollar transfusions for banks and corporations in the (vain) attempt to save the former and re-launch the latter; a health reform that is laughable in its pathetic attempt to stick a miserable patch (in favour of a petit bourgeoisie on the way to becoming proletariat) over one of the most macroscopic black holes in US capitalism; a war (in Afghanistan) that is continuing and another (in Iraq) that seems to be everlasting, which together keep military spending up and fuel the state of  fear and alarm; growing pressure on a mixed and already hard put to proletariat, though “privileged” compared to other sectors of international proletarians; and after this… words… words… words, immersed in the syrup that is so pleasing to the various “lefts” in the various countries, from re-varnished social-democrats to “extra-parliamentaries” wagging their tails and begging to return as “parliamentaries”.

Proletarians, comrades,

remember the struggle of the immigrant proletarians in Rosarno (Southern Italy), their self-determination against exploitation, against the indifference and hostility that surrounded them?  They challenged a world that was oppressing them, consisting of work-gang leaders and police, bosses and union organizations, which constantly kept them separated from the rest of the proletariat for fear that a spontaneous alliance might be formed against the existing social order.  They had residence permits, they didn’t need to apply for them in order to work, so this was not what they were claiming or fighting for: they were fighting the deplorable and inhuman treatment they received and to defend themselves from their horrendous living and working conditions.  During their struggle it was clear to them that in a capitalist regime, whether you have a residence permit or not, there can be no life worth living unless this regime is fought against until it is destroyed.