In the wake of a decade lost
TEN years have passed since the outbreak of the debt crisis that held the international financial system in suspense — and which led Latin America into the most deep-going process of capitalist restructuring seen in the post-WWIl period. International financial agencies and the government of the continent do not miss an opportunity to assert that the final years
International Viewpoint #248 September 1993
INTRODUCTION - The fourth meeting of the São Paulo Forum took place in Havana, Cuba, on July 2124. It was an opportunity to check and reflect on the tasks facing the left in Latin America, in an international of the 20th century will be years of economic recovery — a result of the situation that is characterised by great consolidation of the "structural changes" that the region has endured. economic, political and social disequalibrium - a situation that is the product of both the crisis of capitalism and the collapse of the "socialist camp". Compared with previous meetings (in Brazil, Mexico and Nicaragua), this meeting signified a quantative and quantative step forward. In particular we would note the incorporation of the principal left forces from the Caribbean and the specific debates that were upper most in peoples minds: • The political situation. • The economy and society in Latin America. • The relationship between democracy, parties, social movements and the state. Furthermore, we should note the importance of the presence of leading members of the Cuban government, in particular Fidel Castro. This presented a unique opportunity to discuss the situation - past and present - in Cuba: the economic situation, their vision of democracy, and the foreign policy of a revolutionary govemment. The articles that we are publishing -The final declaration; a balance sheet of the meeting from a leader of the Mexican PRT's delegation (section of the Fourth International); the conference speech of the Brazilian PT's international secretary, Marco Aurelio García: and one of the two texts that was presented to the meeting by the Mexican PRT - can be considered initial contributions in the process of renewing revolutionary thought and practice in adverse international conditions. - Alfonso Moro * 12
ALFONSO MORO — July 21, 1993
T HE basis for such an assertion
lies in the argument that neoliberal fundamentalism has defeated the interventionist and wasteful populist state, and that today there is no more room for an alternative project to savage capitalism; and even less so for a project that hopes to meet the basic needs of our peoples.
But this so-called victory is far from complete, and can only be considered a victory if one forgets the social, economic, political and ecological costs that Latin America is paying and if one ignores the balance sheet of 12 years of monetarist policies throughout the world. In this area, the Latin American left has much to say and even more to do - on the condition that it breaks with a kind of original sin, that of statism.
Since the beginning of the 1970s, international capitalism has been going through a long period of reduced growth in the rate of profit - characterised by higher rates of inflation, the appearance of generalised crises (1973-75 and 1980-82), as well as by the huge growth of the financial-speculative sphere compared to that of the productive sphere and the unprecedented growth of corruption and "new" brunches of "production" such as the drug
These elements are constants that can be found from Tokyo to the Vatican. The economic growth that was seen in the imperialist countries between 1980 and 1982 in the whole of the imperialist world can be explained, fundamentally, by the process of restructuring of the workplace (which continues) - a process that has increased the rate of surplus value, eroded the weight and power that workers had in the factories, thereby weakening unions and their ability to intervene.
The growth was also due to the increase in public debt, that has led to the generalised indebtedness of states and the uninterrupted pillaging of the social surplus of the so-called "Third World" which, in the case of our continent, meant that throughout the 1980s more than $400bn were transferred to the imperialist coun tries to service the foreign debt. Such transfers of wealth also resulted from the deterioration of the terms of exchange for Latin America's export products on the world market.
Indeed, it is no exaggeration to say that, as in other periods of the development of capitalism, our countries financed the restructuring of production - only to then become its victims.
The economic policies of social austerity and deregulation applied in the name of the free market explain, in part, the severity of the new crisis that appeared in 1989 and which one by one struck all the imperialist countries. They also are to blame for the fact that today in these same imperialist countries there are more than 50 million people without work.
We are not only seeing the deepening of the "north-south" conflict, but also the globalisation of the capitalist economy, whose worst effects are being spread out across the world. The triumphs of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank take place in countries in which the traditional economy has been destroyed, resulting in an incredible growth of misery and hunger.
There can be nothing more pathetic than the demands placed on Somalia, a few years ago, to apply a readjustment plan with the aim of plugging it into the world market - or the now accepted conclusion that there are expendable coun tries whose disappearance would in no way affect the world market.
At the same time, after 12 years of
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LATIN AMERICA
International Viewpoint #248 September 1993 monetarist measures and neo-conservative ideology, neo-liberal fundamentalism proved itself unable to get capitalism out of its economic crisis — which explains why it is now falling out of favour. The majority of European governments, alongside the Japanese and American governments, are now trying to revive growth with short-term neo-Keynesian measures, giving a new boost both to protectionism and the idea of state intervention as a general economic regulator.
Nevertheless, the problem remains: there will be no genuine and lasting revival unless the rate of profit rises substantially, which means that austerity measures against working people will continue to be implemented with as much or more vigour than before.
### Destination unknown
It is in this context that the triumphant march of what, immediately after the Gulf War, came to be known as the "New World Order" appears more as a long march whose final destination nobody can foresee.
The rise and accelerated growth in the number of new economic blocks, under the dominion of the big imperialist powers, represent not only attempts to achieve a new redistribution of zones under their influence. They also tend to increase the number of trade wars and to condemn entire regions to the margin of the world market, regions that cannot guarantee even minimum development for their inhabitants.
Nevertheless, the very existence of this trade war (such has never before existed) creates a series of contradictions which our countries could take advantage of - on the condition that they break from the restructuring programme while demanding national sovereignty and a new kind of international economic inte-
Everyone knows about the effects of the lost decade in Latin America. A drop in the Gross National Prouct (GNP), a major decrease in per capita production, a generalised deterioration of the social infrastructure, runaway inflation, a net transfer of capital in the direction of the imperialist countries, a qualitative degradation of culture and education, an algebraic increase in the number of zones of misery, and the reappearance of medieval
In several cases, the so-called policies of structural adjustment applied in Latin America came before the external debt crisis of 1982. A few years ago, there was a common error in the Latin American left that blamed the IMF and the World Bank for these policies, leaving aside the central role played by Latin American capital and governments, whether Christian Democrat, Social Democrat or so-called "populist"
This error had - and has — practical consequences. It ignores a central element of the problem: the fact that the absolute majority of the Latin American bourgeoisie and their governments are in favour of these policies, and differences exist in respect only to the rhythm of application. The social and economic bases of the old system of political rule and capital accumulation no longer gave any use for them; this is the strength and weakness of their pro-
The strength of the project results from the fact that this offensive coincides with the attack that has been carried out against the workers of the imperialist countries since the 1982 crisis - an attack that the working class leadership has not been able to find sufficient resistance to oppose, in spite of big struggles that were waged at the beginning of the decade such as those of the air traffic controllers in the USA in 1981, the revolt of the British miners in 1984-85, or the struggle of Fiat workers in Italy in defense of the sliding scale of wages. Indeed, all these struggles ended in
The project's weakness lie in the disintegration of the former social pacts which emerged in most countries of the region in the 1940s, social pacts which led to the consolidation of the very systems of political that are now in crisis. This is the case in
Mexico, Colombia, Peru, Argentina and
Bolivia, among others, and the bourgeosies of these countries have not been able to find a long-term alternative to fill the void
As a result, contrary to their hopes, economic, political and social instability is a constant in the region and nobody can seriously claim that this will change in the foreseeable future.
Insofar as states played a central role in the assembly of the old social pacts, the "state reform" promoted by the proponents of liberalism implies a two-fold qualitative change: on the one hand, in the relation between state and economy and, on the other, between the state and mass movements, without for all that solving the worst problems of the continent that are the growth of misery, the region's subordination to imperialism and the absence of
At the same time, we mustn't forget that the former system of rule in Latin America was put into place in a better world economic situation - which meant that relations between the state and the economy and between the state and the mass movements were determined in the context of a growing internal market, and the growth of employment and certain mechanisms of income distribution.
Three years ago, in July 1990, the first declaration of the São Paulo Forum correctly took a stand in regard to the risks that George Bush's "Initiative for the
Americas" project represented, given its expansionist and profoundly anti-democratic character and its opposition "to the real interests of economic and social development of our region."
Today, we must recognise that for the most part this proposal has evaporated into thin air. From the beginning, the fate of
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Internationa/ Viewpoint #248 September 1993 this "initiative" was laughable, but matters are more complicated now with Clinton in power. On the one hand, the American ruling class is divided over the usefulness of the Free Trade Agreement with Mexico and Canada. On the other, the number one priority of the current administration is the restructuring of the domestic economy.
Monetarism losing force
The monetarist fundamentalism of the last decade is now losing force. The difficulties of establishing a "New World Order" can be seen across the globe. The breakdown of the old order created by the Cold War produced an insurmountable problem in the short-term: on the one hand, imperialism (primarily American, given its military might) is freer than ever to act; on the other, its own difficulties prevent it from consolidating its hegemony and feed international chaos.
Nobody doubts that the crisis has had devastating effects on the Latin American population. This has led to the defeat of a series of social struggles. Over the last few years, we have seen a series of defeats of key sectors of the Latin American working class: Bolivian miners, Mexican oilworkers, Argentinian steelworkers, class struggle Peruvian unions, Colombian teachers, and so forth. This has not only reduce the proletariat's weight in society, but has also led to the loss of centralisation of struggles. 14
### LATING
AMERICA FMI
We have seen the advance of the most destructive elements of capitalism: the extinction of the indigenous peoples of the Amazon basin; the daily contamination of the waters of the Rio Bravo, the Suchiate and the Amazon; the deforestation of millions of hectares of forest across the continent; and the systematic destruction of the culture, traditions and history of our peoples through the monopoly on the mass media, which daily seek to convince us that there is no possible alternative to capitalism.
We said that the so-called "state reform" implied a two-fold qualitative change. This should be kept in mind when we discuss social instability. The crisis of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) in Mexico, Peronism in Argentina, the APRA in Peru, and the two-party system in Venezuela, Colombia and Uruguay cannot be explained without taking into account the qualitative changes that have taken place in this area.
Since 1989, the political crisis of the traditional bourgeois projects has deepened and has prevented the global consolidation of the so-called "capitalist restructuring". This is not merely an economic problem, but a political and economic problem, in that order. For proof, we need only look at Paraguay, Panama, Brazil, Uruguay, Chile, Mexico, Peru, Colombia, Uruguay and Venezuela, not to forget the ongoing explosive situation in Central
A Cardenist victory in Mexico, a Lula victory in Brazil or a Broad Front (FA) victory in Uruguay would immediately mean a change in the relationship of forces. They would face enormous difficulties, but it would also be possible to consolidate changes. There have to be changes in a series of countries to break the logic of imperialist domination.
The victory of progressive forces will not immediately mean a global change of capital's power, but it would create better conditions for the poor of our continent and, without a doubt, an incomparably better situation for fighting the American's policy of strangling the Cuban revolution.
For this reason, the São Paulo Forum should pay close attention to the electoral processes that will take place at the end of 1993 and throughout 1994. These elections will probably forge a process of reorganisation of the Latin American left.
The São Paulo Forum, initiated by the Brazilian Workers Party (PT) in 1990, has justifiably sparked interest well beyond the borders of Latin America. It has demonstrated that the various currents of the left in the region are able to sit down and discuss and try to understand the changes that have taken place since the disappearance of the "socialist camp".
The Forum, in spite of all its weaknesses, provides a common place for discussion and exchange, which is pluralist and democratic. This must be preserved. If anyone has been excluded, this is as a result of their own decision. Attempts to force decisions or skip stages only weaken
The current pluralism can be seen as its weakness but, above all, as its strength. In many ways, a new political culture, free of hegemony and leading parties, is being born — one which recognises our agreements and differences, in the knowledge that these differences are inevitable, and, why not say it, to be welcomed.
In defense of Cuba
We believe, nevertheless, that this should not be an impediment for reaching agreement between all members of the Forum in defense of the Cuban revolution. This means being openly against the criminal blockade that Yankee imperialism has imposed on the Cuban people for over 30 years, no matter what appreciation one might have of the policies applied by the revolutionary government.
The defense of this revolution means denouncing the hypocrisy that guides all of our governments, as it means organising broad and united solidarity campaigns in every country. *