A Congress of mutation...
internationa
THE 14TH WORLD CONGRESS OF THE FourtH International took place on 5-10 June 1995.
Mutation was a constant theme in the deliberations of the
Congress: the mutation of the world system after the collapse of the Stalinist states of the ex-USSR and eastern
Europe, the mutations in the anti-capitalist left around the world, and of course the mutation of the Fourth
International itself.
The collapse of Stalinism and the continuing capitalist crisis (corresponding to the extension of the long wave of crisis which began in the 1970s) has contradictory effects. Myths and illusions connected to the restoration of capitalism in the post-Stalinist societies have dissipated, faced with the actually existing market economy. But reactions to the socio-economic crisis, in this period of loss of credibility of the socialist project, all too often take the form of reactionary tendencies of an ethnic, nationalist, racial or religious character. Hence the urgent need to rebuild a worldwide movement of anti-capitalist struggle, within the socialist perspective, taking account of the recomposition of the workers' movement which is underway as a result of the double failure of social democracy and Stalinism.
The political disorder in the ranks of the anticapitalist left, in the context of a global balance of forces dominated by imperialism, had resulted in many political, even ideological capitulations. But it has also led to a spectacular overcoming of the sectarian traditions generated by the existence of
Stalinism which have taken root in the anticapitalist left over the decades
Regroupments of forces determined to learn the lessons of the historical abomination that was Stalinism and to continue, against the winds and the tides, to fight against capitalism are being realised in a number of countries so large that it is legitimate to extrapolate a general tendency in the new period
This process can take a variety of forms. In some cases there are wide re-groupments of anti-capitalist forces where the major element comes mainly (though not exclusively) from the decomposition of
Stalinism. In other cases, there are narrower re-groupments of tendencies which are based in the mutation under way inside the revolutionary left. Sometimes this takes the form of the creation of new political formations organised on the basis of democratic pluralism, respecting the diversity of the component parts and their individual identities, yet founded on the basis of unified action and collective discipline, and acting both on the electoral level and in the field of general social and political struggles.
In all the countries where one or the other of these possibilities exists, the organisations of the Fourth International are ready to be part of the re-groupment process. We consider this as an important step towards the recomposition of the anti-capitalist left on a world scale. At the international level, the Fourth International is an active participant in re-groupment, bringing with it the advantages of a long tradition of combat against capitalism and Stalinism.
8 International Viewpoint February 1996
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14th Congress of the Fourth
International
Contents
• Confronting Capitalist Globalization
The political situation in imperialist Europe
Our tasks in imperialist Europe
• The European Union
• Latin America
The situation in Cuba
• Building the International today
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International Viewpoint.
Unions in trouble
One year ago, extraordinary mass struggles permitted the fall of the right-wing Berlusconi and Fini government. Today, the workers movement faces difficulties, uncertainty, and division, Struggles are fragmented, and sometimes isolated.
Franco Turigliatto IN AUTUMN 1994 THE GOVERNMENT'S project of radical reform of welfare, the capstone of the welfare state and an historic conquest of the working class since 1968, met with vigorous resistance, coming spontaneously from the great steel fabrication plants, but rapidly involving the whole working class, private and publicsector, bringing millions of people into the streets. Joining with the workers were the homeless, youth, and students. Confronted by a right-wing government which put into question their role in mediating social conflict, the three trade union organisations (CGIL, CISL, and UIL) had no choice but to lead, broaden, and co-ordinate the movement.
Having re-established a certain credibility on the basis of this initiative, the bureaucracies of the CGIL, CISL, and UIL (responsible for a long time for administering a worsening retirement system) imposed a compromise agreement on the government. This meant calling off the general strike, which in all probability would have brought down Berlusconi. The compromise resolved nothing; it simply postponed until June 1995 new legislation on this question. Berlusconi, worn out by the mass struggle, soon afterwards had to step aside in favour of his former finance minister, the banker Dini, supported by a heterogeneous parliamentary coalition which combined the strengths of the centre left (of which the foundation is the PDS of D'Alema) and the Northern League, but also with the support in of the employers organisations and the trade union leaderships. Dini, with the support of the unions and the PDS, succeeded in carrying the bosses' welfare counter-reform to its conclusion: that which was chased out the door under Berlusconi came back in through the window under Dini.
The governmentand the CGIL, CISL and UIL leaderships agreed on draft legislation on pensions, which differed little from Berlusconi's original proposals. The Italian parliament approved this law on the eve of the summer vacation period, in spite of the very strong opposition of the workers and of Rifondazione Comunista (Communist Refoundation, PRC).
This was a weighty defeat, following closely on the heels of other setbacks over the course of the last several years and which profoundly affects the workers' state of mind and consciousness. A series of mechanisms for division and fragmentation of the working people have by now been firmly put into place: it is no longer only a question of wage losses, serious as they may be, but of means of division which operate continuously, and with greater effect as each year passes. THE CONTRACTION OF WAGES
Also on the wage front we have seen very serious setbacks. The causes can be traced back to the policies carried out by the leading groups in the trade unions. In July of 1992 they signed an agreement which put an end to the indexing of wages, and the same for the sliding scale. A year later these same bureaucracies pledged with the government and the employers to hold wage demands under a ceiling defined by the rate of inflation, as defined each year by the government. In other words, whatever raises are requested in labour disputes would have to be strictly pegged to increases in productivity, in quality, and above all to business balance sheets!
These suicidal agreements put an end to any real independence of trade union organisations, therefore blocking any adequate action for wage increases. Today the result of these agreements, which were soundly criticised by the workers, are clear to everyone's eyes. In 1994 inflation was 3.9%, not the 3.5% of government predictions. 1995 was worse: the predicted inflation rate was 2.5%, but the real rate was 6%! In only two years real wages were
Italy * reduced about 4%, a median loss of about 130,000 lire per month. Public sector, workers were the worst hit. As well as the lowering of real wages, they had to accept concessions which can be classified as the "privatisation of work relations."
GIORGIANA
E VIVA
It must be taken into account that the above wages data refers only to official and regular wages: there is also a widespread black market in labour which involves not only many immigrant workers but Italian workers as well, and which causes further downward pressure on wages.
The consequence leaves no doubts: from 1992 to 1994 the national income (in current prices) rose 8.7%. Wages only rose 2.8%; Profits were up 14.8%. As for productivity, it has been estimated that four Italian workers produce the equivalent of five of their Japanese counterparts. Exports have also risen considerably, largely as a result of the devaluation of the lira.
For many workers, lower real wages means the search for overtime hours. The average working week in the iron and steel sector is now 45-48 hours, while a typical full time contract sets a 38-40 hour week.
The trade unions are no longer capable of monitoring the organisation and rhythms
International Viewpoint n° 274 9
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* Italy of work, and preventing "speed-up". It is hardly surprising that 1,200 workers died as a result of workplace accidents in 1994. The balance sheet of this increased exploitation at Fiat is quite clear. There are 2,400 workplace accidents every year, but productivity has risen by 27% since 1992.
In many workplaces the trade union bureaucracies have accepted that management impose new period of night, Saturday or Sunday work. There is increasing use of "small teams", groups of mainly younger workers contracted for extra, weekend hours not covered by a standard contract. At Fiat's new Melfi plant in the Basilicata region, the trade unions have even accepted a different contract system from that in force in other Fiat workplaces. THREE MILLION UNEMPLOYED
About 12% of the work force is out of work. In the south, unemployment is about 20%. An estimated 40% of young people are out of work. Restructuring is threatening the future of tens of thousands of workers. Alfa Romeo Arese (owned by Fiat) has cut its work force from 12,000 to 6,000. It may close altogether. Olivetti has cut its work force from 46,000 in 1990 to just over 26,000. Reform of the public utility Telecom threatens 9,000 jobs. Private sector "steel barons" have taken control of the hights of the metallurgical sector which, under public management, enabled Italy to become one of the worlds leading industrial powers in the post-war period, and which represented one of the bastions of the organised workers' movement. Under the "barons" a process of reform without end has been launched. In some parts of the public sector, notably public transport, the Dini government and trade union leaders are working to produce new, harsher antistrike legislation. Their common goal is to eliminate the superior contracts (from the workers point of view) which still exist in PARTIAL AND FRAGMENTED STRUGGLES
Mobilising workers is difficult in such a situation. But there have been defensive struggles in the industrial sector, particularly in the sectors most hit by restructuring. Workers at the Ilva steel plant in Tarante have won a partial victory, by preventing the mill's new, private sector managers Lucchini from making drastic reductions in the production programme.
The highly qualified and highly skilled work force of the Alenia military aeronautical and aerospace company has been fighting a long battle against the dismantling piece-by-piece privatisation of the enterprise. So far, they have succeeded. Management has been unable to close the main workshop (in Turin), which employs 3,000 workers.
Struggles like these exist. But they are isolated one from another. The Piedmont region is particularly hit by restructuring, to the point where there is a visible process of de-industrialisation. Nevertheless, the trade unions still refuse to unify their struggles, even at the modest and partial level of a joint strike of all metalworkers. The unions have even 'theorised' the necessity of separate struggles. The most scandalous example of where this leads is the text produced by the FIM-CISL metal workers union in Naples. These unionists demand that Alenia management be firmer in its project to close the Turin workshop!
This is not just a problem of "reformism". Even the "class struggle" conscious trade union sectors have failed to construct an efficient co-ordination
The transport sector has been shaken by a strong mobilisation among workers at the country's airports, the Alitalia airline, the FS railways, and the municipal transport utilities. This sector has the advantage of possessing alternative trade union structures, outside the three big federations. As well as workplace and sectoral questions, mobilisations in the transport sector have also been motivated by workers' opposition to the pension counter-
Last but not least, there has been a significant mobilisation among school teachers, who refuse that their employment contracts be amended just because the neoliberal government has decided to cut spending on education. Students joined in this struggle, protesting against cuts in the education budget, as well as school autonomy' legislation which paves the way for the gradual privatisation of a sector of the public education system. UNION RECOMPOSITION
Criticism of the big three trade union confederations continues to grow. But it has not yet led to the construction of a real alternative leadership. The massive public demonstrations, like the June 1995 demonstrations in Rome, at the initiative of the 'class struggle' sectors of the trade unions, are not in themselves sufficient. Intense upheaval is combined with political weakness.
There are a number of radical trade union structures outside the big federations: COBAS (base committees) in the public sector, Reppresentance sindacali di base (Rank and File Union Representation, RDB) and the Unitary Federation of Metal Workers (FLMU). Some of these organisations have a real weight in the workplaces where they are present, or in particular sectors, even if they are obviously much weaker than the big confederations. But these groups have a general orientation of seeking an alternative trade union practice. Unfortunately, there have been a number of sectarian diversions. Some of these groups persistently refuse to participate in mass mobilisations called by the CGIL-CISL-UIL "big three?.
The SLAI-COBAS (Self-managed Workers' Union) is different. This organisation was born at the Arese and Pomigliano plants of Alfa Romeo, but has grown and developed considerably since. It sees itself as a transitional instrument in a democratic process of construction of a "class struggle' trade union. SLAI-COBAS policy is to promote unity, on the basis of whatever common demands really exist, and through mass mobilisation.
And the strongest federation? The CGIL still contains the most important avante garde sectors of the workers movement in the factories. Inside the federation, the Essere sindacato (To be a Union) group, which was formed a few years ago, has not proved capable of building an alternative leadership. An important part of the Essere sindacato leadership has proved to be dependent on the confederal bureaucracy, and has rejoined the majority current. During the 1992 mobilisations, Essere sindacato did not seize the leadership of the movement, by boldly going beyond the framework of the union structures. This proved to be the beginning of a deadlock which has since plunged Essere sindacato
But the opposition inside the CGIL is reforming. It has presented an alternative document to the upcoming conference. It seems more aware of the need to present the workers with a global alternative than
What is needed is the real co-ordination of activities inside and outside the confederation. Militants of Rifondazione Comunista have an important role to play. The recent conference of Rifondazione trade unionists was an important step forward. But the obstacles are considerable. and there must be further meetings and debates in order to refine the party's orientation and the practical intervention of Rifondazione militants. *