"The August strike, and the internal crisis of menemismo have opened, for the first time in 20 years, the historical and material conditions which may make it possible for the workers to regain our organic and political unity as a class... For the same reasons, there is a growing ideological-political dispute about who will lead this re-unification, and about what response our class should adopt in response to the crisis of menemismo" CTA Regional Congress, Buenos Aires
* Argentina President Menem's "technocrat" neo-liberalism is loosing its hegemony in society, while the left opposition is challenging the authoritarian leadership of the country's labour movement Eduardo Lucita A number of events last year seemed to indicate a new moment in Argentinean politics. The first key movement was the election at the beginning of 1996, in which the mayor of Buenos Aires was elected directly for the first time. Voters also selected the members of a constituent assembly responsible for defining the statutes of the autonomous capital region. The result of the elections was a triumph for the opposition, and a shocking defeat for the establishment, which scored lower than ever before. Many people interpreted the results as a vote of no confidence in the government.
After months of sectoral mobilisations across the country, there was a centrallyorganised general strike on 8 August 1996. The stoppage was called by the pro-governmental CGT, with the acceptance of the government, and supported by the more radical fractions of the workers movement.
This was the first national strike with a clearly anti-Menem line. Support exceeded the expectations of the official leaders of the CGT, and even the opposition currents in the
There were as many forms of struggle as there are trade union groupings. The CGT organised passive support, while some regional bodies outside Buenos Aires organised walk-outs and mass assemblies. The MTA organised large public meetings in the main squares of Buenos Aires; the CTA organised a week-long caravan round the capital region, and the left in general organised road blockades, pickets and public
In this climate of mobilisation, the parliamentary opposition parties (former president Alfonsin's Union Civica Radical, and FREPASO - Frente Popular por Altemativa Social). the CTA and MTA trade union groupings, and some smaller left political groups came together in the "Multisectoral" — a loose coalition which mobilised for the apagón ("blackour") of 12 September 1996. The apagón was a literal 20 International Viewpoint
"lighting-strike". From 8.00 pm to 8.05 pm, lights were turned off all over Argentina. The reaction of the government was to illuminate the Congress building, and warn that the popular protest could damage the electricity system, causing a collapse of service to hospitals, schools, etc.
Two weeks later, there was a 36 hour general strike, with a demonstration of 80,000 people in the famous Plaza de Mayo, and smaller demonstrations in many other municipalities.
The paradox is that while these strikes have been surprisingly successful, they have seriously weakened the bureaucracy of the officialist trade unions, and strengthened the opposition fractions of the labour movement. The officialist trade union structures are increasingly characterised by a dynamic of fracture, crisis and recomposition.
As a result, the CT leadership held a series of extraordinary meetings, and, after a series of disputes degenerating at times into armed confrontation, a new leadership emerged. The section most directly linked to the government lost some of its influence, and the more combative MTA sector won a number of strategic positions. This re-shuffle will certainly not be the last; coexistence in the union is very weak and fragile.
Meanwhile, the first congress of the CTA (which split from the CGT four years ago) voted unanimously to rename itself as the Central de Trabajadores Argentinos (CTA), a new federation. This was a fundamental event for the Argentinean workers movement, the culture of which is tied to the monolithic, single Central.
The rest of the trade union left organised a national plenary of delegates and activists, most of whom approved motions calling for a regroupment of combative and class-conscious trade unionists across the various organisational divisions.
This is a new period for the trade union characterised by the emergence of pluralist politics which, as they develop, threaten the historic hegemony of the officialist CT leadership. The impact is being felt from the top to the bottom of the
This new dynamic is partly the result of changes in the wider society: the labour market has been deregulated, the occupational structure has changed, and work processes and workplace organisation have been transformed. All this challenges the structures of traditional trade unionism.
But while these changes are a challenge to the existing union leadership, they also represent a new possibility to resuscitate the class struggle tradition in Argentinean trade unionism.
This is one of the contradictions of the neo-liberal period: the generalisation of deregulation is destroying the old protectionist barriers, but also the social integration mechanisms which characterised the previous period of Argentinean social history. It would be overly dramatic to say that the strikes and demonstrations of 1996 inaugurated a new social dynamic. But they do express the potential for such a change. New political situation
At a moment like this, it is important to take stock of the changing relationships between the state and civil society, and between the government and the masses.
The symptoms of social and economic tension which were exposed when the Convertibility Plan slashed inflation, and linked the currency to the US dollar were dramatically reinforced by the "Tequila shock" of 1995, when the economic crisis in Mexico in 1994 led global financial strategists to panic about their "overexposure" in Argentina.
But the causes had been present for some time. Successive governments were unable to keep the budget deficit within the limits agreed with the World Bank. This increased the direct and indirect tax burden. Concentration of wealth and social polarisation were increasingly obvious. Unemployment and marginalisation rates were high. The acceptance of "jobless growth" as a goal was increasingly widespread among "experts". There was growing evidence of a generalised corruption problem, affecting all parts of the state apparatus. All this had encouraged innumerable sectoral or single-issue demonstrations, some of them leading to or based on civil disobedience. Large sectors of the population were loosing faith and interest in the political choices presented to them. The apagón revealed the full implications of this state of mind, with the urban middle classes playing a major role in the mobilisations.
Economic crisis means, sooner or later, political crisis. Conflicts within the ruling party and even within its parliamentary fraction have increased. Former "Superminister" Domingo Cavallo now campaigns against the corruption of the government he
Multi-cia used to be part of, with one eye on the 1999 presidential election campaign. He is not the only politician who would like to succeed president Menem. And all the other contenders are still members of Menem's Justicialist party!
Because of these internal tensions, and the difficulties mentioned above, the Menem government is finding it much more difficult to "make politics from an economic base" as they did in recent years with their measures to control inflation, reform the state, privatise, and restructure the economy. During those 'golden years', the role of individua parties, with distinct programmes, seemed less and less relevant. Instead, Menem manipulated a social alliance between rich and poor, dressed in old, conservative and populist clothes.
The new social dynamic is shifting that social alliance dangerously towards the poor. This is causing a political differentiation among the rich, and a recomposition of their alliances and class/faction alignments. The respectable alternative
Menemismo is drawing to an end. But the ruling block of interests may find a novel way to assure a democratic transfer, possibly incorporating the opposition parties. Although FREPASO and UCR were carried along with the social movement in 1996, and supported the call for the 36 hour general strike, their behaviour has not reflected the rupture between the masses and the government. Their behaviour in parliament has strong elements of institutionalism, and a desire to do a deal at any price.
Not surprisingly, the general public is increasingly sceptical about the political institutions, including the opposition parties, the church and the trade unions. This crisis of representivity is corroding parliamentary democracy. It is also affecting the left, most sections of which have no real roots in the social movements, nor any clear electoral proposals which would be even moderately acceptable to the population in the short term.
The workers, the other subordinate classes, progressive democrats, and socialists are finding it terribly difficult to establish an alternative project to the dominant neoliberal thinking.
This may mean that the result of popular unrest is a shuffle of power between the parties in parliament, with the current opposition forming the government.
The Multisectoral movement which found expression in the apagón is looking for a form of electoral expression. Despite intense negotiations between UCR and FREPASO, it has proved impossible to concretise an agreement. Electoral ambitions colour each discussion, with each party in the potential left alliance chasing after the same part of the electorate. To add to this, each of the parties is divided into many factions and
But what is at stake is more than just a change in government. New social and political alliances are being formed, with a recomposition of the labour movement, and a redefinition of the relationship between organised labour and the
State.
The social fabric of Argentina is open to change. The mobilisation has brought together very different ideologies, in an unprecedented atmosphere of pluralism.
Another important feature was the presence of delegations of workers from many other parts of the
Americas, and even Europe, during the mobilisation for the 36 hour strike, and in the
CTA congress. It seems that globalisation of the economy is, finally, leading to an increasingly
The trade union bureaucracy has finally been obliged to address women, young people, students, retired workers, scientists, and other groups. As a result, the labour movement can be seen as the centralising element of social resistance to the government, and to neo-liberalism.
Of course, the union bureaucrats immediately opened negotiations with the government, ensuring that the mobilisation calmed down as quickly as possible. Nevertheless, they could not stifle the new mood in the country. The working population is back at the centre of society, and increasingly aware that fighting neo-liberalism requires a broad social front. More and more Argentineans are realising that only the workers have the force and dynamism to crystallise and lead that necessary coalition into united action. *
Notes
1. The CT is the traditional labour federation, grouping the majority of industrial and service unions. The Movimiento de los Trabajadores Argentinos (MTA) is a more combative fraction, which is in open conflict with the leadership of the CGT, and struggles to "win the CGT back for the workers". The MTA is supported by the main transport unions, which gives it the power to paralyse the country. The Central de Trabajadores Argentinos
(CTA) is a combative fraction which split from the CGT in 1993. It mainly represents those unions most affected by the State Reform project: Civil servants, teachers, and some industrial unions from the inland regions. The Corriente Clasista y Combativa is a trade union grouping led by the Maoist PCR. Smaller currents in the labour movement include the Corriente Sindical Primero de Mayo, a combative, nationalist current, and currents linked to the various Trotskyist groupings: MAS, MST, PTS, PO, etc.
Militants of the former Argentinean Communist Party
(PCA) have recently dissolved into the CTA.
March 1997#286 21