Mexico "End of an era" for state unionism Fidel Velazquez Sanchez, head of the Confederation of Mexican Workers (CTM) died on June 21, at the age of 97. Dan La Botz
Velazquez probably did more than any other single individual to keep Mexican workers in a position of subordination to the Mexican government, the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) and the
"Don Fidel's" death will lead to a succession struggle within the CTM, and could open the way for a more democratic labour movement in Mexico. The Mexican labour movement has recently divided into three different currents: the CTM, the rival Foro group of unions, and their allies in the May First Inter-Union group. Velazquez's death will encourage the process of political redefinition and reorganisation taking place in the labour
The death of Velazquez, so soon betore the July 6 national elections, will also hurt the ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party and help the principal opposition parties, the National Action Party (PAN) and the Party of the Democratic or Revolution (PRD). The PRD and its candidate for mayor of Mexico City, Cuauhtemoc Cardenas students at Tlatelolco in 1968, and supported the smashing of the electrical workers union and the Democratic Tendency in 1975. It was Velazquez who first called for expelling Cuauhtemoc Cardenas and the Democratic Current from the PRI in 1987. Velazquez also opposed the Chiapas Rebellion of 1994 and the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN) which led it.
Throughout his career, Velazquez was an opponent of all rank and initiatives from below, and squashed any signs of independence or autonomy on the part of the workers. Under Velazquez the CTM became famous for "protection contracts," negotiated to protect employers from more militant unions, for "ghost unions," known only to the state and the bosses and unknown to the workers, for the use of gangsters and thugs to beat and even assassinate democratic or independent movements. By the 1990s, Mexicans were the lowest paid industrial workers in the world. most earning between three and ten U.S. dollars per day.
Velazquez's square head, dark-
Bucaram from returning to power.
Alarcón invoked the need to send reassuring signals to foreign investors. But his main preoccupation was to strengthen his already powerful government, which is already determined both to implement the "required" neo-liberal reforms, and deal with an signs of "anarchy" from the popular masses. Not surprisingly, since Bucaram was toppled, there has been a growth of partial struggles, particularly a long strike by public
Alarcón hoped that a yes vote in the referendum would not only legitimise him, but reduce the popular legitimacy which those who led the radical currents during the February movement still hold. In other words, the government proposed the referendum not just to weaken Bucaram, but also to weaken the left-wing coalition PachakutikNuevo Pais, the only force which represents a left opposition to the new regime. Pachakutik called for a no vote on the second
To try to maximise popular support during this period, the Alarcón government has increased import tariffs (to the displeasure of the "international community,") and created a new Secretariat of Indian Affairs.
For the government and media of Ecuador, the poor hardly even exist. Those in power showed little interest in the 40% of citizens who did not bother voting in the referendum. Though these were the same have the most to gain from Velazquez's rimmed glasses, and big cigar became
Velazquez spent over 60 years as one of the principal leaders of Mexican unions and 50 years as head of the Confederation of Mexican Workers (CTM). He drew the unions into a close relationship with the ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) and the Mexican state. He was twice elected Senator for
Velazquez defended the PRI and the state against every progressive social movement that arose in the last 60 years. Velazquez backed the PRI-state in crushing the industrial union movement of the 1940s, supported the PRIgovernment in using the Mexican Army to break the railroad workers strike in 1959. He backed the PRI-government's use of the army in the massacre of 300 12 International Viewpoint #291 over the decades a symbol of the conservative, corrupt, and violent labour bureaucracy, and of the most reactionary sectors of the Institutional Revolutionary Party. Velazquez came to be seen as the biggest and oldest of the "dinosaurs," who represented all that was worst about Mexican labour unions
Velazquez's successor as head of the CTM, Leonardo Rodriguez Alcaine, 78 years old, continues the policies of his predecessor. But Rodriguez Alcaine may find that the CTM organisation begins to crumble beneath him, now that "Don Fidel" is gone. * Source: Mexican Labor News and Analysis tel. (525) 661-33-97 www.igc.apc.org/unitedelect/ e-mail 103144.2651@compuserve.com people as marched in the streets on 5
Nevertheless, the deep effects of the February mobilisation did show through. • Over 74% of voters approved the destitution of Bucaram. • The February movement called for a National Constituent Assembly to draft a new constitution. A partial victory was achieved with the 59% support for proposal three in the referendum, which called for a National Assembly to do the same. This will provide some scope for popular mobilisation, though less than in the initial demand for a Constituent Assembly. • A majority of voters rejected the main parties' proposal to restrict proportional representation in parliamentary elections (Question 7). This will help block the creation of a rightist political monopoly,
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See also Miguel Angel Granados Chapa's El siglo de Fidel Velazquez, Mexico: Pangea, 1996.
in close collaboration with business interests.
• A majority of participants voted to include the people's right to depose their rulers in the constitution.
On the negative side, 65% ratified Alarcón's election. This has enabled the new President to present himself as the unique representative of the popular mandate of February 5th. Apart from Pachakutik, and, for their own reasons, parts of the establishment led by Vice-President Rosalía Arteaga, there was little real opposition on this
Candidates for election to the National Assembly must be proposed by parties and political movements. This obviously represents a defeat for the social movements and citizens' groups. The right has majority control over the Supreme Electoral Tribunal This too will ensure the continued hegemony of the major parties.
So why did most ordinary people vote the way their enemies wanted them to? Assuming that they bothered to vote at all, of course. Mainly because they had no clear alternative before them. No proposition which would have maintained the radical democracy of the February movement. As a result, when facing uncertainty and crisis, and without "their own" political organisations to act as a reference point, people vote for whoever seems to offer stability. The left fails to present an alternative
The left, in Pachakutik-Nuevo Pais, failed to establish a credible mass leadership, both during and after the February mobilisations. We administered our own little preoccupations, and were unable to make an overview of the interests of the whole popular movement. As a result, we contributed to the strengthening of the clientelist, reformist and parliamentarist phenomena which have dominated the opposition in Ecuador and elsewhere.
As so often before in the country's history, most of the opposition is unable to resist the offer of a government job, or a few seconds on television. This kind of outlook has enabled the regime to refresh the makeup on the face of the state. The situation is now more favourable than before for the introduction of neo-liberal policies. And the ruling classes have successfully drawn the wind from the sales of the popular movement
But this government victory does not guarantee them a solution to the crisis facing the country. As before, Ecuador waits with its unsatisfied social demands, while the political class reforms itself.
The struggle for a democratic rupture with this political system continues. Though the conditions for the popular cause are worsening. The immediate struggle is for a National Constituent Assembly, and against privatisation. In this struggle, we must strive for popular unity and independence of the major parties, so as to be ready when the next elections come.
the movement who had forgotten that we were living in a context of class struggle should bourgeoisie in Ecuador never forgot this basic political truth. * Note 1. Fourth International supporter Rosendo Rojas of Democracia Socialista, and two deputies from the Movimiento Popular Democratica. * Based on an article by Fernando López in Revuelta #2, June 1997 (published by Democracia Socialista, Ecuadorian section of the Fourth International)
Transformation and regroupment The collapse of Stalinism and the continuing capitalist crisis has contradictory effects. Myths and illusions connected to the restoration of capitalism in the postStalinist societies have dissipated, faced with the actually existing market economy. But reactions to the socio-economic crisis all too often take the form of reactionary tendencies of an ethnic, nationalist, racial or religious character. Hence the urgent need to rebuild a world-wide movement of anti-capitalist struggle, taking account of the recomposition of the workers movement which is underway as a result of the double failure of social democracy and Stalinism. 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. In all the countries where such possibilities exist, 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
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