The almighty ’’bastion of freedom of speech’’ has just exposed itself as not so free. Across the western world, students are demanding that their universities cut ties with Israeli institutions. The response from their government is that of mass arrests and police violence. In the USA over 1500 students have been arrested for protesting at university campuses. Right-wing politicians call for mass arrests and even (capitalist) social-democrats and greens use the power of the state to crush the brave students who stand up for Palestine.
Student protests at Dutch universities
Dutch students have joined their American comrades in starting massive protests at Dutch universities across the Netherlands. The response of the state is that of violence and mass arrests. While the right-wing media (De Telegraaf, PowNed, WNL) calls them ’’extremists and violent thugs’’, the reality remains that the Netherlands (like all EU nations) keep friendly relations with Israeli universities and institutions. Meanwhile the terrorist: State of Israel is ready to attack Rafah, the last free Palestinian city in the Gaza Strip, which has not been attacked yet.
Western imperialism claims that Rafah is the red line Israel should not cross. But reality is that the terrorist regime is ready crossing the line, with no consequences. Western hypocrites like Joe Biden have said that Rafah is the red line and all military aid to Israel will stop, but it is unlikely that western imperialism suddenly has a change of heart. Dutch students understand the hypocrisy of the countries like the Netherlands. They are radicalised by the injustice and mass deaths caused by Israeli terrorism against Palestinian men, women and children.
GreenLeft mayor of Amsterdam in service of Israel
Femke Halsema is the mayor of Amsterdam from the GreenLeft party. She belongs to the right-wing of the liberal greens in the Netherlands. Halsema used to be party leader and moved GreenLeft away from its leftist green politics, towards accepting capitalism and western imperialism. Femke Halsema became mayor of the Dutch capital and has proven herself to be a supporter of the State of Israel. She ordered the police to crush the students, who had barracked themselves in the University of Amsterdam in protest of its friendly relations with Israeli institutions.
While the Dutch: Party of Labour is mostly pro-Israel, the GreenLeft remains divided. Its leaders are all pro-Israel, but a large percentage of its members is not. Many younger members reject the actions of the State of Israel and they have clashed with the party leadership, often getting their voices silenced in undemocratic moves to silence pro-Palestinian opinions.
A socialist alternative is the only solution
Many students favour the idea of one democratic secular country for Jews and Arabs. But the problem is that this is not possible. Even a unified socialist nation for both communities is an illusion, as Israeli workers do not feel any connection to ”Arabic” Palestine. On the other side, the Palestinians will not easily forgive the Israeli’s for the massive deaths, racism and oppression. This is why we say that Israel and Palestine must become socialist countries on the 1967 borders. Socialism will not end the hatred in one night but it can start a process of healing, if the economy is run for the majority and not a capitalist few!
The Kingdom of the Netherlands is one of the few European countries, were Labour Day or 1 May is not a free day. Despite that social-democrats participated in Dutch governments, the first of May was never declared a free day for workers. This is mainly because the Party of Labour is not radical nor revolutionary. In coalition with liberals and conservatives, the Dutch social-democrats behaved moderate and in line with the power structures of capitalism.
Capitalism in the Netherlands
Despite what many think, the Netherlands is not a liberal leftist paradise. The country does tolerate a lot of personal freedoms, but its economic politics are driven by politicians in the service of capitalism. No Dutch government has ever dared to oppose big business, not even the government of Joop den Uyl, who is called the most leftist prime minister. After Wim Kok became leader of the social-democrats in 1986, the Party of Labour embraced the neoliberal third way and became a typical party of the bourgeoisie. Today Dutch social-democracy is no longer seen by workers as their voice in politics.
The capitalist left-wing in the Netherlands
The Party of Labour is not the only pro-capitalist ”leftist” party in the Netherlands. They have joined up with the liberal greens of GreenLeft, a party that was founded in 1991. GreenLeft is a party of liberal greens, who call for a naive mixture of eco-capitalism with Europeanism, meaning they love the European Union and its undemocratic capitalist institutions. GreenLeft is popular among the progressive bourgeoisie, but it has nothing to offer ordinary workers. The Dutch liberal greens are too willing to join a capitalist government to proof their loyalty to the establishment.
While the social democrats have embraced the capitalist system, there is a third party that claims to be leftist. This is the Socialist Party, founded in 1971 as a revolutionary Maoist party, promoting the idea of the Chinese Stalinist leader: Mao Zedong. It slowly abandoned Maoism and embraced a strange mixture of leftist populism before becoming more mainstream social-democratic by the late 1990’s. Today you can call the Socialist Party a social-democratic party with nationalist characteristics. Their propaganda is sometimes anti-capitalist, but their program is not. The leftist populists do not call for socialism nor fight for a socialist Europe. This is why the Socialist Party has not won an election since 2010.
Inequality growing due to inflation
Workers in the Netherlands were told by social-democracy not to fight too much. The Party of Labour tried to keep the workers in line by call on them to talk with their capitalist bosses instead of striking. After the rise of Wim Kok, the social-democrats told trade unionists that they had to accept austerity, deregulation and market based politics, because There Was No Alternative. This mentality wrecked the Dutch trade union movement as many workers came to the conclusion that unions did not worked in their interests. The capitalist media helped too, by portraying the unions as bureaucratic and elitist. Today only 870.000 workers are members of the Federation of Dutch Trade Unions.
After the Covid-19 crisis and the start of the War in Ukraine, the capitalist class started to increase prices for almost all products. They say that they have no choice, but we know that they just want to keep up their profits at all costs. Dutch workers are understanding that they need to fight back and the Federation of Dutch Trade Unions is willing to fight again. But what is lacking is a political vehicle as too many trade unionists remain influenced by the failed methods of social-democracy. The Netherlands also lacks a workers party on a socialist program, that fights for a socialist Netherlands as part of a voluntary European Socialist Federative Republic
Former Labour Party MP and Respect Party leader George Galloway has won the Rochdale by-election on the platform of the Workers Party of Britain. Galloway is not a stranger to the British House of Lords. He was a Member of Parliament (MP) for the Labour Party from 1987 until 2005. Because Galloway rejected the invasion of Iraq, Tony Blair kicked him out of the Labour Party. Galloway then founded the Respect Party and was an MP from 2005 until 2015. The capitalist establishment has always hated him for his rejected of their imperialist methods and his opposition to the pro-capitalist course of the Labour Party.
Who is George Galloway
George Galloway was born on 16 August 1954 in Dundee Scotland. His father was a Scottish trade unionist, while his mother Sheila O’Reilly was of Irish descent. Galloway is a British patriot who loves the country of Great Britain and has stood against the Scottish independent movement. Ironically in his youth, Galloway had been a long-time supporter of Sinn Féin and Irish reunification. At age 13 he lied to the Labour Party Young Socialists in order to join. While still a teenager, Galloway became secretary of the Dundee Labour Party. In 1981, at age 26, George Galloway became the leader of the whole Scottish Labour Party.
Galloway supported the idea of having members of the Communist Party of Great Britain joining the Labour Party. He was much closer to their Stalinist thinking then the Trotskyist members of the Militant Tendency, who were very powerful in Liverpool. Despite his closeness to Stalinism, Galloway rejected the right-wing attacks against Militant and did not support their expulsion from the Labour Party.
Opposition to New Labour and Tony Blair
Tony Blair became the leader of the Labour Party in July 1994. His vision was that of New Labour, meaning that the social-democrats abandoned their last socialist ideas for full neoliberalism. Blair was able to win support due to the collapse of Stalinism and the growing anti-socialist offensive by the capitalist establishment. With the Communist Party of Great Britain dissolved and Militant forced out of Labour, Blair turned the party into an instrument of the ruling class. George Galloway was a vocal critic of Blair and the betrayal of socialist ideas.
After the USA and Great Britain invaded Iraq in 2003. George Galloway became one of the loudest opponents of the Iraq War inside the Labour Party. Because he had openly rejected the first Gulf War and showed sympathy for Saddam Hussein, Galloway was kicked out of the Labour Party after he gave support to the Iraqi insurgents who attacked American and British occupation troops. Galloway was not afraid to call Tony Blair a mass murderer and George W. Bush, the bigger terrorist.
Founding of the Respect Party and failure to provide a socialist alternative
Outside of the Labour Party, George Galloway and his supporters founded the Respect Party. This was a venture between Galloway, members of the Socialist Workers Party (SWP) and local Muslim groups who felt betrayed by Labour. The capitalist establishment branded Respect as an alliance between Trotskyists and Islamists. Revolutionary socialists outside of the SWP, criticized Galloway and his supporters for the fact that they openly showed sympathy for reactionary groups and regimes like that of Hezbollah and the Ayatollah regime in Iran. Galloway followed clearly the old Stalinist idea of supporting any group that stands against western imperialism, no matter how reactionary and anti-socialist they might be.
Because of this, the Respect Party failed to provide a socialist alternative. They did not attacked those regimes who were hostile to British imperialism. Also Respect remained rather silent on the conservative mentality of many Muslim families and their reactionary views regarding women and LGBT+ people. Galloway himself is not a fighter for the LGBT+ community. This is a huge weakness of him as socialists should fight for the liberation of all sexes both women and LGBT+. The Respect Party never became a mass party and was mainly build as a vehicle for George Galloway. Soon the ex-Labour icon split with his SWP allies and Respect started to lose support as their movement was based on outrage and identity politics.
A new project: Workers Party of Britain
The Respect Party was dissolved in 2016. Three years later, George Galloway launched a new project called: Workers Party of Britain (WPB). This new venture claims to stand on traditional Labour values betrayed by the Labour Party. Galloway says that his Workers Party of Britain is anti-woke and does not stand with the LGBT+ people. In this the party is close to the social-conservatism of Stalinist parties like the Communist Party of Great Britain (Marxist–Leninist), a Stalinist cult that was active in the foundation of the WPB. Galloway and his supporters remain positive about the Stalinist regimes and therefore give the capitalist establishment ammunition, to be used against revolutionary socialists who say that Stalin and his successors were anti-socialist.
In this the WPB is (like the Respect Party) not the socialist alternative working class people need. Despite the anti-establishment rhetoric of George Galloway, the WPB is just another vehicle for his electoral campaign as was the Respect Party. In his propaganda for the Rochdale by-election, Galloway’s social-conservatism is clear. The WPB leader speaks of family, small businesses, law & order and the Trump line: Make Rochdale Great Again. Although Galloway claims to be against identity politics, we see that his propaganda is very much directed towards identity of certain groups like Muslims and small capitalists. His propaganda is not class oriented nor does it claim that Galloway stands for a socialist Britain under the control of working class people.
The WPB claims to stand on ’’common-sense socialism’’ but behind this line stands a mixture of British nationalism, anti-migrant rhetoric, rejection of the LGBT+ community and leftist populism. This is why we do not think that the Workers Party of Britain will be a success. Yes, it can win some support due to the massive rejection of the two party system in Britain and George Galloway won the Rochdale by-election due to the deep hatred for both Labour and Conservative by the working class.
What is needed?
George Galloway is a hardcore leftist populist. A fighter for what he believes in. But his politics are not based on international socialism. The Workers Party of Britain is a social-conservative party that is build around the popularity of one elected MP. Also the support Galloway gives to Stalinist regimes and anti-western dictatorships cannot be downplayed. Some older workers may like the mixture of social conservatism and classic social democracy of Galloway, who is right-wing on social issues and left-wing on economic issues.
Revolutionary socialists call for a workers party on a socialist program. A program that calls for the nationalisation of the biggest companies under workers self management. We do not think that slogans like: family, law&order, small businesses and Make Britain Great Again, is what we need in a workers party. A workers party must be based on international socialism, not nationalist propaganda about making one country great again.
The Workers Party of Britain is now four years old and only won one election due to the fact the George Galloway is a known figure. In the end the WPB is a nationalist social democratic party, loyal to Great Britain as a nation. The party of Galloway does not even call for a socialist republic. Instead it only wishes for British people to have say in the matter of the monarchy, by a referendum. Does that also mean that if the British public choose the monarchy, the WPB will be loyal to the crown?
George Galloway will return to the British parliament and be hated by both the Labour Party and Conservative Party. The capitalist media will attack him and Galloway will fight back with hardcore populism and anti-establishment rhetoric. This will rally some to his side. But as with the Respect Party, more is needed then just a political vehicle for a charismatic politician. We need a workers party that stands for a socialist Britain as part of a socialist federation of Europe!
Frank Creyelman is a far-right politician in the Kingdom of Belgium. He is active in reactionary nationalist politics since 1977, when Creyelman joined the Flemish National Party. This party changed its name to Flemish Block and was dissolved by the Belgian court for spreading racism and hatred of minorities. Creyelman then joined Flemish Interests, a new far-right party. He entered the Belgian parliament for the first time in 1995. After serving the far-right as a veteran, it was revealed that Frank Creyelman was a spy for the Ministry of State Security of the People’s Republic of China since 2020.
Creyelman was never a supporter of tolerance, he loved right-wing dictatorships. It is not surprising that he choose to work for the Ministry of State Security of the Chinese capitalist dictatorship. Because Frank Creyelmann is known in Belgium as a die-hard supporter of Vladimir Putin. He visited Moscow often and was praised by the propaganda of the Putin Empire as a friend of the Kremlin. He supported the reactionary separatists in eastern Ukraine and when Russia invaded, he sided with the Kremlin. Flemish Interests tried to keep up a democratic facade, but the actions of Creyelman have exposed them again as a party of dictatorship lovers!
Because, despite what the capitalist media may claim, China is not socialist. The People’s Republic of China is a (state)capitalist dictatorship, with the Chinese ”Communist” Party actively promoting Chinese nationalism. In a way, the Flemish nationalists and the CCP share right-wing authoritarianism. We say that the CCP is by no means a workers party, despite their use of communist symbols. For years the party moved so far to the right, we call them not even Stalinist anymore. The CCP has become what the old Chinese Nationalist Party of Chiang Kai Shek used to be. A party of nationalists, state bureaucrats, millionaires and billionaires.
Frank Creyelman did not spy for the People’s Republic of China because of love for the ”Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era”. No! He spied for China because Beijing paid hem. This is the oldest way of getting intelligence, you pay corrupt members of the opposite side. Both the KGB and CIA used this method during the First Cold War. Now in the Second Cold War, this old tactic is used again and Frank Creyelman is not the only one. During Qatargate it was revelled that social-democratic members of the European parliament were paid money to glorify the State of Qatar.
Flemish Interests expelled Frank Creyelman from their ranks. They had no choice as their veteran had worked for the Chinese for over three years. In the Second Cold War, we can assume that more corrupt members of the capitalist establishment are paid by eastern imperialism, to spy for them. At the same time western imperialism will use the same methods. We must not think that our intelligence agencies are not doing the same thing as the Ministry of State Security of the People’s Republic of China or the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation.
In this Second Cold War, we call on workers not to take side. Western imperialism and eastern imperialism are not the allies of workers as they both serve their ruling classes. China and Russia are not the banners of anti-imperialism and America and Europe do not represent human rights and democratic freedoms. Socialism is the only alternative out of poverty, racial injustice and global issues such as climate change and war. International Socialist Alternative (ISA) calls on the trade union movement to fight for:
Inoculation against inflation and competition between workers in Europe: (restoration of) a sliding scale of wage across Europe!
Refinance public services: make the billionaires and big business pay. Use the profits for a socially just ecological transition and massive reinvestment of public services.
Stop the repayment of public debt. For progressive profit and wealth taxes up to and including nationalisation of the financial sector to stop capital flight.
There are no monetary and fiscal solutions to the crisis of capitalism: nationalisation of key sectors of the economy under the control of the labour movement.
This is the only way out of the crisis that capitalism has created. Only by unity of workers can we end the imperialist competition and conflicts.
Prince Bernhard zur Lippe-Biesterfeld of the Netherlands was a Nazi, a full member of the National Socialist German Workers Party (NSDAP). This was already said by many, but the Prince of the Netherlands who died in 2004, always denied that he was a full Nazi. Bernhard only admitted that he was part of the Nazi SA and SS in his student years, but denied that he was ever a party member. This month, a Dutch researcher found the original NSDAP party card of Bernhard zur Lippe-Biesterfeld in his personal archive. Now we can say for sure; Bernhard was a Nazi piece of Orange monarchist shit!
Bernhard zur Lippe-Biesterfeld was born as a German noble prince on 29 June 1911. His family was the ruling House of Lippe, who ruled the Principality of Lippe inside the German Empire. When the German monarchy collapsed in 1918, the family remained wealthy thanks to the traitorous politics of the Social-democratic Party of Germany (SPD), who sided with the German ruling class against the revolutionary socialists. Bernhard remained part of the privileged elite of the instable Weimar Republic. Enjoying the wealth his family were allowed to keep thanks to the betrayal of German social-democracy.
The young Bernhard enjoyed fast cars and girls. This he would love for the rest of his life. By the late 1920’s, he was part of a far-right student club called the German Student Union, which was under full Nazi control by 1931. Hitler was not in power at that time, yet Bernhard decided to join the growing Nazi movement by joining the SA, SS and the National Socialist Motor Corps. Bernhard had no problems with the destruction of the Weimar democracy in 1933 and the banning of left-wing parties. He remained an anticommunist who loved right-wing dictatorships.
During the 1936 Winter Olympics in Nazi Germany, Bernhard met princess Juliana of Orange, daughter of Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands. The Dutch queen had been searching for a suitable husband for Juliana. Bernhard zur Lippe-Biesterfeld was seen as acceptable by the deeply conservative Wilhelmina, who wanted a noble born prince for her daughter. The fact that he was a Nazi Party member did not matter. Despite his membership Bernhard was not a dogmatic believer in the Führer. He was an opportunist, who only joined to be part of the new elite after January 1933.
By the time Bernhard zur Lippe-Biesterfeld and Juliana of Orange married, he was written out as a NSDAP party member, but only because he stopped paying membership fees. The new Dutch prince did remain deeply pro-German on many issues. When Hitler invaded Poland, Bernhard believed this to be a mistake. He wanted Nazi Germany to join with western imperialism to fight the Soviet-Union. Bernhard fully turned against Germany when it invaded the Kingdom of the Netherlands on 10 May 1940. Armed with a machine gun, Bernhard and his family fled the country and went to Great Britain in exile.
It is said that only one person enjoyed the war and that was Bernhard zur Lippe-Biesterfeld. He wanted to show the western allies that he as a German (and former Nazi) was willing to fight for them. He longed more than anyone for a chance to get at the Nazi’s as Ian Lancaster Fleming said. Unfortunate for him, Queen Wilhemina forbade him from participating in the war. Despite this he flew over 1.000 hours on British Spitfires and crashed two planes. In 1944, he was made commander of the Dutch air force in exile and was loved by many Dutch pilots for his commitment.
After the war ended, some wanted Bernhard zur Lippe-Biesterfeld as the next King instead of Wilhemina. But he did not have long to wait as his wife became Queen of the Netherlands in 1948. Although he played the role of a loyal husband, Bernhard had many affairs during the war. He was not a loyal husband to Juliana. Because of the Dutch monarchist system, Bernhard zur Lippe-Biesterfeld could never become king. He was named: Prince Consort of the Netherlands after 1948 and remain so until 1980.
During the Cold War, Prince Bernhard organised the capitalists of the world against the Soviet-Union and its allies. He founded the Bilderberg Meetings, a right-wing group that is promoting free market capitalism and its interests around the globe. Bernhard was the chairman of the Bilderberg Meetings from 1954 until 1975. For his loyalty to western imperialism many capitalists tried to win him over for lucrative contracts. Lockheed was one company who bribed the corrupt Prince Consort of the Netherlands in what became known as the Lockheed scandal.
Lockheed paid Bernhard over 1,1 million dollars (now 10.000.000 dollars in value) in the hope their F-104 would become the Dutch main fighter, which it would. His bribe was exposed in 1975 and Queen Juliana threatened to abdicate if Bernhard was prosecuted. Again, social-democracy came to the rescue and saved the Dutch monarchy by not putting the corrupt prince on trial. It was the Party of Labour led by Joop den Uyl who put the monarchy above justice. Bernhard was saved, but he was forced to step down from several public positions and was forbidden to wear his military uniforms again.
Queen Juliana adducted in 1980. But her husband remained loyal to western imperialism. All in the House of Orange knew that he was unfaithful and corrupt. But these facts were not shown in public. Bernhard remained active until his wife died in 2004. He was 93 years old when he too died in the year 2004 of cancer. Right until the end, Bernhard zur Lippe-Biesterfeld denied that he was a full member of the National Socialist German Workers Party. He lied all his life about this iron fact that is now finally exposed with the official NSDAP membership card found.
Bernhard was an opportunistic liar and a corrupt monarchist in the service of western imperialism. He was praised by his war comrades, but that does not hide the fact that he lied about his Nazi past and his support for Adolf Hitler as a student. Revolutionary socialists therefore denounce him as an ex-Nazi scum who switched sides out of opportunism. That is the real face of Bernhard zur Lippe-Biesterfeld, enemy of the working class and former member of the NSDAP, SA, SS and National Socialist Motor Corps!
The Netherlands will go towards a general election in November this year. After ruling for 13 years, prime minister Mark Rutte wil no longer be the front runner for the right-wing People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD). Rutte led different coalitions, but all in the service of Dutch capitalism. Under his leadership the gap between the rich and the poor grew larger and larger. Today many poor need food banks and many students cannot afford to rent a room. Prices have risen very hard since 2020 leaving many in insecurity. The general election for the Second Chamber (parliament) unfortunate will not be an improvement for working class Dutch.
The Netherlands is not one of the worst places to live. But Dutch society is very much driven by individualism and capitalism. It is expected from an individual to take care of him/herself, the (capitalist) government it not there to help working class people. Reality is that many do not dare to ask for help. This is mainly because the government can react very hostile, when it comes to benefits. They are forced by law to help the poor, but many poor fear the government due to stigmatisation. Between 2005 and 2019, the Dutch government also took a racist look on those who needed childcare benefits.
The Dutch childcare benefits scandal in 2019 exposed this institutionalised racism. It was discovered that the right-wing government of Mark Rutte had wrongly accused an estimated 26.000 parents of making fraudulent benefit claims, requiring them to pay back the allowances they had received in their entirety. Many ended up in massive debts because they could not pay the government back. It also led to fear in society and not daring to ask for benefits. The childcare benefits scandal happend under the eyes of the Party of Labour (PvdA) which was in a ruling coalition with the neoliberal VVD.
There are over 16 political parties in the Second Chamber of the States General, the parliament of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The biggest are the People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD), Democrats 66 (D66), Party for Freedom (PVV) and the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA). The established left-wing is very weak. Only 27 out of 150 are under control of self called left-wing parties. Social-democracy is divided in one mainstream social-democratic party, one green party and one leftist populist party.
The Party of Labour (PvdA) is the main social-democratic party. It used to be a moderate left-wing party, until it accepted neoliberalism by the late 1980’s. GreenLeft grew out of a leftist coalition between the Pacifist Socialist Party, the Communist Party of the Netherlands and the Political Party Radicals. Despite the anti-capitalist origins of two founding members, GreenLeft today is not fighting for a green socialist alternative. It is a capitalist party that believes in a regulated green market economy.
For a long time the Socialist Party (SP) was seen as the most left-wing party. It was born as a Maoist party in 1972. It never officially denounced Maoism and Stalinism, but it slowly evolved into a social-democratic party by the late 1990’s. Because it abandoned its Maoist sectarianism, it was partially able to fill the gap on the left-wing spectrum, after the PvdA turned right-wing under Wim Kok. Under Jan Marijnissen (1986-2008), the SP grew massively. However it never was able to provide a socialist alternative and started to stagnate and losing elections, due to their reformism and willingness to work with the establishment.
Next to the big three are two others who also play on leftist voters. You have the Party for the Animals (PvDD) and BIJ1 (Together1). The Party for the Animals started out as a party that only cared about animal welfare, but it evolved into a more radical version of GreenLeft. BIJ1 is a party based on radical equality and economic justice. It is the only left-wing party that wishes to replace capitalism. The problem with both PvDD and BIJ1 is that they do not speak of socialism as the alternative, neither does the established left-wing.
The far-right is represented by many parties in the Second Chamber. Geert Wilders is fighting for Dutch nationalism since leaving the VVD in 2004. Wilders is the only member of the Party for Freedom (PVV), a open racist party that wishes to ban anything related to Islam. Another far-right party is the Forum for Democracy (FvD) led by Trump/Putin support Thierry Baudet. This far-right party actively opposes climate change, LGBTQI rights and embraces conspiracy theories. Baudet openly admitted that he supports Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin. The PVV and FvD can build on the massive anger towards the establishment as the Dutch left-wing does not dare to fight for socialism!
For the elections in November, a new party is set to win seats in parliament. New Social Contract is the party of former CDA member Pieter Omtzigt. This Christian democrat co-exposed the childcare benefits scandal in 2019 and left the Christian Democratic Appeal. Omtzigt is supported because (unlike mainstream capitalist politicians) he is seen as a man of integrity. We revolutionary socialists do not think that Pieter Omtzigt is a alternative. New Social Contract is a capitalist party, but due to the massive confusion and anger could win the rebel vote.
After Mark Rutte, the old politics is not yet dead. And the new one is not yet born. In the short term, it is about defending our interests as hard as possible. The lack of manpower and confusion among the opposition increases our chances, if we take a clear course. Socialism is the only answer to the confusion that now characterises capitalism. Young people are already radicalising against capitalism. Experiences of Stalinism and social democracy often still create confusion. But during struggles, that confusion can give way to a socialist consciousness.
The former ”Coalition of the Radical Left” has been defeated for a second time in the Greek elections. In May 2023, the right-wing New Democracy party already defeated SYRIZA as the winner of the first elections to be held. New Democracy then also won the June elections under the old election law that grants a bonus of 50 seats to the winning party. With now 158 seats out of 300, the Greek ruling class is in complete control of the Hellenic parliament, with the left-wing reduced to a minor opposition level. Not only SYRIZA lost, the Stalinist KKE lost five seats too in this general election.
Why has New Democracy won, despite the massive inequality and injustice? The reason for that are clear: Greeks do not trust the established political parties and we see this in the voter turn out. Only 53,74% came and voted, with the conservatives winning 40,56% of these 53,74%. The fact that so few voted shows that Greek democracy has a massive legitimacy problem. Too many working class Greek stayed at home and did not voted. Not even the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) was able to win their votes. Worse, they even lost KKE voters who voted for them in May!
Greek workers also felt massively betrayed by Alexis Tsipras and his pseudo-left. 8 years ago, Tsipras and SYRIZA won the elections on a leftist anti-austerity platform. SYRIZA however failed to provide a socialist alternative and could not offer anything but capitulation to European capitalism, who demanded austerity. Tsipras accepted defeat and privatised and deregulated the Greek economy, this led to massive alienation and disillusion. Greek workers abandoned SYRIZA, which is now an empty shell with no base among workers.
Revolutionary Socialist Media has wrote often on the betrayal of SYRIZA. But with this defeat, it is clear that the future for any left-wing party is not reformism but revolution. We cannot reform a system that is build on exploitation and rule of the few. Alexis Tsipras wrongly believed that he could reform the system by working with the European capitalist elite. His failure is the failure of left reformism we also see in Spain and Latin America. The capitalists are happy with reformists, because they would never dare to attack them directly.
This is why revolutionary socialists call for new parties of the working class. Political parties that are not poisoned with the betrayal of social democracy and Stalinism. New parties need to brake with capitalism and their power-structures and this is what no reformist leftist government has dared to do. The right-wing knows that then can only win if the left-wing fails to provide an alternative to the establishment. Alexis Tsipras demoralised and disillusioned millions in Greece, after he capitulated to the Troika of the EU, the World Bank and the IMF. The effects of his betrayal are visible to this day among working class people.
”The time has come to start a new cycle” Tsipras said after he stepped down as SYRIZA leader. He is right, but we do not need new cycles of leftist reformism. The Greek workers will need to begin a new cycle of struggle, free from the shadow of betrayals of reformists like SYRIZA and the older social-democratic: Pan-Hellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK). Meanwhile the capitalists say that Greece is doing fine. Indeed, the markets are happy with the right-wing government. Working class Greeks however suffer poverty and desperation as 35% of the country can be called relatively poor. This is high for a supposed ”western” European country.
Meanwhile the Greek government will push migrants and refugees back into the sea, to their certain death. Their brutal border guards are the defender of ”Fortress Europe”, the European Union and their criminal ruling class. It is clear that only a revolutionary brake with capitalism can end the humanitarian disaster in the Mediterranean. For this the working class will need to understand that socialism is the only alternative. The understanding that capitalism does not work for the majority is growing, but the link to socialism as the alternative is yet to grown.
8 years after the massive betrayal, SYRIZA will forever be a classic example of class treason and why we cannot trust leftist populists with no socialist program behind them. We need revolutionaries who dare to brake with the system, with the EU, with ”Fortress Europe” and the whole rotten political apparatus, it keeps to enrich the minority. As International Socialist Alternative explains:
”What is needed in Greece and across Europe are parties that are instead based on the power of working-class struggle, and are committed to resolving the myriad crises facing people today by challenging capitalism head on — not trying to work within the confines of capitalist institutions which are rigged against them. Without absorbing these lessons the working class will unfortunately be condemned to more disappointment and defeat”
The capitalist government led by social democrats and leftist populists has been defeated in the regional elections. Right-wing forces were able to defeat the Spanish ”Socialist Workers” Party (PSOE) and the United Podemos coalition in regions such as Aragon, Extremadura, Valencia, the Balearic Islands and Cantabria. Here the conservative People’s Party (PP) and the far-right VOX party will govern. For the left-wing this is a massive defeat, but for us revolutionary socialists it does not come unexpected. The Spanish government has failed to provide an alternative out of the crisis of capitalism.
The regional elections have resulted in a massive defeat for the Citizens Party. This bourgeois right-wing populist party was seen as a more moderate party compared to the far-right VOX. The Citizens Party was originally a ruling class project to confuse and block movements to the left after the original rise of Podemos, the leftist populist party that won massive support after the 2015 general elections. Podemos failed to provide a socialist alternative and (worse) joined a capitalist government in 2019, with the social-democratic PSOE.
There was huge potential as Podemos was a party with over 500.000 members. It claimed to oppose austerity, the monarchy and the inequality created by Spanish capitalism. Like the Coalition of the Radical Left (SYRIZA) in Greece, Podemos (Yes We Can in Spanish) claimed to be new and fresh. Millions trusted them and party leader Pablo Iglesias Turrión was seen as the Spanish: Alexis Tsipras. However like Tsipras, Iglesias is not a socialist. He did not have a anti-capitalist socialist program to unite working class people. Podemos is a populist party with no clear revolutionary strategy against capitalism.
The Podemos leader also alienated himself from the working class when he bought a villa that was priced around 600.000 euro’s, while millions of Spanish workers do not have enough money to survive each month. Podemos declined after the 2015 elections as their inability to build a socialist alternative became clear. It entered a coalition with the United Left, led by the Spanish Communist Party. However this could not help them as Podemos lost more votes in the 2019 election. Still the populists joined the government and now share responsibility for the brutal politics of a capitalist state.
Revolutionary socialists think that Podemos will end up like SYRIZA, which has lost massively in the 2023 elections. The regional elections proof that the left-wing has lost, because it took responsibility for governing under capitalism. General elections are to be held on 23 July 2023. We fear that the PSOE/Podemos government will lose and that a right-wing PP government could win. To win a majority, the conservatives will work with the far-right VOX and other capitalist forces.
There have been recent splits in the left-wing populist camp. Sumar (Unite) led by coalition minster Yolanda Díaz and Mas País, will compete with Podemos in the 2023 elections. This will split the left-wing vote in the upcoming election as the pseudo-socialist workers party will also fight for the vote of the working class. For revolutionary socialists it is clear that the right-wing will use the poverty, inequality and desperation of millions to carry out more politics in favour of the rich and the capitalist class, by blaming the left-wing for them.
Millions of workers and youth oppose a PP-VOX government in the future, but the left alternative promoted by the PSOE and Podemos is not attractive as it does not give them anything to fight. Workers know that the PSOE is not on their side and Podemos has proven to be a typical political party, working inside the corrupt power-structure of the capitalist Kingdom of Spain. This is why we say that a socialist alternative is needed, a alternative that brakes with capitalism, the monarchy and the injustice of poverty.
The right-wing and far-right only win in support because the established left-wing is not providing, what it claims it would do. Left-wing ideas are not unpopular as capitalist propagandists claim. The politics of the social-democratic government are not left-wing, they are capitalist and serve the ruling class. Podemos has failed to challenge the ruling class and its decline is a clear warning that reformism is a failure. We need revolutionary politics and a party that dares to oppose the whole system.
Workers and youth will have to fight both the PP, VOX and the existing PSOE/Podemos government. Socialism is the only alternative, which is not propagated by the established left-wing. Only the Catalan Popular Unity Candidacy (CUP) can be considered an acceptable choice for the 2023 general elections. The propaganda slogan of the CUP is clear, they say Governem-nos, meaning un-governing. If we were to give a critical voting advice for Spanish workers, we would say: Vote critically CUP and fight for a socialist alternative, meaning a Socialist Republic of Spain under the control of workers councils.
315 million U.S dollars, 281 million euro’s, that is what the British government paid for the coronation of Charles Windsor. This old man is crowned king of a country that is in deep crisis. Working class people are forced to pay for the crisis of capitalism, caused mainly by Brexit, the War in Ukraine, but also the capitalist class, who is raising prices to keep their profits up. Around 30% of the British working class can be counted as working poor, meaning that despite work they struggle each month. Meanwhile the British Royal Family is said to own at least 28 billion U.S dollars. This massive inequality is why revolutionary socialists oppose the monarchy as there should not be no king or queen to rule over us. We workers are the creators of wealth, it belongs to us!
250 million British pounds were spend on the coronation. This money could have been used elsewhere as there is enough poverty to combat in Great Britain and Northern Ireland. But the right-wing Conservative Party loves the monarchy as it is their symbol. Working class people should not participate nor love the show that is the monarchy. Socialist Alternative, the British section of International Socialist Alternative is very clear, they write: While workers are relying on food banks, while people go homeless due to the capitalist ‘cost of living crisis’, a king with an estimated net worth of £21 billion will order us to ‘pledge our allegiance’. All while he wears a century-old cloth and gloves encrusted with gold. It is no wonder that an estimated 84% will choose to abstain.
The conservatives are not the only ones who love the king and queen. Now that Jeremy Corbyn has been removed from the Labour Party, the social democrats line up behind the monarchy and the capitalist system. Keir Starmer is a monarchist, despite the fact the he used to be a socialist in his youth. The Labour Party today is not longer what millions hoped it could become under Jeremy Corbyn. Labour is back in capitalist hands and it is likely that it will remain that way. This is why Socialist Alternative has been calling on Jeremy Corbyn to run as a independent socialist, since Starmer is blocking him from running as a Labour member.
Socialist Alternative is fighting to abolish the monarchy and the elitist House of Lords. Britain needs a republic, but not a capitalist one. Socialists should fight for a socialist republic under the control of the working class. Workers councils (soviets in Russian) should be the base of this new United Socialist Republic of England, Wales and Northern Ireland. A socialist Scotland should be build as a independent socialist country that can join a voluntary socialist federation of Europe. Socialist Alternative explains that: We need to seize the wealth of the royals, nationalise the estates and the key sections of the economy to plan for need, not for profit and privilege!
France is in an uproar and rightfully so. The capitalist government of Emmanuel Macron wants to raise the retirement age from 62 to 64 years. This causes massive anger as many working class French take to the streets to protest against the government. Revolutionary socialists support them and stand against the capitalist media which sides with Macron. 14% of all French are living in relative poverty, that is around 9 million people who struggle each month. It is a fact that older workers do not find a job as easy as younger workers. Capitalists simply do not look for a worker age 50+ who might be weaker or more likely to get sick. In other European countries, governments have already raised the retirement age like the Netherlands, were workers are forced to work until 67 years of age.
In the Netherlands the working class is more passive and has allowed the government to raise the retirement age from 65 to 67. It is likely that the current working generation will be forced to work until the age of 70. This is what revolutionary socialists fully oppose. We stand for a retirement age at 60 with a maximum work week of 32 hours. In the Netherlands, Socialist Alternative (the Dutch section of ISA) also stands for a 14 euro minimum wage. But we face a wall of capitalist propaganda, of right-wing politicians and commentators who claim that the government has ”no choice” but to raise the retirement age. This is what Emmanuel Macron is also claiming. That he ”had no choice”, meanwhile he is wearing an expensive watch and a suit that is not bought at a discount store.
Macron knows that he will be in trouble if he tries to force his retirement plans through parliament. Therefore he is using a loop in the law to bypass parliament by using Article 49.3, that impose the adoption of a text by the Assembly, immediately and without a vote, that the assembly cannot oppose without toppling the government through a motion of no confidence under Clause 2. Revolutionary socialists from International Socialist Alternative call for a general strike of indefinite duration with daily votes to continue. The strongholds of the labour movement can play a leading role in this, but attention has to be paid to involve the less mobilised sectors.
Many French workers reject the plans of the government. A clear majority 68% say they oppose pension reform and an almost equal number of French, 67%, want the mobilisation to continue. This is a huge reservoir of mobilisation that should not be lost! Unionized workers from the railroads, trams and busses have called for a strike. We say that this must be extended to other sectors to paralyze the whole capitalist class of France. Because win-out workers, the capitalist rulers are nothing. They need our votes, our labour in order to enrich themselves. If workers stop working, then society comes to a halt. In France, ISA calls for the creation of anti-Macron strike committees at both local and national level.
The government has powerful supporters among the capitalist media. They will broadcast the lies about the ”necessity” of working longer. This is what the capitalist government of Mark Rutte in the Netherlands also uses. Both the right-wing and pseudo-left votes in favour of increasing the retirement age. Social democrats from the Party of Labour in the Netherlands voted in favour. This is why we cannot trust social democrats, who have in the past supported neoliberal attacks against the working class. Although the Socialist Party in France claims to oppose the government, we must not forget that French social democracy has carried out the dictates of capitalism under presidents like Mitterrand and Hollande.
Building a general strike is the next step in the overthrow of Marcon and the whole rotten capitalist state. Unlike the established left-wing; New Ecological and Social People’s Union (Nouvelle Union Populaire Ecologique et Sociale), we do not believe in reforming the current French Republic. This republic is a bourgeois state in favour of French capitalism. Therefore we must fight for a socialist republic under the control of ordinary French workers. Unfortunately this not the goal of the New Ecological and Social People’s Union. The NUPES is a union of social democrats, leftist populists, moderate socialists and Eurocommunists. Its is not a revolutionary socialist party.
Emmanuel Macron claims that there is not enough money for pensions. This is a typical capitalist lie as in 2022 over 80.1 billion euros were given to capitalists by their companies. At the same time the Macron government gave these companies over 157 billion euros in tax cuts and Covid-19 support. There is money, only it is save in the hands of climate criminals and vulture capitalists protected by the laws of the French (capitalist) Fifth Republic. ISA demands the full expropriation of all French millionaires and billionaires. They have stolen the money we workers create on a daily bases, while capitalist politicians like Macron are demanding that we work longer.
Only the working class has the power to overthrow Emmanuel Macron, if it can unite under a clear socialist program and party that stands for workers by workers. International Socialist Alternative has made a ten point program to put forward:
A ten-point programme to win
Pension at 60.
For a minimum pension aligned with a minimum wage raised to 2,000 euros net.
For an immediate 10% increase in all wages and the return of the sliding pay scale. Bring the low-paid sectors under government control to guarantee a real status for staff, with good wages and working conditions.
Guaranteed jobs and time to live: for a collective reduction in working hours, without a reduction in wages, with compensatory recruitment and a reduction in the pace of work. For women’s economic independence and an end to precarious work.
For a massive public investment plan in care, education, social housing, sustainable public transport and climate protection measures. Public services must meet needs; they must be of high quality, accessible to all, within 30 minutes of where they live.
Expropriation and confiscation of the assets of billionaires and reintroduction of wealth tax.
Nationalisation of the energy and banking sectors under democratic control and management of the working class.
The 5th Republic has turned out to be a republic that works only for the rich, for the creation of a truly democratic revolutionary Constituent Assembly based on elected representatives of struggle committees in the neighbourhoods, workplaces, universities and schools as a necessary step towards a truly democratic workers’ government that works according to the needs of all and not the profits of a few.
We need a democratically owned and ecologically planned economy, with real democratic control by workers in companies and society as a whole to create millions of sustainable, well-paid jobs and build a new green economy.
Towards a democratic socialist society based on the needs of the working class, the young, the oppressed and the planet.
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The struggle to overthrow capitalism and establish a socialist alternative must be fought on the largest possible scale. That is why we are organised in more than 30 countries on all continents: in Europe, of course, but also in Brazil, Chile, Mexico, the US, Quebec, Nigeria, South Africa, Tunisia, Israel/Palestine and China, where we fight against the murderous capitalist dictatorship of the CCP. Over several decades, we have gained experience fighting authoritarian and oppressive regimes, such as against the South African apartheid regime, and now against the Putin regime in Russia. Our world party is not a sum of national organisations maintaining vague relations, our national sections meet regularly, discuss and draw up analyses and strategic conclusions together to build the revolutionary instrument needed in the current circumstances.
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