Some reader may consider wrong this reflections´ title
I´m sorry to say to this reader that is he who may be wrong. What is said in this previous statement is being shown by the activities developed by social democracy and yellow trade unionism during the last decades.
As founder member of many collective union projects, and being a long run unionist myself, I have checked that fascism congratulates itself (in reality has worked to this outcome during many years) any time a class trade union turns itself, in the way its leaders work, into a yellow trade union.
Social democracy gives its help to this process and besides contributes to the ideological confusion: they call themselves socialist, but its leaders are pro-capitalists, denying the Marxist analysis of reality.
Social democracy´s leaders already shown, in 1949, their submission to the interests of capitalism when they help to create (from a small part of the WFTU) the CIOSL (today known as ITUC) in order to establish their differences with the major trend at the WFTU in refusing the logic and coherent anti imperialist and anti colonialist positions then linked to the necessities of the world´s working class.
It is now, in order not to create further misunderstoods, to define what a yellow trade union is from my point of view – and from the point of view – I guess – of those affiliated to the WFTU.
Yellow trade unionism (those considered itself inter-class, aiming to the Social Pacts to stop the fighting capacities of the exploited while at the same time supporting social democracy) is that kind of unionism that never denounces the existence of the class struggle.
This can be achieve in many ways: 1) “Forgetting” to analyze the economic reality where it works as a trade union; 2) Analyzing the environment in which it works without any reflection concerning the role played by each social class (exploiters and exploited); 3) Considering as “superior problems” the difficulties in the collective working of society, and proposing – as Syriza has made in Greece – to overcome this problems, created by capitalism, with a new inter class social body: 4) Changing its former analysis, as trade union, to adapt themselves to what is imposed by the ruling social class (this is what has been done in Spain by CCOO).
Our class enemy, those who have lived for ages over the work performed by others: slave owners, monarchs, dictators, bourgeois, etc, know fairly well how to use the old formula “divide and conquer”. It has to do with the division of the enemy. They really know who their enemy is: the exploited. That´s why they invest so much efforts and resources to divide us.
The better example I personally know is that of CCOO, a former instance for all the honest trade unionist of Latin America and other continents turned into a one of the most useful unions to the interests of world capitalism. For this reason they receive funds so it can continue working as a trade union in spite of having lost tens of thousands of members; 2) Bourgeois justice exonerate its leaders when involved in corruption cases; 3) Its leaders are bought and corrupted, allowing them its access to high post in big companies, inside the social services or inside international organizations such as the ILO, etc.
Marxism, that provided the workers and unionist movement with a clear ideology, was, in its founding times, the clear ideological basis for CCOO. For this reason, CCOO, as well as all the other class unions in the world, used the reality of the class struggle to be part of the anti fascist vanguard. It was the main masses organization that helped to end with Franco´s dictatorship. In this struggle, CCOO provided a great and essential ideological support.
Nowadays, in many working neighborhoods of the Spanish state where CCOO used to be respected – its members being part of the political councils for the political elections – the ideological confusion has allowed the neofascist party PP to become the stronger political force.
The same goes on with the workers´ vote in many European places formerly linked to the anti capitalist struggle.
Besides, the CCOO´ leaders, and those leaders of the yellow trade unionism of the ITUC (well orientated by the bourgeois, who continue giving them generous funding) are spreading today the inter class message in better ways than the bourgeois itself, always in order to cheat the workers.
It should be enough to read again the documents coming from the CCOO´s latest congresses, and from those coming from the ITUC, to realize that, along hundreds and hundreds of pages, they always use the expression “social agents”, but never the expression “SOCIAL CLASSES” (those were the words used by CCOO when it was a class union).
My first task as CCOO´s leader (during the 1960´s) was to give lectures on trade unionism. These lectures were based in explaining the existence of the class struggle. Today, these words are not used anymore, being forbidden by the bourgeois that gives financial support to CCOO and the ITUC.
As a consequence, we see today the losing, by the great majority of the working class, of their references concerning the political struggle. And the lack of political culture helps fascism.
On the contrary, if trade union struggle is lead by class criteria it helps to identify the working class´enemy as well as its political organizations (diversified in order to give an image of democracy, but equals in their respect to the laws imposed by the transnational companies: now the FTA that denies the states´s capacities of decision – new treats that count with the support of all the pro-capitalists parties.
Working neighborhoods, unfortunately and as a logic consequence of the above mentioned (to which we must add the success attained by the bourgeois in the wrecking of education) are today the places where a higher increase in votes is obtained by fascist options (this happening not only in Spain, but all over Europe). Lack of political culture – and also lack of trade union culture – are clearly connected, and make people think that it should be enough to change the protagonists, without bearing in mind the fact that the programs and the contents of their political proposals are those to be changed.
Fascists have always encouraged the inter class vision. It always have spread the ideology that denies the existence of the class struggle (as the yellow trade unions and social democracy do). They have always encouraged ignorance (not only in political terms); for this reason they burned books, for this reason they promote television and mass media without critical or cultural contents.
Here´s the great coincidence between social democracy and yellow trade unions with the fascists. All of them are not interested in a population equipped with critical sense.
I know that the majority of those affiliated to the yellow trade unions, as well as those affiliated to the social democracy, do not desire the rise of fascism. But they accept, as a lesser evil, not to “divide” their trade union or their parties between those affiliates orientated for the class struggle and those orientated to the inter class action. With this attitude, they are giving an ever increasing strength to the inter class idea used by the fascists.
The only positive future for the political life in a planet that lately is seeing the resurrection of fascism lies in clearly place, with its real value, the class struggle.
In my opinion here we can see the great WFTU´s task: to know how to explain the class struggle and to know how to organize the exploited to fact its only enemy, the capital – that uses and give its financial support to fascism.
No doubt that the WFTU, besides being the great and only world anti capitalist and anti imperialist organization, its going to be (as it is now) the essential and great anti fascist organization.
I encouraged all anti fascists to understand this great role to be played by the WFTU.
Quim Boix
General Secretary of the TUI of Pensioners and Retirees of the WFTU.
http://www.wftucentral.org/?language=es
http://www.pensionistas.info/web/es
