Information about an enthusiastic week , marked by the strengthening of the unification of the international industrial proletariat

MLPD Zentralkomitee, Schmalhorststr. 1c, 45899 Gelsenkirchen

To

ICOR – Main Coordinator

25 May 2012

MLPD - Information about an enthusiastic week , marked by the strengthening of the unification of the international industrial proletariat

We would like to report about an enthusiastic proletarian-internationalist week in Germany. Cornerstones were a series of events and the visit of a delegation of the Greek steel workers from Aspropyrgos, who have been on strike for more than 200 days (from 14 to 20 May) and the successful 7^th International Automotive Workers' Counsel (IAAR) in Munich (17 to 20 May), which resolved the awakening to a more binding coordination and preparation of the 1^st International Automotive Workers Conference. With the participation of six delegations in a joint day of action on the occasion of the extra-ordinary factory meeting of the Opel (GM) workforce on 21 May in Bochum, as part of the struggle for each and every job and against the threatening shutdown of the plant, this counsel made the step to the practical realization of uniting the international industrial proletariat.

Initiated by Solidarity International, the nationwide Monday Demonstration Movement and MLPD, supported by trade unionists and further organizations, solidarity events with the strike of the Greek steel workers were conducted in 5 cities. There were impressive reports about the strike, which has now lasted for more than 200 days, and more than 10,000 euros in donations were collected. It is currently the most important workers' struggle in Europe and is of outstanding importance for the international workers' unity. They are struggling for their jobs and against wage concessions under the slogan „End the blackmailing“. The strike is political and directed against the Greek government and the „Troika“ from EU, ECB (European Central Bank) and IMF and their shifting of the burdens of the crisis onto the backs of the workers and the broad masses. It emphasizes the leading role of the international industrial proletariat in the revolutionary liberation struggle. The revolutionary greetings from Jeroen Toussaint, Netherlands and European Main Coordinator of ICOR on 15 May to the participants of the event underlined the importance of ICOR: „I would like to express that we, the European Coordination of ICOR are entirely on the side of the struggling steel workers of Aspropyrgos! … Currently, we are in Greece with a delegation and have spoken with the struggling steel workers. We are impressed by their perseverance and the broad solidarity they are experiencing, as well as the extent of the discontent and the resistance of the ordinary people in Greece... The cooperation and the common struggle of ICOR-organizations and also of all progressive people across country borders will successfully push through their objectives and a worthwhile societal perspective.“

The Greek delegation was received at the IAAR with standing ovations. Everyone was deeply moved by their meeting with the delegation from South Korea, who had led an extremely severe struggle against dismissals and political suppression at Ssangyong in 2009, until the plant was conquered with military force. A solidarity message of the IAAR was read out at a memorial ceremony that took place the next day in South Korea for the up till now 22 dead due to the smashing of the strike and the military action. A total of 600 participants of the 7^th IAAR, including participants from 19 countries from 4 continents, were impressing. A number of automotive workers' delegations were among the international participants, too, which had been mobilized by ICOR member organizations, realizing the decision of the ICOR founding conference to support international projects to coordinate the workers' movement, like the Automotive Workers' Counsel 2012. The unanimous decision to step forward to an Automotive Workers' Conference, is an important step ahead to a higher quality of the organized cooperation of the international automotive workers. The concluding resolution states:

“We thus make a pact of mutual support. We firmly reject division and pitting workforces of different location sites against each other, social chauvinism, class collaboration policies, co-management or also the competitive battle of different car brands on the backs of the workforces. We are for the refusal of strikebreaker work, for militant solidarity, the strengthening of the joint trade-union organization, and we organize a regular exchange of information and experiences, as well as cross-border coordination and cooperation of struggles. We stand for close collaboration with workers of all industries, the youth movement, the environmental and women's movements, with all people's movements and the revolutionary movement of the world. Let us strengthen international solidarity and the transition to joint struggles for joint demands! … Let us create all essential preconditions for the First International Automotive Workers' Conference till 2014/2015! Let us build its four pillars together:

• decision-making delegates' meeting of up to five country delegates

• forums of international enterprise collaboration

• on-topic working groups and workshops

• a broad mass program and cultural program.

The transition to the automobile workers' coordination means reliability on the basis of democratic decisions of the international automotive workers' conference based on mutual consent and the decision by individual organizations and forces to participate actively in a task.”

Of great current importance and a special challenge is the threatening shutdown of the plant at GM-Opel in Bochum. Workers from the following locations participated in the forum of GM/Opel and PSA: Bochum, Ruesselsheim, Eisenach, Gliwice, Saragossa, Saint Petersburg, Halol (India), Detroit, Brazil, Venezuela, Aulney and Mulhouse in France and Madrid (Spain).

They unanimously decided: „We declare to GM: if you believed that the attacks you announced last week would increase our division, we have to disappoint you. On the contrary, we have joined forces closer than ever before. The current struggle against the intended shutdowns of the plants Opel Bochum, PSA Aulnay and Madrid is our common struggle!“

This spirit has already been proven at the extraordinary factory meeting at Opel Bochum on the following Monday (21 May). Six delegations from Brazil, Russia, Ukraine, Venezuela, the Philippines and South Africa participated in the manifestations in front of the gate, however, they were not allowed to enter. This only shows how the GM management fears international workers solidarity. Their greetings of solidarity were contributed in the militant meeting of the workforce, however, and at the same time, the reports from the IAAR were an encouragement for the colleagues.

During the course of the factory meeting, news was given that Opel wants to postpone the decision to the end of June – shortly before the plants' holidays. A representative from the Philippines stated: „The monopolies developed the tactics to win time to prevent the struggle of the workers, like everywhere in the world. But this gives the workers the opportunity to prepare their struggle in such a way, that they are well positioned. Our solidarity is with the Opel colleagues.“

This is the spirit in which the struggle of the Opel-workforce against the shutdown of the plant in the struggle for each and every job can be developed.