{"id":1251,"date":"2020-04-21T12:32:28","date_gmt":"2020-04-21T10:32:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/marxistworkersparty.org.za\/?p=1251"},"modified":"2020-05-10T19:03:29","modified_gmt":"2020-05-10T17:03:29","slug":"the-covid-crisis-the-way-forward-for-the-workers-movement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/marxistworkersparty.net\/?p=1251","title":{"rendered":"The Covid Crisis &#038; the Way Forward for the Workers Movement"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>Convene a\nSaftu Congress and a second Working Class Summit before the end of May to re-arm\nthe working class with a clear socialist programme for the new period of global\npandemic and capitalist crisis<\/strong><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>by Shaun Arendse<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In our <a href=\"https:\/\/marxistworkersparty.net\/?p=1148\">16 March statement<\/a>\nthe MWP warned that Ramaphosa\u2019s appeal for South Africa to face the corona\ncrisis as a \u201cunited nation\u201d would prove to be completely hollow. We pointed out\nthat the class struggle would continue. This is precisely what has developed\nunder the lockdown. Instead of Ramaphosa\u2019s \u201csolidarity, understanding and\ncompassion\u201d the bosses have scrambled to pass as much of the burden of the\ncrisis as possible onto the backs of the working class. Workers have been\nforced to use their annual leave, had pay withheld and been retrenched. Communities\nare starving. Many workers in essential services have been forced to work\nwithout adequate personal protective clothing (PPE). Trade unions report floods\nof calls from workers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The ANC-led Gauteng government\nhas used the corona crisis as a cover to cancel the contracts of the 5,000 EPWP\nworkers who were waging a struggle for permanent jobs before the crisis hit.\nThese workers\u2019 stipends of R2,200 a month have now been terminated leaving them\nfacing both the pandemic and starvation \u2013 denied food parcels by corrupt\ngovernment officials. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Ramaphosa\u2019s hypocrisy has been exposed by the ANC government\u2019s follow-through on the threat to rip-up the public-sector wage agreement and withhold agreed pay rises. This is despite the fact that the agreement covers the health workers risking their lives to manage the spread of Covid. In the forefront of the intervention in communities are the Community Health Workers on a salary of just R3,500 per month. Ramaphosa\u2019s monthly salary is R250,000. These workers are on this meagre salary only after a struggle to be recognised as employees, something the government had refused to do so that they could continue exploiting them as cheap labour under the EPWP. The Saftu-affiliated Nupsaw union has had to take-up the demand of thousands of Community Health Workers for adequate PPE. Even the ANC-loyalists in the leadership of the Nehawu union felt under sufficient pressure from its members in the health sector to open a court case against the government for breaching the Occupational Health and Safety Act (later withdrawn). <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Demands around PPE and testing\nwill feature prominently in workers\u2019 struggles and the workers\u2019 movement in the\nmonths and years ahead. Saftu reports that members of its Giwusa affiliate at\nfood manufacturer Clover went on strike over the company\u2019s failure to provide\nprotective clothing. Further spontaneous unprotected strikes are likely. Mines\ncould become a flashpoint as they begin to re-open given the confined working\nconditions and militant traditions of the mineworkers. Already, the chances\nbeing taken by the mine bosses have been too brazen even for the ANC\ngovernment. The CEO of Impala Platinum in Rustenburg appeared in court for\nprematurely re-calling 6,000 workers in violation of the Disaster Management\nAct.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:30px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><strong>Lack of Leadership<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Workers\u2019 frustration, anger, and\neven fear, is exerting pressure on trade union leaders to react. But only up to\na point. So far there is very little in the way of genuine leadership from the\ntops of the workers organisations. Trade union leaders are carefully avoiding\nthe suggestion that strike action can be a response from workers concerned\nabout adequate PPE and health and safety. Some leaders may be concerned that\ntrade unions could also find themselves in court for violating the Disaster\nManagement Act.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But it would be a serious mistake for the trade union movement to voluntarily place itself in the straightjacket of bourgeois law. The MWP has argued that the anti-strike provisions of the amended LRA must be defied where necessary with a combination of mass action rendering them unenforceable and creative legal manoeuvres. The same approach must be taken toward anti-worker provisions in the Disaster Management Act and the restrictions on democratic rights under the lockdown. In \u2018normal\u2019 times strikes, pickets and marches are self-policed by workers&#8217; marshals. Under the conditions of the covid crisis their responsibilities can be extended to ensure that social-distancing measures and other health and safety precautions are complied with. Workers in essential services can determine and organise appropriate levels of emergency cover themselves when strike action is necessary. Health workers in KZN refused to expose themselves to coronavirus without adequate PPE and training.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The bosses are showing that they\nhave no hesitations in abusing the State of Disaster regulations. At Cape\nTown\u2019s Pic N Pay distribution centre seventy workers were dismissed for going\non strike (though the workers deny this). Workers were given notices telling\nthem that they were now classified as \u2018essential workers\u2019 and that it was\n\u201cunlawful\u201d to \u201cengage in any form of strike action\u201d. This shows how many bosses\nwill chose to interpret labour relations under the State of Disaster \u2013 that\nbasic workers\u2019 rights are suspended giving them free-reign to do as they\nplease. The KZN health workers just mentioned were charged by the employer for\n\u201cfailing to take a lawful instruction\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Trade union leaders are rightly\ndenouncing job losses. But SA was experiencing a jobs bloodbath <em>before <\/em>Covid hit. Ritual denunciations\nby trade union leaders did not arm workers for a fight to save jobs then. Nor\nwill they under the far more challenging conditions of the Covid crisis. Public\nsector trade unions have responded to the government\u2019s scrapping of the public\nsector pay rise by opening court cases. None have raised the need for a public\nsector general strike. Even if it is only possible to organise such a strike\nafter the lockdown has ended, it should be raised now to prepare workers. The\nstrike must bring together all public sector workers, including workers at SAA\nwho are facing mass retrenchment as the airline is pushed towards likely\nliquidation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:30px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><strong>Dangers<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There is a danger of an\nunofficial truce between the classes emerging. However, as developments during\nthe lockdown have shown, the class struggle has no \u2018off switch\u2019.&nbsp; Workers will have no choice but to fight for\nsafe working conditions and in defence of pay and jobs. We have no doubt that\nacross the length and breadth of the country groups of workers are taking\nheroic stands in defence of their lives and their interests. In reality, any\ntruce can only operate at the level of the working class\u2019s <em>leadership<\/em>. It does not have to be explicitly stated \u2013 <em>inaction<\/em> is sufficient for it to exist <em>in practice<\/em>. The result is that the\ntrade union leaders render a great service to the capitalist ANC government and\nthe bosses, helping to ensure that outbreaks of struggle remain isolated and\ncontained. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The existence of a stronger and\nmore united trade union movement would have found the working class better\nprepared to meet the challenges of the covid crisis. The immediate task would\nhave been for the working class to take control of emergency health measures\nand organise them in such a way as to defend their interests. Strong and\ndemocratic shop stewards committees, at workplace, regional and provincial\nlevel, resting on well organised workforces, could have set the terms for the\ncontinuation of work in essential services, and the terms upon which\nnon-essential workplaces would be closed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Laid-off trade union members\ncould have organised in \u2018Covid brigades\u2019 linking-up with community activists,\nmaking the deployment of the police and army in the townships and informal\nsettlements unnecessary. These brigades could have ensured security, the\nprovision of food and the well-being of elderly and vulnerable residents. An\nauthoritative trade union federation, linking-up the entire working class,\nwould demand from the government the resources to make these brigades\neffective. It would also prepare a post-lockdown campaign to ensure that every\nsingle lost job and cent of income is regained. If there was a socialist mass\nworkers party in existence, the crisis would be used to fully expose the\ncapitalist system and the parties that defend it and prepare the working class\nfor a struggle to win political power.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>However, unfortunately, this was not the condition in which the Covid crisis found the working class movement. If things are left to the ANC government and the capitalists the working class faces an unprecedented catastrophe. The crisis must be used to strengthen working class organisation and raise socialist consciousness, preparing workers for the sharp struggles that lie ahead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><strong>The working class needs its own post-Covid \u2018recovery plan\u2019.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:30px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><strong>Continuity<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Cosatu leadership has a <em>conscious<\/em> policy of class collaboration\nthrough its alliance with the ANC. Workers cannot expect any leadership from\nthem, notwithstanding occasional knee-jerk reactions in response to the\npressure of their members. At this stage Saftu is best positioned to provide\nleadership and act as a pole of attraction for the working class revolt that\ncan develop. Is it up to the challenge? At this stage, we must warn that Saftu\nfaces the danger of sleep-walking into the role of a \u2018loyal opposition\u2019 to\ncapitalism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The pandemic is exposing the\nrotten state of world capitalism. But it is not itself the cause of that\nrottenness. It is playing the role of a catalyst \u2013 accelerating processes and\nsharpening contradictions that already existed. In South Africa the pandemic is\nmultiplying the pre-existing crises of hunger, poverty, inequality and\nunemployment. The ANC government\u2019s militarisation of the lockdown and their\nslavish support for the interests of big business in managing the crisis\ncontinues and deepens the course they were already on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Unfortunately, the Covid crisis\nalso seems to have accelerated the Saftu leadership\u2019s journey down the road of\nideological retreat that it had already been travelling. As we noted in our <a href=\"https:\/\/marxistworkersparty.net\/?p=1148\">16 March<\/a>\nstatement Saftu\u2019s immediate response to the crisis was to come out explicitly\nin support of the ideas of capitalist economist John Maynard Keynes \u2013 ideas\nthat were consciously calculated to cut across working class movements\ndeveloping in the direction of a revolutionary revolt against the capitalist system,\nespecially in Europe after World War Two.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We have warned previously that Saftu\u2019s Keynesian programme amounts to an effort to save capitalism from itself. Proving our point capitalist governments around the world have implemented Keynesian-style stimulus measures in response to the economic catastrophe of the Covid crisis. These neo-liberal capitalist governments are resorting to measures they have previously denounced as \u201csocialist \u201d, in Trump\u2019s words, \u201cnot to undermine the free market system, but to save it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Even the ANC government may be forced to implement stimulus measures that go well beyond anything Saftu has yet proposed. Over the past year, one of Saftu\u2019s key demands has been an interest rate cut to 3%. The Reserve Bank has cut rates from 6.5% in January to 4.25% today, their lowest level ever. The BNP Paribas bank is predicting they will soon be cut to 3%. Saftu is going to get the rate it wants. Saftu\u2019s other major demand has been for a R500 billion stimulus package. According to the latest media reports the ANC government is considering a stimulus package that will be <em>double<\/em> this amount \u2013 R1 trillion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Covid crisis has proved that\nSaftu\u2019s programme was always fully compatible with capitalism. The\nneo-Keynesianism of the twenty-first century leaves ownership and control of\nthe economy fully in the hands of the capitalist class. Its policies are based\non inducing them to invest, accepting that they will only do so it they can\nmake a sufficient profit. Workers\u2019 leaders that accept this logic end-up restraining\nworkers\u2019 struggle to ensure an \u2018investment friendly environment\u2019. From here it\nis a short step to \u2018social partnership\u2019 (open class collaboration) i.e. \u2018a\nloyal-opposition\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The statement on the Covid crisis\nissued by the Socialist Revolutionary Workers Party in the name of Numsa\ngeneral secretary Irvin Jim also falls far short of a genuine socialist\nprogramme. They also demand a stimulus package but want interest rates to go\nall the way down to 0% for the duration of the pandemic. The capitalist\ngovernments of Europe and the US have all implemented near-0% interest rates or\nlower. The SRWP makes the welcome call for the nationalisation of the private\nhealth sector, but <em>only<\/em> the private\nhealth sector. Again, the capitalist government of Spain was willing to do this\nas a response to the covid outbreak. The SRWP\u2019s broader denunciations of what Covid\nreveals about capitalism are left hanging in the air, vague and divorced from\nany practical action, now or in the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We believe this approach\ncontinues to flow from the influence of the counter-revolutionary idea of\nrevolution by \u2018stages\u2019 learned in the SA Communist Party. The danger is that within\nSaftu the Numsa leadership can reinforce the broader ideological retreat and\neven become a cover for it by dressing-up Saftu\u2019s reformist programme as a\n\u2018revolutionary\u2019 <em>minimum<\/em> programme.\nThe consequence is the same however: to position Saftu as a loyal opposition to\ncapitalism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:30px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><strong>Opportunity<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The tragedy of the coronavirus\npandemic can be turned into an enormous opportunity for the workers\u2019 movement.\nIt has stripped capitalism naked before the working class. Generation-old lies\nabout the superiority of the market \u2013 already threadbare after the 2008-09\neconomic crisis \u2013 have been exposed in dramatic fashion. In the United States\nand Europe there have been unprecedented state interventions in the capitalist\neconomy (see <a href=\"https:\/\/marxistworkersparty.net\/?p=1165\">Coronavirus Plunges Capitalism\ninto Global Turmoil<\/a>). There will be an intensified search by workers\nand young people for a political alternative.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So far the scale of the ANC\ngovernment\u2019s economic stimulus measures do not even register in comparison. But\nfood banks have been set-up to distribute food parcels. The homeless are being\nhoused in sports centres, community halls and closed schools. It seems likely\nthat social grants will be \u2018topped-up\u2019 by R500 per month. There are plans to\n\u2018de-densify\u2019 some informal settlements. Water tanks have been promised to\nthousands more. South Africa\u2019s top billionaires have been able to cough-up a\nfew R-billion extra for a solidarity fund without breaking a sweat.\nAdministered by the ANC government these measures are slow to arrive,\ncompletely inadequate, marred by corruption and even state brutality. But they\ndo give a glimpse of how the resources of society could be mobilised to tackle\nat least extreme poverty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Poor communities will not easily\naccept the ending of even these meagre measures when the pandemic has passed. The\nworking class will want to know why the \u2018emergency\u2019 measures suitable for the\nwar against Covid cannot be made permanent to guarantee living standards and\ntackle the crises of unemployment, low-pay, poverty, hunger and homelessness,\ninadequate healthcare, education, housing and services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The capitalist class is well\naware of the problem they may create for themselves. The <em>Sunday Times<\/em> quotes Sipho Pityana, head of lobby group Business\nUnity SA, as saying, \u201c<em>When we adopt\npolicies, even as interim arrangements, we must also worry about their\nsustainability. If they are short-term we must worry about what happens when we\nno longer continue with them. Are you sowing the seeds of discontent?<\/em>\u201d This\nis also reported to be Tito Mboweni\u2019s preoccupation. A period of sharp class\nconflict is posed as the capitalist class gropes its way to finding the new\nline between concession and repression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>One thing that the working class\ncan be certain of however, is that every \u2018exit strategy\u2019 and every recovery\nplan overseen by the ANC government and its partners in business will have as\nits goal the defence of the capitalist profit system. Whilst they may be forced\ninto more far-reaching \u2018emergency\u2019 measures the ANC remains firmly wedded to\nits long-term austerity plans, ensuring key elements are implemented even\nwhilst the country is in the midst of the crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>By the time that the lockdown\nends SAA may no longer exist, its state funding cut-off. The threat to rip-up\nthe public-sector wage agreement and withhold agreed pay rises has been\ncarried-through. At the same time as millions have lost jobs and income during\nthe lockdown, Absa, Standard Bank, Nedbank and Old Mutual paid-out a combined\nR20.9 billion in dividends (profits) to its shareholders. This dwarfs the R2.5 billion\nin donations to the so-called Solidarity Fund.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:30px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><strong>Way Forward<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the coming months (and even\nyears) we are likely to face intermittent lockdowns, some \u2018hard\u2019 like this one,\nothers \u2018soft\u2019. There may be localised, city-wide or province-wide lockdowns. Different\nsectors of the economy may be switched-on and then switched-off again. Daily\nlife will be in a permanent state of disruption. The precariousness that\nmillions of workers and poor people face will increase, engulfing millions\nmore. The task of the leaders of the workers\u2019 movement is to place the working\nclass on a war footing to face this future and seize the initiative against the\nclass enemy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This must be based on a clear socialist programme. A commitment to nationalisation under democratic working class control and management must be at its heart. In the new conditions of global pandemic and deepened capitalist crisis the workers movement needs to be guided by the following principles:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><strong>Capitalism has failed. Struggle for democratic working class control\nover the management of the pandemic. Ensure safe working conditions.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><strong>Restore every job. Repay every cent of lost wages. Re-instate the\npublic sector pay rise.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><strong>Extend and deepen all emergency poverty alleviation measures under the\ndemocratic control of communities.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><strong>Oppose recovery plans that aim to save capitalism. Fight for socialist\nmeasures. Nationalise the banks and financial sector; private health care,\nlaboratories and pharmaceutical companies; food processing and the big\nsupermarket chains.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><strong>Implement the Saftu and Working Class Summit resolutions on the workers\nparty. Launch in time to contest the 2021 local elections on a socialist\nplatform of \u201cnever again!\u201d will capitalism leave us vulnerable to pandemics and\nstarvation.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The working class needs\npreparation and organisation to flesh-out and fight for such a programme. The\nfirst step should be to convene a Saftu Congress immediately followed by a\nsecond Working Class Summit (WCS). All Saftu Congress delegates would be\nexpected to attend the WCS ahead of which a campaign must be organised to\nensure attendance from <em>rank-and-file<\/em>\ndelegates of Cosatu, Nactu, Fedusa and Amcu. These meetings must re-arm the\nmovement with a programme of action for the new period in the class struggle\nthat is upon us. They must take place as soon as possible, even by the end of\nMay. The working class is quite capable of ensuring that these meetings, as\nwell as transport to and from them, are organised safely, observing necessary\nsocial-distancing measures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Struggle does not need to wait for this phase of lockdown to be ended. A guerrilla war should be started now. The government has vastly expanded the UIF call centre to handle the flood of claims. The trade union movement should do the same. Through a widely publicised helpline complaints from workers against every abuse by their bosses should be carefully recorded. Action should then be taken through phone calls, letters and the opening of CCMA and Labour Court cases, even criminal cases if necessary. Guidance can be given to workers on how to take industrial action. This could be the foundation for a mass recruitment campaign even under the lockdown, helping to broaden participation in a second Working Class Summit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image is-style-default\"><figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"326\" height=\"245\" src=\"https:\/\/marxistworkersparty.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/MEDIUM-.Covid-Workers-Movement.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1241\" srcset=\"https:\/\/marxistworkersparty.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/MEDIUM-.Covid-Workers-Movement.jpg 326w, https:\/\/marxistworkersparty.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/MEDIUM-.Covid-Workers-Movement-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/marxistworkersparty.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/MEDIUM-.Covid-Workers-Movement-80x60.jpg 80w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 326px) 100vw, 326px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mh-excerpt\"><p>Convene a Saftu Congress and a second Working Class Summit before the end of May to re-arm the working class with a clear socialist programme for the new period of global pandemic and capitalist crisis. The working class needs its own post-Covid \u2018recovery plan\u2019.<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1241,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1251","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-coronavirus"],"aioseo_notices":[],"acf":[],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/marxistworkersparty.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1251","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/marxistworkersparty.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/marxistworkersparty.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marxistworkersparty.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marxistworkersparty.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1251"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/marxistworkersparty.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1251\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1354,"href":"https:\/\/marxistworkersparty.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1251\/revisions\/1354"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marxistworkersparty.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1241"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/marxistworkersparty.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1251"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marxistworkersparty.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1251"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marxistworkersparty.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1251"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}