International Socialists

As most of you will know, last Friday was ANZAC day. A day when we’re told we should remember fallen heroes and all the rest. I guess it’s fitting then that just days later – today in fact - is May Day, also known as international workers day: a day to celebrate the social and economic achievements of the international working class. However, unlike ANZAC day, May Day is a day when workers can not only look back on what has been achieved in the past, but also draw wisdom and inspiration from previous victories to fight on in the present.

May Day was first formally recognised 117 years ago, in 1891 following massive demonstrations all around the world the previous year demanding an 8 hour working day. The may 1st, 1890 demonstrations were the result of international co-ordination between socialist organisations, unions and other workers movements, and was officially called for by the first congress of the second international (an organization of socialist and labour parties formed in Paris in mid 1889).
The first official May Day saw millions of workers out on the streets in practically every major city internationally, unified in the cry for reasonable work hours. Initially it was meant to be a one off event, but the enormous power of the day left a permanent impression on the workers movement and became a focal point for demonstrations and strikes ever since. May Day is truly unique in that, in the words of Elizabeth Gurley Flynn in 1941, “It is actually the only holiday celebrated internationally. It obliterates all differences of race, creed, colour, and nationality. It celebrates the brotherhood of all workers everywhere. It crosses all national boundaries, it transcends all language barriers, it ignores all religious differences. It makes sharp and clear, around the world, the impassable chasm between all workers and all exploiters. It is the day when the class struggle in its most militant significance is reaffirmed by every conscious worker. This day is to the enlightened worker an augury of a new world, a classless world, a peaceful world, a world without poverty or misery. It is the glowing promise of socialism, the real brotherhood of mankind.”

The strength of May Day is based around a strong workers movement, often centred in militant unions. Strong unions have been responsible for practically every benefit we enjoy today from voting rights to weekends off and workplace safety laws, and they are vital to maintaining these central rights. But a union must not only be strong in numbers, but it must be a fighting union – one that will mobilise its membership to defend the interests of its members. May Day is the perfect time to reflect on what has happened in the recent past to best prepare us for the fights ahead.

The response of the EPMU (the Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing union) to Fisher and Paykel announcing their plan to sack all the workers in their Mosgiel factory and relocate to Mexico shows the danger of a union bureaucracy that will not fight. Rather than stalwartly opposing the closure and defending the workers interests, as is their mandate, they have instead been talking about the difficulty of the economic climate on the manufacturing sector.
Andrew  Little, the EPMU national secretary, said “most exporting manufacturers in New Zealand are struggling with a high US-NZ dollar but you expect companies the size of Fisher & Paykel to work hard to keep jobs here.” Not only is this naïve, assuming some sort of moral force at play in economics which is just not the case, it is a straight up surrender. It says “we expect companies to act out of their economic interest because they’re local”.  What the EPMU members expect is that their leaders would fight to protect them. He went on to say “We’re now seeing a very serious and very desperate situation in manufacturing that will have flow-on effects for our economy and our society for years to come if something isn’t done now to stem the flow of plant closures.” The way they have chosen to address this is remarkably telling. Instead of organising pickets, strikes and occupations - real ways of forcing Fisher & Paykel to keep the factories running – the EPMU has joined a government advisory group along with Business NZ to discuss ways the new Zealand government can make New Zealand a more attractive place to do manufacturing business. 2 things are the inevitable result of this approach. 1) It symbolises a dramatic shift in focus from what union should be doing eg representing workers, trying to maximise pay and conditions etc to trying to work with government and businesses to try and help keep profits high. This is truly ridiculous. Do people join unions to help push up profits? Hell no.

The second result is that by going in the direction of reformism and by working with, of all the bloody organisations, Business NZ the EPMU has turned away from the actual strength of their organisation – the members. Workers. Workers have the unique ability to shut down production, since they are solely capable to performing labour. It is from this labour which all wealth and thus all profits flow. In the words of Tim Bowron in the Spark, “Union leaders should tell workers the more defiance they show, the more chance they have of keeping their jobs, or, at the very least, getting a bigger payout to shut them up. Union leaders should remind their members that they’re fighting for their class and that their strong stand today will change public attitudes to redundancy tomorrow and thus help future threatened workers.”

Now, I know what you’re all thinking. They say they’re going to shut the factory down, so you suggest that they workers refuse to work… daft, right? Wrong. As the recent example of Wickliffe press highlighted, just because a company says they are closing and start sacking workers doesn’t mean they are done doing business just yet. It takes a long time to relocate an entire business – there’s paper work and all manner of bureaucracy to deal with – and while all that is going on they still want to be making as much money as possible. As in any strike, the loss of profits is what compels a company to capitulate to the demands of the workers, and whether it takes the form of the company not closing or simply a better severance package, the workers stand to win a lot from taking the fight to the bosses.

But to do this will require the workers to take things into their own hands. The beautiful thing about unions, even ones with a sell-out leadership, is that they provide a focus for workers to base their own self-organisation around. May Day is historically a time for rallying the class struggle, and a revival of struggle is needed desperately right now. The world economy is slowing down, with the housing and speculative finance crises slowly gripping country after country – New Zealand included. It’s an international crisis, which requires an international response.

You see, the financial economy isn’t the only global force. Just like money, labour knows no boundaries. The EPMU argues that the best way to help New Zealand workers is to help New Zealand capitalists, to promote New Zealand businesses over foreign businesses in the same way that the Greens do with their “buy New Zealand Made” campaign. But they’re wrong. We have more in common with the workers in Mexico or Thailand or China than we do with the bosses here. The whole reason we have to fight for scraps here, and they have to fight for scraps there, is because when we are divided we are weak. The strength of workers lies in our ability to paralyse production, which we can only exercise when we act in unity. Ultimately the interests of the bosses cross all borders, so any attempt fundamentally challenge the rule of capital must cross all borders also. The EPMU should be working with the Mexican unions to combat Fisher and Paykel. Not because the Mexican working class should be inherently opposed to industry moving to their country, but because the whole reason F&P want to go there is because they are able to more fully exploit the workers of Mexico than of New Zealand. Allowing the imposition of lower wages and conditions over there is a threat to the living conditions of workers here, in the same way that allowing lower wages for women or youth or any other section of society is dangerous – how can you confidently oppose pay cuts when there is another group who is already working for less? How can you feel safe in demanding a pay rise when there are others who are already doing your job for even less money or strike for better conditions when the company to ship off to china where conditions are already appalling?

This is why, if we stand any chance to achieve this “new world, a classless world” that Elizabeth Flynn spoke of so powerfully in 1941, we need to overcome this perception that foreigners are somehow the enemy, that we need to work to make New Zealand businesses stronger just so they don’t run away. The much better alternative – at least as a starting point - is to work with the workers overseas to raise their wages and conditions. This approach sees workers everywhere win, not just here OR there, and creates a unity from which we can fight for greater demands. Even the greatest demand – that capitalism with all the inequality, war and oppression that goes with it be scrapped completely, and a new form of society be constructed in its place. May Day represents the candle of hope of this new world. Even in the darkest times, on May 1st workers the whole world over have raised the rallying cry for a better world.
So on this day, Today, even though the mood is low at the moment, even though we’re not seeing thousands of people on the streets of dunedin, even though National looks like it might win this election and unleash a wave of attacks unseen since the early 90s, I want you all to keep this in mind: The movement may rise and fall, but it is organisations like ours that help keep the flame alive. It has been said that socialists are the memory of the working class. We maintain the hope and the sound reason that makes a world of prosperity and freedom for All people, not just the wealthy, possible. Struggle happens with or without us, but it is only with guidance and leadership that these struggles can create a world without war, poverty or oppression. So if you’re not already a member, join us. If you are a member, take heart: it is from organisations such as ours that the road to a new world, a better world, a socialist world, will be made clear.

 Kevin