the Voice of
The Communist League of Revolutionary Workers–Internationalist
“The emancipation of the working class will only be achieved by the working class itself.”
— Karl Marx
the Voice of
The Communist League of Revolutionary Workers–Internationalist
“The emancipation of the working class will only be achieved by the working class itself.”
— Karl Marx
Nov 11, 2024
This article is translated from the November 4 editorial of Lutte Ouvrière (Workers Struggle), the Trotskyist group of that name active in France.
The King of Spain, the Head of Government and the President of the Region were greeted by Valencian disaster victims to shouts of “murderers” and mud throwing. And with good reason!
Last Tuesday, the region’s inhabitants saw their lives turned upside down by torrential and deadly rain. As of this Sunday, the overwhelming majority of those affected were still left to fend for themselves, relying solely on the outpouring of solidarity from the public who came to help. So, yes, they spoke their truths to those who call themselves leaders, and they were right to do so!
This tragedy was not the result of “bad luck.” Many deaths could have been avoided if a red alert had been issued sooner. While the weather agency had warned of the danger at 8 a.m., the provincial authorities didn’t issue the alert until 8 p.m., by which time the streets had already turned into torrents.
Why was this? Because a red alert would have meant closing public establishments and businesses and sending workers home. In other words, it would have meant a wasted day for commerce and business.
A year ago, the President of the Region of Madrid was heavily criticized for having triggered the red alert before heavy rains turned out to miss the city. Business circles accused her of erring on the side of caution. Well, last Tuesday, employees worked all day, and dozens of them drowned trying to get home!
The same race for profit leads to the same blindness to global warming, the main cause of the problem. For thirty years, climatologists have been warning of the climate chaos caused by global warming. Thirty years that heads of state have been negotiating their commitments to reduce greenhouse gases. And thirty years of trampling on their promises.
Today, climate chaos is here. It has struck Valencia in Spain, and, as we have seen in the Ardèche and Pas-de-Calais, it is not sparing us [in France]. The worst is yet to come, because society’s current leaders—the bourgeoisie who dominate the entire economy—are incapable of doing what is necessary to curb climate change.
Capitalists see the slightest ecological standard or constraint as an obstacle to profitability and competitiveness, as an unbearable handicap in international competition. And they get their way. Today, agribusiness trusts are continuing to deforest, and Total, Shell and Co. are going to drill for oil in the waters freed from the ice pack. At the same time, those in power are making us feel guilty and lecturing us on the way we consume and travel!
The servants and profiteers of capitalism are leading us to the precipice, because their system has only one goal: the accumulation of capital through the relentless exploitation of mankind and nature. Everything else takes second place: human life and the future of the planet.
The laws of profit, the market, and competition decide what will be produced, where and how. Luxury goods count as much as food production, arms sales as much as medicines. Similar goods can travel thousands of kilometers and cross each other on the roads. This is an incredible waste of energy, resources and human labor.
Instead, production and exchange should be planned and rationalized according to the needs of all humanity. This is not utopian, because the means exist to achieve it. They even exist on a planetary scale.
These tools of production and planetary planning are today controlled by the shareholders of multinationals such as TotalEnergies, BNP Paribas, Volkswagen, Nestlé, Arcelor, Amazon, Google, the shipping giant CMA-CGM, satellite companies.... In the hands of workers, managed democratically and collectively, they would be formidable means of resolving the problems facing humanity, not only the climate crisis but also underdevelopment and monstrous inequalities.
The prospect of a communist organization of society is the only hope of putting existing means at the service of humanity and the preservation of the planet.
Capitalism is neither inevitable nor natural. It was built and is defended by a social class, the bourgeoisie, which profits from it. The working class has every reason to want its demise. However remote it may seem, the communist revolution remains absolutely urgent.