We need a general strike

indonesia / philippines / australia | workplace struggles | press release Wednesday June 28, 2006 08:52 by Melbourne Anarchist Communist Group - Anarkismo macg1984 at yahoo dot com dot au

It is time to start building

Leaflet distributed today 28 June 2006 at the massive rally against new Industrial Laws (IR) at the centre on Melbourne.

Howard's war on workers

The general thrust of Howards' anti-worker legislation is clear to all. He wants to crush the ability of workers to say "No" to the boss, no matter how extreme or unfair the issue. After that, the detail hardly matters, except that if practice demonstrates Work Choices still allows some way to oppose employer greed effectively, he'll legislate that tactic away, as well. This is war - and we can't afford to lose.

This is war - and we can't afford to lose.

The big community rallies are both good and necessary, but they are not enough. As workers have shown this year in both France and Indonesia, governments who push anti-worker legislation can be beaten. In France, it took several general strikes, but they succeeded. It will also take a general strike to do it in Australia, since Howard has made demolishing the unions and scrapping workers' rights the focus of his life's work. Just voting Labor won't work, since the Business Council of Australia will veto anything but the most token amendments. The only way to win is to make Work Choices a dead letter through building a massive general strike.

The rank & file have to step up

As you've probably noticed, the ACTU & the union officials aren't exactly running to the barricades to organise a general strike. In fact, they're obstacles to taking the necessary action. We need to build support for this from the base, with the rank & file taking the initiative in discussing the idea and working out how to spread it & make it practical proposal. If the officials get on board with it, so much the better, but if we let them take the lead, they'll only lead us to disaster.

We need a revolution

Now for the bad news. Defeating Howard is only the start. Work Choices is just an expression of how the employers have a never-ending need to increase their profits. After we defeat Howard, sooner or later some government (either Labor or Liberal) will come back at us again, possibly with something even worse. To put a complete end to these attacks, we have to sweep away capitalism & the State around the world and establish a co-operative society of freedom & equality for all.

THE RANK & FILE HAVE TO TAKE CHARGE

Melbourne Anarchist Communist Group

28 June 2006

For a copy of our Aims & Principles, write to: PO Box 2120 Lygon St North, East Brunswick 3057