Prol-position newsletter 8 editorial

Editorial from the latest Prol-position newsletter (for live links to the full articles go to: http://www.prol-position.net/) which covers the European labour frontline in depth before turning to Brazil and India...

editorial

This newsletter takes you on a journey through various proletarian realities and struggles. Starting with a sweep of several German factories it hits Citroen in France, continues on through various car-makers in Russia, Romania Poland and the Czech Republic, then hops over the ocean onto a Brazilian oil-rig, back to a strike at a catering firm and a Bosch-Siemens-plant in Germany and then south and back in time to the worker' struggles in Northern Italy, and finally beaming to the present reality of one of India's Special Economic Zones in Gurgaon. The emphasis this time is the current situation of class struggle in Germany and the specific situation and struggles of precarious (temp) workers there and elsewhere. In Germany we see - on one hand - the encircled collective struggles of the (old) core work-force, undermined by the new international division of labor and suffocated by labor law and the law obeying union apparatus. On the other hand there is the mostly individual struggle of a new generation of temp workers in the centers of accumulation, facing a stick without the carrot of permanent employment, turning back and board towards a wave of unemployment benefit and low wage sector reforms. But the cracks begin to show, when the permanents get infected by the disillusions and unrepresentedness of the temps, while the temps are recuperating the collectiveness of the permanents and the wage pressure in the East keeps on heating things up.

The first article, "Misery is relative...", contains various reports out of the world of temp work in Germany. The text starts with a general over-view on temp work there and the official debate about the introduction of a minimum wage. It argues that the minimum wage is rather a measure to re-define the low-wage sector, to re-adjust the pressure on the unemployed and reinforce the general wage hierarchy than a charity action. The following part is a sequence of stories from temps working in industrial core centers, experiencing the hang-overs of important strikes (the major wildcat at Opel/GM and the small one at Gate Gourmet), the incredible tedious sense of life in the electronic world market factories (Flextronics and Nokia) and the riff-raff of affective work on shopping mall and casino construction sites in rust-belt towns.

"...got the taste for it" is a presentation of a book recently published in Germany on a strike at the catering company Gate Gourmet (see also in prol-position news no. 4/2005 | 1 and no. 4/2005 | 2; and in prol-position news no. 5/2006). The book is a detailed and intimate documentation of the long battle and gives the bigger picture (global aviation industries and its struggles, international finance capital) as well as personal insights in the changing work-organization before the strike and the production of the strike itself. The book contains a long strike diary written by one of the strikers and many interviews with the workers. The documentation also sheds light on the scab-work of temps and the way that temp work was the main leverage for the fundamental re-structuring process after the strike, which brings us back to the initial questions.

"Precarious, but not resigned!" is taken from a Mouvement Communiste leaflet on a temp workers strike at Citroen in Aulnay, France. It seems like a contribution with the necessary bit of optimism. Temp workers at that Citroen plant kicked ass... and it was not their own. Particularly interesting in the context of the increasing use of temp work in the (German) car industry.

"The Eastern blocked" contains short pieces on the wage pressure in industries in Poland, Czech Republic, Romania and Russia: conflicts at Fiat in Poland, at Skoda in the Czech Republic, at Ford in Russia and a strike of Chinese textile workers in Romania. The dead-lock of class struggle in the West will not be unblocked without this kind of workers' offensive in the East.

"The other day in Cyberspace" is documenting the chat between a Brazilian oil worker and a Berlin activist supporting Indian car workers'. The chat demonstrates the beautiful randomness of the proletarian use of electronic forms of communication. By the way, please, feel free to comment on, contribute to and use this newsletter, electronically or not, from your oil platform or your armchair, either way!

"We wanted to make history" is the translation of an article in the Wildcat-magazine on a strike at the Bosch-Siemens washing machine factory (BSH) in Berlin, Germany. [see previous articles on BSH in prol-position news no. 4/2005 and no. 5/2006]. It combines analysis, chronology and detailed interviews around this strike that took place in a factory with a long tradition of workers' militancy. The dynamics between workers' self-initiatives, union rank-and-file structures and official (union) politics become most visible. Facing the threat of a closure of the plant the workers struggled with two main aims in their hearts: They did not want to save their jobs at any cost and did want to keep their collectivity. The article asks important questions: What could our practical contribution be in such a situation, and how can we support the elements of self-liberation within?

"Porto Marghera - The last firebrands" presents a DVD documentary and booklet published by Wildcat. The Autonomous Assemblies of Porto Marghera were an independent struggle organization of mainly chemical workers in this vast industrial area in Italy in the early 70s. Former workers activists re-capitulate their struggle against the damaging impact of work and industry, how they gave birth to the environmental movement, the question of representation and delegation, their quarrels with the unions and political parties, how they extended the factory struggle to the area by occupying houses or self-reducing prices, how they got crushed between state repression and (armed) vanguardism. The DVD has English subtitles and the English version of the booklet is about to be finished. If you want to get the DVD and booklet, see article for contact details.

After that you can find a short presentation of the Gurgaon Workers News. This newsletter documents some of the developments in and around this miserable boom region, where India's biggest Special Economic Zone is in the making. It includes information on proletarian experiences and collective action [see also previous articles on Gurgaon in prol-position news no. 4/2005 and no. 7/2006].

Finally some links on three interesting Metamute-articles.

Enjoy the trip... ...and pick up your dose of anger!