The internationalists

Workers’ councils have a prominent place in our agitation. Recently we have received a number of questions regarding what we mean by workers’ councils, what we think is the relationship between political organisations and workers’ councils, and what might workers’ councils look like today. Our answers to these questions are, as always, informed by the experience of the class struggles of the past.

Often the dynamics of war lead to results that are diametrically opposed to the objectives pursued by the contenders; the conflict in Ukraine, instigated by the Russian Federation mainly to hinder NATO's expansion into Eastern Europe, has in fact accelerated the enlargement of the Atlantic Alliance in an extremely important region from a geopolitical point of view, Northern Europe.

The war in Ukraine has already lasted about six months. Like earlier wars (Syria, Iraq, Libya, Yemen, Congo …) it already has the “never-ending” stamp on it. But there the similarity ends. Although the others involved the major imperialist powers (enough to increase the death toll) they were not direct super-power conflicts.

As mentioned in our recent article on wildcat strikes in the UK, back in May it was reported that over a thousand offshore oil and gas workers in the North Sea walked out across 19 rigs demanding their wages match inflation.(1) And now, according to a statement circulating across social media, more action is being planned for 8 September.

For decades workers have paid for the capitalist crisis in declining real wages, austerity and job insecurity. Now all over the world price rises of basic goods are at last triggering strikes and protests. In the UK, BT workers have been on strike for the first time in more than thirty years. More strikes by rail and tram workers, airport and airline workers, barristers, bus drivers, tube...