Europe

GM Europe makers of Vauxhall (Opel) announced this month that they are planning to cut 12,000 workers across the continent – the equivalent to 20% of the European workforce. They are carrying through these attacks to put them back into profit.

70 years ago the mining and industrial region of Asturias in Spain witnessed one of the most fascinating revolutions in the history of the 20th century. During the course of 15 days men and women fought to establish a new society free of exploitation and ruled by the principles of workers’ democracy. This was the beginning of the Asturian Commune.

On Saturday, October 2, Amsterdam saw what is possibly the biggest trade union demonstration in the history of the Netherlands. The workers were protesting against the government’s austerity package.

The Blair government is facing serious difficulties. It cannot convince the trade unions that its pro-big business policies, its continued privatisation of public assets are in the interests of the working class. Brown tried to make up for this by hinting that in some way he might be “old Labour”. In reality there is no fundamental difference between the two.


Last Wednesday, September 22, became an historic day for the Danish student movement. Nearly 2500 young people from almost all types of educational institutions and from all over the country gathered in the KB hall to start the “STOP-NOW”-initiative, which has been called by most of the traditional student organizations. They gathered because the government, in spite of the obvious bad state of the education system, continues to carry through cutbacks.

“Klassenkampf am Montag” – class struggle on Monday – that’s how the magazine Der Spiegel described the Monday demonstrations this summer against the government’s harsh measures of social counter-reform (the Hartz IV packet), which then spread to hundreds of cities across Germany. The packet of measures is known after the name of the chairman of the government commission, Peter Hartz, who also happens to be the head of human resources of the automobile giant Volkswagen.

This summer Germany was hit by a wave of “Monday” demonstrations against the severe austerity measures of the Schröder government. This reflects the growing polarisation within German society. There are moves to the left of the SPD, while on the extreme right the NPD is picking up votes. These are the first rumblings of the class struggle that is to come.

We received this report shortly after the storming of the school in North Ossetia. It highlights the divide between the ordinary people of Beslan and the authorities, and also the responsibility of the Russian government in creating the conditions upon which terrorism flourishes. The barbarity of what happened in Beslan has struck the minds and hearts of millions of people around the world. The unfortunate thing is that all this will now be exploited by the Putins of this world, and by the Blairs and Bushes too. This barbaric act of individual terrorism will not serve the cause of the Chechen people.

The events unfolding in Russia are of a dramatic nature. Gunmen are holding 350 children, parents and teachers in a school in Beslan, North Ossetia. The taking of these hostages is the latest in a series of attacks that have shaken Russia in the recent period. All this is a product of the ongoing conflict in Chechnya. Earlier this week there were new elections in Chechnya and another stooge of Moscow was elected president. This has not served to pacify the area.