Switzerland

The 15th January decision by the Swiss National Bank (SNB) to revoke the cap on the Swiss Franc has sent shivers around the globe. The Euro-Swiss Exchange rate crashed rapidly, followed closely by the SMI (Swiss Market Index) share prices. This marks the end of the stability which has characterised modern Swiss economic history, and the beginning of a new turbulent period.

Switzerland is also being affected by the global crisis of capitalism, with growing pressure on Swiss workers. In the recent elections, although the Social Democrats received the lowest number of votes in 20 years, where candidates posed the real issues facing workers, such as jobs, wages and housing, they did remarkably well. Here we publish an analysis by the Swiss Marxists of Der Funke.

On Saturday, 15 October, in the Paradeplatz in Zürich, the heart of the Swiss banking system, over 1500 people met to express their rage against the power of the banks, against the injustice of the system, against the capitalist crisis. Also in the cities of Basel and Geneva smaller demos of between 100 and 400 people were held.

No country is immune from the class struggle today. Even Switzerland, that country considered a safe haven for the wealth of the world’s capitalists, is feeling the effects of the world economic crisis. Social and class polarisation is taking place and this was clearly expressed at last year’s congress of the Swiss Social Democratic Party (SPS).

Workers and youth are being radicalised in Switzerland and are seeking answers to the crisis of capitalism, but their leaders are not providing those answers. That explains the successful intervention of the Swiss Marxists in recent rallies organised by the trade unions, Young Socialists and Social Democratic Party.

At the beginning of October the Swiss comrades of Der Funke took an important step forward in their work of spreading Marxist ideas in Switzerland by beginning the publication of their journal for the first time not only in German (Der Funke), but also in French (l`Étincelle) and in Italian (la Scintilla). These are the three main languages spoken in the overwhelming majority of the different regions of Switzerland, and this is therefore a very important step for the Swiss Marxists.

The canton Ticino, that part of Switzerland which speaks Italian, and that everyone considers a model of social peace and serenity, has been shaken by a trade union struggle that has no comparison in the recent history of the country. It is the struggle of a very militant section of the Ticino working class, the railway maintenance workers.

The crisis of capitalism is even shaking countries like Switzerland. The heartland of international finance, wealth, “neutrality” and social peace has been rocked by a series of strike actions on the part of building workers. With a growing radicalisation of the Swiss working class and increasing intransigence on the part of the bosses, the stage has been set for serious class battles.

On Mayday our Swiss comrades issued the first edition of their new paper “Der Funke”. This is the first step towards building a Marxist tendency also within the Swiss labour and youth movement. Here we publish a report by our Swiss comrades about there experiences on Mayday.

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