Workers' Liberty

By Jack Staunton

The Hotel BAUEN in Buenos Aires, Argentina, occupied by its workers since early 2003, is under threat of eviction by the local government in an effort to return the hotel to its original owners. They charge that since the workers’ seizure of control over the hotel was illegal, it must now be returned. Dozens of other worker-managed workplaces and co-operatives in Argentina fear similar attacks, as BAUEN is a key symbol for the labour movement.

By Sean Matgamna

The two month "Falklands War" between Britain and Argentina in 1982 was a freak event. It was part of no larger conflict; no issue other than possession of the islands was involved.

Download whole dossier as pdf; or read articles online:

The SWP and the Falklands war
The fate of the pet pig: Roy Lynk and the Notts miners
Reflections on the Falklands war

This is how the "victory to Argentina" section of the WSL argued their case, in their major initial statement (WSL Internal Bulletin 7, June 1982).

In 1982, the Socialist Workers’ Party, still retaining bits of a “Third Camp” (independent working class) political tradition from its old slogan “Neither Washington nor Moscow, but international socialism”, took a roughly similar attitude on the British-Argentine war over the Falkland Islands to that of Socialist Organiser, forerunner of Workers’ Liberty.

Message from some workers in Argentina via the Argentina Solidarity Campaign

Dear friends,

We are writing to ask for your solidarity in our difficult struggle. We are workers of The Value Brand (TVB), a soap and cleaning products factory in San Justo, Buenos Aires province. TVB is an investment acquisition by the Swiss-American company, Southern Cross. We have set up a web site where you can learn about our struggle (www.obrerostvb.org.ar). There is also information in an article published on August 22 in the Argentinean newspaper Página 12, which we are enclosing.

Argentina's 2001 economic collapse saw a wave of working-class struggles against Fernando de la Rua’s right-wing government and neoliberal IMF-sponsored economics. During these struggles, some 200 workplaces were occupied and taken over by their workers. Does this “recovered factories” movement pose any sort of threat to capitalism? David Broder, who visited the occupied Zanon ceramics factory in April, looks at the issues.

We all know that there is a lot of deadwood in the management grades on the railway. When we strike, we can shut - or at least disrupt - the train service. If managers went on strike, no-one would notice for months!

By Paul Hampton

“Control lies in the hands of the workers. This means: ownership and right of disposition remain in the hands of the capitalists. Thus, the regime has a contradictory character, presenting a sort of economic interregnum…

Andrea D’Atri, a professor at the Argentinian national university of La Plata, is active within the Argentinian women’s group Pan y Rosas (Bread and Roses). She spoke to Laura Schwartz about the struggle for women’s rights in Argentina.

The Zanon factory in Neuquén province in Argentina has operated under workers’ control for four years. It is a great example of the creativity of working class people. Julian Pununuri from Zanon spoke to Paul Hampton during his recent UK tour, organised by No Sweat and the Argentina Solidarity Campaign.

The Zanon tile factory in Neuquen is one of many “recovered” factories in Argentina – factories taken over and run by the workers. Faced with pay cuts and redundancies – and then no pay at all – the Zanon workers occupied and began to run the factory. They are coming to Britain to discuss their experience with activists here.

The Zanon tile factory in Neuquen is one of many “recovered’ factories in Argentina – factories taken over and run by the workers in the last five years, in the wake of capitalist economic collapse in the that country. Here the workers tell their story.

Bolivia

The Bolivian elections on 18 December are being hailed as the end of 20 years of neoliberalism.

Dan Katz reviews The Take, a film by Avi Lewis and Naomi Klein

Argentinian rail workers joined health workers, dockers and others in a 24-hour strike on Thursday 28 July, demanding higher pay.

Rail union reps said that after the failure of negotiations for over 100 days they decided to strike. They also warned that if there is no agreement in a week, they will escalate the action to 36 hours, with a 48 hour strike the following week.

ARGENTINA

Last month a judged ordered that a public notice of ownership be posted at the ceramics Zanon factory in Argentina.

The notice would have allowed a venture capitalist or the previous owner to buy Zanon Ceramics for pennies.

Workers at the Zanon factory in Argentina are appealing for solidarity after a series of attacks by thugs. The Argentina Solidarity Campaign reports that in February the wife of a Zanon worker was abducted by four men and suffered a beating and verbal threats before being released to “give the union the message”.

Argentina’s movement of occupied factories is an inspiration in the fight against neoliberalism, and an important symbol that another world is possible, necessary and emerging.

On 14 September a delegation of Zanon workers and participants in the Unemployed Workers’ Movement (MTD) travelled to Buenos Aires in Argentina to organise a national campaign to defend the factory.

Unions at Wal-Mart!

After years of dogged attempts to organise unions in Wal-Mart, workers in Canada are starting to make some gains at this, the world’s largest retailer.

In August, the Quebec Labour Relations Board certified a union at the Wal-Mart store in Jonquière, Quebec after more than half of its 145 workers signed cards to become members of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union (UFCW). A mandatory contract will soon have to be agreed — and that would create the first union branch at Wal-Mart anywhere in North America.

By Pablo Velasco

• Colombian oil workers halt privatisation: solidarity works!

• "Massive summer strikes" planned in Korea
• ANC against anti-privatisation activists
• Argentine workers fight for a six-hour day

By Pablo Velasco

• South Africa Charges against Anti-Privatisation Forum dropped

• Solidarity with Cambodian hotel workers!
• Support Argentinian food workers
• Criminal trials of Chinese workers begin

• Zanón factory - two years under workers' control

• Anti-privatisation protest in Thailand
• Korean workers win wider union rights

Zanón factory - two years under workers' control

By Pablo Velasco

• Brazilian left calls for a new party

• Indonesian left starts election campaign
• Anti-union laws in Argentina

Brazilian left calls for a new party

Argentine police attacked the workers and their supporters on 25 November in scenes reminiscent of the military dictatorship. The assault took place in Neuquén, where members of the Unemployed Workers Movement (MTD) and the local neighbourhood assembly in San Lorenzo barrio were trying to meet.

At our meeting on 22 October, Haringey & Hackney AWL branch discussed the myth of Peron, and working-class politics in Argentina. This was the third in our series of meetings about 'the politics behind the shows', following on from discussions on Vietnam (Miss Saigon) and the French revolution (Les Miserables).

Paul Hampton gave a talk about the issue: this is a summary of what he said.

By Pablo Velasco

The presidential elections in Argentina offered little for the working class after years of economic collapse and austerity.

The first round on April 27 was won by Peronist ex-president Menem, whose neo-liberal "economic surgery without anaesthetic" was responsible for Argentina's collapse in 2001. He will now face another Peronist, Kirchner, in a run off on 18 May. The official candidate of the Radical Party, which has been the second-largest party for decades, got just 2.5% - suggesting it is on the brink of dissolution.

By Pablo Velasco

On Friday 18 April, hundreds of police descended on the Brukman textile factory in Argentina to evict the workers who had been running it for over a year.