[A-List] Austria, France and Brazil

[Jorge Figueiredo <jfgf.consult@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Austria, France and Brazil

José Reinaldo Carvalho (*)

The Central Europe is showing signs of a broad, intense labor and
popular mobilization. In Austria, a conservative country of high living
standards, a place that almost never is object to news regarding social
conflicts, the first general strike in 50 took place as workers from all
categories stopped their activities and performed several protests,
including the suspension of rail transportation and the blockade of
border posts. Less than a week after the end of the general strike, the
teachers of primary schools began a new strike. France, where the
workers? struggles are frequent and always call the attention for the
combativeness of their actions, bring us good news regarding a great
strike movement that paralyzed the country and took about 2 million
people to the streets of the main cities. A common reason motivated the
struggles of the Austrian and French citizens: the announcement by both
governmentsunsurprisingly right-wing onesof reforms to be undertaken to
the social security system, which are viewed as socially regressive by
the Austrian and French unions, as well as by many anti-capitalist and
left-wing political forces.
The facts reveal the existence of social discontentment and disquiet in
the countries that lie in the heart of the European capitalist system.
They also reveal that, despite the political hegemony of right-wing and
right-of-center forces and, in some cases, of so-called left-wing forces
that govern according to a right-wing program, and also despite the
control of moderate trends in the union movement, the environment is
prone to struggle, something that no control is able to refrain.
The strikes in Austria and France constitute another answer from European
workers to the attempts of the conservative bourgeoisie at imposing
anti-social models, a doubtlessly explosive matter since workers gained
benefits that are the result of strenuous struggles that lasted decades.
The 1990?s were characterized by many similar attempts at reforming the
social security systems and also the labor legislation in many European
countries. All of them deserved answers that were either in the form of
strikes of in the form of street demonstrations. Some took a political
character. Also in France a similar attempt at reforming the social
security system at the expense of the labor rights caused the collapse of
Juppé?s right-wing administration in 1995. During 24 days the country was
paralyzed in a memorable strike movement that reintroduced the workers in
the scene of political and social confrontation. Italy, Greece, Portugal
and Germany also had to face similar attempts at reforms and the
reactions of the workers in those countries were not weak.
The common aspectthe attempt at imposing socially regressive reforms in
social security and labor legislationin a situation marked by growing
economic and social instability and the incidence of crises in an
unforeseen frequency reveals that the essential character of the program
of the dominant classes in the capitalist system in the present
conditions is the restriction of economic and social rights (and also
political ones, but that is another story), what constitutes a brutal
offensive against the workers.
 Here in Brazil, a country not similar to Austria or France as
regarding the political reality and the social and economic indicators,
the workers are also facing an attempt at reforming the social security
as a change in the labor legislation is also to be made. In our case, we
live the paradox of those reforms being about to be approved due to an
initiative of a government headed by left-wing forces, which were
recently sanctioned in the elections as a result of its opposition to the
neoliberal government of former president Fernando Henrique Cardoso. It
is not the case of making a comparison between the aforementioned
countries and Brazil. But there is no doubt that a common character is
that, in the reform that is being proposed here, the logic of some of its
aspects is cutting the rights of those who are working and also weakening
the national State as a result of a fiscal conception of reducing public
expenditure.
In Brazil, the reforms in the social security system and the labor and
union legislation were designed by the International Monetary Fund with
the help of the previous administration. They were partially approvedand
partially rejected due to the opposition of the workers? movement and the
left-wing parties. Constrained by a very precarious economic and
financial situation inherited from the previous government, which left
the country vulnerable to the blackmail of international financial
organizations, the new government feels impelled to conclude such reforms
believing that, by finishing the agenda of the previous administration,
the country will regain its breath and retake development after two lost
decades. Broad sectors of the union movement oppose cutting rights. The
Union Class Current, a communist organization of
union intervention, constructively addresses the government with a
set of demands that preserve the rights of the workers in the reforms.
In a political environment marked by popular expectation regarding the
fulfillment of the democratic and popular program of the forces that
elected President Lula, the workers will struggle in the defense of the
social security and for labor achievements, what strategically favors the
consolidation of the new government, since social regression is not a
character of democratic and popular forces.
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(*) Journalist. Vice-president of Communist Party of Brazil  PCdoB,
responsible for International Relations 
PCdoB - Secretaria de Relações Internacionais
<internacional@xxxxxxxxxxxx>