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Austerity Pact We Fight On! Those who responded to the vote on the Financial Stability Pact by asserting that "the people have spoken" and that it is time to move on are profoundly mistaken. The battle around austerity is not to be understood as an electoral contest. Rather it is to be understood as part of an ungoing class struggle. In any case those who argue that "the people have spoken" don't understand the fundamentals of democracy. There's no way that one class can vote another class into perpetual poverty and have the vote meekly accepted. The vote is over. The class struggle is not. Having assured everyone that acceptance of the austerity would be in the interest of Irish workers, the coalition went to Brussels to look for some sign that they could claim as reward for capitulation. They were rebuffed. The Spanish bailout followed. The Spanish bailout failed. Italy came under threat. As the crisis deepens the capitalists throw more money at the banks and try to extract even more from the workers. Compliant Ireland is to be saved by having the bailout extended for 40 years. Voting isn’t enough. The movements, groups and individuals around the Household charge campaign and the United Left Alliance must redouble their efforts to change these organizations into fighting structures around which workers can mobilize to defend their own interests. |