ARTICLE EXTRACTED FROM THE NEW ISSUE OF CUB RAIL, the Wobbly magazine of the Cub
railway workers. Annual subscription 12 euros for 5 numbers (5 euros for Cubmembers). ---- Subscription info: alpmex652@gmail.com ---- Subscribe, support us,support us!! ---- The strike is the most important form of struggle available toworkers to voice their demands and also the most effective tool against theemployers' power; paradigm of democracy in the neoliberal system, as it opposesthe claims of many workers to the economic power of the few holders of capital.The first strike in history that we know of occurred around 1150 BC, in ancientEgypt. During the reign of Ramses III, when the workers of the village of Deirel-Medinet, involved in the construction of the temples of Thebes, crossed theirarms, shouting: "We are already at the 18th of the month and we are hungry!" Infact, discontent had erupted due to the delay in pay (then carried out infoodstuffs) and they crossed their arms for a few days. The strikes ended onlythe Pharaoh gave in to the protests, paying the due.The first general strikes, however, date back to the modern era, with the"industrial revolution" and the birth of trade unions at the end of the 19th century.In Italy, the first demonstrations of protest by workers for the poor livingconditions began immediately after the unification of the country, affecting boththe southern countryside and the factories of the North; protests severelyrepressed by the Savoy authorities.The first Italian general strike was organized in September 1904, promoted by therevolutionary syndicalists led by Arturo Labriola and by Filippo Turati's ItalianSocialist Party; in a context characterized by the generalized demand for betterworking conditions and more dignified wages, the strike was also called due totwo "worker massacres": that of Buggerru, in Sardinia, in Sulcis (3 dead minersand about twenty injured) , and that of Castelluzzo (Trapani), which cost thelives of two farmers (another ten were injured).The strike caused the fall of the Giolitti government and the calling of newelections which however led, as a reaction, to a Parliament moved to moreconservative positions; a clear sign of the difficulty of obtaining concretepolitical objectives through trade union struggles without having built up classand mass consciousness at the same time.The second great strike wave in our country was linked to the red two-year periodof 1919-1920 with the occupation of factories and large national strikes byminers and railway workers that lasted until 1921; these protests shook theeconomic and political foundations of the Kingdom of Italy, where in order toreject the advance of the working class as a new social subject, the aristocracyand the bourgeoisie enlisted the fascist dogs to guard power, handing over thestate to Mussolini and triggering the most ignoble and uncivilized of Italianhistory. The squadristi devastated the headquarters of the unions, beat andkilled activists willing to resist, such as the railway worker Spartaco Lavagnini.In 1922 following the takeover of the fascist party the trade unions weresuppressed, in 1926 the strike was declared a punishable offense and thendefinitively prohibited with the Rocco code of 1930.It is no coincidence that one of the greatest strikes in our history, the generalone from 1 to 8 March 1944, with a decisive participation of the railway workers,marked the final attack on Nazi-fascist barbarism and sealed the victory of theItalian Resistance.Finally, the strike was regulated and recognized as a right, with the entry intoforce of the Republican Anti-Fascist Constitution (article 40), of 1947.Another great wave of strikes that must be remembered is that linked to theprotests of '68 that shook the country, finding a link between the workers 'andthe students' movements, with important achievements in terms of safety at work,wages, rights and protections. for male and female workers.Subsequently, from the 1970s to the present day, the bourgeois power haseffectively engaged in taming the political and trade union movements thatrepresented the workers' demands; reactionary activity which rapidly transformedareas of revolutionary tradition into first reformist subjects, then increasinglycolluded with the dynamics of power and today true standard bearers of thesystem; think in particular of Cgil, Cisl and Uil, authors in the history ofgreat workers' struggles and today instead present (more or less directly) onmany boards of directors of large companies in the country.In fact, in the last 40 years the general strikes proclaimed by the confederalunions can be counted on the fingertips, despite the cancellation of many of therights won in the squares and in the factories even with blood, in previousyears; see to name a few, the Workers' Statute, the Escalator , the Right to Strike.Indeed, in 1990 with Law 146, the right to strike, with all due respect of theCGIL, CGIL, CISL and UIL, was substantially undermined, through the introductionof rules that substantially weaken it in all essential sectors (definition moreand more extended) and in particular in transport where it is also difficult toproclaim; situation weighed down by restrictive interpretations of the law by thegovernment commission on the right to strike.Despite this, with the birth of first autonomous and then grassroots unions, theconflict even in essential sectors has finally resumed, with the organization ofnumerous national sector strikes, and general strikes. For the railway, we shouldremember the strikes organized by the Comu which have substantially improved theworking conditions of the on-board and machine sectors and of all railway workersand in the last 10 years of those organized by basic trade unionism, especiallyagainst privatization, against the law. Fornero and the deterioration of the CCNL.It must be said that today, partly due to the limitations of the law, partly dueto the repressive role of companies and governments, partly due to the submissiveand complicit attitude of the confederal unions, which unfortunately stillrepresent the majority of male and female workers, participation in strikes ishardly mass and therefore limited in effectiveness.Moreover, the right to strike is in fact exercisable only in large companies andonly by workers with fixed-term contracts; a huge part of workers aresubstantially excluded, such as temporary workers, employees of artisan companiesor small businesses, VAT numbers ... not to mention the unemployed.Therefore it is necessary on the one hand to continue to fight to claim thefreedom to strike, countering the new attacks that bosses and colluding unionsare preparing against the right to strike, on the other hand to find new toolsfor political and trade union struggle capable of involving the categoriesexcluded today. from this fundamental weapon of dissent and vindication.The grassroots trade unionism has just made an important general strike on 11October 2021, presenting itself united against the arrogance and unfair and bossymeasures of the Draghi government, involving hundreds of thousands of workers inthe strike and mobilizing squares and struggles throughout the country; one ofthe many general strikes that we have organized in recent years; while CGIL, CISLand UIL, together with other concert and corporate groups, negotiated, signed andsold off!!Moreover, our union commitment would not make sense without a politicalperspective; there is no class struggle without class consciousness and there isno anti-systemic struggle without mass mobilization.We will work breathlessly to build and root a culture, even an ideological one,useful for overcoming the exploitation and endemic inequalities of neoliberalism,in favor of a finally human collective society and a common perspective based onequality and social justice.Open your eyes and raise your head, the next battles will be yours too.Cub Rail editorial staff, January 20 22http://cubferrovie.altervista.org/scioperi-generali-e-capitani/_________________________________________A - I N F O S N E W S S E R V I C EBy, For, and About AnarchistsSend news reports to A-infos-en mailing listA-infos-en@ainfos.ca
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