A call to action to fight plant closures and layoffs
At the beginning of the year, the WSWSwrotethat 2018 would be characterized by "an immense intensification of social tensions and an escalation of class conflict around the world." This has certainly been born out. The year began with mass protests in Iran and strikes by industrial workers in Germany, lecturers in the UK and teachers in the United States. It has seen significant expressions of social opposition in Latin America, the Middle East and Asia.
The year is coming to an end amid themass protests in France,growing unrestamong autoworkers in the US and mass strikes in South Korea, Greece and Chile. To this must be added the protests of migrant workers, including the refugees from Central America confronting the armed forces of the United States at the US-Mexico border.
TheWorld Socialist Web Siteand the Socialist Equality Party are organizing a fight back. On December 9, theWSWS Autoworker Newsletteris holding a meeting in Detroit to coordinate opposition among auto workers to the mass layoffs announced by General Motors, which will devastate the lives of hundreds of thousands of people.
The layoffs are an opening shot in a new stage of the social counter-revolution in the United States. The consequences of decades of attacks on the working class can already be seen in such figures as the declining life expectancy,which has fallen for the third year in a row.
Amidst growing signs of signs of a renewed economic downturn and mounting social unrest, the response of the ruling class will be violence and repression, as the events in France demonstrate. In the aftermath of the 2018 elections, the Democrats are working to forge an agreement with Trump administration while intensifying their own campaign for internet censorship and aggression against Russia. The universal adulation for George H.W. Bush is an indication of the right-wing character of the entire political establishment.
Next year will prove to be explosive. Now is the time to become involved. Here are some things you can do:
The “mortality crisis” is the product of policies of social counterrevolution carried out by both the Democrats and Republicans in collaboration with the trade unions.
The Democratic caucus in the House of Representatives has reelected the same leadership team that collaborated with the Bush administration’s war in Iraq and the Obama administration’s bailout of Wall Street.
