WORKERS STRUGGLES
-- Ageinst the landed oligarchy, for the agrarian revolution and the monopoly of foreign trade. -- Against the employers' power, against superexploitation and capitalist anarchy, for workers control of production. -- Against the govemment of the bourgeoisie, for a revolufionary workers and peoples goverment. Against the bourgeoisie's offensive and its march toward the strong state we must counterpose the broadest unity in action of all workers and popular sectors. We must transcend sectarianism and prejudices through discussion on specific points, on the initiatives needed to develop the struggle, mobilization, and organization of the masses. The decisive battles befween the bourgeoisie and the working class have not yet taken place. But the class confrontation is inevitable, for the bourgeoisie's political plans cannot be reconciled with the aspirations of the working class and the youth. The workers and youth can base themselves on an experience in struggle that has been significantly enriched during the past few years. But they must go beyond opportunist, centrist, and temporizing positions that are compromising their revolutionary potential in a dangerous manner. The only alternative for the working class is to advance without stopping, as the Chilean comrades say, or to suffer a defeat that will jeoparHONG KONG tive statistical estimates. Wages, on the other hand, have remained stagnant. Huge quantities of foreign capital have withdrawn from Hong Kong seeking cheaper labor in Taiwan and South Korea. This has created massive unemployment in Hong Kong. Even some officials of the colonial administration admit that the number of unemployed may be as high as 100,000. Social tension born of the grave economic cries is sharpening in spite of the colonial government's empty promises of improvement. Even the overtly progovernment television stations have been developing a more critical attitude toward the government's policies under the pressure of the crisis. It is no wonder that broad sections of the population blame the government's economic policies for the present state of affairs. In fact, the government took the lead in escalating the crisis by legalizing higher taxes and tolerating price increases for public services like electricity, telephones, gasoline, and so on. It has been completely passive in face of growing unemployment and tolerates speculation.
dize their situation for a long time to come. The bourgeoisie has not yet succeeded in establishing the political and economic stability that it needs. Factors that give it strength today will be the source of new contradictions tomorrow. Although Perón is a leader capable of forcing through his political program, the crisis of the Peronist movement -- which is now overt and very doep -- will jeopardize these very bourgeois institutions that have been so painstakingly set up. And the bourgeoisie knows that movements like Peronism do not survive their lcaders, as France and Portugal have recently demonstrated. The bourgeoisie today is not yet prepared for such an eventuality, but it is working feverishly to get prepared. For behind the smiling and amiable facade, significant fissures are developing in the bourgeois and bureaucratic front. 1. The Cordabazo was an insurrectionary general strike that took place in 1969 in the city of Cordoba. Shortly after the Cordobazo, the Onganfa regime was replaced by the dictatorship of General Alejandro Lanusse. 2. The Ley de Prescindibilidad allows the goverment to lay off civil servants without going through any formalities. THE RISE OF / Workers and the Radical Tradition
Periodically, the bourgeois press expresses fear of new outbreaks of mass rioting, for the people lack any legal channel even to express their discontent, not to mention to struggle for any sort of structural change. Apart from the tiny bosscontrolled union, the only organized force that exists within the working class is under Mooist Icadership. They follow
Peking's line that this is a time for peaceful coexistence and not class struggle -- not even class struggle of a completely defensive nature. So the Maoist-dominated unions have offered no response to the present crisis. Rank-and-file militants fool deeply uneasy about this. Recently, these mostpolitical elements refused to go along with the union in holding an "anti-Lin, anti-Confucious" forum to support the campaign going on in China. The reason is that so long as the union does not offer answers to the most pressing daily problems that threaten the bare existence of thousands of workers, it is meaningless to try to tail-end the events in
China.
The document issued by the Twentieth Congress of the Hong
Kong Federation of Workers Unions makes no mention of the
Kowloon, walled city. Behind facade of prosperity. current economic crisis or its far-reaching effects on the working class. Instead it claims that China's developing trode relations with other countries will help to improve the workers situation in Hong Kong. It is worth noting that for the first time the Maoists are attacking "ultraleft" tendencies in the workers movement. This is a reference to the rodical rank-and-file militants in the leftist unions, the independent radical young workers, and the revolutionary youth organizations. In the past two years there have been hundreds of spontaneous strikes. The young workers have played a prominent role in them. But the unions have been unable to recruit these young workers, one of the reasons being that the unions either abstained from these strikes or intervened to bring about compromises. Because of the relationship of forces, most of these strikes failed. In these coses, the workers in struggle found themselves isolated, although hod they been well organized they could have developed solidarity actions. This sort of multiplication of unsuccessful struggles could have bad effects on the workers movement in the long run. Only the radical youth organizations are aware of this problem and are trying to find ways of reaching the radicalized workers. These youth groups are products of the youth movement of the early 1970s and are divided on organizational and political problems. The Workers Education Committee, which puts out the publication "The Exposure, " claims to be Marxist-Leninist, but has manifested strong syndicalist tendencies and greatly underestimates the importance of the social movement. Consequently, this group can recruit some young workers but can hardly carry the struggle forward. Politically, it has avoided taking a precise position on China. The "70s Biweekly Group" (originally based around the 70, Biweekly magazine) has experienced two splits and still retains a new-left-type organization. It was once characterized by a student newspaper as "semianarchist and semi-Trotskyist." The workers commission of the 70; Biweekly Group is still quite active, but it lacks a guiding strategy and clear perspective. One of the groups that split from the "70s" (in September 1973), the Student Express, has been founded on a basically revolutionary-Marxist program. But this group directs itself only to the high-school students, who lack any tradition of rodical movement. The other group that split from the "70s, " which puts out the "Daily Fighting Bulletin" and Action, " clearly adheres to revolutionary Marxism. In October 1973 this group successfully intervened in the struggle at the Arvin Electronic Factory, preparing and organizing o strike and politically defeating the Moist union. This was the first time that a youth group had been able to really join the workers struggle and win the political leadership. As a result of this struggle, the most militant workers were aftracted to the group, some of them becoming virtual members of its workers committee. Ar the same time, for several months this group has been accumulating young radical electronic workers and is systematically striving for the establishment of an electrical workers union.
The Mao-spontanéists, mostly young students, are completely outside the workers movement and do not make any attempt to intervene in it. But the growing workers discontent has had repercussions on them. The young Maoists are divided on the question of whether or not to advance the class struggle in Hong Kong. But the supporters of neither side carry out any actual activity. There is great possibility that in the future these young Moists moving toward the workers movemont will engage in united-front action with other groups, for they lock the experience and trodifion in the workers and youth movement to go it alone. Building the Anti-inflation Movement On March 17, 1974,a public forum on the problem of unemployment was organized by the Christion Industry Committee, a group vaguely inclined toward reformism that put out o newspaper called "Workers Weekly" for three years in the carly 1970s. (The paper received little resporse.) The meeting turned out to be a turbulent one in which about 500 workers directed their attack beyond unemployment to the whole economic and political structure. This was sharpened by the conscious intervention of two revolutionary Marxist groups. By the end of the meeting, the nature and limits of reformism were clearly exposed. In general the workers at the meeting were dissatisfied with the reformist claim that unemployment could be dealt with as an isolated social phenomenon and that the fight against it could be waged through legal channels that don't exist anyway. Another, more sophisticated, forum was organized by the Hong Kong Federation of Students. Some 400 people attended the forum, about half students and half workers. The Federation invited two speakers from reformist tendencies, but their speeches were so weak and self-contradictory that their line was rejected by nearly the whole audience. A Moist gave a good description of the escalating economic crisis on a world scale, but said nothing about how to respond to the crisis. The lost speaker was a member of the Workers Education Committee. In his speech he stressed the necessity for the workers to work towaru united struggle, These two forums attracted the attention of the working closs, for the workers are looking for a leadership that can lead them to an improvement of their miserable conditions. The Federation of Hong Kong Students has set up a special committee for this campaign. A special issue of their paper put out in April 1974 raised a series of demands: that the colonial government tightly control the prices of commodities, especially of rice and electricity; that the government stop the speculation that further endangers the people's livelihood; that the government withdraw at least a quarter of its savings bonds in London; that the govemment abolish the "three highs policy" (high rents on housing, high rents on land, and high taxes) in favor of a progressive tax. But there is great doubt as to whether the Federation will act directly to push the movement forward. Furthermore, the Federation fears the rodical youth groups and is very sectarian, refusing to cooperate with the radical groups in a joint struggle. Another committee to fight against inflation was set up by the "70s Front." Its central demand is that the govemment establish unemployment insurance and freeze prices. In late
23
HONG KONG March 1974 this group organized some forty students and workers and is preparing the struggle. But it still refuses to formulate a clear strategy for the movement and refuses to lead the struggle democratically. This group will not go beyond being a spontaneous action group on the order of the A third committee was created by the Student Express and the Daily Fighting Bulletin. Its three main slogans are: immediate price freeze; immediate cost-of-living escalator clauses and establishment of a minimum wage; and establishment of unemployment insurance. The committee also calls for the workers to combine their struggle with a brooder social movement. A strategy and outlook will be published in an issue of "October Review." In addition, the "Daily" group has been appealing to the workers to organize themselves in order to carry out the coming struggle effectively. This group held a meeting on April 7, 1974, that was attended by about sixty workers. An enlarged meeting and some further actions were planned for May. Despite the initial division within the movement, even the government expects that a mossive workers upsurge will develop after May 1974. The Perspectives The colonial government and the bourgeoisie face a deepening economic and social crisis that they are unable to solve by themselves. This means that the working class in Hong Kong will suffer from the rising cost of living. The anti-inFlation movement represents the first attempt by the working class to carry out a united struggle. It is very clear that if the workers come together to fight inflation, the colonial administration and the bourgeoisie are prepared to make some concessions, the extent of which will be determined by the relationship of farces and the situation defined by the relationship of forces. Even the reformists realize this and are willing to take the initiative whenever they feel they have a moss base and broad support. The forum organized by the Christian Industry Committee is a striking example. But the reformists will not go beyand minimal economic demands and will try to choke off the dynamic of the moss movement in order to preserve the status quo. The line of the student reformists, crystallized in the Hong Kong Federation of Students, is not qualitatively different from the line of the reformists, although they differ from the reformists in their conscious rejection of the colonial
Nevertheless, the Federation of Students sees the movement BELATED МУ DAY
24 in Hong Kong as divided into different "stages" among which there is virtually no interconnection. The anti-inflation movement is seen as a purely economic struggle; its transitional character is ignored. So long as the Federation of Students sees itself os "the conscience of society" and refrains from analyzing the objective situation, in particular the nature of the Maoist unions, it will only urge the workers to unite around one issue or action but never urge the workers to organize around a persistent and militant line. In the view of revolutionary Marxists, the anti-inflation movement is a springbeard for an anticolonial and anticopitalist mass movement. In addition, the longer the movement develops, the more the character of the Maoist line will be exposed. This means that the Maoists will be abandoned by the masses. And it also means that the moss movement will become a threat to the Chinese bureaucrats. The tasks of the revolutionary Marxists are cleor: First, this is a historic chance for revolutionary Marxists to engage in joint actions with rodical workers, to appeal to the whole working class, and to recruit the most politicized elements or help them get organized. In those sectors where the Maoists are weak, like among the electrical workers, the effort to prepare mass unions is the central task. In those sectors that are dominated by the Mooists, the most militant and political elements should be recruited to build a hardcore group inside and outside the Maoist unions. With respect to the Maoist unions, revolutionary Marxists should demonstrate the correctness of their own analysis and their willingness to defend the interests of the working class through practice. Furthermore, they should present clear answers to the problems of Hong Kong and China. The ultimate goal is to win over these workers politically. Second, we should make a political intervention into the process of differentiation among the Moo-spontanéists. We should vigorously explain to the disillusioned young Maoists that the compromise policy of the Hong Kong Maoists is not accidental. It is a consequence of the degeneration of the Chinese revolution. In no case should we be sectarian toward them.
Third, the vast number of high-school students cannot be neglected. They are the workers of tomorrow.
All the social forces that can be reached by the revolutionary
Marxists should be united in the present anti-inflation struggle. Political education should be conducted, using concrete examples. The anti-inflation movement will grow over to higher-level struggles only when revolutionaries are able to win leadership of them and give them a sense of direction and organization.
"We are the working class without May Day. " So began a
May Day leaflet distributed among the working population by the Hong Kong Anti-Inflation Action Committee (HKAIAC)
and the May Day Workers Commission (MDWC). The HKAIAC is jointly organized by two revolutionary Marxist youth organizations (the TYSA and the Daily Fighting Bulletin) that have been striving to unify on a principled basis. The MDWC is a newly formed young workers group led by the Daily group.
In spite of the worsening economic situation and the growing militancy of the workers, the Maoist-controlled Hong Kong
Federation of Trade Unions -- the most powerful workers organization in Hong Kong, which groups together sixty-six
trade unions with a combined membership of 130,000 -- prefers to celebrate May Day in cocktail-party fashion. Even the Far Eastern Economic Review, a liberal bourgeois publication, observed in its April 29 issue that "the HKFTU has long been quiet, doing little in the way of agitation or strike organization since the aftermath of the 1967 communist riots." But despite the inactivity of the HKFTU, spontaneous strikes have occurred throughout Hong Kong during the past two years. At the same time, active rank-and-filers in the Maoist unions have developed a more critical attitude toward the line of the union leaderships. Recently, as the Daily group has become more active and influential in the working class, some rank-and-file workers in the Maoist unions have established contact with the Daily group on their own initiative. They see the position of the revolutionary Marxists on workers struggle in Hong Kong as on effective alternative, even though their organization is still tiny compared to the Mooists'. The HKFTU is certainly not unaware of the grave crisis represented by the current situation. The leadership's first impulse was to condemn the ultraleft tendency" developing in the workers movement. But obviously this could not halt the growing militancy of the workers. In order to ease pressure from the ranks that could result in splits in the unions in the near future, the HKFTU was compelled to announce their full support to workers struggles that concentrated on demands for wage increases and against spiralling prices and firings. This was done in late April. The general response of the rank and file was, in the words of a leader of the 1967 struggles who came to discuss with the Daily group, that "the HKFTU should put forward a plan of action to defend the interests of the working closs." Despite their own weaknesses in organization and tradition, the revolutionary Marxists have been making every effort to unite and centralize the workers movement. After May Day, the workers struggles will accelerate and sharpen. Ar the moment, the HKAIAC and the MDWC are preparing for a mass rally to protest the miserable situation of the working class ond particularly the skyrocketing prices. Originally they intended to stage the rally on May Day. But since May Day is not a public holiday (!) it is difficult to expect octive participation by the workers so long os the movement is still disorganized and unable to ensure work stoppages on that day. So the action was shifted to the first Sunday after May Day at Victory Park, a place where large demonstrations have been held and where police brutally attacked youth mobilizations in 1971The HKAIAC and the MDWC filed their application for a rally permit with the colonial police on April 27. On April 29 the police indicated -- without giving any reason -- that permission would probably not be granted. The Asian Student Union at the Chinese University was the first to respond to the colonial administration. According to the Star, a rightwing, procolonial newspaper, "a spokesman for the Student Union of the Chinese University said they were supporting the rally because they felt an answer to the inflation problems was vital to Hong Kong's survival. " Preparation for the rally was uninterrupted. On April 30 big-character posters were posted up on the walls of public buildings and factories. Slogans were painted on the walls. The mood of the working closs wos so tense that the police dared not interfere. Ir was clear that the police were afraid of a strong working-ciass response if they tore the posters off the walls and erased the painted slogans. On May Day the police approved the application for the rally permit.
The two groups carried out intensive propaganda and agitation before the May 5 rally. More than 1,000,000 copies of leaflets calling on the workers to take part in the anti-inflation movement were distributed. In addition, mobile propaganda units were sent onto the streets in defiance of colonial regulations. The police were compelled to stand by idly. Even by conservative estimates, more than 5,000 people are expected to participate in the rally. In a May 3 press conference called by the rally organizers, Leung Chun Kwong, a spokesman for the HKAIAC, explained that "the May 5 rally is but the first action of the anti-inflation movement. Similar and larger rallies will be held during
May. If the government remains indifferent to the deteriorating economic situation, more radical actions will be organized in June. For instance, moss protests and parades will be held in workers neighborhoods or in Morse Park (in the heart of the most exploited district). Should the government remain passive in face of inflation, a general strike by the workers and students will be prepared. " Leung also stressed that "in any case, the interests of the toiling masses will be defended by any means necessary and at any cost in consonance with the aspirations of the people. " While remaining aware of their own relafive weakness, the revolutionary Marxists, who are products of the youth movement of the early 1970s, greatly exploited the favorable situation. The government and the Moists have been forced to retreat and are now on the defensive. The transitional demands put forward by the two groups are mainly economic. But without raising such slogans it is impossible to unite the workers and make inroads among the workers in the Maoist trade unions. In addition to the May Day Workers Commission, the Daily group has set up the nucleus of a High School Students Action Committee. This group will make its first public appearance at the May 5 rally. The colonial government is now pretending to be somewhat more responsive to the needs of the population, but the hardships imposed by the low living standard have not been alleviated one iota. On April 30 British police arrested Peter Godbar, a former Hong Kong police superintendent who had fled to Britain in June 1973 to escape charges of corruption amounting to the theft of more than 4 million Hong Kong dollars. Lest August and September, an anticorruption movement was built among various tendencies in the student movement. But that movement came to a halt in October when the split between the reformist and revolutionary tendencies took place. At the time, the revolutionary Marxists were too weak to take any initiatives on their own. But in just six months' time, they have been able to organize a social movement without having to depend on the other student organizations or the 70, Biweekly group. Their ability to do so has shocked all the other groups, including the Moist ones. Today the Maoists have been forced to concede that they consider revolutionary Marxism potentially the most dangerous tendancy in the workers movement. "In Hong Kong, "as one leading member of the Daily group put it, "May Day has come a little late. But it is coming anyway. And the most important thing is that when it finally does come, it will be here to stay."
25
THE REVOLUTIONARY