Spain — Hundreds of thousands of young people have taken to the streets protesting the effects of capitalism, almost half of whom are unemployed. Capitalism is causing the crisis in Spain. The socialist government did what every capitalist/socialist government does: betray the working class and make the rich richer. Socialism has never and will never be able to meet the needs of the working class or lead to Communism. It was the socialist government that carried out the austerity program. The International Monetary Fund (the world’s ruling class’ main mouthpiece) demanded these massive budget cuts that attack the working class. The Socialists are planning yet another attack in August.
The protests are coming within the context of antagonism to Spain’s elections and are directly influenced by the “Arab Spring.” This is the moniker that the bourgeois press has dubbed the uprisings and protests that have engulfed North Africa, the Arabian Peninsula, and Asia. In sharp contrast to Yemen and Syria, when the Spanish government declared the protests illegal, and the working class stayed out in defiance of the law, Spain’s ruling class did not use violence on the protestors.
The Western European ruling class needs to preserve the illusion of democracy and free speech for now. These protests do not threaten the ruling class’ hold on the working class, but they are inspiring to the world’s working class. Workers from Spain that immigrated to other countries organized workers in those countries to protest at the local Spanish embassies.
The protests are saturated with reformist politics, demanding democracy, and are organizing assemblies that are attempting to create a place where politics can be worked out and the protests can be organized. Instead of condemning capitalism, the root cause of the problems affecting the working class in Spain and around the world, the list of demands are all based upon the illusion that the problems are caused by a mismanagement of government and some greedy bankers. These protests can move to the right or the left, as the working class is angry and lacking mass communist leadership.
It is inspiring to watch young people parallel the events at Tahir Square and sleep in various city squares in protest of the effects of capitalism. But, these protests alone will not threaten the root cause of the cancer infecting the world, causing unemployment, and threatening to bring even more attacks. PLP in Spain is doing what it can to bring our ideas to these protests and build a fighting Party that will advance past the reformist politics promulgating the working class.