Workers' Fight workplace bulletin editorials - 9 October 2019

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Workers' Fight workplace bulletin editorials
9 October 2019

No-one knows exactly what Boris Johnson is cooking up. But it's definitely a dish full of electioneering spices.
    He is holding onto his "die in a ditch" posture, claiming that he'll get Brexit "over the line" on 31st October, deal or no deal. But he also says that he'll abide by the law and request an extension from the EU if he hasn't got a deal! Forget about the obvious contradiction. He's above such trivial details, just as much as he is above sticking to the truth!
    At the same time, though, he pretends to be offering the EU what he calls a "compromise" on the Irish backstop. Except that it's just another fudge concealing the fact that he is actually demanding fresh concessions from the EU and even that they should take full responsibility for the practical implementation of his new demands!
    It is as if Johnson had designed his so-called "compromise" to ensure that the EU would have no option but to turn it down - which is what they've done so far.
                                                                       
Brexit?  It's about votes, stupid!

                                                                       
There is method in Johnson's madness, though. Since he first set his sights on the Tory party leadership with his “Leave” posture during the 2016 referendum, blackmail and provocation have been his favourite weapons.
    So today, anyone who is not with him, is against the 17 million who voted Leave in the 2016 referendum and, therefore, against what he calls "democracy". Never mind the 29 million who did not vote Leave at the time. Never mind, because the only thing that matters to Johnson is to win votes for his party - and therefore, for himself - in the coming general election, because on top of a parliamentary majority he needs a clear victory to gain the legitimacy he does not have.
    Likewise, anyone who is not with him, is preventing Brexit from being over and done with on the 31st October and, therefore should be blamed for dragging out the absurd 3-year long Brexit pantomime and thus preventing Johnson from dealing with the "real problems" people face - as if this arrogant, upper-class twit had the faintest idea what these "real problems" are!
    Likewise too, when it comes to the Brexit negotiations themselves: Johnson is trying to make sure that whatever happens, he will be the main beneficiary of the situation in electoral terms. If he manages to cobble up an unlikely deal for October 31st, he will boast of having ended the Brexit saga, while blaming both the EU and Labour for its length and the damage caused. If, in the absence of a deal, an extension is needed on October 31st - or if he stumbles inadvertently out of the EU without a deal - he will blame the EU for turning down his "compromise" and Labour for having weakened his negotiating position. Whichever way it goes, Johnson aims to be hero of the day!

The working class can change all this!

None of this is inevitable - neither being stuck with Johnson's stupid grin on TV screens, nor yet another extension of the Brexit saga, nor Brexit itself and the damage it will cause to workers' livelihoods.
    There is an alternative. Take the climate change protesters, Extinction Rebellion. They've identified a real danger facing mankind and have been staging effective protests in cities all around the world. But while they are right to take action, their movement suffers from a weakness: they believe that, somehow, by exposing government inaction they'll succeed in getting the politicians to change tack and do something. And that’s what they ask for. As if these politicians were not first and foremost trustees in charge of the interests of the giant multinational companies whose colossal profits depend on polluting the world! Calling on politicians (i.e. the capitalists) to do the "right thing" against climate change, is like begging sharks to become
vegan!
    The protection of mankind's natural resources, such as the planet's climate, depends entirely on the way society is organised and who controls it: whether the economy is geared to produce for the needs of the population, in the population’s hands, or if it’s owned and controlled by a handful of capitalists whose only aim is to make as much profit as possible, despite the drastic consequences to humanity and to the environment.
    In all of this, the working class has a specific, decisive role to play - because, thanks to its unique role in production, transport, etc., it has the means to challenge the capitalists' stranglehold over the economy. In a society like ours, which is crippled by on-going economic crises, environmental disasters, recurring wars, and run by the capitalists’ totally irresponsible politicians - as illustrated by the Brexit saga - the working class has the capacity and the right - no, the duty - to stage its own Rebellion, in order to overthrow the destructive capitalist order.