Date: Thu, 30 Jan 1997 08:41:38 +0100 (MET)
From: malecki-AT-algonet.se (Robert Malecki)
Subject: Re: M-G: Sweden--Moral and political dilemma!


Hugh writes;
>
>Your problem with the work practice thing is not straightforward.

No it certainly is not either personally or politically.
>
>While Dave and your ex-wife have valid points about this system of free
>labour as a subsidy to the local authorities and business there are a
>number of other aspects to it.
>
>The most important question regarding whether you're scabbing or not seems
>to me to be whether there's a concrete struggle under way.

This is a valid arguement to take into consideration. However it is more 
complicated then a question of "concrete struggle". Concrete struggle in 
this case involves tactics in trying to make the best move, in regards to 
what is going on both in the public sector as well as other sectors 
connected to ALU which in general is seen rightly by unions and the working 
class as "free" labor for the bosses and the state and commune. 
>
>You were very scathing about the political impact of individual heroism
>when it came to the Turkish/Kurdish hunger strikers. And their struggle was
>in full public view and made a big impact on people throughout the world.

Yes I was because these people though that the heroic starving to death line 
which literally meant killing yourself as a viable tactic! I think there are 
better tactics that can be used.

And in my case I will still starve to death because the amount of money I 
will recieve does not change whether I do this particular ALU project or 
not. Because the whole system is based on cheap labor based on unemployment 
benefits which are constant no matter what you do. Thus it is not a question 
of putting your own head on the block as the militants in Turkey did. 

>
>Since there's no picket line drawn up against these work practice positions
>in Sweden, either official or unofficial, and since no-one will see your
>stand against it if you don't turn it into some kind of demonstration, I
>think the practical impact of your stand in terms of heightening class
>awareness among teachers will be very limited.

This is not true! Everything that somebody does up here publicly is both 
seen and discussed. And in my  case everything I do is both seen and 
discussed. This is because I have a history as and outspoken militant. So it 
is fairly important to wheigh carefully things in a bowl before taking and 
action. Because the opposition certainly wioll use any arguement like "union 
busting" to go after your ass..

>
>Also you would be strangling your own limited supply of money for your
>agitation on the Net and elsewhere.

Not true! If I go on welfare I might even get more money! Because in the 
public sector wages are so low . Thus my unemployment pay might not even be 
up in the level of welfare!
>
>I would tend to advise you to go ahead and use the concrete contact you
>would have with kids and teachers to spread information and a correct line
>on the important environmental issues you name.

I will certainly try to do that. And a couple of teachers have already 
invited me in to talk about "Bougainville" and envionmental questions. But I 
think also what is needed here is to start a debate about ALU. In a recent 
report (an ALU project) shows that ALU and welfare mean being poor! The one 
you work basically free with the threat of having your unemployment drawn in 
if you do not do this 5 month period in order to get a new unemployment 
period. The other is that you get about the same kind of money only it is 
called welfare and you don,t have to do anything other then go down to the 
local welfare station.

But the one is connected to membership in the unions and the other is total 
dependency on the handouts from the Commune. And naturally one should try 
and make this a union struggle and not a fight over handouts from the state.

The report says that "the new poor" is a fact today. That we are back in the 
30ties again and the victims are familes with children and especially 
families with children where the parents are divorced. 

People actually no longer have money to go to a doctor when they are sick 
nor the dentist. In fact in the first nearly 75% said that only the kids get 
to go to the doctor and 65% say they no longer can afford the dentist. The 
last I understand well. My teeth are in the process of decay. Two are 
completey broken off and a front tooth that is hanging sort of loosely in my 
mouth. There just ain,t no fucking money to fix this stuff. And in Sweden 
where medical costs are relatively cheap this says a lot about the new class 
society that is developing in the wake of dismantling the welfare state.

So things are getting really bad for those people who are unemployed and on 
the dole. 


>In particular I would try and get teachers to realize what a mistake it is
>on their part *not* to have a picket line or a rank-and-file movement
>against this work practice parasitism. When their awareness reaches the
>level of a demand for action, then it will be time to talk about
>barricades. For the time being, use every chance you get to try and bring
>about this demand.

The problem above is not just the teachers! But the general fear and 
conservatism in the working population that do have jobs. Especially in the 
public sector where everyone appears to be looking over their shoulder and 
saying who's next to get the axe at present. What is needed is a mass 
mobilisation to bring down the present anti-working class Social Democratic 
government.  A good start towards that goal would be not letting the 
government and bosses pick us off in a isolated situation. Like the stuff 
going on in Arboga now. Or putting those who have work and those that are 
unemployed in seperate little corners. This kind of stuff should be met with 
a massive mobilisation by the working class. However it appears that it will 
be neccessary for a lot more to happen before the workers break out of their 
lethargy and fears but also old loyalties to the reformists that always 
fixed everything for them in 60 years. And the teachers could either be the 
first or the last.
>
>As for teachers in Sweden, they're waking up very slowly to the fact that
>they've been trapped, skinned and put in a pot to cook. The wages you cite
>for your ex-wife are higher than the norm by far. Teachers in junior
>schools, particularly young, recently trained ones, get very poor pay
>considering the length of their education and the huge study loans they
>have to pay back. The aim of the government attacks on teachers (involving
>tremendous reductions in conditions and relative salaries, and a transfer
>of responsibility for Swedish education from central government to the
>(broke) local authorities) has been to smash the teachers as a powerful
>social and political base supporting the public sector and the old
>Social-Democrat speech-day ideals of equal opportunity. This has been
>achieved, but only at the cost of turning teachers against the politicians
>wielding the knife, and before long, against the system (though we're not
>there yet). International experience (let's take Argentina as an example)
>shows how even a privileged profession in a prosperous country can in a few
>decades be turned into a major source of revolutionary militancy by the
>ravages of right-wing bourgeois and fascist policy serving the interests of
>capital and imperialism.

Let us hope so!
>
>
>Remember the example of Engels running that cotton mill to keep the party
>funded and Marx alive to work on Capital and carry out his other political
>commitments.

Well, I can,t say anything about the above quote. And in the present 
situation I think that I took a correct principled stand. Against scabbing 
and filling the gaps in the education system with "free" labor power. Very 
important if you are and outspoken militant and in the long run a principly 
correct position. While at the same time leaving open the possibilities of 
fighting on both sides of the fences. Thus I can now go out and talk about 
ALU as a bankrupt anti trade union anti worker program. And on the other 
hand say to the teachers look this Bougainville stuff is important. So 
invite me to your class so I can talk about it.

>
>PS You might be able to convince me I'm wrong on this, but I'll need to see
>more concrete arguments than have been put forward so far!

The whole question is trying to not to be right or wrong but correct on the 
basic principles without making them a hamper to struggle in or outside of 
the unions. And in this case the opposition woul love to paint Malecki as a 
scab on teachers. By the way the Greens are really pissed off because of all 
of this. And are trying to save this project saying that even the higest 
"cheifs" in the commune are for this project and it is just that some of the 
teachers are jealous or incompetent.

Finally this is all really a storm in a water class.I think that the major 
issue to be confronted is ALU, mass unemployment, the new poor connected to 
the dismantling of the welfare state and the anti-union legislation. And the 
Bougainville stuff should be linked to the miners unions up here in the 
north and the Australian companies who are prospecting here. Besides the 
Bougainvilleans control the island and got the guns and are doing fine at 
present. 

The kiddies and envionment come second place. However linking in to class 
struggle 
like the Bougainville issue is important. Because the main thrust of the 
envionmental stuff in schools is on sorting your garbage and saving milk 
cartons to make paper of. So a class perspective would certainly be better 
then the "greenies" who are trying to reform capitalism.

More later perhaps..

PS: Can Neil or one of the Bordigists send this to aaron. I deleted his 
address by mistake.

Bob Malecki





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