—by the Socialist Workers’ Party of Colombia
The government and the majority leadership of the trade union movement, represented in the National Unitary Command, are undermining the mobilization by making ambiguous and confusing proposals. This allows the bourgeoisie to take advantage and go on the offensive on the same ground.
It seems that the Petro government and the National Unitary Command leadership are both working to ensure that things do not go well. While this is surely not their intention, their indecision, conciliatory policies, ambiguous discourse between radicalism and compromise, sacred defense of institutions, and improvisation in carrying out decisive actions, such as a national strike, do not inspire confidence. On the contrary, they generate confusion and squander the struggle in the streets.
The May 28 and 29 and June 11 mobilizations, as well as the June 16 rally, which was called a national strike, ended up being small and weak. This is not because workers and the poor are unwilling to fight but because they do not take to the streets without preparation—preferably through democratic assemblies of each social sector and decisive, coherent leadership. They also do not come out en masse on working days without a guarantee of a strike with roadblocks and clear reasons.
The ambiguity lies not only in the types of activities called for but also in the motives and objectives put forward. Petro decrees a popular consultation, yet his minister Benedetti announces that it may not take place if negotiations are successful. No one knows what the strategy is for sure.
The pro-Uribe marches on June 16 were significant, partly due to the confusion Petro created by promoting them. The bourgeoisie organized these marches to gain political and electoral advantage from the attack on Uribe Turbay. Petro ended up supporting this call by welcoming it in order to appear democratic and show solidarity with a right-wing congressman who has legislated against workers’ interests. Petro said: “The entire people are united for the life of Senator Uribe Turbay and for an end to violence throughout Gran Colombia” (President Petro’s Twitter account: @petrogustavo). He ignored the fact that these marches were against him. Some of his supporters even went out to march, believing it was a march for “peace.” Supposedly “against hatred and for peace” and “against political violence,” these marches actually manifested the bourgeoisie’s class hatred against the government, workers, and the poor. They even cynically displayed Israeli flags.
No more ambiguity. Let the government decree the reforms.
The slogan around which the national strike was organized was a popular consultation to approve labor reform in Congress. In other words, it leads people down a slippery slope where no goal can be achieved because Congress prevents the social reforms demanded in the 2019 and 2020 mobilizations and the 2021 45-day national strike from passing.
Conversely, the government’s timid social reform bills end up being cut and modified in Congress, resulting in the approval of true counter-reforms. The government stirs up the masses, accompanied by the chorus of the leadership represented in the National Unitary Command: “Come on, people! Let’s vote for Congress to approve labor reform,” as if there were no other way.
We warn that this popular consultation may serve the electoral campaign of the historic pact but will not achieve social reforms.
If the government had decreed the consultation, it could have also decreed more concrete measures.
1. A general increase in wages indexed to the basic basket of goods.
2. A ban on labor outsourcing at all levels.
3. Reduce the workday now.
But that’s illegal!
Many will argue that decreeing these measures is illegal and undermines institutions, claiming that Congress must approve them through legislation. This is the same argument that was used against Petro’s decree calling for a referendum on labor reform.
If the government enacts these three measures and the courts reject them, we workers will take to the streets to defend them and demand more. This could include the repeal of Laws 50, 789, and 100, as well as the enactment of the labor statute established by Article 53 of the Constitution. The issue is political, not legal, and must be measured by the strength of strikes and a real national strike prepared from the grassroots. For those who consider the issue legal, the measures can be supported by Article 3 of the Constitution, which states: “Sovereignty resides exclusively in the people, from whom public power emanates…” If this is not possible, then, as we already know, the Constitution is just a piece of paper, with some parts serving the rich and others deceiving the people. The real constitution emanates from the strength and political power of workers and other oppressed sectors of society, not from a piece of paper with dead letters.
