The general crisis is an episode proper to the economic cycle in which, along with making visible the set of contradictions inherent to a social formation, the political class stand held by the actors involved in a given scenario become evident.
By MIT-Chile
The revolutionary situation of October 2019 served to draw a series of lessons related to the collaborative role of the reformist leadership, the ideological advances and setbacks of the Chilean proletariat, as well as the absence of revolutionary leadership.
But, in such a scenario, the 12 November marked a turning point, where the working class demonstrated its power, threatening the fall of Piñera and the regime itself.
Different revolutionary currents share these elements, as well as the fact that the lack of the subjective factor operated as a key element for the triumph of the 15 November agreement. Thus, social containment and institutional diversion saved Piñera and the Parliament, with the active support of the regime’s parties, from the Frente Amplio to Chile Vamos.
The Communist Party, which usually boasts of its revolutionary tradition, has repeatedly celebrated a policy of alliances with bourgeois parties, such as the Christian Democracy and Democratic Revolution. This has supposedly served to “train its membership in the exercise of power”, but, in concrete terms, it has ended up playing as the “left” or “progressive” wing of the bourgeoisie, serving the policies of the IMF and the World Bank, which it claims to fight in words but not in deeds.
Likewise, in the framework of our campaign for the nationalisation of big mining, the Communist Party remained immobile, despite its mobilisation strength, limiting itself to super-structural support in the Convention, but without encouraging participation and discussion among its rank and file.
It is for this reason that the working class (in Chile and elsewhere) needs to build new leadership. That is a mass revolutionary party, capable of leading all the struggles being waged worldwide against the capitalist mode of production.
We have taken a critical approach to the campaign for Approval. This involves the attempt to unveil the set of lies that the campaigns for Rejection and Approval are based on.
The most reactionary sectors allude to the fact that there will be no housing ownership, that pension funds will be expropriated, and that the native peoples will have more privileges than the rest of the country, among other falsehoods.
In turn, the sectors of petty-bourgeois reformism point out that the new Constitution will conquer something like a “paradise on earth”, ensuring social rights that will raise the standard of living of the population. This is equally false.
For example, they refused to nationalise copper but are now promoting timid tax reform. This reform is far from raising the minimum necessary to finance the social rights contained in the programme of Apruebo Dignidad, without pointing out that it is subject to parliamentary negotiation with the right wing, which will result in concessions that will further restrict its already modest terms.
The MIT recognises that the constituent process, as well as the withdrawal of the AFP companies (private pension funds), were the result of class struggle, expressed as social mobilisation, which left a toll of many dead, maimed and imprisoned by the bourgeoisie.
But we also know that the capitalist economy and the political system of bourgeois democracy are in a flagrant crisis, causing popular rebellions and ecological disasters. Such episodes often threaten the fall of governments, in the face of which the most reactionary sectors rumour about the establishment of dictatorships.
Such a process of advancement is once again threatened by the economic, political and ideological firepower of big business, which has today the Socialist Party and the Frente Amplio in government, leading a process of political and economic restructuring, whose aim is to consolidate a project of class conciliation in favour of capital.
In the face of this, the CP remains immobile, receiving concessions that do not go beyond its apparatus (such as seats in the public administration and preemptions in the next electoral lists). This is consistent with its historical policy of peaceful coexistence and revolution by (false) stages.
The MIT considers that the deployment of our campaign should be carried out primarily among the strategic sectors of the productive structure, such as the port and mining sectors in Chile.
The realisation of agitation and propaganda actions in these spaces, and the building of revolutionary organisations in these spaces is a central orientation for our teams.
This task needs to be actively complemented by work among the youth, who since the 2000s have been the protagonists and/or drivers of mass upsurge processes.
The revolutionary building is an arduous task. It requires discipline and dedication, but also fraternity and solidarity. The MIT is ready to advance in this direction, taking concrete steps to organise at the port of Valparaíso.
Come and build the MIT.
