Whenever there's talk of fascism, there's talk of capitalism

Whenever there's talk of fascism,
there's talk of capitalism

The today's event is directed against fascism. That's quite appropriate: The last few months were not just marked by fascist gigs and attacks, but also by thought-out provocations, public demonstrations, riots and terrorist violence. It would be a mistake to overestimate the potential of fascists, but on the other hand, we need now more than ever to look for ways of fighting against fascism.

First of all, a sober realism without illusions is appropriate: broken jaws look good on nazi thugs, but we are not going to destroy fascism like that. For whenever there's talk of fascism, there's talk of capitalism. Fascism is it's product. It suits capitalist society whenever there is a need to overcome economic trouble – the rise of Nazism during the crisis in the 1930s served this purpose. One of the goals of fascism is to numb us with the blabbering about national unityrepresented by a leader, so that we forget that our interests are not connected with the nation or the state, but with our social position within capitalism.

The swastika is only one of the faces of dictatorship of capital– the other is a common workday with its norms, bossing around and stereotypical work. Of course, the fascist form of capitalism is immeasurably more horrible than the democratic one. We just want to point out that the border between democracy and fascism may not at all be so clear-cut. They are not in contrast like black and white, but rather form a scale of various shades of gray. Fascism does not have to wear the old-fashioned SS uniform, it can be modern and adaptable – and democracy, on the other hand, is not possible without repression and violence, above all social.

Even in democracy we are just a floor cloth on the stick of capital. Yesterday, there was a lack of workforce and workers from Mongolia, Vietnam or Slovakia were lured over here; today, we are being laid off. Yesterday, we were forced to toil for corporate profits on working Saturdays; today, we're on forced vacation. Like peons on a training ground: knee-bends, push-ups... and face down on the ground – depending on what the interests of bosses dictate.

Today, in a time of crisis, what we are facing are not just the impacts of an economic downturn. The bosses are waging a real psychological war against us. They are using our fear for work in order to force us to accept the worst measures: wage freezes and decreases, flexibilization, worsening of working conditions.

The bosses are not the only ones, however, who use the crisis against the workers. The fascists use it too: they are taking advantage of competition on the labor market and the social benefits market, and use it to come forward with an anti-immigrant and anti-Roma agenda.

We live in a challenging time. Unfortunately, it presents more risks than hopes. The fact that bosses are using the crisis and that the fascists are attempting to use it, poses a great danger. In order to overturn the balance of power, we need to stop being the floor cloth on a stick.

Forget illusions – we are not going to incite mass strikes tomorrow. What counts today are small, practical steps in workplaces, in schools and neighborhoods. A collective assertion of our specific interests without any regard to the wishes of unions or parties, to the interests of the company, the economy, the nation or the state. That is not a campaign, but a difficult and long struggle.

This, however, is the only way of earning the important collective experience and self-confidence, in order to become a force with our own, autonomous, class politics. We evoke this today, on May Day, which commemorates struggle of the working class.

Only when we are strong in workplaces and in neighborhoods will we be able to defeat the danger of a fascist dictatorship of the Swastika on one hand, and the dictatorship of bosses, money and profit, which is imposed on us today by democracy, on the other.

May Day 2009
Kolektivně proti kapitálu / Collectively Against Capitalism
(KPK) – Czech Republic / Slovak Republic
protikapitalu.org

::: Democracy and fascism as two forms of dictatorship of capital :::
::: Autonomy of the working class as our only weapon :::