‘Pull together all who are being made to pay for crisis’

from the Cleveland Low-Wage Capitalism Study Group

Matija Medenica, Belgrade university - ‘Pull together all who are being made to pay for crisis’


excerpt


The central difference between this wave of struggle and those seen in previous years is the crisis of capitalism and growing bitterness over the neoliberal policies of successive governments.


This anger is the spark that can start a dangerous fire for the state for the first time in nine years.


The Serbian revolution of 5 October 2000 brought hope to the hearts of many working class people. It was supposed to mark the end of an era of wars, isolation, economic embargoes, political repression and overwhelming despair.


However, this feeling was not to last.


Right after the revolution, the former opposition to Milosevic’s Socialist Party of Serbia – led by the Democratic Party – soon showed its devotion to neoliberalism, which led to massive lay-offs and privatisation.


Betrayed


The working class found itself betrayed by its new rulers.


Huge injections of foreign capital allowed the ruling class to keep buying social peace. But since 2003 unemployment has remained high. Private debt more than doubled between 2005 and 2007.


Since the beginning of 2009, the number of strikes has grown rapidly.


They have become radicalised and generalised – from the desperate act of a union rep cutting off his own finger to protest against unpaid wages, to the growing number of factory occupations and highway and railroad blockades, as well as a formation of the first inter-strike committee.


A month ago it seemed like the government was up against the wall.


The International Monetary Fund demanded large-scale cuts in the state sector which would leave tens of thousands people jobless in a matter of months.


Russia stepped in only a few days before the final round of negotiations, offering a billion, which eventually delayed the breakout of social unrest.


Then the students came.