PictureThe second Egyptian Revolution!
By Timur Dautov, UCLU Marxist Society President

“It is only when the “lower classes” do not want to live in the old way and the “upper classes” cannot carry on [ruling] in the old way that the revolution can triumph” – Lenin, “Left-Wing” Communism: An Infantile Disorder, 1920.


Lenin’s criteria for a revolutionary situation are applicable now more than ever. Workers and youth of the world, unwilling to put up with inequality, prospects of unemployment and austerity, and refusing to pay for the crisis that they are not responsible for, are yearning for change. From the streets of São Paulo and New York to Tahrir Square and Gezi Park, in their millions they are making their strength seen and intentions clear.

The deepening economic slump reflects itself in a political crisis - the ruling class is exposed as incapable of offering any solution other than decades of austerity and a lost generation. Governments collapse in quick succession and, in cases like Egypt, the armed forces of the state have stepped in to prevent the overthrow of the entire system. This confirms Lenin’s second criterion. 

Thus, we are now entering an entirely new revolutionary period. World capitalist crisis is sinking ever deeper. South European countries, especially Spain, Portugal and Greece, are in deep recession, and Germany is on the verge. Britain has suffered the highest decline in GDP out of the G8 economies, and wages have fallen even sharper than in Spain. Recovery in the US is sluggish at best and is mostly speculative.
 
Public sector cuts in Europe, US and Japan cause demand to shrink, depriving China of its traditional markets. China’s growth is slowing down and it can no longer provide a market for the raw materials produced by the likes of Australia, Argentina and Brazil. This is the vicious circle of the global crisis of capitalism, and no recovery is in sight. 

However, there is enough wealth in society to provide employment, education and healthcare for everyone, while at the same dramatically reducing the working day without loss of pay. British corporations are sitting on £750bn of idle cash, and their European and American counterparts – on €2tn and $2tn respectively. However, by the logic of capitalism, there are no profitable opportunities to invest. Income of the world’s richest 100 people in 2012 could have ended world poverty four times over. And yet, we have homeless people and empty homes; widespread hunger with up to 50% of world food production going to waste. The only solution to these contradictions of the capitalist system is socialism.

The workers of the world – the crucial revolutionary agent and the Atlas upon whose shoulders the world rests – are flexing their muscles and stand in a stronger position than ever in history. The only thing standing between a socialist transformation of society and the global revolutionary struggles of workers and youth, is a lack of revolutionary leadership, armed with genuine Marxist theory and perspectives. Join the UCLU Marxists to become part of this wider struggle and campaign to build the forces of Marxism. For a world socialist revolution!




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