By ERNIE GOTTA
The crisis of the capitalist class and their inability to maintain profits has resulted in a global phenomenon of hard right-wing candidates coming to power and posing as saviors. This tactic by the right has had a deep impact and influence on many. This new reality is expressed in electoral victories and also in the streets with more mobilizations and violent attacks against working people and oppressed minorities. The electoral victories of Donald Trump in the United States, Victor Orban in Hungary, Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil, and now Javier Milei in Argentina are playing an important role, rallying many—especially from the middle class—to positions further to the right.
At the same time, the working class is experiencing another form of crisis as our own mass leadership has yet to emerge and coalesce the discontent widely expressed in workplaces, campuses, and neighborhoods. Instead, the growing economic crisis is pushing the middle class down into the working class while pushing the working class deeper into poverty. The spread of COVID and other zoological diseases and the climate crisis are also contributing factors to a broader interest in far right-wing and fascist ideas.
The right wing tries to redirect the blame to forces other than the capitalist system—immigrants, transgender people, environmentalists, Indigenous people, Jews, unions, the “deep state,” etc. They point out that their more moderate opponents cannot fix things because they are weak, wavering, opportunist, corrupt, controlled by “Jews on Wall Street,” catering to the “progressive” lobby, and so on. They also harp on reactionary cultural matters, like the need to “protect family values,” “protect our borders, “uphold law and order,” “maintain the gender binary and traditional gender roles,” “ensure parents’ rights in the schools,” etc. The growing interest in far right-wing ideas is furthered by the lack of a mass international working-class leadership with a fighting program that utilizes the methods of the united front in order to galvanize our class forces in battle.
Why is the current situation in Argentina and the growing working-class fightback relevant for workers in the United States? We are approaching another election season; the Iowa Caucuses have shown that the base of the Republican party is rallying behind Donald Trump—whose rhetoric is increasingly borrowed from racist and fascist tropes. The building of an opposition to Javier Milei in Argentina, which includes the call for a 24-hour general strike on Jan. 24, may provide us with a better understanding of how to organize in the U.S.
Of course, while a one-day strike offers a starting point for workers to recognize their power, it hardly begins to affect capitalist profits. Ultimately, what is needed to carry on the fight is a major uprising that carries on without a definite end date, like the Cordobazo in Argentina during the military dictatorship of General Juan Carlos Onganía in 1969.
Since these far-right governments and the measures against the working class are a worldwide phenomenon, the ability of Argentine workers to set back Milei’s program can have positive reverberations around the world. It will capture the imagination of workers while causing the world’s ruling classes to think twice about tightening their offensive. Thus, it is of paramount importance that the labor movement in the U.S. and internationally demonstrate active solidarity with the mobilizations in Argentina.
In France, a major solidarity effort is taking shape. An inter-union coalition that includes the CFDT, CGT, FO, FSU, UNSA and the Union syndicale Solidaires is calling for rallies outside the Argentine embassy in Paris on Jan. 24. A statement from the unions says, “We express our full solidarity with the workers of Argentina, and in particular with the trade-union confederations CGT-RA, CTA-T and CTA-A. We support them unconditionally in the process of struggle they have undertaken to confront the deadly policies of Milei and his government. In particular, we support the call for a national strike for January 24 by the three union centers in the country. They demand respect for the democratic functioning of the country and its Constitution, as well as the withdrawal of laws that violate countless fundamental rights, starting with the ILO conventions that the country has ratified.”
What’s happening in Argentina? Who is Javier Miliei?
Argentina is in an extreme economic crisis. From 2020 to 2023, former Argentine President Alberto Fernandez, a center-left Peronist politician, had a dismal approval rating largely due to the state of the economy. In 2023 there was a drop in industrial output of 4.9 percent ,and the economy contracted. The country faced stagflation, which indicated a slowing or stagnation of the economy coupled with inflation, yielding high prices and high unemployment. Drought due to climate change has ushered in difficult times for the agricultural sector, which experienced eight major heat waves in the 2022-2023 growing season. In March 2023, Julio Calzada, head of economic research at the Rosario exchange, told Reuters, “We are facing an unprecedented climatic event. Farmers were facing losses of $14 billion and 50 million tonnes less of grain output across soy, corn, and wheat.”
For many observers the fall in popularity for President Fernandez and for Peronism as the dominant political trend in Argentina was staggering. Peronism is a bourgeois nationalist and populist movement founded by President Juan Peron, who served several different times between 1946 and 1974. With inflation over 100 percent, Fernandez’s approval fell below 20 percent, and he couldn’t recover. As a result, he refused to run in 2023, leaving a power vacuum in the Peronist movement leading up to the elections.
This space was filled by moderate Peronist and economic minister Sergio Massa. Despite being in charge of the economy during a dire crisis, Massa won the first round of voting with right-wing libertarian Javier Miliei coming in second place. But on Dec. 10, in the second round of voting, Miliei beat Massa with 56 percent of the vote.
Who is Javier Milei? Miliei has promised to usher in a new political era. Nicknamed the “Madman,” he considers himself a political outsider and “anarcho-capitalist.” He is a climate change denier. His image was carefully cultivated to resemble “X-men” character Wolverine. Congressperson-elect and Miliei ally Lila Lemoine compared him and Wolverine in The Guardian, “He looks like Wolverine. He acts like Wolverine. He’s like an anti-hero.” She continued, “[Wolverine] is very loyal and brave. … He can get really mad and be aggressive with his enemies—but only when he’s attacked. He will never ever kill someone or attack someone for no reason.”
Milei quickly made good on his promises to gut social spending and attack organized labor. The Economist writes, “Forty-eight hours after taking office on December 10th his economy minister, Luis Caputo, a former banker, unveiled measures to cut public spending by 3% of gdp. He devalued the peso, pledged to slash subsidies, and eliminated nine of 18 government ministries. One week later Mr Milei decreed that state-owned companies could be privatized, price controls would be eliminated, and labor laws reformed.”
Milei’s attack on the unions and the working class is serious. He famously came out with his proposals while photographed carrying a chainsaw, to emphasize what he would do to the laws protecting workers. Milei has hundreds of new laws and proposals that would help deregulate the economy at the expense of unions and social services. He has also proposed the privatization of 40 public companies. One of the main issues for the unions is that Milei is attempting what we call in the U.S. a “right-to-work” maneuver that will dismantle Argentina’s version of dues check-off and weaken the unions by essentially making membership optional.
Soon after the elections, the unions and left took to the streets to protest the new government proposals. The union response has generally centered around legislative initiatives and pleas to the courts for injunctions against the new government measures. The requests have all been rejected by judges. The continuation of the street demonstrations forced the unions to call the general strike on Jan. 24.
A general strike?
Nineteen days after Milei took office the General Confederation of Labor (CGT) in Argentina, which organizes seven million members, called for a general strike. The timing of the strike raises questions for many. Why didn’t the CGT call for a general strike in the preceding years, as the economy continually grew worse? Unfortunately, the answer is that—like many union bureaucracies—their political alliances with the “left” pro-capitalist Peronist leaders sidelined the power of the labor movement so as not to embarrass the previous presidents in power.
Today, the question remains as to whether the unions can actually pull off a general strike and mobilize their members. There is a massive campaign by the Milei government to advance the slogan, “I will not strike.” Milei has also stated that participants could potentially lose their right to social assistance if they participate in the strike.
A huge mobilization of the working class is imperative to the success of building a movement against Milei’s attacks. Militant workers and socialist forces in Argentina—like our sister party, Partido de los Trabajadores Unificado and the Workers Left Front-Unity (FIT-U)—will likely play an important role in building for this general strike. Key to building this movement will be the independence of the working class from capitalist parties.
The PSTU-A writes, “How do we put an end to this crisis? The previous Peronist government did nothing to solve it and only worsened it, and now Milei’s government plans to make it even worse. Although the measures are different, of the ‘shock doctrine’ variety, and the impacts are different, both administrations end up governing on behalf of the banks, the businessmen, and the multinationals. It is time for something truly different.”
Context for the U.S.
In the U.S. we are facing a similar political situation. We are being given, on the one hand, the option of a far-right anti-worker populist president like Donald Trump, who promises to continue attacks on oppressed and marginalized groups and deregulate the economy. On the other hand, we are offered an ineffective Democrat who has also waged an attack on the working class and politically and financially supported the genocide of the Palestinian people by the Israeli government. Both candidates have also moved in their own ways to limit governmental and corporate responsibility for climate change. Both presidential administrations have signed legislation that attacks women, immigrant workers, Muslims, and Black communities.
In the U.S., we can draw similar conclusions to those that are coming to the fore in Argentina. Independence from the capitalist class is essential for the working class in the U.S. We need a movement that can mobilize millions in the streets despite the electoral outcome. We need to organize the labor movement to break away from their close relationships with the Democratic Party. Through this process we can begin to develop the type of class leadership that can confront each and every attack from the ruling class.
A good way to stop Trump and Genocide Joe in their tracks is to begin by expressing solidarity with the movement in Argentina. Let the ruling class know that working people everywhere are engaged and ready to stand with our working class siblings in Argentina.
Workers’ Voice encourages all union members to pass resolutions in their locals, take solidarity photos, and post messages of support. We urge students to mobilize in solidarity on their campuses and hold educational forums. As the struggle develops and more actions are called, would it be possible to build a united-front-type effort to hold rallies outside the Argentine consulates in the U.S.? The fight in Argentina against Milei is our fight too!
Photo: Members of Tire Workers union demonstrate in Buenos Aires, Dec. 20, against the Milei government’s price hikes for public services. (Juan Mabromata / AFP / Getty Images)