Far away are the times when we talked about coronavirus and laughed. Many things have changed since the beginning of the year, when the expansion of the pandemic has accelerated the already stabilized capitalist crisis. Taking our health as a pretext, the States that are the instrument of the bourgeoisie have implemented authoritarian political measures, adapting our daily lives to the pace that is necessary for them. Seeing the decision of this second lockdown is nothing more than seeing that instead of guaranteeing the health of the workers, the owners of big capital have chosen to ensure the accumulation of their profits, following production. To do so, the working class that exploits is forced to go to work, since the thirst for the gain rate exceeds the proletariat’s health.

Times of crisis mean a profound restructuring of society. In order for the bourgeoisie to retain its capacity for accumulation, it is necessary to accelerate the exploitation of labour. Curfew, confinement and, in general, other restrictive measures for social control cannot be understood or fought outside this context. This capitalist offensive has given rise to two phenomena: the extension of general impoverishment and the violation of civil and political freedoms.

As for impoverishment, the dismantling of the middle class had begun before the health crisis, in the context of the general crisis of capitalism. A number of rights and comforts acquired in the welfare state after the Second World War are gradually fading away — for example, through the reform of reserves, the authorities intend to eliminate some of these social achievements, increasing the exploitation of workers and destabilizing their living conditions. Thus, a wide mass becomes more proletarian, as it cannot maintain its previous standard of living, while the other, wanting to maintain its previous life, becomes an accomplice of the bourgeois offensive. For example, many middle class members have turned their hands on institutional policy, rather than promoting an organization that guarantees the well-being of working women. That is, the capitalist crisis and the changes in the context of its COVID-19 entail deepening the gap between the two antagonistic classes. On the one hand, there are professional politicians, financial capital and large entrepreneurs, that is, leaders of a capitalist production model that dominates the world. On the other hand, the working class which, being a majority, should be subject to the decisions of a few. However, this widespread phenomenon of impoverishment does not extend solely to the economic sphere. As impoverishment implies a loss of resources, it leads the worker to take a concrete life option, moving away from freedoms and becoming a limited subject. Poverty and lack of freedom are two sides of the same coin.

In addition, the bourgeoisie takes away all its revolutionary and organizational capabilities from the worker, as in this package the media taken violates political freedoms. With the curfew or confinement, freedom of assembly has been clearly limited, which has eliminated the possibility of carrying out political work, impeding the execution of the proletarian organization. The practice of politics is sold to us as a criminal act to those of us who want to organize it outside the capitalist public institutions, trampling over the right to expression and assembly. An example of this would be the threats to journalists of the French law, which is on the way to ban the dissemination of images and videos of the police force, as well as prison or identification sentences in demonstrations.

Our civil liberties are also excluded at this time: the right to move is restricted and social control extended, with the coercion of certificates and the constant presence of the police force, both on the road and at the border. They have come to hospitality establishments and “unnecessary” shops and have removed the spaces we had to socialize, feeding the social distance between us. It is clear that action must be taken against the pandemic, but the measures that have been taken do not protect health, but trample the working class, creating physical and psychological deficiencies. For example, unless I have the data of Ipar Euskal Herria, the number of depressions in the French State has multiplied since September.

Even in this serious situation, it is legitimate to claim health for all, as well as the guarantee of fundamental freedoms and rights. Extending health to all people is a guarantee of fundamental rights, and we must continue to strongly advocate the defence of our freedoms, regardless of the measures and laws imposed on us, because real freedom is the emancipation of the proletariat. It is essential to stop the dictatorship of the bourgeoisie in which we live so that capital accumulation does not control our lives, above our health, freedom and basic needs. Therefore, far from being utopia the union of the working class, this model of capitalist production should be the role of everything oppressed for the proletariat to develop as a political and revolutionary subject, opening the way to the organization of classes.

*Elixabet Etxandi Goienetxe

Member of the Iparralde GKS