By Sergio García
The beginning of Milei’s government with his inauguration speech and Caputo’s first announcements immediately afterward are in fact a declaration of war against the working class, the poor and even the middle class that will also feel the heavy burden of the crisis. The country that has just started will be very complex, with a lot of political dispute and surely greater confrontations in the class struggle.
From the bourgeois point of view, Milei himself is being put to the test and will be constantly be held accountable by the capitalist leaders of the caste that he did not attack after all. On our side, the left will also be put to the test against the attack that this government will carry out. We have an enormous challenge that combines twin tasks: actively supporting, promoting and coordinating the genuine struggles that are developing, and at the same time working to advance in gaining political density and influence, with the aim of at some point appearing as a true alternative of power for millions of workers, the poor and the youth.
In relation to the process of struggle that will come and that is already beginning with the first assemblies and meetings of state workers, media workers and various other workplaces and neighborhoods, our task is precisely to not give this government that attacks our rights a single day’s time. That is why we have to promote organization and democratic debate everywhere about what is happening and what needs to be done, while demanding that the confederations and unions break their immobility and summon assemblies to determine measures of struggle. At the same time, as a clear way to set a course and a specific political position, this December 20, thousands of us will march to Plaza de Mayo in unity against the government’s entire package of measures. We are inviting all sectors that are willing to take to the streets against the announced measures to join us.
Political tasks
In relation to the political process, the challenge of the anti-capitalist and socialist left is enormous. We come from a very pronounced failure of Peronism, which culminated once again showing that it is a party that defends the prevailing system, that administers adjustments and agreements of plunder with the IMF, that is directly responsible for the latest pronounces rise in poverty misery and inflation. Precisely because of these actions, it bears a high share of the responsibility for the emergence of reactionary figures like Milei. For all these reasons, a concrete task that we have on the left is to appeal to thousands and thousands of workers and young people who are disappointed with Peronism and invite them to build something new and different. If what we are going to experience this time with Milei is very harmful for the country and for millions of working families, accepting once again that the way out of the tunnel is to return to the PJ (Peronist Justice Party), implies working today for future recurring failures. Our first political task is to put forward a different, alternative path, outside the PJ and with the left.
As we promote this political proposal, logically, the Left Front Unity has an important role that it must assume. Our front is the one that has the best conditions to call for the strengthening of a project on the left. It is the one that should, as a whole, address the millions of disappointed people, proposing to share a path, providing possibilities for common action and participation. In our opinion, the possibility or not, of the FITU achieving a significant political leap in the period that is beginning, depends, among other things, on whether it dares or not to appeal to thousands to organize, to generate massive spaces of debate, exchange, participation and decision-making among thousands of militants, sympathizers, left-wing social leaders and individuals who approach the left.
As is known, our front has not wanted to take these essential steps as of yet. The MST we has proposed it repeatedly and, in the new political stage that begins, under a new context, we propose it again. That is why we sent a Public Letter to the other parties of the FIT-U some days ago, in which, among other things, we propose ideas and initiatives in this regard. If before we believed it was necessary for the FIT-U to improve and change by opening channels of invitation and collective debate, with everything that will come now, we believe it is even more necessary. We could say it is decisive if we want the left to appear clearly as the future alternative that is needed against Milei’s government.
We have an exciting political challenge ahead of us. We cannot take it up doing the same thing as always or repeating the mistakes and sectarianism that have been keeping us from becoming the left from becoming much stronger. These debates are opening in the new political stage that began with Milei, and we are going to develop them with all our strength. Because a revolutionary strategy can never be such if it is content with what has been achieved thus far. On the contrary, it is necessary to start from what we have achieved and value it, placing it at the service of preparing much more qualitative leaps towards the ultimate objective of a workers’ government and socialism. To reach that objective, we need millions of workers and young people on our side. Let’s reach out to them and invite them with concrete proposals.
MST proposal
To the other parties of the Left Front Unity
A few days after Milei took office, his announcements have confirmed that harsh adjustments, and therefore intense social struggles are coming. His co-government with Macri is aligned with the IMF, the United States and Israel. Regardless of where he begins, he is going to attack labor, social, democratic, gender and environmental rights, everything. That is why there is concern, doubts and political debate among working people and the youth. From the MST, we believe that the FIT Unity as such must call on all popular activism willing to resist Milei and its measures to debate and act together.
The PJ, in all its variants, has an evident political responsibility in the advance of Milei. They promised a “full fridge,” but they brought adjustments, inflation and more poverty, to comply with the IMF. They promised to “come back better,” but they brought extractivism, more corruption and failures like the Women’s Ministry. In this campaign, they said “democracy or dictatorship”, but now back down from Milei. Massa is nowhere to be seen, just like Alberto and Cristina. The bureaucracy of the CGT and the CTA proposes to “let the new government walk.” Some are already selling out or joining, like Scioli and the governors.
Throughout the country, there are thousands and thousands of people who hate Milei and want to resist, but also feel an enormous disappointment and anger towards the PJ leadership and are looking for how to get organized in this new situation. We have to call on them to come and exchange ideas with this anti-imperialist, anti-capitalist and socialist left that is the FIT Unity. To leave behind the lies of the failed leaders who opened the door to Milei, now let him run unopposed and insist on “fighting from inside” the PJ. That recipe no longer works: only thing increasingly worse frustrations will come from it.
Despite the general shift to the right, the Left Front consolidated a space and is a point of reference. But the electoral aspect is insufficient to become a real option for power. That is why the MST has been raising the need to advance We also raised this point during the Primaries from the list we presented with PO. Given the great challenge that Milei and the extreme right represent, we have the responsibility to produce a change in the FIT-U, to listen to the opinions of independent activists and those that distance themselves from the PJ and to open a dialogue to strengthen the resistance and build something new.
With this objective, we propose to organize a large Plenary or Assembly of the Left Front, like the one we held with PO in June at Congress Square, at which thousands of FIT-U militants would participate, but would also be open to sympathizers, militant labor activists, social leaders, intellectuals, organizations allied to our front and independent activists. To debate together about the country we are heading into and to resolve collectively and democratically the steps to follow.
A new stage is opening in the country, one of more social confrontation and more political dispute. The FIT Unity must rise to the occasion, not only alongside the daily struggles and in direct opposition to the government, governors and boss’ associations, but also as a political alternative. More rebellious, more convening, more democratic and open to those who share our ideas of change, to work together towards a workers’ government and socialism.
Executive Committee of the MST in the FIT Unity
December 5, 2023