Argentina: tensions within the Left Front
One of the main aspects of the political developments currently taking place in the country is a notable political advance by the left., expressed in higher levels of social and political support, reflected in increasingly frequent surveys and opinion polls. This is also evident in the sympathy that a significant segment of the population has been expressing in the workplace and in schools, especially towards our comrade Myriam Bregman as a prominent figure and towards the Left Front in general. Our comrades Cele Fierro and Alejandro Bodart, who have been touring the country, are also receiving these expressions of support as a reflection of a highly progressive political process and phenomenon that is in full swing—one of which we are a part and to which we are determined to contribute with all our strength..
To push left further ahead, We must begin by understanding that an extraordinary and unprecedented situation began to take shape months ago. We are not facing a simple increase in support for the left, nor to a problem limited to the electoral or parliamentary sphere. We are faced with the expression of a specific situation that combines the weakening of the Milei government, the deep crisis within Peronism and the existence of an anti-capitalist and socialist left-wing force that has consistently confronted successive governments over the years and supported the struggles. The result is that right now a very significant segment of the working class and youth—numbering several million people—is positioning itself with the left and against everyone else.. And that segment could continue to grow in the coming months.
The development of this situation – which represents both a historic challenge and an unprecedented opportunity – would have required a common policy on the part of the Left Front., something that clearly did not happen at the beginning of this political change, a fact that has only served to accentuate the differences in recent months. Because in the face of transcendental events, every political structure is tested and put under pressure. And that is what the Left Front is experiencing today: significant differences on what to do, combined with the emergence of strategic debates around the political struggle, the nature of the front, the relationship between political and union struggles and—very unfortunately—contradictory positions on how to act within the labor movement, where the Workers' Party (PO)—through his leadership of the SUTNA tire workers union—has been demonstrating an approach that goes against the best traditions of class struggle. There is a crisis within the Front, because on the political and union fronts there are strategic differences, and the profound changes in the situation are making them more visible.
A key divergence comes from politics. The reality is that both the PO and the Socialist Left do not understand the scope of the political changes underway, That's why they vacillate between conservative and routine positions., proposing more of the same and defending that FITU remains simply an electoral front that does not participate in daily political life with the people, has no strategy to act in the class struggle, and does not consider how to jointly organize tens of thousands of new activists, that would be indispensable for any substantive political struggle. Consequently, Nor do they attach importance to participating in a serious debate about the possible formation of a great political instrument or a new party.. Because, and again, in articles and speeches, They simply repeat that we already have the FITU, and that there is no need to discuss other matters. This is an ultra-conservative and simplistic view, precisely at a time when the enormous limitations of our front in responding to such a change in the situation and the challenges and opportunities it presents are evident. Our current front does not include—nor is there room for—the hundreds of thousands who gravitate to the left, but this very visible fact does not deserve the slightest reflection or new idea on the part of these comrades.
That same approach—so wrong and ineffective at the political level when it comes to addressing the tasks facing the left in the midst of an extraordinary and exceptional situation—coexists—and not by chance—with a similar and equally wrong approach at the union level., where both the PO and the IS insist that nothing be changed simply to be able to continue operating from the limited and stagnant space of the PSC (Militant Plenary of Unionism), where decisions are made solely through top-down agreements between two or three leaders, while the reality of the great struggles that have taken place in recent times has passed that space.
This policy also prevents FITU from jointly debating the realities of class struggle, under the fallacious argument that it seeks to supplant the sectors in struggle or tell them what to do. None of this is true; What you have to do is very simple: do not separate the political struggle from the workers' struggle, and ensure that the Left Front debates these struggles, support them, propose ideas and put all your strength at the service of your victory. Of course, This must always be based on respect for those who participate in each fight., without supplanting anyone or imposing anything. But to deny to our front—as our colleagues from the PO and the IS erroneously do—the possibility of debating intervention in the class struggle is to reaffirm an electoralist and limited vision of their own concepts.. This goes against a truly unified strategy at the political level, union and social.
In recent months, All of this has been aggravated by the conflict in FATE—in which we have been involved from the beginning—and for which we must all continue to do everything possible to defeat the policies of the management and the government.. It is a fight that, now more than ever, requires expanding solidarity and surrounding it with support, through actions that should be highly unified. And our opinions on this matter come from the desire to support FATE workers; The criticisms we have of his leadership are made precisely in support of the workers as a whole., because we want the fight to win. Unfortunately, in this conflict, the SUTNA leadership headed by the PO Blacklist has been playing a profoundly wrong role, one that has not contributed positively to the development of a very important struggle—a struggle that required a working class strategy and approach diametrically opposed to what the leadership has been pursuing.
For this reason, The current crisis within the Left Front now focuses its debates on the conflict between the FATE factory and SUTNA, since it is there where very deep differences in policy and method are expressed and represented, including strategic issues and working class principles that cannot be ignored. We are facing a conflict that has reached its worst point, because its leadership never developed a genuine united front policy or a broad unity of action around the struggle, unlike, for example, of the iconic Garrahan fight, which was led by the APyT union and resulted in a victory over the government.
Political misunderstandings and approaches that differ from classism
We believe it is a serious political error that the parole office has done otherwise: failure to adopt broad and unified policies, while simultaneously harassing and attempting to isolate any group within the union that has different opinions and proposals. In a clearly bureaucratic manner, a single line of thought was promoted throughout the conflict, that has only served to weaken the fight, demoralize workers and alienate more and more workers who see no future in it. All this is carried out through the absence of authentic general assemblies, denying opponents the right to express themselves and attacking comrades who support the conflict. To further strengthen this path – which we insist is deplorable and contrary to the class struggle – they burned a flag in front of PTS comrades who are part of the struggle., They threatened an activist and carried out unjustifiable acts of intimidation against a Suteba Tigre delegation, teachers union that had only come to propose a public class in support of the struggle. These events address central issues within the labor movement; They go beyond the limits of political debate, differences of opinion or a circumstantial confrontation. We are faced with a methodology that goes against the working class and class culture that we, on the left, we must keep in our relationships within the fight; That is why what has been happening is reprehensible.. These attitudes persist to this day. In fact, after a long period without any militant action, A press conference was held to commemorate the sixth month of the conflict and, once again, The leadership of the Black Table of PO decided not to allow other opposition and left-wing groups to speak, nor representatives of two of the FITU parties.
It is important to understand that the magnitude of disagreements about how to act within the labor movement is not just a union issue.; These are essentially differences in political strategy. Because if the leadership of a workers' struggle harasses the opponents, uses violence and tries to silence opponents – who are also workers and members of the left – we face an undeniable problem of political conception. How would that same leadership act if it were in charge of a workers' government?? That's how deep the debate is. That is why we believe that the time has come for the Workers' Party to pause and reflect on these actions., assume the situation, reflect on what happened and try to draw conclusions that will help you get back on track. And may this have a positive effect on relations within our front.
Defamation is also foreign to the left
For now, and unfortunately, our comrades in the Workers' Party have shown no signs of participating in this necessary reflection. They act as if all these public and obvious facts do not exist. Even worse, They try to divert attention with smear campaigns against activists who oppose La Negra and its policies. A) Yes, according to them, those who were attacked and burned their flags are provocateurs, exceptions and divisive figures simply because they criticize the union leadership. In the opinion of the probation officer, Those responsible for the violence are those attacked.; They committed the “sin” of criticizing the union leadership instead of following the line. Something similar is happening in the specific case of our comrades from the factions of the gray and multicolor lists in Pirelli, who—for expressing their opinion and acting independently and critically towards the Black Table—are accused by the leaders of the postal order of being “pro-direction”. This is an unjustifiable slander that can only be spread by someone who is completely lost and, Besides, He has no idea what is happening inside Pirelli. A factory where SUTNA management also threatens and harasses its opponents and denies them the right to elections, thus leaving workers without representation and thus favoring management, that takes advantage of this situation to change working conditions. And the PO and Black Slate cover up their own responsibility by accusing those who fight the bosses day after day of being pro-management—while, at the same time, they have to demand, in an unprecedented movement, that your union leadership call democratic elections. and we say “unprecedented” because it is—if we start from the fact that the Black Table is considered part of the class-based movement. Calling on the base to elect their representatives should be a no-brainer, and there should be no need to demand it. But elections are not called and, in the meantime, opponents are slandered to divert attention. It is a truly indescribable tactic.. Y, unfortunately, our comrades of the Socialist Left do not say anything about this and this is how they justify it. Because they have only spoken of a general condemnation of violence, without mentioning who carries it out or the specific incidents in question. In other words, It is a condemnation so general and lacking in substance that it does not name those responsible, while they continue at his side in a political bloc within the FITU and the PSC.
A path that does not help
This entire context of deep political and union divisions explains the current situation of intense tensions and debates., as well as the complex perspective of the Left Front. Regrettably, the united front approach between the PO and the IS—rooted, as we have said, in the inability to understand the magnitude of the changes underway—leads them to insist on solutions that are not useful. On the one hand, They are inventing the so-called committees “unitary” Y “FAT” -what, actually, They are a two-party initiative—and they use them as a platform to promote the wrong policy.. Consequently, These small gatherings actually act as a divisive factor., no of unit, inside our front.
For our part, we have always been in favor of promoting united committees; That's what we voted for in our MST Congress months ago., because it was the right thing to try to agree on the objectives for which they should be trained and how to move forward. Nevertheless, for that to happen, There had to be a political agreement between the four forces of the FITU, and there wasn't. This didn't happen before, and it is even less likely to happen now amid the current crisis and worsening political and methodological differences.
At the same time, in light of these debates and the crisis caused by the reprehensible events in SUTNA, It became impossible to move forward in just a few days towards the establishment of a joint list for the next elections in Bariloche, because the circumstances simply did not allow it. At the MST we hope that in the future better conditions can be created to return to the path of unity.. It does not help that this possibility - to which we must all contribute - makes the problem even worse by waging a kind of campaign on “disintegration of the Left Front”, what the PO and the IS are doing wrongly in their search for someone to blame and in their attempt to create a feeling of unrest among left-wing activists and sympathizers. We call on you to end these divisive positions and attitudes.
The Left Front that we value and defend must find a way to overcome this moment and strive to remain united—something we believe is necessary and towards which we will always strive.. We recognize that contributing to the necessary unity is also achieved by rethinking the policies that underpin the current stagnation and have only ensured that FITU as a whole has been unable to take responsibility and seize the opportunity to transform itself into something much greater.. For our part, we would like to discuss other issues and take other actions on the front line. We are sorry that the situation has reached this point., from which the way forward lies in efforts to reach common political agreements, not in false and meaningless campaigns.
For a New Historical Movement from the Left
At the beginning of this article, we highlight the unprecedented opportunity we face and the challenge we cannot ignore. In a situation like this, we cannot respond with more of the same. It's time to do something new, and the Left Front, if you want to play a positive role, should promote this collectively. Since you are not doing it—and, evidently, will not do so due to deep differences—its future is amid political tensions, of which the solution lies precisely in common policies and substantive agreements, not in misleading campaigns.
until that happens, We will continue to insist on the need to promote, among whom we agree, a deep debate on how we can contribute to building a militant organization of tens of thousands of people. Because reality demands that we not prioritize petty disputes that delay the real tasks at hand., nor speculations limited only to the electoral sphere - which is an important political struggle - knowing that, at the same time, there are highly strategic debates that we must address and respond correctly.
But she set the current agenda for the Ukrainian labor movement, We have made progress in a discussion with our colleagues from the PTS, what, like us, They see the need to build a movement towards a new party and we share our vision that we face an opportunity to be the architects of a new historic movement from the left. In this context of agreement, In recent months we have also had some natural subtleties or specific differences with them about how to move forward; There are continuous debates and exchanges between our organizations, and we will continue to develop them, always looking to move forward. It takes patience to make the greatest effort possible to build a new political movement—one that, for our part, we are fighting to build collectively and together with thousands of workers and young people who join us. In the drive to build a great new revolutionary party with a common program and strategy, where everything is thoroughly debated democratically and then decided, and let's move forward together to act in the real world. Allowing, in its internal functioning—at least temporarily—the possibility of existing as a current or faction until it is clarified and channeling pre-existing nuances or differences.
As we continue these discussions with our PTS colleagues, We also share a common view on the bureaucratic approach adopted by SUTNA management., and we are promoting regional coordination committees in various places as another way to help advance the fight against Milei, employers and union bureaucracy. We also present a joint list for the elections in Bariloche so that you can advance in this political orientation and, together, We just helped organize the planning meeting for the “March of the Anger”, which became a very broad and positive event and will probably culminate in a large demonstration in September against Milei and her entire plan. In our opinion, This should also serve to strengthen the political visibility of this anti-capitalist and socialist left., that we intend to position as a real political alternative for millions, on the road to challenging political power in the country to establish a workers' government.
As we move forward with all of these initiatives, We will continue to organize each of these debates and create new political and programmatic forums and meetings to collectively exchange ideas.. We are convinced that political and social struggle takes place everywhere—and today, in particular, in the streets against Milei—because we must defeat him now. The significant support that Myriam has received should serve as a driving force and unifying axis to organize a national political struggle that challenges them on all fronts and mobilizes the struggle and thousands of activists throughout the country., something essential to defeat this decadent capitalist system and its corrupt parties and institutions. This is the political task ahead of us., and we must respond to it with courage and unity. As part of this enormous struggle—long before the elections—we must integrate the political-electoral struggle, which will be another opportunity to act together, in service of the broader struggle to gain mass influence from the left, as a decisive step towards achieving our fundamental revolutionary objectives.
