We share an Article of an Austrian
antifascist and revolutionary Newspaper on the "Corona-Crisis". This article was also published in a
special edition of the newspaper on
this topic. It showns very well that the working class and the peoples
masses have to delvelope their own way of struggle against the capitalst
"crisis management" in this situation.
Curfews, deaths,
unemployment, school closings ... the "Corona Virus" (1) determines the
lives of millions of people. The stories that it is just a "tougher flu"
crumble to dust. That so many believed in the belittlements and
distractions, has as well to do with the fact that public awareness of
the “new” virus has not been tackled seriously for a long time and the
population has been left in the dark. For a long time, the ruling class
deliberately trivialized and played down, in order not to disturb
"public life", in particular the movement of goods, production and
profit maximization, and to continue to allow the capitalists to
undisturbed let others work for their profits.
Is "Corona" just a "hard flu"? What are we actually talking about?A
prominent trivializer was, for example, Dr. Klaus-Dieter Zastrow,
director of the Institute for Hygiene and Environmental Medicine at the
Vivantes Clinic in Berlin, who still said at the beginning of February:
"For us humans, one cannot say that the virus is dangerous". It was
often heard that "much more people would die from the flu", so what?!
Both Dr. Zastrow, as well as those media and propaganda machines of the
ruling class, who for a long time tried the flu-comparison, were thereby
in contradiction to the numbers that were already known at the
beginning of January.
Despite the really dramatic situation in
some places (such as in Italy or Spain), it is still the case that the
EU, Great Britain, Norway, Iceland and Lichtenstein together have up to
(according to the highest calculations) up to 75,000 flu deaths (of
which around 1,500 in Austria), and on average there are more flu deaths
in the above-mentioned countries than there have been “corona” deaths
worldwide. But the simple reason is that the infection with the seasonal
flu viruses (influenza) is far higher than currently with the
"Corona-virus". So it is anything but difficult, that with this wrong
comparison the normal flu appears "more dangerous" than "Corona". In
order to be able to seriously compare the general mortality rates
("lethality") of the two viruses, not the concrete “result” can be used
as a comparison, but an equal degree of infection must be the assumed
calculation basis, for example how many out of 10,000 infected people
die. If you do that, things look very different, because then you can
see that influenza has a lethality of 0.2%, whereas the corona virus has
between 2.3% and 3.8% (2). Expressed in real numbers, this means that
20 people die from an international average of 10,000 infected with
influenza, while 230 die from “Corona” (if the minimum value is assumed
to be 2.3%). The flu-corona comparison is not only trivializing and
therefore misleading, but also extremely negligent and simply wrong! In
addition, trivialization is particularly dangerous, because as our brief
example assumes a number of only 10,000 infected people as a basic
assumption, it is in fact highly unlikely that with viral diseases there
are "only" tens of thousands of infected people, rather hundreds of
thousands have to be assumed. That brings us to another point: the
spread of the virus. Again, the trivializing comparison that leads to
the attitude that it would only be a "hard flu" is simply wrong! Because
the known influenza is transmitted at 1: 1,28 / 2. This means that an
infected person infects an average of 1.28 to 2 other people. With
“Corona” this ratio is significantly higher, namely at 1: 2,5 / 3,8. An
infected person infects on previous average 2.5 to 3.8 other people.
This means that the "corona-virus" has at least twice the spread of
"normal" flu. It is therefore a fact, that "Corona" represents a much
greater risk potential than the flu, despite all the alleged
"comparisons" of the people who appease and trivialize. It is of course
true that children, young people and ordinary healthy adults are
relatively little affected by serious consequences. The lethality of the
corona-virus is primarily distributed among the elderly and the
pre-diseased people, but they are affected even harder.
It is the
"natural" cynicism of capital, that a disease that is particularly
dangerous for the elderly and the burdened sick is at first played down
and not taken seriously. Because these groups mostly produce little
profit socially, so they are in a sense "problem cases" for capital.
Therefore, the matter is only taken more seriously if epidemics go so
far that they endanger the operation of "the economy", that is, the
epidemics progress so far that the average workforce is also
increasingly absent. The example of Volkswagen (VW) shows this in an
excellent way: Only now, in Italy and Spain, where hundreds of people
die every day from the consequences of a corona infection, is VW ready
to temporarily shut down plants there. In China, where the virus spread
was successfully contained and only dropped to 19 cases per day, VW was
one of the first companies to reopen and started operating again in 31
of 33 plants! The pressure to keep profit high, coupled with the
cynicism of capital and the public downplaying and downplaying of the
situation, meant that for a very long time no measures were taken to
safeguard and protect public health. The revenge is now bitter.
The
current situation should be a lesson to all those who have believed the
trivialization and appeasement too long. It should always be kept in
mind that in a class society everything is also a class question,
including health care and people’s health, and there is no reason why
you should suddenly have trust in the capitalists and their governments,
especially concerning health matters.
The situation in Europe.Just
as the story of "Corona is like the flu" evaporates, so does the
supposedly class-neutral "European solidarity", of which the ruling
classes in the EU like to talk about. In this political crisis, the EU
turns out to be more and more obiously what it has always been: an
alliance of imperialists under the leadership of France and Germany. For
example, while the EU member Italy (where funerals have to take place
every half hour in the worst affected regions) urgently needs protective
masks, the ruling classes of Germany and France stopped their
protective mask exports. This export freeze is also causing problems for
Serbia, because there are major problems (even if the "corona virus" in
this country still has a comparatively low confirmed spread): Serbia,
too, can no longer buy protective masks in Europe and has now ordered
five million units from China, but also doctors were requested from
China, because in Serbia there was a drastic shortage of medical
personnel long before "Corona", because young people with appropriate
education often leave the country, because semi-colonial exploitation
and oppression makes every perspective impossible . In many cases, these
labour forces are pressured to leave their home country and earn money
abroad, so that the family can be supported. This “blessing” is also
conferred by the imperialists of the EU, for example Austria, Germany
and France, because the majority of the medical staff who are lacking in
Serbia then work there. This example shows that on an international
scale, the population of the (semi)colonial countries is particularly at
risk from the current epidemic.
This forced emigration of young
labour forces is an important factor, that the society in Serbia itself
is above average. More than 20% are pensioners, so they belong to an age
group that is particularly affected by the "corona-virus". If there the
infection with the virus increases quickly, the already rotten
health-care system is on the brink of collapse, especially if additional
staff and medical equipment are missing. Such a collapse can also be
imminent in Italy, where medical personnel in many parts of the country
are already working 14 days in a row and only have one day off
afterwards, which is justified by "special measures". In fact, this not
only means a massive increase in the intensity of work, but because
overworked and drained, medical personnel themselves are also more
susceptible to infectious diseases. This is not only a disaster for the
infected, but can also increase the spread of the virus in health-care
facilities, so that the virus can be transmitted more easily by hospital
staff to people who are actually in the hospital because of other
complaints. The severe lack of personnel and equipment in the hospitals
can therefore have disastrous consequences for both the sick parts of
the population and the medical staff.
The fact that the virus was
able to spread so quickly within Europe, but especially within the EU,
has of course also to do with the internal opened borders, a sacred cow
of economic cartels and capital. It was not without reason, that on 16th
of March the German Commission President Ursula von der Leyen warned
massively about border closures and also French President Macron
criticized the "unilateral, uncoordinated decisions on the borders".
Both emphasized that the uninhibited and free movement of goods must be
preserved and thereby they express one of the greatest interests of the
imperialists: profit must not be disturbed, with or without virus. That
is why a storm of chauvinism and imperialist outrage spread in the
German media when Poland closed its border. That is not surprising, how
else should German capital quickly receive the daily commuting labour
forces from Poland (field workers, nursing staff, etc.) from Poland?!
The EU's Internal Market Commissioner, Thierry Breton, put it even more
precisely. He stressed in a statement on the 16th of March that the "war
with the virus" was an "economic war". They are not concerned with the
recently unemployed or the bankruptcy of small businesses, but with
maintaining their internal market, which is of course not the reason,
but an important part of the problem of the extremely rapid spread of
the virus. The spread is progressing so rapidly that the World Health
Organization has described Europe as the "epicenter of the pandemic".
The fact that the EU finally closed its external borders is a completely
senseless measure, that above all corresponds to a chauvinistic policy,
to the fairy tale of the “enemy standing before our borders”, but does
not change anything at all about the virus spread within the EU.
The
semi-colonial oppression and exploitation of entire nations, the
austerity measures that have led to a desolate public health care system
and the internal market and free movement of goods enforced by the EU
alliance are problems that were brought to us by the imperialists and
are now defended by the ruling classes, at the expense of the peoples.
The "Solidarity of the EU" is nothing more than the solidarity among the
cartels of the ruling classes within the EU, the solidarity of the
imperialists, for which they also walk over dead bodies. This has now
become obvious once again. The peoples and the workers movement must
oppose this with international solidarity, with the struggle against the
imperialists and their unscrupulous plans for the increasing
exploitation of the masses.
The general crisis in Austria is deepening by the "Corona-virus"The
extent to which the interests of capital are the first consideration in
the measures taken by the ruling class in Austria, to deal with the
current political crisis can be seen in a large number of examples. One
of the infection “hotspots” was the Tyrolean municipality of Ischgl,
known as a skiing paradise and tourist attraction. After ski tourists
from Iceland returned to Iceland with a “Corona” infection already in
early March, the government there declared Ischgl as a risk area on 5th
of March and advised against going there. However, the Austrian
government did not quarantine the place until 14th of March, because the
tourism industry downplayed the problem or wanted to delay the
quarantine as long as possible. These criminals accept entire regions to
be infected only to continue making profit. Now that the quarantine has
been enforced, they dismiss the workers without scruple and at the same
time have the nerve to claim for a billion of Euros for support money
(“tourism billion”). Wages and working conditions in this sector are
miserable, everyone knows that. Nevertheless, the tourism employees
generate many millions per season, which only end up in the pockets of
hoteliers, landowners (ski slopes!), Ski lift operators and other
tourism capitalists. And those who take such huge profits, now want to
use the favor of the hour to tap the taxpayers' money in the form of a
"tourism billion".
The hotline 1450, which was set up by the
Ministry of Social Affairs and Health and is intended to help clarify
suspected “corona” cases and to register a necessary test, was hardly or
at least very difficult to reach for several days. This was due to the
fact that the ministries had commissioned a private company for this
work, but they reached their limits because of the many calls and could
no longer carry out their tasks! Every telephone vote in television
shows works more unproblematic, for the Christmas
“light-into-the-dark-fundraising shows”, for example, the telephone
operation is carried out by hundreds of army soldiers. (Addendum from
the editors: Far too late, the training of army soldiers for hotline
services only began on the 17th of March). There is no need to argue
with health-related expertise, because those who now provide advice via
this hotline are normal call center employees, who have been briefed
just shortly before starting their work. At the same time, of course,
there would be people who would have certain knowledge and skills, such
as employees from the social and health sectors. But they currently work
(as in care professions) with up to 80 scheduled(!) hours per week,
because otherwise the facilities could no longer maintain the care of
clients and patients. This already shows what is necessary: a massive
increase in personnel in the public social-, education- and health
system, instead of cuts, privatizations and savings! For decades,
however, exactly the opposite has happened and the various cuts in these
areas have been decided by all bourgeois parties over time. The masses
must pay now for this facts.
Emergency supply centers are
currently being set up at least in the larger cities, and are to be used
when the hospital capacity is exhausted. The emergency beds are
provided by the cities themselves and are thus far below the number
originally planned. Here as well we can see where the money was spent in
the past and where cut-backs where made: the army could not provide
emergency beds for disasters, because they had to sell them a few years
ago under pressure by the Court of Auditors (because "they would not
need it"). At the same time, there is money for army operations in the
Balkans, or for a joint exercise by the Austrian army in cooperation
with NATO troops in Tyrol, as well as for expensive armament
specialization in the service of integration into the EU-army. Here as
well, the workers and the people have to settle the bill by being less
well supplied in an emergency case, but being allowed to call themselves
"citizens" of a country whose army is part of the EU-army and has the
dubious "honor" to hold joint exercises with NATO.
The fact that
the workers are affected the most by the current political crisis is
shown by the fact that, especially in small and medium-sized towns,
many, and in some cases almost all, employees in the catering industry
have been laid off and thus have lost their livelihood (until the 16th
of March the AMS1 received 16,000 redundancies). Mass redundancies can
also be seen at large catering and culinary companies: 800 workers were
dismissed from Do&Co, even though Do&Co was able to distribute
eight million of Euros to its shareholders last year and, according to
its accounts, has retained earnings of over 100 million. Whereas the
industry is a bit slower and production continues, even if it is not
"existentially important", such as the car industry. The factories in
Vienna Aspern (Opel) or Steyr (BMW) continue to produce without
restrictions, which means that hundreds of workers who come together in
shift buses, production halls and warehouses are at high risk of
infection. The bosses of the industry will only accept a reduction or
blocking of production if there is no other way due to an exorbitant
risk of infection, which means: if it is actually too late! Although
these capitalists have pocketed billions of profits in recent years,
short-time working is being implemented. For the workers this means in
the first place less wages, but for the capitalists it means also that
part of the wages is taken over by the bourgeois state. The latter pays
this from the tax money that he draws from the incomes of the masses,
which means that the working class indirectly pays a large part of the
wages themselves. Short-time work is particularly popular in the
industrial sector, because it is often a question of a highly qualified
workforce that cannot be fired as quickly and can be hired again after a
certain period of time. They are meant to be "kept warm" for the
capitalist, and short-time work is an excellent and extremely cheap way
of doing this. At the same time, the same industrial bosses that have
been taking billions of profits for decades and are now resorting to
public-funded short-time work, are now even screaming for tax relief, as
the industrialists’ association has recently requested.
According
to the Epidemic Act, employees of companies up to 25 people, as well as
one-person businesses, are entitled to compensation for loss of
earnings caused by epidemics and pandemics. But law is always the law of
the fittest, as everyone knows. Therefore, it is often not worth the
paper it is written on. It is the right of the fittest, because the
fittest has the political power to twist and apply as it suits him. And
that's the way it is currently with the Epidemic Act, because the
government declined by decision on March 15 to apply it in full,
precisely because of compensation for loss of earnings! So while the
government is preparing aid packages worth billions for the big
capitalists and unabashedly financing part of their wages from
taxpayers' money by means of “short-time work”, all that remains for the
employees of small businesses and one-person businesses is hoping that
the situation passes as quickly as possible and the damage is not too
great, otherwise it will be difficult or impossible to make the cost of
living. Many workers and small employees already have loans, simply
because everyday life would otherwise be too expensive. “Generously”,
the “Erste Bank” man Treichl announced that the banks would of course
defer the loan repayments in order to “relieve the lower income brackets
in this situation”. But there is also a snag for the working class:
Although individual loan repayments are deferred during the "corona
crisis", the loan terms are not extended as a result. This means that
the rates that are now suspended are simply distributed to the upcoming
rates as soon as the situation “relaxes” again. This will lead to a
situation where many can no longer service the loans, with all the
bitter consequences ...
Quite different, of course, regarding the
interests of the capitalists, there it is shown that for the bourgeois
politics as a whole (not just the government!) it can not go fast enough
to demonstrate their submissiveness. Large trade groups such as REWE or
SPAR, for example, are provided - of course free of charge - over 800
soldiers in order to have additional workers for finishing work. The
Austrian food market is firmly in the hands of three monopoly groups:
REWE (these include Billa, Merkur, BIPA, etc.), HOFER and SPAR. Of
course, all three monopoly groups are privately owned by capitalists.
These owners have been living forever and a day, from the hard working
trade workers for bad wages. The owners became rich through the
exploitation of their labor. And now the bourgeois state is providing
them free army soldiers, so that they can sell more, faster and more
smoothly in their businesses! Of course, as it is usual with soldiers,
these soldiers are financed by the state, that is, from our tax money,
also from those of the workers in the trade. Hence, the fact that the
bourgeois state also places the army at the service of German monopoly
groups is not the main side, but therefore not insignificant. The
submissive behavior of bourgeois politics not only towards the Austrian,
but also towards German monopolies apparently no longer stops in this
crisis, look at the example of the airline AUA [Austrian Airlines]. It
was sold to the German Lufthansa group as a former state airline, only
to find out now that it would survive “the crisis” if it received a
government aid program. From the means that are squeezed out by the
Austrian state every day and every month from the working class and the
people, it not only pays huge sums of money to its own capitalists, but
also pays millions, if not billions, to German monopoly companies. There
we have it again, the "European solidarity" of the capitalists.
What is the perspective of the struggle of the working class and the people?The
current political crisis, which is increasingly exacerbating the
economical crisis, shows that bourgeois politics can only respond to a
pandemic epidemic with measures against the workers and people. Because
while that production which is not necessary is still going on in many
places and, for example, public transport for everyday commute, which
would not necessarily maintain, there are bans on strikes,
demonstrations and rallies. It is particularly piquant that, due to the
current labor disputes, many such measures (strikes, demonstrations)
would have been planned, particularly in the social and health sectors.
Employees in these industries demanded nothing more than what they
obviously need since a long time: more staff, better equipment, higher
wages, shorter working hours.
Of course, the pandemic spread of
the corona virus has become more dangerous, and the threat to general
people’s health has grown. From the initial trivialization and
downplaying of the potential of the virus, bourgeois politics and the
media turned to an unprecedented scaremongering. For example, Chancellor
Kurz speaks of the fact that we are currently experiencing “Austria's
worst crisis since the Second World War”. Together with the media,
bourgeois politics is therefore promoting a “Team Austria”. You don't
know any classes anymore, you only know “virus victims”. This obscures
and blurs the fact that it is the workers and the people who bear the
cost of fighting the pandemic, that it is them who have to shoulder the
burden of the crisis, while the ruling class, even if they are also at
risk of infection, does not lose their jobs and, as a result, their
apartments, they will not have to fear, not being able to pay the rent
or no longer know who should look after their children. Also, it will
currently probably not be the same in the expensive private clinics as
in the public hospitals and at the panel doctors. A "Team Austria" is an
illusion! In truth there is a "team ruling class" and a "team working
class and people’s masses". These two "teams" are in completely
different situations and have completely different interests and needs
with regard to measures to fight pandemics! Pretending that these
differences do not exist is an old trick of the ruling classes, to
better control the oppressed and to pretend that they are pulling
together and sitting in "one boat". This is intended to distract the
workers' movement from pursuing its interests and concerns even in times
of the "corona-crisis". That would have to step back now, because the
virus would affect everyone equally. We should not fall for this, but it
must be clear: a health system and thus epidemic control in the service
of the people are things that must be struggled for, that we will not
be given for free, and that ultimately require the overthrow of capital.
It
is good to see that spontaneous solidarity among the population is
developing in many places across the country, in large cities as well as
in small rural communities. Even if the ruling class call these
solidarity actions part of the "Team Austria" for political propaganda
reasons, the truth is that there is no "Team Austria". Because while
companies receive billions and even army soldiers for support, for
example the single old woman in Vienna-Floridsdorf, who has worked hard
all her life, relies on the luck that there is a student apartment in
her apartment block, who does the shopping for her. It simply can not be
like that! And from the Chancellor down to the journalist, the ruling
class and their propagandists have the nerve to speak of a "Team
Austria", despite this obvious inequality?! Millions are fooled! The
spontaneous solidarity among the people is extremely good and exemplary,
but we should not let us fool, why that is necessary at all: because
the bourgeois state prefers to give its resources to those who already
have everything, instead of properly supporting and caring for those,
who are most at risk from Corona-virus: the old and pre-ill. We
expressly support the actions of spontaneous solidarity, but we get
never tired of pointing out that these activities are necessary, because
those who need them the most are miserably abandoned by the bourgeois
state and its institutions. If the forces of the working class and the
people do not organize their solidarity themselves, then they are
abandoned!
The measures taken by the political parties of the
ruling class intervene, at the same time as the legend of the "Team
Austria", especially in the leisure and private life of the workers and
the people, as if it would be the "private responsibility" of everyone
to see how the pandemic continues. At the same time, however, people are
still waiting in vain for measures such as widespread disinfection in
public spaces or the massive free supply of hygiene and disinfectants to
be taken. And while disinfectants, hygiene products and protective
clothing are sold out in many places and are scarce in hospitals, there
are private usurers and speculators, who hoard such products and sell
them on the Internet at enormous amounts. Bourgeois politics does not
move against these creatures, who want to capitalize on the threatening
situation of the masses and the overload of the public health system.
The stocks of these usurers and speculators remain untouched and thus
withheld from the masses, whose situation deteriorates as a result. At
the same time, the entire parliament decides tough measures against, for
example, small sports clubs that want to hold a football training
session (taking various precautionary measures), despite there are often
still a lot more people gathering in tight spaces at workplaces or in
public transport. This is completely absurd and shows that it is not
primarily the masses that are protected, but that, besides the
capitalists, above all criminal rags benefit from the situation! The
workers' and people's movement must therefore prepare and equip itself
not only to defend itself against increased exploitation by the
capitalists and against mass unemployment, but also to prepare to
successfully assert against such criminals.
After bourgeois
politics and the media, in the face of the spreading of the corona
virus, passed over from trivializing and downplaying and started to
spread panic and disaster mood, massive interventions in assembly,
demonstration and other fundamental rights are justified with reference
to "Corona". The ruling class will try everything possible to maintain
these measures beyond what is scientifically necessary to fight epidemic
and to integrate them step by step into everyday life. Of course they
will try to "take" as much as possible out of these measures, simply
because that are restrictions of political and fundamental rights, which
would otherwise not be enforceable. At the end of the "corona-crisis"
there will be a long-term expansion of surveillance and political
control by the bourgeois state, which which has to be stroke back and
prevented. This means that the workers' movement and the people’s masses
must be extremely vigilant, that these measures will soon come to an
end and we must not be in any way impressed by "exceptions" and "special
laws". The collective democratic fundamental rights must under no
circumstances be further restricted! The struggle against their further
restriction must also aim to expand and deepen them. This also means
that the struggle to ensure that all those who already have to pay the
burdens for the crisis are no longer subjected to any further burdens
and the previous deteriorations are reversed!
Remembering all political prisoners who are incarcerated in midst of a
pandemic, and their families - helpless, unable to meet, unable to keep
safe - many of them senior citizens. Punished not for crimes, because
they committed none, but for their political beliefs. On fake charges.
Under draconian laws. Without trial for years. Arrested and rearrested.
Arrested because some govt agency hacked someoneʹs account and planted a
fake email. A professor with a 99% disability on a wheelchair. Arrested
because a young girl said zindabad to all south asian nations.
Arrested, because a doctor tried to save children dying of oxygen
shortage. Arrested, because somebody had communist literature at home.
Arrested, because a student gave a speech against the NRC-CAA. Arrested,
because a lawyer was fighting cases for falsely accused workers,
activists and adivasis. Arrested for having a Muslim name. Arrested for
having a Kashmiri name. Arrested for having a Adivasi name. Arrested for
not conforming to fascist diktat. Arrested for standing up to a rogue
corporation or government. Arrested because the courts turned vindictive
and denied legit bail.
