But the workers in Europe are not meekly accepting these attacks by the managements on them . Strikes and protests of autoworkers in Serbia and Romania are erupting and workers of Siemens in Germany are agitating against onslaught on their rights and entitlements .
While such has been the form of attacks on working class in France , the government and ruling classes in Austria have started attacks on the rights of workers in another form , viz ., to increase the working hours from 8 to 12 per day .
The recently formed coalition government of far right Freedom Party ( FPO ) and conservative People ’ s Party ( OVP ) in Austria headed by Sebastian Kurz of OVP is planning to increase the daily maximum working hours from 8 to 12 . Such an increase is mooted to satisfy a long pending demand from Corporations .
The irony is in the elections in which the FPO postured itself as the saviour of working class interests by voicing slogans that immigrants are looting the jobs and many workers voted it to power . Now the FPO is heading the key posts of police , army and intelligence in the Austrian government .
The coalition government is now implementing the same promarket economic policies which it blamed the previous government for . Chanting the neo-liberal slogans of globalisation like , “ bureaucracy will be reduced ”, “ working hours shall fit more in to practice ”, “ the state must not be in the way of corporations ” and in the name of increasing labour flexibility , the Austrian government is planning to increase the working hours .
By this plan many workers from lower-working class will be
4 hit badly . Thus the working class is targeted by the self-styled saviours of workers .
Enraged with such a treacherous plan the working class in Austria are protesting against the government stating that they did not vote for him ( FPO ) ‘ to see that happen ” or “ to be enslaved ”.
While the Scandinavian country Sweden introduced sixhour working day and some of the European countries are intending to reduce weekly working hours from 40 to 30 , Austria wants to increase them to 60 hours ( 5 days of 12 hours ) to facilitate the corporations to exploit labour power more .
Until now in Austria the payment of overtime is used to be limited with minimum wages governed by collective agreements . The present government ’ s proposal leaves the matter to the will of the individual company , thus the compensation option will be eliminated by a mandatory minimum wage .
This policy of “ flexibility of working hours ” adopted by the neo-liberal capitalism to increase the working hours is frustrating the aspirations and gains by the “ MAY DAY ” spirit , and reaffirmed and confirmed the accurate correctness of the theory of “ surplus value ” created by the working class and exploited by the capitalists propounded by Karl Marx . It once again warns the working class that it shall fight against capitalist rule by taking up its historical task of class struggle over throwing the capitalist system and establishing its own system of dictatorship of the proletariat to end the exploitation and inequalities – economic and social – forever . �
TARIMELA NAGIREDDY MEMORIAL TRUST PUBLICATIONS
HISTORICAL AND POLEMICAL DOCUMENTS OF THE COMMUNIST MOVEMENT IN INDIA
VOL . I 1943-51- RS . 300 / - VOL . II 1963-72- RS . 500 / -
For Details : P . Jaswantha Rao , Secretary ,
T . N . Memorial Trust , 32-13-26 / 1 , M . R . Puram , Vijayawada , pin-520 010 .
Class Struggle