Chen Liujun
In February 2023, the two oldest capitalist countries in Europe, the earliest free and democratic birthplace -Britain and France, the largest national strike in the country in the past 10 years, causing domestic turbulence and world attention.According to reports, at least 500,000 people in the UK have participated, including teachers, civil servants, train drivers and border staff; the number of French strikes is not less than 1 million, and the major unions have participated.Other European countries, including Germany, Italy, Spain, and the Netherlands, have also occurred different -scale strikes in order to echo.
The strikes of these European countries have their own reasons, and they also have commonality.Each trade union, management, and governments are in intense coordination and negotiations. It is still impossible to predict the strikes of such scale. How will it end in?Think of a strike movement in Europe about 200 years ago.At that time, the strike appeared as the main form of class struggle, led and far -reaching influenced the direction of European civilization.
In today's 21st century, is there still a need for class struggle?Is the strike the main way for class struggle?How will the future develop?The answers to these questions may be found in the British and French strikes.
Before answering these questions, don't be misled by some abstract theories.Early socialist theory believes that "all the history of mankind in the past is the history of class struggle except the original state" (Engels), and "class struggle is the struggle of some people against the other people" (Lenin).So every society should catch the main line of class struggle.
In reality, this approach often brings great harm to the society, and China has a period of time that "with class struggle".Some capitalist theorists and politicians believe that class struggles can be dissolved in social development, including Hayek and Keynes with the opposite economic point of view.Although the US Democrat Sanders has always been titled by socialists, there is a series of concepts that support workers and the bottom of society, but he has never preached the means of strike and has not mentioned the necessity of class struggle.
Class struggle is still a mainstream social movement today, which often depends on the gap between the class and the coordination of each class in the specific social stage.If the income and living standards among all class remain a large gap for a long time, and under the interference of major accidents, class struggles will naturally become a social theme; if the gaps of all parties are relatively small (such as the Gini coefficient defined by the United Nations below 0.4),And there are certain communication channels that can promote the dynamic changes of the gap, and class struggles will not become the choice of the public.Based on this standard, the Gini coefficient in Britain in 2022 is 0.36, France is 0.32, and the income gap is in a reasonable range. Their strikes may stem from revenue other than income.
These reasons may include insufficient income increase in the background of high inflation, resulting in a decline in living standards.The main demands of the British strike this time are salary increases to maintain the original decent and comfortable life.In addition, in the case of slowing economic growth and increasing social security pressure, the government hopes that citizens can bear more responsibilities, which will cause people to dislike them.This is why the French strike firmly opposed the retirement age from 62 to 64 years old; what made the French even more angry that they had just experienced a delayed retirement reform from the age of 60 to 62 10 years ago.
These demands are not unreasonable, and all parties have the rationality worthy of respect; the position of the conflict is not difficult to coordinate, as long as you can think about and understand each other.However, the current British government does not take positive measures to solve the demands of strikes. Instead, it is trying to introduce a bill in the public sector to restrict strikes.
The Macron government in France refuses to negotiate on the reform of the retirement system, and also angered the French. Many participants who participated in the strike did not intend to discuss the retirement system itself, but simply wanted the government to hear their own voice and put away the power of the power.Pride and dedication.
In fact, there are always solutions. Although they need to bear certain pain, there is no need to be at the expense of national strikes and total social paralysis, and it may even evolve into a form of class struggle for violence confrontation.However, the British and French strikes give the world at least one reminder that class struggles have not disappeared from human society. The strike is only a relatively mild means in class struggle. Everyone should work hard for the stability and harmony of the world, instead of lingering their own interests.Above the interests of others.
The author is a commentator in Yangzhou, China
