Thursday, April 30, 2015

May Day Message of the PKM



 
On the Occasion of Worker’s Day, the Communist Party of Malta joins up with the International Communists and Worker’s movement in the struggle against precariousness, poverty, unemployment, the dismantlement of public services and the welfare state.
 
The Party condemns all those that refute the class struggle. It’s a shame that the mainstream political parties in Malta support neoliberal policies which are bringing about precariousness. Infact 22% of the workers in Malta are being employed in precarious work which varies from part-time employment to work on a defenite contract.
 
“With regards to social services, The Communist Party of Malta condemns Goverment’s policy that give more importance to dependancy rather than the adequacy of social benfits. In this regard, the Government should increase it’s expenditure on non- contributory benefits, so that persons are not at risk of poverty. The Party stated that although the economy growth is reaching higher levels, so is poverty”.    
 
With respect to public services, the Party believes that the State should not abdicate from it’s responsabilities in running these services. Policies that favour public-private- partnerships in the Health sector will finally result in the privatisation of public services, with the risk of inferior working conditions, increase in the public expenditure, and the deterioration of this service. In countries where such policies were applied, people had to pay for the service.  
 
The Communist Party of Malta insists that “the Government should re-introduce an increase in the taxation for those whose wage bracket varies between €20,000 and €60,000 per annum. On the other hand the Party appeals for a national campaign against tax evasion”.
 
The Party concludes by appealing to all Trade Unions in Malta to join together and take control of May Day Celebrations. In European Capitals this is the norm.

 

Statement of the parties of the European Communist Initiative on the right to work and the protection of the unemployed


Despite the misleading messages of European bourgeois governments and the European Union, the unemployment figures remain at very high levels in many countries in Europe. In the countries where official figures are low, the jobs that are created are insecure, transient and highly precarious with low wages and few employment rights.

The huge destruction of productive forces that followed the outbreak of the capitalist crisis is now followed by the creation of jobs which are characterised by poor working conditions, low pay and that cannot meet the most basic needs of working people.

The direction which the EU follows is the promotion of “mobility”, “casualisation” and the “flexibility” of employment and labour relations, thus exposing workers to increased vulnerability, diminution of their rights and subjection to the will of the employers. The use of agency workers to undercut the pay and conditions of other workers increases the level of exploitation, intensifies the race to the bottom and demonstrates the hypocrisy of the EU and its governments with regard to immigration. Research has shown that workers employed on low paid precarious work are more likely to suffer poor health together with anxiety and stress as a result of financial and social uncertainty.

Young workers are particularly vulnerable to the problem of unemployment. The structures of the European Union take advantage of their situation to modify the entire system of labour relations through programmes such as “youth guarantee” and the “youth contract”, which only serve to “recycle” unemployment and fund the employers under the pretence of providing training.

The European Commission has recently offered some data on job creation maintaining a predicted unemployment rate above 20% in countries like Spain and Greece, which means more misery for millions of workers.

The working class and working people in the European countries should not be fooled by official figures that count as employees those who work for weeks, days or even hours, while those who are taking courses of training are excluded from unemployment rolls.

Millions of workers in Europe have lost all hope of finding a job and survive on family benefits or miserable social assistance programs. The protection of the unemployed is decreasing and new measures restricting the rights of unemployed workers are constantly put in place.

Unemployment means desperation, social isolation, poverty and misery for millions of workers and their families. This is intensified by the brutal increase in exploitation. Fear of job loss and the ever-present threat of unemployment allow employers to savagely punish the entire working class.

Forced chronic mass unemployment and its consequences, including emigration, suffered by broad sectors of the working class in all capitalist countries without exception, exposes the lies of the bourgeoisie about the viability and functioning of capitalism. It refutes the fallacy that if all of us "join forces" the “economy” will be saved. The sacrifices of the working class, whether accepting intolerable conditions, wage cuts, diminishing rights and increasing inequality, have not prevented the closure of plants and workplaces and their relocation to countries where slave-like conditions increase the profits of the employers.

Unemployment is not a natural phenomenon but a necessary condition of the development of capitalism which is unable to provide decent living conditions for the workers and peoples. Since unemployment is inherent in the capitalist system, it can only disappear through the overthrow of capitalism, as demonstrated by the experience of the Soviet Union and the socialist countries, where unemployment was unknown.

We call on the working class and popular sectors to fight firmly to defend their labour and social rights and for the highest level protection for unemployed workers. In each country, our parties are at the forefront of the struggle for immediate measures for the protection and relief of the unemployed. At the same time, we affirm that, under capitalism, no right is guaranteed and it is necessary to link the struggle to defend the right to work with the struggle for the construction of workers' and people's power which will put a definitive end to the scourge of unemployment.


Saturday, April 25, 2015

NO TO THE MURDEROUS MIGRATION POLICIES OF THE EU


The Communist Party of Greece  KKE, the Communist Party of Italy CPI​, the Communist Party of Malta PKM,​ and the Communist Party of the People of Spain PCPE wish to stress the following regarding the unspeakable tragedy unfolding in our countries’ seas in relation to the refugees and immigrants:
The ongoing tragedy has a “name”: it is the political line of the EU and other countries, like the USA, that is responsible for the wars in the Eastern Mediterranean, Middle East and North Africa. This tragedy is rooted in the capitalist system itself, on this terrain we have the manifestation of poverty, the class exploitation and oppression of the working class and peoples by reactionary regimes, the sharpening of the imperialist contradictions, which cause the imperialist wars and interventions​.​The imperialist interventions and wars developed in Syria, Libya, Iraq, Mali and other countries of the Middle East and Africa have a deep impact in the people of those countries who are forced to risk their lives by displacing themselves to other areas. .
The problem of the waves of immigration cannot be solved without dealing with the causes that create them. The “fences”, Frontex, and the other repressive measures merely increase the number of the dead and the slave traders’ prices.
The governments of the so-called European “South”, “right” and “left”, bear enormous responsibilities because they participate in this crime, they participate in the imperialist plans of NATO and the EU.
We are struggling for relief measures, so that the governments immediately ensure humane temporary reception centres for the refugees as well as the provision of travel documents so that these people can reach the countries that are their real destinations. We must defy the Dublin Regulations and the Schengen Treaty.
In addition, we stress that this issue cannot be dealt with in separation from its causes. Our peoples’ struggle against the imperialist interventions of the EU and NATO, against the rotten capitalist system itself must be strengthened.​


Tuesday, April 21, 2015

NO TO PRESIDENT OBAMA EXECUTIVE ORDER AGAINST VENEZUELA





On Sunday the 19th of April the Communist Party of Malta and the Garden of Knowledge held  a petition signing activity in Republic Street Valletta, in Solidarity with the people of Venezuela  who are undergoing a siege from the opposition parties and are being threatened with a military invasion by the Obama Administration. Here under we are reproducing the leaflet that was distributed during the activity

The “Executive Order” signed by President Barack Hussein Obama, which declared the situation in Venezuela as an extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States”, represents an act of provocation and interference that threatens the sovereignty, the self-determination and Peace of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and all Latin America and the Caribbean.
 Hugo Rafael Chávez Frias was a Venezuelan politician and the President of Venezuela from 1999 until his death in 2013. He was the leader of the Fifth Republic Movement from its foundation in 1997 until 2007, when it merged with several other parties to form the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV), which he led until 2012. The time served as President Chavez was always elected in free and democratic elections. The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela resulted from the outcome of a democratic referendum to amend the Venezuelan Constitution. This caused a revolutionary change in favour of the vast majority of the people, where a very high percentage of the Venezuelan population are poor while Venezuela is a very rich country.
 Stability in Venezuela is being threatened by the opposition parties who refuse to admit that fair and square they lost all elections since 1999. They went as far as perpetrating a coup in 2002 which eventually was unsuccessful. Even today under the Maduro Presidency they tried another abortive coup. The United State today is left with only one option, that of a flagrant aggression against the people of Venezuela.
 These attempts to destabilise and put back the clock on the popular  gains and advances in Latin America and the Caribbean  in order to restore the hegemony and the geostrategic control that the United States had on this region should be condemned. We urge the United States President to retrieve his Executive Order against Venezuela, and seek other roads towards peace and stability.
Victor Degiovanni
Secretary Communist Party of Malta