OPEN LETTER TO THE

PROLETARIANS IN GREECE

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Brothers and Sisters,
At the end of 2001 and the beginning of 2002 those of us
who live under the control of the Argentinian state experienced
a situation that was quite similar to what millions in Greece are
living through today. Although this was only a decade or so ago,
it is difficult for us to discuss this with other proletarians here
because the memory of these struggles and the perspectives that
were opened at that time seem to have been lost. And this is
exasperating. It is essential to avoid forgetting such experiences or
we will always be starting again from nothing. It is for this reason
that we wanted to share some thoughts with you, our brothers
and sisters. The crisis is not Greek or Argentinian, and there are
no national solutions to this global problem.

Starting with the Greek states debt crisis and especially after the
government of Tsipras decided to enact a corralito,1 the press, the
politicians, the specialists in nothing and the pundits on everything
tried to bring us all together through the distorted lens of capital.
To us this is just another chapter of capitalist exploitation,
which unites us as proletarians. We are not a mere reflection of the
circumstances of different regions; we are the same class. Here in
Argentina government rhetoric tries to equate the image of revolt
and of disaster, in the process melting the differences between
the impoverishment created by the dictatorship of the economy
and fires of revolt. The cry que se vayan todos (They all must
go!) echoed throughout Argentina in 2001 and part of 2002.
Of course the politicians, who were its target, denounce it as an
empty slogan. Today they tell us that things are better, that the
people have regained confidence in politics and in the economy.
The image in the media is no different than it was before 2001.
And what is worse, many proletarians believe these lies, even if
only partially. The media want to convince us, against all evidence,
that we are few and that we are too weak to impose our needs.
The chant que se vayan todos was not just against president
De la Ra, who fled the presidential palace in a helicopter on
the night of December 20th when faced with a massive street
protest that left 31 dead. It was not just against Cavallo, the
Minister of the Economy, who implemented the measures to
contain the financial crisis, These measures were what mobilized
1Corralito refers to a set of restrictions on access to money deposited in banks in Argentina. It was imposed by government to prevent
a run on the banks and guarantee the solvency of the banking system.
The effect of these measures was a devaluation of the savings deposited
in checking and savings accounts.

the ahorristas2 but above all they meant layoffs and pauperization for millions of proletarians. Neither was the chant against
individual capitalists, many of who fled the country in search of
new profitable horizons after the economic collapse. Que se
vayan todos! contained all the discontent, rage and frustration
created by the fact that our lives are controlled from the outside,
not by our needs and wants. We were naming those who were
ruining our lives and recognizing the importance of getting rid
of them. Although it was only a slogan, this was definitely a step
forward in the struggle.
One of the biggest problems was not taking this opposition
to politics deep enough. It was said that this rejection of politics
was weak because it did not come with proposals for what to do.
This was its strength! Its weakness was that although there was
mistrust of representatives there was still a level of confidence
in the system. The ruling ideology is the ideology of the ruling
class, and this ideology is a material force that can be observed
openly in times of nascent ruptures and revolts. The movement
that originated at that time could only have understood itself by
recognizing the antagonistic material interests of the bourgeoisie and the proletariat that were in conflict. The fact that many
proletarians have democratic or reformist illusions is a weakness
that must be fought against. We have to combat belief in the state
and in the capitalist social relation (including when it is within
an anti-capitalist discourse).
They all must go! was urgent, and it still is! We must urgently
destroy the conditions that create them so they do not come
back. We are not only talking about the destruction of this or
that building or this or that authority. We are not hoping for
direct action to create miracles. We know that even actions with a
combative spirit, such as burning of stores and looting of food for
distribution to the community, can become part of the political
landscape. Still, they are essential and immediate forms of struggle.
Along with them we must reclaim the revolutionary positions of
our class: internationalism, the critique of the state, capital, work
and money. These are key to the extension and strengthening of
revolts against the ruling order. And by clarifying our objectives
as a class we can be stronger when participating in radical actions.
2Ahorristas is a term for people who had deposits in US dollars in
Argentinian banks. Faced with the corralito and the possibility that
the government would convert their savings into Argentinian pesos
(at a considerably below market rate) the organized and took the
streets in protest, occasionally even smashing bank windows. They
were a relatively small group but with a large media presence because
they included among their ranks a few celebrities and entertainment
personalities.

Also, for years the left has been providing examples of its cynicism and ignorance. Let the capitalists pay for the crisis! the tell
us, as if we could play with the economy and tip it in our favor.
Those who want to run the government will never understand
the seriousness of the situation we are in, the strength of our
chains, the real character of exploitation. They are the same people who underestimate us, treat us as passive victims and subject
thousands of proletarians in Argentina to a life of dependency on
government subsidies. They are the same who want to unite our
struggle with the ahorristas and bourgeois falling off of the social
pyramidthose who took to the streets only when the dollars in
their bank accounts were in dangerthe social climbers weeping
at the prospect of living the same life as us, their employees.
The poverty created by the present administration of life continues despite changes in currency from euro to new drachma or from
dollars to pesos or slips of paper for barter. Attempting to change
the organization of work (such as moving from private management
of companies to worker management) does not change the process
of capital accumulation and the accumulation of value. Neither
does changing the forms of political rule (representative democracy,
civico-military dictatorships3, popular assemblies.) We must destroy
everything that makes it necessary to produce value or we will perish.
We need a revolution that allows us to stop being exploited and
oppressed, to stop being proletarianized human beings, a revolution
for a radical change in our way of life, not for a different administration of this one. Here in Argentina combative struggle for a better
life was replaced with the struggle for workwork without an
apparent boss, but work nevertheless. In this way the nation was
saved, and we demonstrated again that life and the existing social
order are incompatible, even if we have not yet recognized it as a class.
Creating small productive enterprises for daily survival converted the community in struggle that had been formed into a
support for the national economy and ruined the possibility of
a revolutionary transformation. This self-managementism was
initiated by unemployed people who had no other way to get a
job, as well as by workers who kept working after their indebted
bosses had fled. In many neighborhoods these self-managed projects were part of a palpable class solidarity, along with socializing
in the streets, protesting and solving problems without asking the
government for anything. Later many of these enterprises were
forced to ask the state for subsidies in order to survive. In this
way, asking for things from a paternal state became the reason
to struggle. At times these struggles involved blocking roads and
clashes with the police, at other times agreements with corrupt
unions, bosses, politicians and comunity leaders. The forms of
protest changed but not the content. We know that in various
countries the Argentinian example of self-management is pointed
to again and again. For us the Argentinian example that has been
sold to the world is an example of how struggles can be channeled
into production and economic growth passing through a step of
3 These used to be called military dictatorships but in recent years
people have started to refer to them as civico-military dictatorships
to highlight the complicity of civilian elements within them.

combative struggle. Struggle should not be a tool of the bourgeoisie to keep the gears turning and to fine tune the machine of
capitalist progress! Struggle, with radical intentions, has to stop
this progress! It is the destruction of the gears!
We hope that our experience will be of interest to you and useful
in some way. Self-managementist proposals from those in power
have been and are in reality a break on the rage and creativity of
proletarians in moments of revolt. If what is desired is a return
to capitalist normality then all our reflections here are of little
importance. Self-managementism forgets or wants us to forget
that exploitation resides in the conditions of capitalist production
and cannot be stopped by changing labels, much less with good
intentions. To hide exploitation is to hide the class nature of the
society we live in. We know how hard it is to make a living, and
we too have been involved in self-managed enterprises and projects
as a way to make ends meet. But we also know that reality cannot
be changed by working a lot for very little money, by demanding
that the state protect us, much less by relating to each other as mere
producers and consumers. We have seen so many people become
their own boss, their own timekeeper, permanent advertisers of
their products... That is not a life worth fighting for.
There comes a point in any revolt where the only perspective
if we want a radically different life for everyone is a revolutionary
perspective. We need to know what we are fighting against and
more importantly why we are fighting it. If someone tells us
that occupied worker-run factories in Argentina are a liberating
empowering experience for the workers, we can only say that
the exploitation of human beings continues in these places of
production even if they are run by assemblies, and they do not
in any way call into question the development of capital. Exploitation will continue as long as we continue to be wage workers.
By sacrificing the living conditions of proletarians, capital can
continue to grow in this country. The outgoing president Cristina
Kirchner understood this well when she said, Argentina is one
big occupied factory. Tsipras and his leftist government coalition
also understand this well when they call for Greek proletarians to
mobilize against the measures imposed by the European Union
and the capitalist mafia, only to submit to harsher austerity measures than even those agreed to by the international bourgeoisie.
What we are talking about is pure, old-fashioned class struggle:
social antagonism that can only end by the overthrowing this way
of life or that can continue by burning us as fuel in its motors.
Tonight as the wind warns of an approaching storm, the need
we feel for a full life makes us certain that there is no time to
discover new ways to manage this world of death. We feel the
need for a life free from everything that oppresses and destroys
us, a life full of possibilities contradictions and desires. This must
be our only proposal.
For struggle everywhere against capital and its states!
The friends of negation
December, 2015
Argentina