MELANGKAH KE 2014 DENGAN BEBAN RAKYAT YANG TERUS MENINGKAT

SOLIDARITI DI ANTARA WARGA PEKERJA DAN KESATUAN SEKERJA, DAN JUGA DENGAN GOLONGAN TERTINDAS YANG LAIN SEPERTI ANAK MUDA DAN PELAJAR JUGA PERLU DIBINA UNTUK MEMPERKUATKAN PERJUANGAN MEMBINA ALTERNATIF KEPADA KAPITALISME.

Pada awal bulan Januari tahun 2013, kerajaan mengumumkan bahawa gaji minimum akan diamalkan di seluruh negara, dan memberikan harapan bahawa taraf hidup pekerja akan meningkat dengan amalan tersebut. Walaupun gaji minimum RM900 di Semenanjung dan RM800 di Sabah dan Sarawak tidak selaras dengan taraf sebenar sara hidup pekerja masa kini, banyak syarikat yang tidak mengamalkan polisi gaji minimum tersebut dan dengan sewenang-wenangnya memansuhkan elaun-elaun tertentu yang sebelum ini diterima oleh pekerja dengan mempergunakan kelemahan kerajaan dalam pelaksanaan polisi tersebut.  Ini menunjukkan seperti biasa keprihatinan kerajaan hanyalah sehingga pilihan raya selesai, dan seperti kacang lupakan kulit, hak dan keperluan rakyat terus dipinggirkan.

US: Huge political upset created by the election of Kshama Sawant

It presages greater struggles to come and points to the possibility of building a real movement for socialist change in the very heartland of world capitalism.

Who would have imagined that in a major American city, at a post election inauguration ceremony attended by 1,000 people, a new, directly elected Mayor and other members of the City Council would be completely eclipsed by the response of the attendance to a Socialist Councillor? That was the situation in Seattle on 6 January. Socialist Alternative Councillor Kshama Sawant, in her speech, roundly denounced the problems which ‘crisis ridden capitalism’ causes for working class people, called for workers to organise, for a new party of the working class as an alternative to the Republican and Democratic Party politicians and for socialist change.

THAILAND: PROLONGED POLITICAL CRISIS

Working class and rural poor need party of their own

The present political crisis in Thailand has been ongoing since the 2006 military coup which ousted Thaksin Shinawat - the billionaire tycoon turned politician. It has consisted of a now open, subdued clash between his party and its supporters and another wing of the political elite around the Democrat Party. While there has been a call to postpone the elections on 2nd February, the crisis remains without any sign of ending.

In this divide, the rural poor from the north and north-east of the country as well as some sections of the working class have generally supported Thaksin and any regime related to him; most of the middle class as well as other sections of working class in Bangkok, and people from the southern part of the country are supporting the Democrats. This divide continues mainly due to the vacuum in the history of modern Thailand created by not having a force capable of uniting the rural poor and working class and genuinely representing their needs. The absence of a mass party of the working class and rural poor that could challenge the rule of feudalism and capitalism, has been seen as a free ride by the different regimes representing the interests of the monarchy, the military and the capitalists to continuously exploit the desires of ordinary people.