The Downward Spiral Continues

The election of the right-wing libertarian Javier Milei in Argentina in 2023 anticipated the sharp right-wing shift that is now occurring more widely. The imperialists see Argentina as a model for the kind of “shock therapy” Trump wants to impose on the neocolonies to shore up U.S. hegemony: debt strangulation, squeezing the working class dry and further opening the economy to imperialist exploitation. Milei’s attacks have resulted in a drastic drop in the standard of living, unprecedented levels of poverty and hunger, and slashing of social services. In response, there have been a number of massive demonstrations and three one-day national strikes called by the major union federations. These show that there is a will to fight, however they have not prevented Milei from successfully wielding his chainsaw.

The responsibility for this abysmal situation lies with the wretched leadership of the working class. The Peronists, who are responsible for leading the country to the present economic abyss, command the allegiance of most of the union membership. They have openly betrayed workers’ interests, refusing to wage a serious struggle against the government. Their strategy is to call (very infrequent) limited, one-day strikes while preaching social dialogue with the government. The latest mobilization on 30 April even included paying homage to the recently deceased Pope. At the same time, the Peronists play on legitimate anger about the country’s resources being sold off to the imperialists to posture as the best defenders of Argentina’s sovereignty.

The bulk of the left refuses to challenge the Peronists on this terrain, either on the ridiculous pretext that Argentina is not oppressed by imperialism or on the grounds that the fight for national liberation is bourgeois (because it is currently raised by the Peronists who are a bourgeois force). There is also a sector of the left that sees no independent path to fight imperialist subjugation and simply looks to the Peronists to liberate Argentina. Either way, the struggle is left in the hands of the Peronists, whose ties to the Argentinian bourgeoisie mean they are incapable of fighting the imperialist oppression of the country.

The socialist left, including the Trotskyist organizations that claim tens of thousands of members and actually have the potential to provide a different political leadership, are refusing to fight for an alternative to this treacherous leadership in the unions. Instead, they are pushing for parallel and/or alternate organizations and assemblies, while leaving the Peronist union bureaucracy unchallenged and pressuring them to be slightly more militant based on the same, losing strategy. The fact that it is left to the retirees and the footballers to play a vanguard role in the struggle against Milei is a sure sign of the total failure of the leadership of the working class. The left grossly prettifies the situation after a year of Milei in power, painting a false picture of a government on the ropes coupled with a rising tide of social struggle. They see their role as cheerleading every demonstration in the streets, without putting forward any program to push the struggle forward by tackling the very real obstacles that stand in the way.

It is urgent to bridge the gap between the workers and the left, which is the only way to successfully fight back against Milei and his imperialist backers. A pillar of our intervention has been the call for a FITU-CGT-CTA government as a way of offering a real political alternative to both neoliberalism and the hated Peronists. The left has reacted overwhelmingly negatively to this call for a workers government, and they themselves provide no perspective of political struggle for workers power. A serious reorientation is necessary both among the Trotskyists and in the unions. Without this, Argentinian workers are facing a historic defeat. However, if workers can turn the tide in Argentina, it would be electrifying for the working masses of Latin America, who are facing the same reactionary onslaught from U.S. imperialism.