General Union of Workers of Ecuador statement at SIPRAL 27

GENERAL UNION OF WORKERS OF ECUADOR

THE ECUADORIAN WORKING CLASS: ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL STRUGGLES THAT FORGE UNITY WITH THE PERSPECTIVE OF ACHIEVING POWER

The working class is one of the fundamental social classes of the capitalist system, whose role in the production of goods and services is essential, since its labor power, sold in exchange for a wage, makes possible the action and operation of the machinery, tools and, in general, the means of production for the transformation of nature, raw material into useful articles for the satisfaction of society's needs. This leading role of the working class in the machinery of capitalist production also gives it a historical responsibility; that of leading the revolutionary struggle of the other working classes and strata of society for their emancipation. This will free themselves from capitalist and imperialist domination in order to establish a just society under the workers' government, socialist society, and to build a new world free from all forms of exploitation and oppression, communism.

For several decades important battles have been fought that have confronted the just aspirations of the immense working majorities of the population with the interests of the ruling class, the capitalists, entrepreneurs, owners of the means of production and, therefore, owners of the economic and political power of the world. This trajectory has forged the spirit and character of the working class, which has understood that struggle is the only valid and effective way to achieve and defend its rights by confronting its bosses who, with violence, have tried unsuccessfully to appease the popular courage in this unequal struggle.

This path carved in victories and defeats of the struggles raised in all regions of the planet has confirmed the revolutionary task of the working class, which although it understands its just demands, knows that no one is going to grant them peacefully, that it must snatch them from the hands of its enemies with the strength of unity and the struggle of the impoverished majorities who have been subjected to centuries of exploitation; showing that the abundant injustice of this world dominated by capital will come to an end and the peoples will build a better world on its ashes.

WE LIVE IN THE EPOCH OF IMPERIALISM AND THE PROLETARIAN REVOLUTIONS

The capitalist system reached its highest stage of development at the end of the 19th century, imperialism. The economic powers consolidated their domination over vast territorial areas through the importation of capital, the expansion of their industries and the monopoly of markets; the poor peoples and nations succumbed to this system by handing over in a sustained manner their natural resources to the exploitation of these powers as part of the international division of labor.

However, this division of territories and markets among the superpowers, now converted into imperialist countries, has not been peaceful. Intense struggles have been unleashed among these nations to grab markets and the natural resources of poor nations; these contentions have even led to fateful world wars justified by the assassinations of emperors. or the mental deviations of leaders, in order to solve the deep crises produced by the excessive accumulation of wealth in a few hands and the conquest of new markets, transforming world geopolitics.

These bloody inter-imperialist contentions have claimed the lives of millions of human beings from the working class and the other working classes and strata, under the illusion of a false patriotism instilled to satisfy the capitalists' lust for power and accumulation. Even now, these disputes are evident in open wars such as those in Syria and Ukraine or in a hidden way such as the technological and arms race of the United States against China or the signing of free trade agreements. This excessive accumulation has caused greater impoverishment of the dependent nations, the chains of domination have implemented policies that cancel the labor and social rights; this has provoked an organized and firm response from the class of workers and youth, which throughout this period have gone from national paralysis to social revolutions. All this has provided great lessons for the development of the struggle, raising class consciousness and marking the perspective of the necessity of the seizure of political power for the material realization of its just aspirations and needs.

THE SOCIAL AND POLITICAL STRUGGLES OF THE WORKING CLASS IN ECUADOR TODAY

The last years have been marked by intense struggles against the anti-popular policies aligned with the demands of the International Monetary Fund, placing the burden of the economic crisis on the working majorities, increasing taxes, the cost of fuel, freezing wages, eliminating economic benefits, among others. After the era of Correa, whose discourse paraphrased in leftism confused a good part of the Ecuadorian population and the international community, hiding the nature of government at the service of the interests of large national capitals and new imperialist nations such as China; the people faced a blatant and arbitrary implementation of neoliberalism. This benefited and propped up industrial and banking capital that accumulated greater wealth even in the midst of the pandemic.

The great indigenous and popular uprisings of October 2019 and June 2022 marked a milestone that promoted a high level of consciousness of the working classes; they were actions of a general nature in which the majority of the population and the peoples rose victoriously. They reversed the economic measures that the governments of Lenin Moreno and Guillermo Lasso tried to apply with blood and fire, carrying out barbaric repressions that sacrificed the lives of brave social fighters, for whose deaths justice is still being demanded until now.

These episodes were transformed into political struggles; it showed the iron unity of the working class through the consolidation of the United Workers' Front as a place for cohesion of the largest trade union federations in the country; they opened the dialogue with the Indigenous and Peasant Movement, teachers, youth collectives and environmentalists for the consolidation of a National Leadership Collective that more later on would bring about an electoral political proposal that in 2021 reached the third place in the presidential elections, with the participation of the indigenous leader Yaku Pérez.

A similar phenomenon occurred in the last regional elections of 2023, when the political forces from the center to the left reached important spaces within the Decentralized Autonomous Governments and in which the workers' organizations and trade union federations played a leading role in defining the new local authorities in the electoral context.

This political process resulted in the formation of the class independence of the trade union organizations, which have assumed their historical responsibility, moving away from the immediate and demagogic political practices of the candidates of the right and social democracy, learning to differentiate the class interests that separate us from those who have the political and economic power that are responsible for and beneficiaries of the crisis and the problems that are overwhelming all the people, including the serious crime wave that puts us in danger and anxiety.

Thus, in the last electoral process of August 2023, the trade union organizations took sides head-on in favor of the only candidacy with popular representation that included in its government plan the aspirations and demands that have caused us to take to the streets in these years: to defend the IESS, eliminate the salary ceilings, collective bargaining, a new labor code that improves workers' rights, among others. At the national level and in several provinces we signed public political agreements with the presidential candidate of the Alianza Claro que se Puede [Alliance, We Surely Can], Yaku Pérez and their candidates for provincial Assembly representatives.

We are discussing this scenario head-on in each union, on the nature and origin of the problems of insecurity, drug trafficking, lack of employment, lack of social investment, as opposed to the good health enjoyed by the businesses of allies of the government. With the presence of the candidates of this political alliance, it was possible to reverse the demagogic offers of the other candidates who were trying to deceive the workers. This is a scenario in which the workers played a significant role that projects the struggle on the workers: the need to build one's own government in alliance with the other oppressed classes as the only way to resolve the serious situation.

Unfortunately, a reprehensible episode, the assassination of a presidential candidate, whose intellectual and material authors have not been clarified, abruptly disrupted the electoral scenario, causing the opportunity to go to the second round in these elections to evaporate. However, the lessons of this process are important; we have learned to recognize our enemies and understand that it is inevitable and necessary that we become the leaders of the political struggle, that we can and must be a government to guarantee the rights of our people and that there is a guiding light of transformation through the revolutionary struggle to definitively end the injustice, oppression, violence and corruption to which we have been subjected for decades.