Emancipation is in the Unity and Struggle of the Working Class!

The immigration problem and high cost of living which create a devastating impact on all realms of life are the main subjects of conversations everywhere, homes, workplaces, the bazaar, schools etc. People are increasingly expressing their astonishment caused by the non-stop price hikes. They wonder how long will this plight of the country continue; they give examples of the devastation caused by unemployment and futurelessness on the part of young generations. There is an anger that is reflected in the workers’ conversations but has not gone beyond the spoken yet! The one-man regime is trying to prevent this discontent from targeting the regime, as it constantly increases the tension and pressure, threatening society, going even to the length of banning music concerts. The opposition led by the Republican People’s Party exhorts the public to wait for the election. Heaping social problems, uncertainty of the future, tyranny and incompetence of the opposition drive labourers to a dead end. Actually, the reason why workers feel trapped in a deadlock is that they  have not united in their own class organizations and stepped into politics as an independent force. If the working class were organized in their own class organizations, they would not be crushed under the wave of unemployment and poverty and would not be in a depressive mood.

As the working class is not a significant force on the political scenethe anger is prevented from hitting the true target, being diverted elsewhere. For instance, the government links all the problems experienced by the workers to foreign forces.In this way, it attempts to foment nationalism to direct the anger of the disorganized masses from problems at home to abroad. It raises tensions in international relations and propagates that Turkey is facing an existential problem.The purpose is to terrorise society and paralyse the reasoning of people. This is described as a displacement of the anger of the masses. The rising anti-immigrant wave reveals how the rage of the masses was diverted. The living conditions of the working people are getting worse, and they are justifiably outraged. However, being right is not enough to stand in the right position. Indeed, the reaction that should target the rulers and the capitalist system can change direction through the agency of racist and fascist provocateurs. For example, a labourer who is enraged over the high cost of living can subscribe to anti-immigrant hatred with the provocation of racists like Ümit Özdağ. [Leader of Victory Party, a newly founded small ultra-right party provoking hatred and hostility towards immigrants]

The rulers have always manipulated masses to the extend they lack consciousness and organisation to keep their exploitative system alive. History provides us with many educative examples. Remember how Hitler trailed angry and desperate millions by making Jews and the dissidents the target of hatred. German imperialism, which dreamed dreamed of dominating the world market and becoming a superpower, lost the First World War against the camp led by Britain and France. The defeat, devastation caused by the war, severe economic crisis, unemployment and high cost of living caused a chaos, resulting in disappointment and anger among society. With the 1929 crisis, impoverishment of the people became more unbearable, discontentment and rage reached a peak. But as the rage could not be directed against capitalist system of exploitation, it was channelled to fascism in Hitler’s leadership, supported by the ruling class. Looking at history, anyone can see how fascism brought suffering and describable pain to humanity. But, as nature abhors vacuum, so does society! If social anger does not head towards its true target, it is manipulated and deviated. Not aiming at the rulers, the workers’ anger could turn up being used as a striking force against workers themselves!

Workers staying away from class organizations such as UİD-DER are politically blind and easily manipulated.To exemplify, white nationalism in the US or the rising of anti-immigration mood in Europe are for this reason. Hence, capitalists like Trump in the US using white racism are able to pull some of the white workers to their side, who live and suffer under same conditions as blacks and immigrants. In recent weeks, the murder of dozens of black workers in armed raids shows that the rulers want to keep the black-white opposition alive.Immigrants coming from Latin America are also a target of racial hatred. In conclusion, rulers all over the world tell workers: your enemy is not capitalism and the capitalist class but immigrants! We should know that every worker succumbing to the ideological diversion of the capitalist devil actually serves to aggravate their own misery.

The prevalent opinions among workers on how to resolve the migration issue are not actually their own. The kind of thinking that mixes rights with wrongs, being far from grasping the size and depth of the problem, with just one step away from racism, is nothing but rubbish. The focus is on the consequences, not the root cause of the problem. The hypocrisy of the government and docile opposition on migration unfortunately spreads among society as well. For example, people want Syrians be sent back, but it is not questioned why they came to Turkey in millions. It is forgotten that the government in Turkey started a war in collaboration with Western imperialists to overthrow the government in Syria and millions of people escaped from this war. So, if there is a price caused by the immigration problem, the government is responsible for it. Then the reaction and the indignation should be directed at those who created this problem.

Labourers under the influence of the rulers’ ideology are experiencing quite an intellectual confusion. While it is demanded that immigrants are sent back to their homes, on the other hand, especially the young generations say that they want to leave the country because of unemployment, futurelessness, oppression and tyranny. Those who oppose immigrants do not see that they also want to be immigrants in expectation of a better life. Just as Syrian and Afghan immigrants are targeted by racists in Turkey, all immigrants including Muslims are targeted by European racists in Europe. On the other hand, from the USA to Europe, those who oppose racism and war, and embrace immigrants are organized, class-conscious, combative workers.

In today’s world countless problems are globalized and workers from Brazil to Turkey have begun to grapple with same problems. It is the capitalist system of exploitation that makes the lives of societies more unbearable day by day. Unless the working class organizes and steps in the political scene as an independent force, it is doomed to drift with the tide of the rulers in expectation of getting rid of these unbearable problems, and wait for a saviour. But, these illusions always end in disappointment! Someone who hears these ideas cannot believe in that unemployed and futureless youth, those who are struggling to make ends meet, and workers who are confused by the developments in the world can get involved in politics. Our response to this way of thinking is that workers and youth uniting under the class organisation of workers, learning the history of their own class, achieving class consciousness, transforming themselves will do politics! Then they will evaluate developments in the world with a clear perspective. They will not trail after the rulers, they will direct their indignation towards the capitalist system! Workers are nothing when they are alone, but the organized working class is a great power!