The Antidote to Despair is to Organise!

We have left behind a tough election process. We will experience the negative effects of the election in the upcoming period. But an increasingly dominant feeling has already pervaded the majority of the society: hopelessness. Having expected to get rid of the one-man regime through elections, millions of workers are now disappointed. Moreover, this disappointment turned into anger towards the workers who voted for the continuation of the one-man regime. However, this mood is exactly what the regime desires and it further deepens the polarization.

In the 2002 elections, held after the devastating earthquakes of 1999 and the economic crisis of 2001, the ruling coalition parties (DSP, MHP, ANAP) remained below the electoral threshold of 10%, suffering a huge defeat. Today’s economic crisis is much more severe than 2001. We are experiencing the biggest impoverishment in the history of the Republic of Turkey. Moreover, the 2023 February earthquakes were much more devastating than those of 1999. Naturally, it was expected that the majority of the society would say “no” to the one-man regime, when one takes into account the growing poverty, economic problems, injustice, looting of public and natural resources, recent earthquakes and all the evil made by regime. However, despite the decline in their votes, AKP and MHP did not suffer a defeat. One-man regime managed to consolidate its vote base in its weakest period. Why? Despite their desire for change, why the workers, who suffer from the same problems, concerns and poverty with us, voted for the continuation of the one-man regime?

Because today we are faced with an oppressive and totalitarian regime that has all the means and instruments of the state at its disposal. It controls almost all of the media. It manages the perceptions of society with all kinds of lies and manipulations. Dissident voices that tell the facts are being silenced through oppression and tyranny. All kinds of discontent are being supressed by the regime. When we talk to our fellow workers in factories and neighbourhoods, we clearly see that, even though they voted for Erdogan, they are not happy at all, sharing the same concerns with us. But, this regime, which is notoriously skilled at managing perceptions, takes advantage of the disorganised state of workers and manipulates even those who want to get rid of it. The regime desires us to believe that all the workers who voted for Erdogan wholeheartedly support him. It tries to make us ignore the fact that we have passed through an anti-democratic election period under extraordinary conditions, where all kinds of malice and lies were put into practice. In other words, the regime is not only pitting the workers against each other, but also feeding the illusion that it is omnipotent and indestructible. Thus, it seeks to plunge the workers into despair and hopelessness, despite their desire for change.

Undoubtedly, in an unorganized society, the number of people who think exactly as the regime wants is not small at all. Hopelessness kills a person’s joy in life and drags them into depression. And it does exactly the same for the society. A society dominated by hopelessness and fear gets sick and loses its energy to fight. Such a society loses not only democratic rights and freedoms but also economic rights. Working and living conditions become worse and worse.”

The reality is that we have a difficult period ahead of us.  No matter which party they voted for, all workers have now entered a period full of oppression and attacks against their rights. The heavy bill of the economic destruction will be paid not by the capitalists, but by the workers. However, we should not direct our anger towards our fellow workers who fail to see the darkness awaiting us. We should direct this anger against the regime that resorts to all kinds of evil in order to divide and manipulate the society. Instead of surrendering to despair,we must struggle to expand the organization of the working class.

Even when the society is unorganized, an organised worker does not fall into the desperation.Because organised workers know that the antidote to despair is to organise. They know that oppression and tyranny will not end just because we want them to end. They know that it requires responsibility and struggle. They know that no darkness lasts forever. When we look at the history, we can clearly see this truth. The dictatorship of Mussolini in Italy, Hitler’s fascism in Germany, the junta of Colonels in Greece, and the dictatorship of Pinochet in Chile dragged societies into destruction. But these societies rose up again and settled accounts with fascism.

Of course, the rise of these societies did not happen overnight and spontaneously. The path of the change was paved by the vanguards that emerged out of these societies. These vanguards knew that social change was inevitable. They maintained their resistance during those tough and dark periods. They dreamed about the future and worked to make their dreams happen. They focused on grasping the mood of society.The tide was against them. But they kept swimming against the stream. They continued to tell the truth with patience and determination.

In our neighbourhoods, workplaces, unions and schools... Whereever we are, we will keep fighting by uniting around the common problems of the working class. Let us not forget that totalitarian regimes are based not only on fear, but also on despair. We will not fall into despair. We will continue to sow the seeds of hope for the future and raise our struggle.