Erdal Eren was hanged three months after the military coup on December 13, 1980. The coup leader Kenan Evren said at the time, "Of course we will hang him, not feed him". While the putschist is not remembered by anyone today, Erdal Eren has become one of the unforgettable symbols of the youth struggle for 40 years.
After the commemoration held at the grave of Erdal Eren, Labour Youth representative Ekin Yoldaş Kal has answered our questions. Stating that young people should unite in their own struggle organizations for their present and future, Kalı said, “Increasing pressure and attacks, bans, arrests, etc. can cause youth to withdraw. Erdal Eren is a communist young man who does not compromise on being organized regardless of the conditions. The youth struggle also needs determined, hard-working communists like Erdal, who do not compromise with negativity”.
What was the political atmosphere in the process leading to Erdal Eren's execution by the putschists?
We can say that a wind of change was blowing across the country, especially among the youth from all walks of life. Between 1974-1977 there were widespread mass protests especially by metal workers against the MESS, the metal sector employers’ organisation. These actions and resistances spread to different lines of business and other segments. Despite the ban on strikes and the various moves of the bosses organisations, the workers' protests were sharpening especially in 1977. There was a situation where young workers were at the forefront of labor protests. Student youth, on the other hand, organised around their own demands and united with the problems of the working people. There was a process in which the struggle for autonomous and democratic universities and the struggle for the right to equal and free education in high schools came to the fore. Many schools had their own local organizations and were expanding the struggle against oppression, exploitation, prohibitions and restrictions in the country. METU university student Sinan Suner was shot and killed, with the protection of the nationalist MHP minister. Erdal Eren was caught in a clash at a demonstration to protest Sinan's death and was accused of killing a soldier. Despite the lack of any evidence, Erdal was sentenced to death; with this, they wanted to spread fear to the people in general, and the young people in particular. Ercan Koca, who hung a placard to protest the death sentence, was detained and tortured to death. These three comrades unite in the struggle against the destruction caused by the fascist coup.
WHAT DIFFIRENTIATES ERDAL EREN FROM DENIZ GEZMIS IS THAT HE WAS ORGANISED IN A COMMUNIST PARTY
While commemorating Erdal Eren, Labour Youth emphasises that he had a party unlike Deniz. What does this mean for the youth movement and its leaders? What distinguishes Erdal from the leaders of the 1968 youth movement?
Although there seems to be a little time between the conditions of struggle in the Deniz’s and Erdal Eren's period, there are important differences. After the second imperialist war, the victory of socialism and the increasing national liberation movements all over the world, workers' actions heightened the tendency towards and interest in socialism. There is a certain idea of determination, socialism and revolution in Deniz Gezmis, but there are limitations as to how it will happen. There are various organizations of serious mass in the '68 period, but there is no party at the point of determining and managing the direction of the movement. Without a communist party, it is not possible to weave a struggle under the leadership of the working class against the ruling class parties, state apparatus, etc. Of course, this is not due to the person of Deniz Gezmis, but from the limitations drawn by the period. In this period, it is very difficult to reach Marxist-Leninist sources and benefit from the accumulated knowledge and experience of the communist movement. Erdal Eren, on the other hand, fought in the Patriotic Revolutionary Youth Association (YDGD), one of the mass youth organizations of the period, and later became a member of the communist party. This is what enabled Erdal to have a certain consciousness and determination even while going to death. Erdal was one of the thousands in the party ranks who could meet with the common knowledge and wealth of action of humanity, unite his life with the workers and laborers from whom he comes from, and form these ranks before and after him.
'ERDAL DID NOT BACK DOWN TO BEING ORGANIZED IN DIFFICULT CONDITIONS'
So what does Erdal Eren mean in terms of youth struggle today?
Today, young people from almost all walks of life are aware that the trend is not in their best interest. However, they still see the way out mostly in individual struggle. They are distant to and insecure about the ideas of organising and fighting for their demands and getting involved in politics. This is because the bourgeoisie tries to keep the youth away from organizing and fighting together by using every means. Increasing pressure and attacks, bans, arrests, etc. can cause youth to withdraw. On the other hand, despair and pessimism are deepening among the youth as individual ways of struggle get stuck. There is also a buildup of anger and a desire to fight. We have seen this in the protests and struggles of high school and university students during the pandemic process. However, for the present and the future of the youth, there is a need for a determined, stable work that transforms negativities into opportunities. The only force that can achieve this is the Labour Youth. Erdal Eren is a communist young man who does not compromise on being organized regardless of the conditions. Even in the face of death, he spends his last remaining time advancing the struggle. He meets death with longing for life and struggle but without fear. The youth struggle also needs determined, hard-working communists like Erdal, who do not compromise with negativity. And perhaps most importantly, being able to understand the importance of being organized. Regardless of the conditions, as long as strong organizations can take place, there are possibilities to direct the course and conditions. It is vital that young people do not refrain from organizing.
‘GETTING ORGANISED IS THE ONLY WAY OUT FOR THE YOUTH’
Even though there are no military coup conditions today, the youth feel the pressure of the one-man regime. The conditions got worse with the epidemic. In your opinion, what are the possibilities of struggle to get the youth out of this situation?
The practices of the one-man rule are just like the conditions of the coup. Even struggles for the most fundamental rights are attacked. The entire burden of the pandemic and crisis has fallen on the public, especially the youth. Youth unemployment has exceeded 25 percent. Millions of university students are in debt before they graduate. Let alone receiving quality education, accessing any education has become a privilege today. A large proportion of student youth work in flexible and insecure jobs in order to study. Workers and vocational high school youth face an unbridled exploitation. While the government condemns the youth to futility for the interests of the bourgeoisie, it also increases the pressure. Youth can no longer take a step back. Each of these is the possibilities of struggle for the most urgent demands.
We can say that all these experiences unmask the existing political power and the system. It is revealed by these policies that the government is a part and representative of capitalists. The number of examples showing that this bad course is not only related to the government, but also due to the capitalist system is increasing day by day. The pandemic combined with the crisis and the policies of the government create the possibilities of the struggle against capitalism today.
In addition, young people have the possibilities of technology and technique. Despite physical limitations, there are experiments to come together and organize. The only way out of this stuck position is to fight and organize on the side of the working class for its present and future. It is especially important to fight for urgent demands and needs today. But these struggles must be organised, determined and united against capitalism. Otherwise, it cannot be permanent and rooted. The most important opportunity for the youth in Turkey to achieve this is the heritage of struggle and the consciousness of being organised, which Erdal embodied, and which Labour Youth has taken over from him.
Yusuf Karadaş
Yücel Özdemir
