People’s bread and country’s future does not fit in the polls

An 80 year old woman was forcefully denied riding in a market shuttle in Ankara. Because only those with purchased goods valued more than 50 TL could get on the shuttle. On another incident in Urfa, an elderly woman was chucked out of bus for she did not have bus pass.

In the recent days, I listened to the story of a university student. He said that he got up in mornings as late as possible. Because he would not have breakfast expense if he started the day with lunch!

As the country swims by the edge of hyperinflation, people quickly get impoverished. It costs dearly whatever you touch in farmers market, grocery or street stores. The price hikes in Istanbul are also huge. It has turned into torture for working families to go out for anything.

On the other hand, what is the situation for the rich classes? According to the world unemployment report, 10% of the richest section gets 54% of the entire national income. There is war in Ukraine, but look at the number of billionaires; it is not decreasing, increasing. The number of billionaires broke a record in 2021; it increased 75% worldwide compared to a year ago. Trend is clear: Class gap is deepening, class contradictions are getting relentless.

So, what is the way out?

Discussions in media have been reduced to the outcome of polls. Which political party will get how many votes, which one will win over the undecided? The trend of the struggle of working class and people is not even in the polls conducted. Workers and laborers are withdrawn inside the boundaries of bourgeois system politics with the elections occurring every four years as “Passive voters.” They preach patience for poor, and advise “they wait for the elections.” They suggest that “they settle for the best of the bad.” In other words, the bourgeois politics consists of a teeter-totter game. Both that coming to power and that stepping down are bourgeois parties.

One should look at the outcome of Hungary and French elections in this context. Interpreted as far right, the racist fascist Orban government scored a big boom at ballots in Hungary. The opposition block against it failed. In France, the spoke person of reactionary fascist politics, Le Pen advanced to the second round behind Macron. To the contrary of the analysts of elections market, the conclusion we will draw from the outcome is : No economy-political program, that is not capable of standing against the program of capital, can get peoples out of woods. Working class and forces of people cannot confine their struggle for work, bread, democracy and liberty in the elections bourgeois politics dominate. The political sphere of workers and laborers is mainly the strikes at factories, the resistance in workplaces and actions in common places. It is the gained strength of masses gathering in action in squares by raising their demands.

Independently of the bourgeois polling companies, we should assess the people becoming decided, otherwise stated as “undecided” in today’s polls, as follows: In struggling against the attacks of capital, working class and poor sections of people will become decided in the same proportion as they take part in strikes, resistances, meetings and in the struggle for the rights. Only in this line can it be possible for the working class to take the stage in politics and to form an option for alliance against the bourgeois reaction and the single man government. May Day of 2022 is the candidate  to become one of the big steps of that.

To the contrary that they try to sell as such, the world of bosses does not work with the election polls alone. They take into account the number of strikes and resistances of workers, they assess how much laborers have advanced their struggles for rights, and how crowded and vibrant their demonstrations are. May Day, Day of International Unity, Solidarity and Struggle of Working Class, is a test of power struggle between the oppressor and the oppressed. This year too, throughout the world and in Turkey, a test of power will be exercised.

Today, it is a danger, to get stuck with questionnaires and to make compromises on election expectations, that must be overcome. Undoubtedly, neither polls nor elections are unimportant. But, it is not possible for working class and poor to generate their own revolutionary politics and to achieve their demands without struggle. May Day this year should be celebrated more widespread and massively than ever. The celebrations at factories and workplaces, spread over the week, should already be prepared for.

Workers, objecting to the price hikes in January, have realised over 120 strikes and resistances in different cities of the country. Health workers have been in action for their demands for a considerably long time. This power should be leveraged for May Day. The demand for “improving” the diminishing wages is on the agenda of almost all lines of businesses. The factor to determine the outcome will be how organized May Day is.

Turk-Is and Hak-Is dismiss the action under the pretext of upcoming Eid. In the face of such widespread impoverishment, they prefer to take May Day as holiday instead of a day of struggle! The union bureaucracy is clearly scared of workers’ movement. They suggest a solution based on the system politics not on workers’ strength. The preparations for May Day, starting from the locals, must uncover the samples of broken barriers of union bureaucracy. Union branches and workplace representations from different confederations must unite for May Day, leaving the differences of any kind aside.

May Day must be also the day of standing against, first Ukraine war and all imperialist wars and exploitation, calling for “No to NATO.” Against the multifoil exploitation of migrant workers, workers must march with their class brothers and sisters. Awakening of women against oppression and extortion in demonstrations of March 8, magnificent Newroz celebrations of Kurdish poor, the outrage of youth are the signs for May Day to become powerful. Poor peasants, whose environment is looted, whose plantation, field, tractor are confiscated, should also take their place on May Day celebrations.

May Day is the day of uniting and rising up all together against the total attacks of capital. People’s bread, country’s future does not fit in the polls. May Day is to demonstrate that.