Workers fight back in Eastern Europe

Workers, farmers and students protested in mid-January in militant demonstrations in front of the parliament buildings and then fought with the cops in Riga, Latvia; Vilnius, Lithuania; and Sofia, Bulgaria.

In Latvia and Lithuania, trade unions, opposition political parties and community organizations called the demonstrations.

In Bulgaria, farmers’ organizations, community groups and right-wing opposition parties not in the right-wing government, called the actions. Lack of heat in Bulgaria sparked the Jan. 14 protests. Delivery contentions between Ukraine and Russia, which supplies Bulgaria’s heating gas, had caused the shortages.

Pro-capitalist politicians and media hacks claimed in the 1990s that the overthrow of socialism in these countries and the end of the Soviet Union would make everything better and brighter. Instead, the international capitalist downturn has hit Eastern and Central Europe as hard as any area of the world, since these are the countries whose economies have the greatest dependence on foreign capital. (Journal des Finances, Jan. 17). And the capitalist regimes in Latvia, Lithuania and Bulgaria decided to solve their severe economic problems on the backs of the workers.

To see the effects of the downturn, look at Latvia. Its gross domestic output declined by 4.6 percent in the third quarter of 2008 and by an estimated 8 percent in the fourth quarter. Some economists project Latvia could have a 20 percent unemployment rate by the end of 2009. But rather than withdraw the 162 troops it has in Afghanistan, it is going to increase them in 2010. (Baltic News Service, Jan. 17)

In an interview on the Latvian Web site Chas, Peteris Krigers, head of the Association of Latvian Free Trade Unions, explained why he was going to speak at the protest on Jan. 13 in Riga: “Today trade unions are more concerned about the problems of the national economy—development of production, payment of salaries, compliance with laws on labor rights, etc. In addition ... the majority of the government’s policies adopted before Christmas do not comply with the Constitution and Latvian labor legislation.” (BBC Worldwide Monitoring, Jan. 14)

In Latvia, 126 protesters were arrested and some were injured. Some police cars were destroyed or substantially damaged. One could see in the videos posted on YouTube that the protesters, not all young and male, confronted the cops for hours in the old section of Riga, near the parliament.

In Lithuania on Jan. 16, cops arrested 82 people and injured scores in running fights. The Lithuanian regime plans to cut the wages of public service workers by 15 percent and cut social security payments. The “value added tax” is being raised from 18 to 19 percent, which will drive up the cost of food and end the more-favorable rate of 5 percent on food and medicine.

According to Bulgarian Interior Minister Mikhail Mikhov, 3,000 people took part in the rally Jan. 14. Police arrested 150. Some 14 cops were injured and five cop cars were damaged “in a gory clash with the police.” The mayor of Sofia proclaimed a bomb alert after firecrackers exploded, and the cops used this pretext to charge and clear the National Assembly Square. (BBC Monitoring, Jan. 15)

As the economic crisis spreads and deepens, the working class of these countries will be forced to continue the struggles they have started. The workers of other Eastern Europe countries, whose economies are also tottering, will likely join them.