Night Notes: New Monthly Workers Bulletin of the EKS
Submitted by Leo Uilleann on Sun, 2006-12-10 13:00
As the members of the Internationalist Communist Left group, we proudly present our new workers bulletin called Night Notes (Gece Notları in Turkish) which we are preparing to publish and distribute monthly to the proletariat in Turkey. The goal we have while publishing this bulletin is to provide information about recent class struggles.
The hard copy, available only in Turkish currently, can only be found in several book shops in Ankara and when our web site is up, we will put the bulletin as a pdf file.
Anyway, just to give news from the proletariat in Turkey, here's some headlines of this issue:
The police attacked thousands of olive producers in the City of Bursa who were protesting against the low amounts of pay.
In Trakya Sanayi, a factory which 135 workers work, workers went on strike after the negotiations with the bosses about wages were broken down.
450 workers who were fired by Polyen company in Bursa, eight months ago without being paid compensation demonstrated against their bosses and their unions which was completely acting for the interests of the bosses, and trying to silence the workers.
300 unionized workers were fired from Beko Electronic, and their union again serves the interests of capital and does nothing.
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Thanks, Leo!
Thanks, Leo!
Your political work in Turkey is very important, and welcome! Please, inform us when you'll have your website running.
Exchanging information about working class struggles around the world is fundamental. Have you noticed in Battaglia Comunista we've an article each month about this?
Also, it would be interesting to know which positions your group has, more precisely. Left Communism has so many variants... Have you tried to contact the IBRP by email?
Internationalist greetings!
We are, actually, already in
We are, actually, already in contact with the IBRP via mails. We have sent our positions and leaflets, and we are currently talking about Imperialism with a comrade of yours from England (I think). Of course we will inform you when we have our website running.
Our basic positions are
# The rejection of parliamentarianism, and social democracy.
# The rejection of Trade Unionism.
# The rejection of all forms of nationalism, and the defense of internationalism.
# Communist struggle, and the nature of communism.
As far as I know Battaglia Comunista is in Italian and unfortunately none of us read Italian. Do you have something informing about class struggles in your publications that are in English?
Hi Leo, I saw you also
Hi Leo, I saw you also participate very actively in discussions on [[libcom.org]].
About our articles on workers' struggles, they're only in Italian, at the moment, but it's definitely in our plans to have them translated and published in more languages. In the meantime, you could have a look at this page (in Italian) to get at least a vague idea of our work: [[ibrp.org' struggles around the world]]
For us, internationalists, it is very important to collect this kind of information, and I hope we could collaborate at least in exchanging and diffusing them.
At the moment, comrades of [[wsws.org]] (trotskyists) are making a very good work in this field. In principle, they're against unions, even if not with the same argumentations as the IBRP.
Hi Again
Hi Again
Yes, and I am quite glad that comrades from the IBRP are also discussing on libcom.
We would, of course, be very happy exchanging and diffusing news about workers struggles, and in fact we would want to collaborate on other subjects if possible. As we also said to your comrade in England in our mail, we think that it is very important to be in touch with the international communist left.
By the way, I was actually hoping to ask about IBRP in Italy. I would imagine that IBRP would be quite strong in Italy, what is the situation of the left communist movement there? Are there other left communist groups? Is the old hard line Bordigist ICP (or its remnants) still around?
Hi Leo, keeping in touch
Hi Leo, keeping in touch with the groups of the communist left is a good and serious choice, in my point of view. But with time you'll see differences are stronger than they appear at first sight.
In Italy IBRP has its oldest and probably strongest sections, you're right, even if we're working to change the situation.
About other left communist and Bordigist groups, many of them are still active, though some of them may not be very visible. ICC is present. Among Bordigist groups, probably one of the most active ones, today, is "n+1". They've also a rich web site (mostly in Italian, it also has an English section): [[quinterna.org]].
I don't deny the
I don't deny the differences, if there weren't differences, there wouldn't be two different organizations. However I think those differences are largely exaggerated. I think that defending principles of the communist movement is more important than economical or historical analysis. There really aren't that many internationalists in the world, unfortunately, and it really saddens me to see them being hostile to each other.
Thanks for the info about the situation in Italy.
Leo, there's not hostility
Leo, there's not hostility in my words, in fact we have not. I think you know very well they were the comrades of the PCInt who called for the international conferences. They were moved by the same reasons you point out: we, internationalists, are few and isolated, and we share some important principles.
I'm not happy about the situation, nor our comrades, who carried on the discussions for years, were. There's only a sentence to explain the situation: "There is no worse deaf man than the one who doesn't want to hear".
Differences are not (and could not be) limited to economy or history. The following is just an example: [[ibrp.org | Workers' Struggles in Argentina - Polemic with the ICC]]
Obviously, you should also read articles from the ICC on the same topic. Probably you'll see where the hostility lies.
Given the differences (and the level and quantity of insults we constantly receive) I cannot imagine how we could collaborate even on minimal tasks...
No, I didn't say that I see
No, I didn't say that I see hostility in your words, I am not accusing one side more than the other, what I was saying is that there are mutually hostile feelings between the comrades from the IBRP and the ICC. I do know very well they were the comrades of the PCInt who called for the international conferences and I still think that it was a very good idea by then and it would be a very good idea now if it was organized again.
As I said on Libcom, I will have to ask from you (and of course from the ICC as well), again, not to make it impossible for newly emerged groups like us in Turkey to do work with both organizations. We really don't want to be dragged in polemics between two organizations, to us both the members of the IBRP and the members of the ICC are comrades.
I sincerely wish that the IBRP and the ICC could bury the hatched one day.
Hy Leo, any news more from
any news more from*
Hy Leo,
any news more from Turkey ??
Hi Nick, I am a member of
I am a member of*
Hi Nick,
I am a member of EKS. I am not in Turkey at the moment. I am working in Europe to make some money, but I did speak to the comrades over the internet last night. They have published the January issue of 'Gece Notları'. It is mostly concerned with the stuff going on connected to the pay rise in the public sector.
Here is a link to our last months bulletin on the website, which doesn't actually work properly yet (the site not this link). The new one should be up, and it should be working properly by the end of the week.
Devrim Valerian
EKS
Sorry that link doesn't seem
Sorry that link doesn't seem to work.
Devrim
Right Now the site is
Right Now the site is working.
I've taken shortly a look around.
It looks like good to me.
greetings
Yes, it connects to the
Yes, it connects to the site, which isn't finished yet, but it does connect to the magazine. The site should be finished by monday. It is driving me crazy.
Devrim
That should read "doesn't
That should read "doesn't connect to the magazine". I think we have sent copies to the IBRP anyway.
Yes Devrim. English comrades
Yes Devrim. English comrades confirmed they received your material. Thanks! And good luck for your site. We'll keep an eye on it ;)
Links that work
Links that work
Links to the first two issues of Gece Notları that work:
Devrim
Public sector struggles in Turkey
Public sector struggles in Turkey
An English translation from issue 2:
The one day quitting work event which KESK (Public Worker Unions Confederation) has been talking about since the outrageous “mass negotiations” which took place during the summer, finally took place on 14th of December in many places of Turkey with a quite high participation in many places of Turkey despite the fact that the event was made definite very late and announced unwillingly by the union.
Participation in demonstrations which happened in many places Turkey was high despite the unwilling attitude of the union. Despite the fact that they have been talking about it since the summer, the union bureaucrats announced started announcing the one day quitting work event on 5th of December, only nine days before the date of the action itself. In Ankara, during the demonstration which over 1500 workers attended, there were some quarrels with the police but there weren’t any clashes. In Istanbul, over 3000 teachers, postmen and health and transportation workers were on the streets. 3500 public workers who attended the demonstration in Izmir said “Long live class solidarity”. 4000 workers attended the demonstrations in Izmit, in Mersin the number was 3000, in Adana 750, in Zonguldak, Kırklareli and Malatya 700, in Antakya and Aliaga 500, in Trabzon 300. It is thought that 40,000 workers attended the demonstrations countrywide and 250,000 public workers stopped working for one day in hospitals, schools and government offices.
Full text here: libcom.org