- The Guardian
- Issue #1992
Welcome back readers! We at The Guardian – Workers’ Weekly hope that you were able to have an enjoyable holiday break; however, we don’t blame you if you couldn’t. The series of events that have transpired since our last issue of 2021 have highlighted the failures of capitalism and the extent the ruling class will do to maximise profits at the expense of the working class.
Across the country, over 100,000 of COVID-19 cases are reported. New South Wales alone likely achieves the six-figure number alone, with cases numbers being underreported. Our hospitals are attempting to operate beyond their capacity, with “non-urgent elective surgery” having to be suspended to alleviate the stresses on our healthcare infrastructure.
However, hospitals aren’t the only workplaces feeling the pinch. With rising case numbers, businesses are understaffed. Many workers are overworked, with some businesses having to close altogether because their workers are sick. As a result, supermarkets shelves are running low on stock. PCR testing sites aren’t adequately staffed with sites being open half-days or closed entirely. Pharmacists cannot get enough rapid antigen tests (RATs), with stores everywhere either being sold out or out of stock within hours.
Suffice to say that the past month has ramped up the dystopian nightmare.
And how have our leaders responded? “Business as usual.” While concession cardholders will have access to ten free RATs over three months – the rest of us are out of luck. Furthermore, Prime Minister Scott Morrison has rebuffed calls for subsidies for businesses. With relaxed restrictions, such as close contacts no longer requiring to get a PCR test to confirm they’ve tested positive via a RAT, the working class and poor essentially have to look after themselves.
While our government should be providing workers with the means to be able safely to live through the pandemic, the reality is they won’t, which brings us to ask the age-old question once posed by Lenin: What is to be done?
In many ways, the answer is the same: we need to organise the working class, raise their class consciousness, and build a movement to resist ruling class aggression that will lead to a workers’ state. This, of course, is easier said than done.
For our Party comrades, what this means is going into our workplaces and agitating, getting people we work with to join and get involved in their unions. By getting workers involved in the labour movement, they will be more privy to the antagonistic nature of capitalism by seeing how other bosses treat workers in their industry. For those who are unemployed, retired, or studying, this means working within whatever activist circles you can enter and attempting to build relationships and consensus among the left so that we can tackle the bourgeoisie in various crucial areas such as climate change, Indigenous struggle, etc.
The struggle this year will only get more intense, and it is up to us to try and provide a guiding light for workers along the way. Let’s unite and fight for a better future!