HUNDREDS OF activists from across the British trade union movement travelled to Brussels to march against the Europe-wide cuts agenda.
Nicholas Parker
Altogether, over 100,000 workers joined the march from nearly every European country. Firecrackers, smoke flares and lots and lots of noise greeted us as the UK delegation got off the Eurostar at Brussels station, where the march began.
Our delegation consisted of members of every major UK trade union. The banners held high represented groups of workers from across Europe: police officers from Romania, metal workers from Germany and pensioners from Britain.
The impact of the austerity agenda driven by the capitalists has clearly not hit every country at the same pace. The same can be said about the response – workers in countries like Greece have been quicker to take up the fight against cuts.
However, that raw anger exists in every country – anger at the prospect of working people being forced to pay for a crisis triggered by the spivs and speculators at the top of the capitalist financial system.
The scale of the crisis means that internationalism is the order of the day. Many are still unsure about the way forward, but hopes exist that this show of strength could be a step towards a genuine Europe-wide campaign to defeat the austerity measures driven by capitalism.
On the journey back more discussions were held between trade unionists on the Eurostar about how we can defeat these attacks and how we can build a socialist society. Paraphrasing the words of Karl Marx, the day ended with the message – workers of Europe, unite!