(We are reprinting here the reply of Com. Stefan Engel, Chairman of the MLPD to a question in an interview, "A while ago you spoke of a beginning of transition to the working class offensive in connection with the strike at Opel. How has this development continued? Could it be held up by the government of the grand coalition?"     -Editor)

The seven-day strike at Opel (GM) in October 2004 set the signal for the working class offensive. Admittedly, no single struggle in the recent past had the significance that the Opel strike at Bochum had. At the same time, important new elements and tendencies of development are appearing that promote the transition to the working class offensive. In the first months of this year, for example, we experienced a militant wave of trade-union strikes and demonstrations. In the first four months of 2006 alone, nearly 1.8 million people participated in the trade-union struggles of Ver.di (trade union of service employees) and Metall (metal trade union). That is more than three times the number in 2005 and about the same number as in the entire year of 1993, when the trade union struggles reached their highest peak since reunification. The struggles in the health sector organized by the trade union Ver.di developed to become the longest strike in the public sector in German history. More than 200,000 employees in the health care services waged a hard struggle which lasted for months against the extension of working hours and for higher wages. Centres of these strikes were big university hospitals which developed various forms of struggle: strikes, vigils, solidarity tents, demonstrations, solidarity activities, clever media work etc. The fighting spirit was especially pronounced at those public institutions where privatizations are planned. With the introduction of flat rates, cost-benefit analyses and many other things, a large proportion of the employees in health services has today become part of the industrial proletariat. With these strikes they have become this in a political sense, too.

About 800,000 people participated in the warning strikes in the metal industry, which means an increase of about 60 percent compared to the year 2005. This is remarkable because, at that time, there was a great fighting spirit when the monopolies were forced to back off from their test of power with the working class for the reintroduction of the 40-hour working week.

At least eight independent strikes also took place since October 2005, among them strikes at DaimlerChrysler in Bremen, at HSP in Dortmund, Voith in Heidenheim, TKPS in Duesseldorf, Philips in Aachen, ACC in Oldenburg, Panasonic in Esslingen, CNH in Berlin.

The increase in corporate-wide struggles and struggles involving entire industrial sectors is significant for the future. The strike at the AEG plant in Nuremberg that lasted for 43 days against the intended closure attracted attention far beyond the German borders. It was preceded by independent actions and was combined with two European days of action in the Electrolux corporation. On 12 July 2005, 8,000 workers went on strike in Nuremberg, Italy, Spain and France. On 21 October 2005, 25,000 employees from seven European countries went on strike and demonstrated in combination with independent militant actions. I also want to remind you of the fact that under the pressure of the resolute cross-border strikes and demonstrations of the dock-workers on 18 January 2006, the EU parliament had to reject Portpackage II. This struggle of the European dock-workers was the most advanced internationally coordinated workers’ struggle up to now. It was a political strike against the EU as an instrument of the international monopolies. It was internationally coordinated at the European-wide level. It turned the trade unions into fighting organizations when these abandoned their policy of preserving particular locations of production in favour of the common struggle. It also contained an important signal for the protests against the Bolkestein directive. 150,000 workers and salaried employees from all over Europe struggled against the introduction of dumping wages and the intensification of competition among the workers, although the actions were split and to some extent really disorganized by the right-wing trade union leadership.

A distinctive feature is also the fact that the perseverance and severity of the strikes increased significantly last year. At the catering monopoly Gate Gourmet, for example, a strike took place that lasted for six months combined with blockades at the airport of Duesseldorf. At Panasonic in Esslingen, too, a vigil has been taking place for more than 100 days, combined with strikes and protest actions. It is striking that street blockades as a form of struggle have more and more become part of the culture of demonstrations and strikes. This is important for combining the economic struggle with the political struggle or turning it into the political struggle, which is the core of revolutionary tactics.

The working class offensive is developing and also involving non-proletarian strata in the struggle against the government. I remind you of the strike of the doctors, the environmental activities on the occasion of the anniversary of Chernobyl, radicalized university protests or protests within the state apparatus, especially among policemen. These give the struggle the necessary breadth that every force of societal change needs.