South Korean president attempts to impose martial law

Ben McGrath

South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol yesterday launched what was tantamount to a military coup. On national television at about 10.25 p.m., he announced a martial law decree, banning strikes, protests and all political activity and imposing blanket censorship. After facing immediate protests and opposition in the National Assembly, Yoon announced around 4:30 a.m. today that he would lift martial law and that troops dispatched to enforce the decree had been withdrawn.

Police officers stand outside the National Assembly in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, December 4, 2024. [AP Photo/Lee Jin-man]

Yoon justified his sweeping anti-democratic measures in the name of eradicating “pro-North Korean forces” and protecting “the constitutional order of freedom.” He declared that “we will protect and rebuild a liberal Republic of Korea, which is falling into the abyss of national ruin,” and accused the opposition Democratic Party (DP) of including “anti-state forces who are the main culprits of national ruin and who have committed heinous acts up until now.”

The immediate cause of Yoon’s move to impose military dictatorship is the political standoff between Yoon as president and the National Assembly, which, since the general election in April, is controlled by the DP and allies that hold 170 seats in the 300-seat body. Yoon’s People Power Party (PPP), which holds just 108 seats, nevertheless has ruling party status.

Political warfare has come to a head over the Democrats’ efforts to stall and cut back Yoon’s proposed budget. Yoon also denounced the opposition for carrying out impeachment proceedings against numerous figures in his government, including recently the head of the state audit agency and the chief prosecutor in Seoul.

Kim Yong-hyun, who was appointed defence minister on September 2, reportedly proposed martial law to Yoon. Kim has previously held high positions within the military, rising to the rank of three-star general in the army before retiring in 2017. He is close to Yoon, serving as an advisor in the past on military issues.

Under martial law, all political activities would be illegal, including the operation of the National Assembly, any work by political parties, and demonstrations. Strikes and other forms of workers’ protests would also be illegal. The media would be under the control of the martial law government.

Following Yoon’s declaration last night, thousands of protesters quickly gathered outside the National Assembly, many demanding Yoon’s arrest. Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) leader Yang Gyeong-su announced, “Starting with the KCTU central executive committee press conference at 8 a.m. on the 4th, we will go on an indefinite general strike until the Yoon Seok-yeol administration resigns.”

Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung called on parliamentarians to meet and vote to end martial law. The head of Yoon’s own party, Han Dong-hoon, publicly declared that the martial law decree was “wrong.” Under South Korea’s constitution, a majority vote in the National Assembly requires the president to lift martial law.

Parliamentary aides blockaded doors as military personnel smashed windows to gain entry to the National Assembly in an attempt to arrest Lee, Han, and National Assembly Speaker U Won-sik. If that had been successful, the situation today would be very different.

At 1:00 a.m., 190 lawmakers were present and unanimously voted to lift Yoon’s martial law, including 172 opposition legislators and 18 PPP members. Speaker U Won-sik declared martial law “null and void” and called on soldiers and police to leave the building. He declared shortly after that no military personnel remained in the building.

Yoon and the military were silent for more than three hours before announcing that martial law would be lifted and that troops had been withdrawn. The Democrats have now announced that if Yoon does not voluntarily resign, they will pursue his impeachment.

The political crisis that led to Yoon’s declaration of martial law is far from over. Dictatorship, which has a long history in South Korea, continues to loom large. The lengthy delay in responding to the parliamentary vote was not out of any consideration of constitutional niceties, but fears in ruling circles that Yoon’s precipitous actions would trigger an outpouring of popular opposition, particularly from the working class.

Workers and youth cannot rely on the Democrats and their trade union allies to prevent another coup attempt. The opposition party and the KCTU have demonstrated time and again that their overriding concern is not the social and democratic rights of working people, but the defence of South Korean capitalism. In power, the Democrats, no less than their rightwing rivals, have made deep inroads into the social position of the working class, aided and abetted by the KCTU, which has confined and sabotaged strikes and protests.

The resort to martial law was not simply the product of the individual psyche of the president, but stems from the crisis of South Korean and global capitalism. Around the world, rapidly deteriorating living standards, the staggering growth of social inequality and the plunge towards world war are fueling strikes, mass protests and a political radicalization among workers and young people. Increasingly, in country after country, the ruling class is dispensing with the trappings of democracy and adopting extreme anti-democratic measures. The very advanced character of the crisis is expressed most clearly in the United States—the centre of world imperialism—where the fascist Donald Trump is about to be installed in power.

South Korea, the world’s 13th largest economy, is no exception. Indeed, there is a distinct echo of Trump’s lashing out at “the enemy within” in Yoon’s anti-communist diatribe used to justify his declaration of martial law. Real wages are falling as prices increase, making it harder and harder for workers to make ends meet and leading to acute social tensions. Yoon has backed and militarily aided the US-NATO war in Ukraine against Russia and is integrating South Korea into the accelerating US-led preparations for war against China.

As a result, Yoon is widely despised. His approval rating has fallen as low as 17 percent. One poll last month found that 58.3 percent of respondents wanted Yoon out of office. On November 30, approximately 100,000 demonstrators marched in Seoul to demand his resignation. The Democrats, the KCTU and various civic groups in the DP’s orbit all participated.

Since coming to office in May 2022, Yoon has regularly denounced his political opponents in vitriolic, anti-communist terms, accusing them of sympathizing or even taking orders from North Korea. During a major strike of truck drivers at the end of 2022, Yoon denounced the protracted stoppage for better wages and working conditions as “similar to the North Korean nuclear threat.”

This week, several unions affiliated with the KCTU planned to strike or hold protests, including of rail and subway workers. The unions involved represent approximately 70,000 workers. Workers belonging to the KCTU-affiliated Korean Railway Workers’ Union were set to strike on December 5, while Seoul subway workers were planning to walk off the job the following day. Non-regular education workers were also planning to stop work on December 6. Truck drivers belonging to Cargo Truckers Solidarity held a two-day strike on December 2-3. Workers at the National Pension Service and the Korea Gas Corporation also planned to strike this week.

In addition, auto parts workers at Hyundai Transys from the Korean Metal Workers’ Union (KMWU) held a one month-long strike beginning in October. The KMWU, one of the most influential unions in the KCTU, came under huge pressure from big business and Yoon’s government after the strike led to the shutdown of lines at Hyundai Motors.

The South Korean ruling class is no stranger to trampling on the democratic rights of the working class. Martial law was last declared in 1979 following the assassination of military dictator Park Chung-hee. It was expanded the following year when Chun Doo-hwan carried out his own coup. The military subsequently conducted mass repression against protesters, most infamously in the city of Gwangju, where upwards of 2,000 people were massacred.

The declaration of martial law demonstrates that despite the so-called democratization that took place following mass protests in the 1980s and early 1990s, the South Korean state still rests on the anti-communist, dictatorial foundations established by US imperialism after World War II through its puppet Syngman Rhee regime, later strengthened under Park.

Thai autoworkers face mass layoffs

Robert Campion

Workers in Thailand are part of the international jobs bloodbath taking place in the auto industry amid the transition to electric vehicles (EV) and the global economic slowdown. As the largest vehicle producer of vehicles in South East Asia, tens if not hundreds of thousands of jobs are potentially on the chopping block.

Thai car assembly plant [Photo: Siam Motors Group]

The latest assault on jobs came on November 22. Two anonymous industrial sources told Reuters that Nissan Motor Thailand is planning to cut up to 1,000 jobs while partially shutting down production at its Plant Number 1 and consolidating production at its Plant Number 2 by September of next year. Both plants are located in Samut Prakan province, just south of Bangkok.

These projected job cuts are part of Nissan’s global workforce reduction plan, which is bound up with the transfer to the manufacturing of electric and hybrid vehicles. Under the plan announced in early November, Japan’s third largest car manufacturer, will lower production capacity by 20 percent and slash 9,000 jobs or 7 percent of its total workforce. This includes 1,000 workers in the US by the end of the year who have already accepted early retirement packages.

Dubbed the “just transition” to EVs, it is in reality a cutthroat race to the bottom in which companies are looking to boost profits and stock prices by slashing jobs. EVs require fewer parts and therefore less labour for their production. Japanese auto companies have also cited falling sales to justify the mass layoffs, forcing workers to pay for the growing crisis of global capitalism.

In addition to Nissan, several other Japanese automobile brands have already announced plant closures in recent months. Subaru intends to close its last remaining assembly plant outside of Japan in the Lad Krabang Industrial Estate, Bangkok, on December 3, sacking 200 workers. Suzuki is planning to close its Rayong plant at the end of 2025 affecting 800 workers.

Honda, which employs over 5,000 workers in Thailand, is closing its Ayutthaya plant some time next year, and consolidating production with its remaining plant in Prachinburi province. Claiming the need to improve “efficiency” and address “overproduction,” it is cutting its annual production capacity by 50 percent.

With around 80 percent of domestic car production relying on Thai auto parts, the closure of assembly plants is having a ripple effect throughout the sector. According to the Thai banking group Kasikornbank in September, sales of auto parts were down by 12 percent so far this year. The Federation of Thai Industries (FTI) Automotive Industry Club has also reported that over 360 factories in the manufacturing sector have shut down in the first half of the year.

Monthly reports from FTI Auto Club this year also point to a further slowdown in sales, with 438,000 vehicles sold between January and September, 25 percent lower than the same period last year. September’s sales in particular came to approximately 39,000 units, roughly equal to the sales volume during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.

Sompol Tanadumrongsak, president of the Thai Auto-Parts Manufacturers Association, said in an interview with Reuters in September that Small to Medium Enterprises (SMEs) which largely comprise the auto parts industry are facing a situation worse than the financial crisis of 1997 and the pandemic. “If auto parts SMEs close today, they are not coming back,” he stated.

Japanese companies have dominated the auto industry in Thailand since the 1970s, consistently responsible for 75-90 percent of car sales. Nissan was the first Japanese auto company to start production in Thailand in 1962, joining manufacturers from other countries moving to the country at the time, including Ford and Fiat.

The confluence of Japanese and Thai capital spurred the development of the Thai bourgeoisie, with about a thousand family firms developing in the auto industry in the 1980s and 1990s when foreign ownership was capped at 49 percent.

Following the Asian Financial Crisis of 1997‒98, hundreds of thousands of Thai and migrant workers lost their jobs. By 1998, nearly 9 percent of all Thai workers were unemployed, though this is likely a conservative estimate. In the auto industry, half a million vehicles were produced in 1996. This dropped by 75 percent in 1998.

The cap on foreign ownership was removed to allow global capital to resuscitate the dying sector and production was reoriented to the world market. While only three percent of vehicles were exported in 1996, this shot up to 44 percent in 2006. Last year, 57.2 percent of Thailand’s units were exported.

The development of Thailand’s auto industry made it the 10th largest in the world. In 2019, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the FTI estimated it comprised 890,000 workers, including 100,000 involved in assembly, 200,000 in sales, and 590,000 in manufacturing auto parts.

The number of Thai family firms has also been significantly reduced since 1997 to a handful. One of the most notable firms is the Thai Summit Group, which was founded in 1977 by Pattana Juangroongruangkit in partnership with Japanese brand Toyota. His brother Suriya has served in numerous government cabinets, including that of Thaksin Shinawatra and Prayut Chan-o-cha. He is now deputy prime minister in the Paetongtarn Shinawatra administration.

After Pattana’s death in 2002, his son Thanathorn assumed a leadership role in the company, only stepping down in 2018 in order to enter politics. Thanathorn utilized his wealth exploited from the working class to help found the Future Forward Party (FFP) in 2018. At one point, he was the richest member of parliament, though he was removed from office by the military.

The FFP, now known as the People’s Party, cynically exploits the democratic and social concerns of youth and workers in order to assert the economic and social interests of a weaker section of the Thai bourgeoisie dissatisfied with the dominance of the traditional elites centred on the military and monarchy and the impact this has on their profits.

For all this growth during the previous period, the Thai auto industry is now entering a convulsive new stage, triggered by a crisis of world economy and the transition to EV production. While the transformation to cleaner forms of transportation and energy is environmentally necessary, under capitalism, it is crippled by the demands for corporate profit and carried out at the expense of workers.

At the same time, as the US ramps up its preparations for war against China, it seeking to end its dependence on Chinese manufacturing and is encouraging its allies to do the same. It is attempting to establish alternative supply lines for goods currently dominated by China such as critical minerals needed for EVs and also weaponry. It also calculates that the turn to EVs will free up oil and gas supplies in the event of war.

Currently, the Thai government has plans for EVs to comprise 30 percent of the country’s total vehicle manufacturing by 2030, involving the production of 725,000 electric cars, 675,000 electric motorcycles and 34,000 electric buses and trucks. The transition to EVs is estimated to directly affect 37 percent of auto manufacturers employing 326,400 workers as well as countless more in related industries. The majority of these workers are under the age of 39, with 70 percent earning approximately 15,000 baht or less per month, or $US430.

These workers face levels of average household debt that are up 8.4 percent this year to 606,378 baht ($US17,908), according to a September survey by the University of the Thai Chamber of Commerce. This is the highest average debt level since the survey began in 2009 and a significant factor in the decline of domestic auto sales.

The election of Trump in the US will also further destabilise Thailand’s auto industry. The first Trump administration earmarked Thailand as a possible “currency manipulator.” Financial analysts now expect Thailand to be on the receiving end of a blanket tariff for many Asian countries of 10-20 percent, further dropping its export production.

Chad ends longstanding military cooperation with France

Kumaran Ira

On November 28, the Chadian government announced that it is “putting an end to the defense cooperation agreement signed with the French Republic.” The announcement came just after French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot left Chad. It signifies a major setback for French imperialism’s influence in its former African colonial empire.

France's President Emmanuel Macron, left, and Secretary General of the Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie Louise Mushikiwabo, center, welcome Chad's President General Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno for the 19th Francophonie summit in Villers-Cotterets, France, Friday, October 4, 2024. [AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard]

Chad, in North-Central Africa, was under French rule from 1900 until formal independence in 1960. French imperialism has continued to exert strong influence on the post-independence regime, through military and political as well as financial means. Chad hosts a significant French presence, with about 1,000 soldiers as well as warplanes stationed in the country.

During the Operation Barkhane phase of France’s war in Mali, from 2014 to 2022, Chad played a pivotal role as a key enabler of France’s war. The operation’s headquarters were based in N’Djamena, the capital of Chad. This strategic location allowed French forces to coordinate and launch operations throughout the Sahel region, particularly targeting countries like Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger. Chad also furnished a substantial number of troops as cannon fodder for the French army to mount operations.

After mass protests and military coups in Mali, Niger, and Burkina Faso, however, France was compelled to withdraw its troops from these countries. They also left the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and established a rival defense alliance, the Alliance of Sahelian States (AES). Meanwhile, protests mounted in Chad against France’s military presence.

On Thursday, Chad's Foreign Minister Abderaman Koulamallah announced, “After 66 years since the independence of the Republic of Chad, it is time for Chad to assert its full sovereignty, and to redefine its strategic partnerships according to national priorities.”

Koulamallah stated this would result in the departure of French soldiers stationed in the country “in accordance with the terms” and “within the time frames provided for in the defense agreement.” He said this decision was “taken after in-depth analysis” and marked “a historic turning point” in a century-long history of near-continuous French military presence in Chad.

The Chadian government, however, specified that “this decision in no way calls into question (...) the friendly ties between the two nations.”

Also on Thursday, Senegal, a former French colony in West Africa, announced France should close its bases in the country. This followed French President Emmanuel Macron’s admission that France was responsible for the massacre of Senegalese soldiers in 1944, as the country commemorated the 80th anniversary of the tragedy. “Senegal is an independent country; it is a sovereign country and sovereignty does not accept the presence of military bases in a sovereign country,” said Senegalese President Bassirou Diomaye Faye.

The Chadian government’s decision reportedly stunned not only the French authorities but also several Chadian officials.

Le Monde wrote, “At the Elysée presidential palace, the Defense Ministry, or at the Quai D’Orsay [Foreign Ministry], no one seemed to have been warned. Several French officers, visiting N’Djamena to discuss continuing military cooperation, did not seem to have been informed, either. And indeed, even on the Chadian side, some seemed surprised. According to multiple concurring sources, the minister of defense himself learned of the decision of President Mahamat Idriss Déby just before the communiqué was published.”

Chad was the first French colony to support Free France against the Nazi-collaborationist Vichy French authorities during World War II. Despite gaining independence in 1960, Chad was still partially governed by the French military until 1965.

The country has witnessed numerous French military operations, including “Limousin” (1969-1971) and “Epervier” (1986-2014). The French military played a key role in facilitating Hissène Habré's rise to power in 1982, and then his overthrow by Idriss Déby in 1990. It attacked rebel forces who threatened to seize the capital, N'Djamena, in 2019.

Following the death of longtime President Idriss Déby Itno in April 2021, senior military officers staged a coup d’état, leading to the establishment of a military government. Idriss Déby’s son, Mahamat Idriss Déby, was appointed interim president. In February 2024, heavy gunfire erupted in N’Djamena after the announcement of a long-anticipated election date, as government forces clashed with members of the opposition Socialist Party Without Borders (PSF). A presidential election was held in May this year, with Mahamat Idriss Déby declared the winner.

Chad’s sudden ending military ties to France comes amid mounting geostrategic conflicts in Africa bound up with the NATO war with Russia in Ukraine and economic rivalry with China. Surging food and oil prices driven by disruption of grain imports from Russia and Ukraine have devastated millions. French imperialism in particular is challenged by growing economic and diplomatic ties between its former colonies and both Russia and China.

Russia is bolstering its military presence in Sahel countries, including Niger, Mali, Burkina Faso, Mauritania, Sudan, and Chad. Russian mercenaries, notably from the Wagner Group, have been deployed in several African countries. They are supporting the governments and armed forces of Niger, Mali, and Burkina Faso, and are also engaging in combat alongside them against Al Qaeda-linked Islamist militants.

China has also strengthened its relations with Chad and Senegal, announcing projects for electricity, running water, farming, telecommunications and airport infrastructure. In May, former Chadian Ambassador to China Allamaye Halina had become the country’s prime minister. Later in the year, China also signed contracts to provide arms and equipment to the Chadian National Army.

The entire region is being pulled ever deeper into NATO’s escalating global war. Chad’s ending and Senegal’s threat to end military cooperation with France come as the NATO powers escalate war with Russia in Ukraine, and Trump’s election threatens war with China. Given the massive unpopularity of French imperialism in Africa, and the economic and military advantages of ties to China and Russia, a number of African states are responding to these explosive military pressures by moving away from Paris.

This year, Russia has steadily worked to increase its influence in Chad through military cooperation and economic investments. In January, Idriss Déby met Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow. During their meeting, Putin stated that the two countries had “great opportunities to develop our bilateral ties.”

Déby continued to cultivate his relationship with Putin following their meeting. Ahead of Chad’s presidential elections, Déby published an autobiography titled “From Bedouin to President.” In February, Déby presented a copy of his book, inscribed with a personal message for Putin, to the Russian ambassador to Chad, Vladimir Sokolenko. The book also included a photograph of Déby and Putin from Déby's January visit to Russia.

In his autobiography, Déby criticizes Macron for allegedly trying to dissuade him from running in the election during a phone call. “I’m not going to change the transition charter under threat!” he wrote.

Chad’s ending of the unpopular military cooperation with Paris comes just before parliamentary elections scheduled for December 29. His main opponent, former Prime Minister Succès Masra, who has criticized France for favoring Déby's family, saying: “France has clearly chosen a family to the detriment of the Chadian people.”

Finance capital increases its domination of healthcare

Marc Wells

Stephen A. Schwarzman, chairman and chief executive officer of Blackstone, Inc. USA, at the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland on January 24, 2008. [Photo by World Economic Forum/Remy Steinegger / CC BY-SA 2.0]

The US healthcare industry is under increasing dominance by private equity firms and financial institutions, reflecting a broader trend of financialization in the sector and commodification of public health. Equity firms, such as Blackstone, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. (KKR), The Carlyle Group and Apollo Global Management, have spearheaded acquisitions in hospitals, emergency care, nursing homes and behavioral health.

Billionaires with influential political ties to both big business parties control these firms. To name a few:

• Stephen Schwarzman ($55.6 billion)—CEO of Blackstone, Inc. which owns major healthcare firms like TeamHealth

• Henry Kravis ($6.5 billion) and George Roberts ($12.2 billion)—Founders of KKR, heavily involved in acquisitions like Envision Healthcare

• David Rubenstein ($4 billion)—Co-founder of The Carlyle Group, known for investments in healthcare, including ManorCare nursing homes

• Bill Gates ($106.6 billion)—Via his foundation and investments in healthcare systems

• Warren Buffett ($148.3 billion)—Through Berkshire Hathaway, a significant investor in healthcare-related stocks

The financialization of healthcare has drastically accelerated the industry’s crisis over recent decades. Beginning in the early 2000s, private equity firms, such as Blackstone, KKR, and Apollo Global Management, began targeting healthcare sectors, including physician practices, hospitals and nursing homes. They view them as stable and profitable investments due to consistent demand, third-party reimbursements and ample opportunities for cost-cutting.

In the first decade of the 21st century, private equity firms began acquiring smaller healthcare entities, often through leveraged buyouts. During the 2010s, private equity investments in healthcare surged, with deals growing from $5 billion annually in 2000 to over $100 billion by 2018. Sectors such as urgent care, primary care and specialty practices became significant targets.

The COVID-19 pandemic amplified the trend as healthcare providers faced financial strain. Private equity firms acquired distressed practices and hospitals, consolidating market power while introducing aggressive cost-cutting measures.

By 2023, private equity firms had spent $505 billion on healthcare acquisitions over five years, leveraging financial pressure to extract profits through increased fees, reduced staffing and operational consolidation.

A 2021 study published in Health Affairs analyzed the impact of private equity ownership on nursing homes. It found that facilities acquired by private equity firms, like Blackstone and The Carlyle Group, experienced a decline in patient care quality and reported a 10 percent increase in mortality rates. These outcomes were largely attributed to reduced staffing, cuts in essential supplies, increased patient-to-staff ratios and cost-cutting measures aimed at maximizing profits, such as reducing budgets for essential services.

Companies like TeamHealth and Envision Healthcare, backed by Blackstone and KKR respectively, have implemented aggressive billing practices. They use surprise medical bills as a revenue stream, charging exorbitant fees for out-of-network care. These practices drew national attention, with patients being billed thousands of dollars for emergency services. Envision in particular has focused on increasing profits through the consolidation of emergency departments, often resulting in closures in less profitable rural areas.

Acquisitions in behavioral health have also led to increased costs for patients, often accompanied by cuts in essential services. Private equity now owns approximately 7 percent of addiction treatment facilities and over 6 percent of mental health clinics in the US. Essential but less profitable services, such as community-based mental health programs and addiction treatment, have been scaled back or discontinued after private equity acquisition.

The broader implications of these trends are stark. By consolidating healthcare into fewer, larger corporate entities, finance capital wields unprecedented control over public health. This commodification undermines access to affordable care while enriching a narrow layer of investors. The restructuring of healthcare is not merely a technical issue but a political one, necessitating organized action from workers to pursue public healthcare systems that prioritize human need over profit, a task that is in stark contrast with the capitalist system.

Both big business parties in the US are fully complicit and unanimously invested in this process. In only a few weeks, Donald Trump will install the most reactionary cabinet the US has ever seen, a government of the oligarchy, by the oligarchy, and for the oligarchy composed of fascists, billionaires and xenophobes.

Among them, Donald Trump appointed Robert F. Kennedy Jr., an anti-vaccine advocate, as Secretary of Health and Human Services after RFK Jr. endorsed him. Other healthcare posts went to similar open enemies of public health: Mehmet Oz for Medicare and Medicaid, Martin Makary for the FDA, and Dave Weldon for the CDC. Each appointee reflects anti-scientific stances on public health, opposing vaccination, abortion rights or pandemic safety measures.

There is a clear intersection between the financialization of healthcare and politics. The dismantling of the public health infrastructure by private equity has the full support of both parties.

Blackstone has a significant influence in both finance and politics. Schwarzman, a prominent Republican donor, has close relationships with politicians like Donald Trump and has advised on financial policy during the Trump administration. Blackstone’s investments in real estate and healthcare have been shaped by deregulation efforts supported by these political ties.

Apollo Global Management maintains deep ties with politicians, including by hiring former Republican Senator Pat Toomey and Harry Reid’s Chief of Staff David Krone. These connections strengthen its position in healthcare, real estate and finance sectors, facilitating corporate influence over public welfare.

KKR’s Henry Kravis, a significant Republican donor, has advocated for policies that benefit private equity, including tax structures favoring carried interest. (Tax breaks favoring carried interest refer to a special tax treatment that benefits private equity managers, hedge fund managers, and venture capitalists.)

These ties leak into the military sector. Known for its close ties to Washington D.C., The Carlyle Group has employed former politicians, including former President George H.W. Bush and former Secretary of Defense Frank Carlucci, as advisers or partners. These connections have helped Carlyle secure lucrative defense contracts and investments in regulated industries.

Figures like RFK Jr. capitalize on public dissatisfaction, blaming science or government institutions for the failure of capitalism to satisfy the basic needs of healthcare, rather than financial interests. But his attacks on science align completely with the profit motives of private equity firms, promoting individualistic and market-driven approaches that leave systemic healthcare issues unaddressed.

In the context of a rapid growth of the class struggle and ongoing strikes in the healthcare industry, such as the walkout by Kaiser’s mental health workers, the trade unions’ role must be placed under scrutiny. Unions have facilitated the process of consolidation and cost-cutting measures under the guise of securing jobs and maintaining institutional stability. This standpoint has frequently aligned union leadership with corporate management on the basis of the financial imperatives driving restructuring efforts.

Unions such as the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) have historically partnered with healthcare corporations to enforce “labor–management partnerships.” These agreements have at times endorsed cost-saving measures, such as reduced benefits or wage stagnation, in exchange for promises of job security.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, HCA Healthcare proposed cuts to wages and benefits, including eliminating weekend and evening pay differentials, suspending 401(k) contributions and freezing wages. The SEIU facilitated the concessions, threatening workers with more drastic layoffs and the failure of operations if they did not accept them.

In some cases, the SEIU has supported the privatization or consolidation of public hospitals, arguing that these moves would protect jobs. A case in point was the “Vital Brooklyn” initiative, which aimed to consolidate several struggling Brooklyn safety-net hospitals (Interfaith, Kingsbrook Jewish Medical Center and Brookdale) into the One Brooklyn Health network. This restructuring plan was supported by 1199 SEIU, with assurances that jobs would be retained and that the reorganization would result in an “extraordinary investment in communities historically underserved.”

In its contracts with Kaiser Permanente, the National Union of Healthcare Workers (NUHW) has agreed to terms that include minimal wage increases and fail to address critical understaffing issues. Workers have criticized these agreements for prioritizing management’s cost-cutting strategies over the quality of patient care and working conditions. The ongoing NUHW strike at Kaiser highlights the fact that these burning issues have only gotten worse.

The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) has negotiated contracts for public healthcare workers which included wage freezes and benefit reductions. This concession was often justified as necessary to maintain funding and prevent closures.

The California Nurses Association/National Nurses United (CNA/NNU) is also known for collaborating with management, especially at Kaiser Permanente, which funnels millions in corporate funding to the unions through the so-called “Labor-Management Partnership.”

Union agreements framed these attacks as necessary compromises. Since the initial stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, hospitals have increasingly adopted telehealth and “command center” staffing models. These approaches often replaced registered nurses (RNs) with lower-paid, less-trained staff to execute directives, effectively creating a “generic workforce.” This restructuring led to heavier workloads for RNs, who had to oversee less-experienced staff while managing patient care remotely or across multiple facilities​.

What these agreements have in common is their prioritization of the financial viability of employers over the needs of workers. Unions have negotiated contracts that endorse wage freezes, benefit cuts and increased workloads under the justification of keeping struggling hospitals open or making them more “competitive.” They have supported mergers, nurturing false illusions by arguing that larger systems provide job security by creating economies of scale, even though this often leads to layoffs and the erosion of working conditions.

Romanian fascist Georgescu wins first round of presidential elections

Andrei Tudora

Self-declared fascist Calin Georgescu, running as an independent candidate for president gestures while delivering a speech to media, in Izvorani, Romania, Tuesday, November 26, 2024, after making it to the December 8 election runoff. [AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda]

A first round of the presidential election was held in Romania on November 24. Calin Georgescu, an avowed fascist running as an independent, produced an electoral upset and came in first place with over 22 percent of the votes. He will be joined in the runoff by Elena Lasconi of the opposition liberal USR (Save Romania Union). The candidates of the two traditional ruling parties, the Social Democratic Party (PSD) and National Liberal Party (PNL) who have governed Romania in a Grand Coalition since 2021, were eliminated.

The election has triggered an intense political crisis in Romania’s ruling establishment. Pre-election polls showed a comfortable win for the Social Democrats and a slew of candidates vying for the runoff spot, while Georgescu polled only fifth place in the days before the election. The leadership of both the PSD and PNL have been sacked, as the two parties brace for general elections on December 1, which are expected to place several far-right parties in the legislature.

Georgescu was virtually unknown to the wider public before the elections. He had been associated with the fascist Alliance for the Unity of Romania Party (AUR) but was expelled, as his open glorifications of Nazis and war criminals interfered with AUR attempts to dress up its image and get votes.

Georgescu’s campaign openly violated election regulations. He declared zero campaign expenses and failed to add election markings to his videos. In the days after the elections, multiple press outlets received an email containing photos purporting to show Georgescu in the company of his close entourage. It includes two former Romanian secret service chiefs, as well as Adrian Thiess, a media mogul tied to the Trump staff, who had recently organized Trump Jr.’s trip to Hungary.

Far-right commentators have talked about a near-future visit to Romania by Robert Kennedy Jr., the anti-science hack nominated by Trump to head the US Department of Health, ostensibly to promote his book The Real Anthony Fauci, with a forward by Georgescu. Georgescu is himself a well-known figure within the fascistic swamp of COVID denialism.

The country’s Supreme Defense Council was summoned by the country’s outgoing president, Klaus Iohannis, on Thursday. It issued a report that found “cyberattacks with the purpose of influencing the correctness of the electoral process.” The report issued unsubstantiated allegations that the election result was due to “state and non-state actors, especially the Russian Federation, who has a growing interest to influence Romanian society’s public agenda and social cohesion.”

The Special Telecommunication Service (STS), part of Romania’s overgrown internal spying apparatus, issued a statement denying the existence of “cyberattacks.” A similar report had been issued by the Romanian Information Service (SRI) prior to the elections, after Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu accused candidates of using “troll farms.”

The Supreme Court has ordered a vote recount and given itself until December 2 to take a decision on whether to cancel the election result outright.

The official campaign against Georgescu, focused solely on technical-legal issues, serves to obscure the social and political issues involved. It is driven not by any aversion for his far-right views, many of which are shared by his rivals, but more by his criticisms of NATO and the Ukraine war. Politico noted: “Georgescu’s success has triggered alarm as Romania has in recent years been viewed as one of the EU’s more reliable members in Central and Eastern Europe when it comes to rule of law and security—with a major NATO base on the Black Sea.”

The election result is first of all an indictment of the Romanian ruling establishment, who came to believe their own lies about a pro-war “national consensus.” Georgescu, who made criticism of the war the focus of his campaign, centered on Telegram and TikTok, built an audience among workers and youth who could find no progressive outlet for their concerns.

An important political role of this campaign is to amalgamate opposition to war with Georgescu’s fascist sympathies. The ruling capitalist parties suppress opposition by falsely arguing that all opposition is necessarily fascist.

The ongoing COVID pandemic has led to the near-collapse of the healthcare system. In the summer, revelations of mass deaths in a public hospital led to the framing of two doctors by prosecutors and the media for murder. The case against them has since been dismissed by a judge, but this ongoing “social murder” is continuing unabated.

Romania is heavily involved in the imperialist war against Russia in Ukraine, which risks turning into a direct conflict between nuclear armed states. As a Black Sea state bordering Ukraine, Romania would undoubtedly suffer heavily in any expansion of the war. Yet any deviation from the official pro-war line is denounced as the result of Russian interference. The pro-war official consensus is backed by pseudo-left groups like the Socialist Action Group (GAS), which denounce “Russian imperialism.”

The global cost of living crisis has been compounded by austerity measures demanded by the EU Recovery and Resilience Plan as well as ballooning defense spending. A recent pension cut deprived many elderly workers, notably in mining and nuclear sectors, of cost-of-living adjustments. 2025 is expected to bring new rounds of austerity in Romania.

The policies of war and austerity have degraded the bourgeois democratic norms, such as they were after the Stalinist regime’s restoration of capitalism in the 1990s. The ruling establishment, with the post-Stalinist PSD at its head, swung towards the far right, adopting extreme forms of nationalism, irredentism, and COVID denialism. Fascist parties like the Alliance for the unity of Romanians (AUR) and the SOS Romania Party were staffed by PSD apparatchiks, Stalinists, academics and union bureaucrats.

A report published in November by the Romanian site PressOne highlights the AUR’s dominant political position in the Jiu Valley mining region:

Demoralization and confusion prevail among the remaining miners, after suffering decades of defeats and closures at the hand of the state and the unions. A revolving door of Stalinists, union bureaucrats and local politicians forms the basis of AUR’s activities in many deindustrialized regions. One such example is Nicu Bunoaica, a mining union leader and former associate of the pseudo-left Association for the emancipation of workers (AEM) who ran as an AUR candidate in local elections earlier this year.

The elevation of a fascist admirer of interwar Romania’s Iron Guard to the highest office appears to be a less “shocking” bolt from the blue as it has been described in the media.

Similar to other far-right leaders elected in recent years, Georgescu is first of all the expression of the ruling class’ increasingly open abandonment of democratic norms, under conditions of global war and intensifying working class resistance. The main responsibility for the rise of the far right lies with the nominal left political forces, who have adapted to nationalism and have surrendered any resistance to war.

General strike in Italy opposes fascist Prime Minister Meloni’s austerity budget

Marc Wells

On Friday, half a million workers across Italy went on a one-day nationwide strike. The strike, called by several unions in response to mounting pressure from the rank and file, reflects broad working class opposition to the austerity policies and deepening social inequality overseen by fascist Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.

Workers in Rome hold a banner reading "Wrong budget law, general strike" as they gather during a public and private sectors' national strike called by the labor unions to protest the government's budget law, Friday, November 29, 2024. [AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia]

Many sections of workers participated in the strike action, and protest marches were held in dozens of cities. Public transport was affected in numerous cities, as bus, subway and tramway drivers walked off the job. Baggage handlers at the Milan and Venice airports went on strike, as did WizzAir Malta pilots and cabin crews. Public schools were significantly impacted as teachers struck to demand better funding and to oppose austerity measures. Stellantis workers struck in Naples, as did workers at the Fincantieri shipbuilders and auto parts maker Marelli.

Italian workers oppose the Meloni government’s 2025 budget, which includes massive cuts to all social programs but increases the military budget by €2 billion, bringing it to a record €32 billion. This aligns the Meloni government with NATO’s spending objectives amid its war with Russia in Ukraine. Proposed across-the-board five percent cuts would devastate Italy’s public healthcare system, already teetering on the brink of collapse due to underfunding and staffing shortages. The same would apply to education, transportation and other essential services.

Public sector workers are being offered a paltry 6 percent wage increase over three years, against a cumulative increase in essential living costs since 2021 estimated at 16 percent. Furthermore, pensions are set to rise by a tiny €3 per month, while the Fornero Law raising the retirement age remains in force.

Workers also protested increasingly perilous working conditions leading to deaths on the job, dubbed by workers as “workplace homicides.” Moreover, the government’s draconian “Security Decree 1660” has introduced harsh penalties against various forms of protest and dissent, aimed at workers in general and immigrants in particular.

Against the strike and its impact on public transport, far-right Italian Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini threatened to invoke minimum service requirements, which seek to curtail the right to strike inscribed in Article 40 of the Italian Constitution.

These measures are part of an escalating, global class war waged by the capitalist ruling elites on the workers that is provoking mounting opposition. The bourgeoisie’s savage movement to the right is epitomized by Meloni’s close ties with the cabal around fascist US President-elect Donald Trump, which is preparing a staggering $2 trillion austerity program against US workers to be overseen by the world’s richest man, billionaire Elon Musk.

In recent months Elon Musk, appointed by Trump to head the new Department of Government Efficiency, has publicly praised Meloni as “authentic, honest, and thoughtful.” Meloni, in turn, called Musk a “precious genius.” Musk has expressed interest in expanding his businesses in Italy, including Starlink satellite internet services and building a Tesla manufacturing facility, in return for tax cuts.

Massive budgetary attacks are similarly being prepared against the working class across Europe. In October, Britain’s Labour government adopted an austerity budget imposing £40 billion in spending cuts. Now, the French government is teetering on the verge of collapse over its budget, as the ruling class demands more military spending and spending cuts beyond the €60 billion the budget proposes.

The main political obstacle to a political counteroffensive of the working class against these threats are the bankrupt pro-capitalist parties and labor bureaucracies, linked to Stalinism, that seek to tie the working class to capitalism and subordinate it to austerity and imperialist war. This is the role played in Italy by the successor of the Stalinist Italian Communist Party (PCI) after its self-dissolution in 1991, the Democratic Party (PD).

The PD now has a decades-long history of attacking the workers. After World War II, the Italian bourgeoisie was compelled to grant labor laws and social benefits offering significant protections for workers. The Italian working class had organized mass strikes and armed uprisings against Mussolini’s fascist regime, and while the PCI blocked a socialist revolution, the capitalist class for a time had to make social concessions. But in the decades since the 1991 Stalinist dissolution of the Soviet Union, successive PD-led governments systematically rolled back these gains.

The much-hated 2014 Jobs Act, implemented by then-PD Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, undermined job security by easing restrictions on dismissals and facilitating precarious employment.

Now, current PD leader Elly Schlein is criticizing Meloni but at the same time endorsing further austerity reforms, declaring: “We stand with workers who demand dignity and justice. However, we must approach reforms responsibly to ensure long-term stability.”

The PD, like the Stalinist CGIL (Italian General Confederation of Labour) union bureaucracy and the social-democratic UIL (Italian Labour Union) bureaucracy, works to channel mounting working class anger into politically manageable avenues compatible with capitalist rule. Even facing Meloni, whose Brothers of Italy party descends directly from Mussolini’s Fascist Party, the bureaucracies bend over backwards to maintain “social peace” and stabilize capitalism.

At the strike yesterday, Maurizio Landini, the secretary-general of CGIL, called for collaboration and dialogue with the Meloni government, stating: “This government must listen to the streets and open a serious dialogue with the trade unions to build a better future for all.”

Significantly, the transport unions limited the strike to 3 or 4 hours (depending on location), while exempting rail workers from the strike altogether and guaranteeing service in compliance with an Ordinance of the Minister of Transportation.

For workers, Meloni’s government represents a dangerous convergence of far-right nationalism, austerity and militarism. In its two years, it has aggressively pursued anti-immigrant policies, attacked democratic rights and participated in NATO’s imperialist wars. This is part of a broader global trend, where capitalist governments exploit economic crises to impose authoritarian measures and deepen inequality despite growing militancy and opposition among workers.

French government on brink of collapse over 2025 budget vote

Alex Lantier

French Prime Minister Michel Barnier’s government, installed after the July 2024 elections, is hanging by a thread amid growing conflicts in the ruling elite over his 2025 austerity budget. Last night, Barnier went on prime-time TF1 news and threatened to ram the budget through parliament without a vote, using Article 49.3 of the constitution. He warned of “severe turbulence on financial markets” if the National Assembly reacted by censuring and bringing down his government.

New French prime minister Michel Barnier looks on right during the handover ceremony, Thursday, September 5, 2024 in Paris. [AP Photo/Stephane de Sakutin]

Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s New Popular Front (NFP) coalition and Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally (RN) have both threatened to censure the government over the budget, which imposes €40 billion in social cuts. The French state is already technically in violation of the law: it must approve a budget each year by October 1, which it has failed to do. But if the NFP and RN both voted to censure the government, it could lead to an unprecedented situation of France having no budget as the 2025 year begins.

The 2025 Social Security budget is to be presented on December 2, the end-of-year 2024 budget on December 4, and the full 2025 budget on December 18. In each case, censure votes against the Barnier government could be held in the National Assembly two days later.

The fall of Barnier’s government by itself would not stop French and European capitalism’s downward spiral of austerity and war. France’s parliamentary parties are not seeking to give expression to mass popular dissatisfaction with the established order. Rather, Barnier’s cuts are no longer deep enough to satisfy the bourgeoisie. A bitter debate is unfolding in the ruling class over how to recalibrate its policies as it prepares, sooner rather than later, for explosive conflicts with the working class.

After Trump’s victory in the US presidential elections, French imperialism is on the warpath against Russia and against the working class at home. Trump’s team is threatening to cut a staggering $2 trillion in US government spending and cancel US military aid to Ukraine for war with Russia. Top French diplomats have called to bomb Russia with French SCALP missiles and to send French ground troops to Ukraine to fight the Russian army.

Arming the French military for total war with Russia, and keeping French capitalism economically competitive amid the onslaught Trump is preparing against US workers, would require a massive plundering of financial resources from the French working class to the army and the banks.

Instead, ruling circles are increasingly dissatisfied with Barnier’s budget and the draft amendments proposed by government ministers and the Assembly’s parliamentary subcommittees. Members of Mélenchon’s NFP, far-right Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau and leaders of right-wing government parties like Laurent Wauquiez of The Republicans (LR) have all intervened to eliminate spending cuts and posture as friends of the people.

“The budget-cutting objectives for 2025 increasingly lack ambition,” Le Monde wrote last week. “If it agrees to the demands of this or that person, letting go €500 million here, €1 or 2 billion there, can the government keep to its initial objective of solving the budget deficit? … Financial markets, already highly dubious of the announced focus on austerity, could at any time punish France by sharply raising interest rates.”

Charles Sitzenstuhl, a deputy of Macron’s Renaissance party, complained: “While Michel Barnier claimed budget deficits would be cut mainly by slashing spending and a bit by increasing taxes, each passing day shows the reverse: we are preparing budget stimulus like a left-wing government.”

As this dissatisfaction grew within the bourgeoisie, Le Pen ultimately shifted her position on Barnier. When Barnier’s minority government was initially formed, Le Pen and the RN pledged to support the government’s austerity agenda, vote for its measures in parliament, and provide it with a working parliamentary majority.

But on November 20, as NFP members including Mélenchon ally Eric Coquerel called to censure Barnier’s government to punish it for its austerity policies, Le Pen turned 180 degrees and said she might support censuring Barnier. She told RTL radio: “We will not accept any further reductions to the French people’s purchasing power. That is a red line for us. If the red line is crossed, we will vote for censure.”

Yesterday, Le Pen published a column in Le Figaro, defending threats to bring down Barnier and block the budget. This, she implausibly claimed, would have no major consequences: “Even if the government is censured, taxes would be gathered, state officials paid, pensions paid out, and health costs would be reimbursed. All the censured government would have to do would be to vote, in a caretaker capacity, a special law allowing at a minimum the continued application of the 2024 budget [into 2025], until a new government emerges and a formal budget is voted.”

The prospect of a vote by significant sections of the NFP and the RN that could bring down Barnier has intensified the factional struggle within the political establishment.

While NFP leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon is campaigning to censure Barnier and predicting that his government will fall “between December 18 and 21,” other NFP officials oppose this. Former Prime Minister Bernard Cazeneuve of the big-business Socialist Party (PS) stated that bringing down Barnier “risks a big jump into a crisis of rule.” He called on “all democratic political forces” to be “lucid enough to rally together” to support Barnier.

Significantly, among those spreading rumors about a fall of the government is its titular leader, President Emmanuel Macron. At a recent meeting in the Elysée presidential palace, he told Renaissance officials: “The government will fall. She [Marine Le Pen] will censure it at a certain point, and it will come earlier than what people expect.” Macron, these officials told Le Parisien, thinks that “RN legislators could act on her threats in the coming days, during the votes of the different budgets in the National Assembly.”

The debate on the French budget is a carnival of political reaction. Neither the reactionaries supporting Barnier’s austerity budget, nor the bourgeois supporters of his parliamentary ouster represent the interests of workers.