10 per cent Market Tax on Incomes

[p028] 10 per cent Market Tax REPRESENTATIVES of Finance Capital and the Economy are de- manding that the government axe subsidies, raise taxes, and adopt a ‘sober’ wage policy. Ludwig Poullain, President of the board of directors of the West German Landesbank is demanding a 10 per cent unrepayable market sur- tax on incomes for an indefinite period of time. Karl Schiller, ex- minister of the Economy and a good friend of Ludwig Erhard, is demanding the same, as well as the application of the Stability Act: wage increases of over 8 per cent to be annulled by a corresponding rise in taxes. There is to be no giving way in the coming wage negotiations of the union of public employees and transport workers. As Fritz Conzen, President of the leading association of German retailers explained, no reform promises can be made by the new govern- ment because they cannot be financed. The President of the central association of the German building trade, Fritz Hackert, called on the employers to defend the ‘social market economy’. The capitalists’ call for stability means the withdrawal of all the concessions made to the working class since World War It. The capitalists want to fill the gap in the treasury, a result of inflation, by tax increases and an unrepayable market surtax on incomes. Their demand to put an end to the Brandt government means disciplining the unions and cutting wages in all the coming wage struggles. The political gewerkschaftli- cheund politische Rechte der Arbeiter- Klasan xn zerstiren Das Ziel ist die representative of big capital, Strauss, has attacked the unions several times. This is the beginning of the destruction of union rights and political rights of the working class. The aim is to create mass unemployment. All these attacks are not a manifestation of a crisis in Ger- man capitalism, but the effects of the international crisis of capitalism on Germany. The trade war between the USA and the EEC, which was initiated by the destruction of the world currency system, has now reached a stage in which the battle for sources of raw materials and for markets is waged on a political level. The attempt of the capitalists to create a government of no compromise with the working class is dictated by the intensifi- cation of the international crisis of capitalism. Owing to the inflation and the reconstruction of the capitalist economy, the post-war period was characterized by wage con- cessions to the working class. Nixon’s removal of the gold backing for the dollar a year ago destroyed the world currency system which had existed since World War II and put an end to compromises with the work- ing class. Faced with shrinking profits, capitalists all over the world are losing faith in production and are trying to derive as much profit as possible from the crisis. Despite the fear that they are irreconcilable adversaries economically, the capitalists are united in their determination to squeeze profits from the working DOCUMENTS: Trotskyism and the West German election 1972 onjunktursidS free QI XA i UASEIET or el le DY at eS class and to act together. Last year Nixon carried out a so-called wages and prices freeze. This brought the American work- ing class wage cuts, while prices . soared. The Heath government in England recently introduced a wages and prices freeze and again announced their intention of seeking a confrontation with ‘the working class as they did with the anti-strike Act, parts of which they have applied. As a result of the economic crisis, the capitalist class con- sciously change their form of rule in the direction of Bonapartism and fascism, as can be seen in all capitalist countries. With Strauss in power, the state apparatus will be strength- ened and preparations made for civil war. The ruling class knows that the working class will not volun- tarily part with its gains. The measures they have anounced in Germany show their determin- ation to attack the working class. Two social camps confront each other: the working class, already entering the . defensive battle, and the bourgeoisie, which must get its profits from the only force which creates value—the working class. Thus the bourgeoisie is con- sciously striving for a military- police dictatorship which puts the rule of the state bureaucracy above the property owners and propertyless, a Bonapartist regime. The working class has the task of bringing down a Strauss government by a general strike and thus defeating the plans of the capitalists. 25

[p029] The enormous pressure which the capitalists bring to bear politically will be felt equally by a social-democratic government. A social-democratic government too will go far to the right. Brandt will give way to the pressure of the capitalists, as he has done already in collaborat- ing with the CDU/CSU after the. vote of no_ confidence on April 27. Therefore the main task is the : struggle for socialist policies and for an independent SPD govern- ment (i.e., no coalition) which — carries them out. Defend the post war gains Not an inch may be removed from living standards. Full wage increases in the tariff struggles. No tax increases, no market sur- tax. Break No job may be sacrificed No sackings through mergers and rationalization. All factories threatened with closure must be expropriated without compens- ation and put under workers control. Against inflation— automatic wage rises according to price rises The capitalists want to deceive the working class about their in- tentions by an enormous pro- paganda campaign. They are defending their bankrupt profit system with advertisements such as, ‘Don’t believe anyone over 130: Karl Marx’. In the boom period the capitalists had no need to make such campaigns to de- fend the ‘order of the market economy’, but during the crisis this is part of the living class struggle. Let no worker be deceived by the lackeys of these capitalist liars. These are the bureaucrats who say there is no crisis, that this is only deliberately pessimistic talk of the capitalists. They help the capitalists deceive the work- ing class and do not really fight Strauss. Thus we reject firmly the DKP which fights Strauss verbally but supports him in its actions. They do this by splitting the votes of. the workers by standing in the elections and denying that the danger of Strauss is a result of the capitalist crisis. Thus we condemm the attempts of the chairman of the DGB (German league of unions), Vetter, to make peace with the CDU by saying that there is a difference between Strauss and Barzel, and by offering the em- ployers ‘summit talks’ in the wage negotiations in order to bridge the ‘gap’ between the negotiating parties. This familiar- ity is the beginning of the sell- out.—No collaboration with the capitalist class, neither by the SPD, nor by the unions. Every compromise weakens the working class in the coming struggle. BULLETIN: INTERNATIONAL SERIES Bey Centrism! ss 95° Basic documents of the French OCI’s split with }the International Com- mittee. Discusses the role of centrism in the defeat of the Bolivian working Class and its relationship to the Marxist method. available From: BREAK WITH Labor Publications CENTRISM! 1135 West 14th St. e New York, N.Y. 10011

[p030] DAS Wahlergebnis ere is am 19. Deni markiert ae bene elect on vera: ten Klassensituation. Mit dér Wahi dee SPD zur stérksten Frak- tion des Bundestags hat die Arbeiterklasee die reak tiondren Pline der Kapitalisten, ver- treten durch Strau8 und Barzel, zurickge- schiagen. Dieser Sieg der Arbeiterklouse ist von histori- acher Bedeutung. Das KlassenbewuStecin der Ar- beiterklsase und das Vertrauen in ihre Stirke, die Kapitalisten besiegen zu kdnnen, ist enorm gestie- gen. Gestirkt aus der Boomperiode hat die Ar- beiterklasse das Vertrasen, dati sie das, woflir sie kampft auch erreichen kann. Aber verbunden mit dieser Wahi ist cin tie- fer, _Widerspruch. Die internatiousle Krise des na Bete seberhe Bente Povelinl