Democratic Socialist

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40. Austerity comes to Norway – workers fight back...

Written by Niklas Albin Svensson

Tuesday, 23 December 2014

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"At the same time, the government is attacking workplace rights. The working day and overtime can now be legally to increase by several hours, temporary contracts are legalised up to a year and agency staff will now no longer have to have the same working conditions as permanent staff in companies.

This is a clear attempt to make the labour market more “flexible”, I.e. making it easier to hire and fire workers and force them to work longer hours. This is all in the name of flexibility and productivity but really what the Norwegian bourgeois is looking to is to increase their profits at the expense of the working class."

(Snip)

"Norway is one of the richest countries on the planet. The only country with a higher GDP per capita is Luxembourg. Yet, the bourgeoisie is determined to claw back its profits. The Norwegian workers are learning the hard way what Capitalism means in the 21st century, just like their counterparts in the rest of Europe. The fiction of “Capitalism with a human face” can no longer be maintained even in the richest of countries.

The workers' organisations would do well to remember this. If they continue to attempt to prop up Capitalism they will be punished severely. In spite of the rise of the Labour Party, the Socialist Left Party (“Sosialistisk Venstreparti”) remains below 4% after having joined the last left-centre government. They are down from something like 8-9% in 2008-9. Rodt, which is tentatively rising in the opinion polls would do well to learn this lesson. What we need is not more compromise with the right-wing, or the water-down of our programme, but militant action and a socialist programme."

Full article here...

http://www.marxist.com/austerity-comes-to-norway.htm