Layoffs and Unemployment as a Reality of Our Lives

As a conscious worker, I want to remind all working people again and again a simple truth – under capitalism, none of us is immune from layoffs and subsequent unemployment. Even representatives of rare and highly paid specialties are included in the “risk group” and must constantly look back at the situation in the economy.

Capitalism is a stage of commodity production in which labor power becomes a commodity. We bring our ability to work to the labor market and try to realize it as expensively as possible. The owners of the means of production, on the other hand, tend to buy it as cheaply as possible. First of all, the capitalist will look at the price of labor power, and only then at the nationality, language of communication, or citizenship of the seller of the ability to work. This objective interest, inherent in any representative of the bourgeois class, shatters the myth imposed on us about good, national businessmen who needs to be supported.

Since the law is the will of the ruling class, then most of the articles of the Labor Code (Labor Law) are designed to serve the bourgeoisie and worsen the situation of wage workers. And nevertheless, we have the opportunity not only to defend ourselves, but also to go on the offensive. How many of you are trade union members? At least in the “yellow” or openly controlled by the administration of your enterprises, but the trade unions? Here is the answer to you, why people talk to us, workers, as people of the second class, why managers and employers are not afraid to intimidate us, and sometimes even break the law.

After getting a job, but not going through the simplest stage of the trade union struggle, there is always the risk of being fired – this applies to everyone. One by one we will be broken, swallowed and spit out. You can certainly hope for the mercy of the owner, for their exceptional qualities. But, as practice shows, business is only interested in profit. Do you agree, under pain of dismissal, to constantly overwork, thereby depriving yourself and free time and quickly wearing out your body? Agree to work for medicines? This will not buy the loyalty and “love” of the owner – sooner or later, as a waste material, you will replenish the army of the unemployed, as soon as someone is cheaper and younger.

The crisis forces the bourgeoisie to cut costs at the expense of the working man. Indeed, with a gradual decrease in the length of the working day due to an increase in labor productivity, the problem of unemployment could be solved by itself. But the capitalists do not need this, they are only interested in profit. And how to get it is the tenth thing.

In the capitalist reality, getting ready for work in the morning, you need to be prepared that the owner will no longer need you at lunchtime. He does not care about you, your family, children – you are “free” and nobody cares about your life. Such a cannibalistic policy is what we began our path to 30 years ago, the path that the ruling class and its servants like so much.

Why don’t workers fight for their dignity and allow themselves to be treated like that? Bourgeois values ​​and ideals are broadcasted by the media every day and are invested in ordinary people. Articles about suddenly rich people and millionaire success stories are intended to reinforce the belief in the possibility of “living richly and doing nothing”. At the same time, the very desire to “live richly and do nothing”, that is, to live at the expense of someone else’s unpaid labor, becomes a moral norm. Only a truly scientific, materialistic view of the world in which we live, of the processes taking place in it can resist this idealistic nonsense.

In such conditions, Marxism is not only not outdated, but has become more relevant than ever before. Free from any dogmas, subjective opinions and religious prejudices, the Marxist-Leninist teaching is logical, accessible and complete. Only it can give each person an understanding of his place in society, his fundamental interests and indicate the goal to which he really should strive, a goal worthy of a modern man. And we, working people of Latvia, should be treated like no one else. Only together we will be able to overcome all those obstacles that stand in the way of a life without fear and uncertainty for our future.

Conscious worker