{"id":23876,"date":"2020-04-16T21:05:49","date_gmt":"2020-04-17T01:05:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/theredphoenixapl.org\/?p=23876"},"modified":"2020-04-16T21:05:49","modified_gmt":"2020-04-17T01:05:49","slug":"communist-party-of-mexico-marxist-leninist-the-economic-crisis-and-corona-virus-in-mexico","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/redphoenix.news\/es\/2020\/04\/communist-party-of-mexico-marxist-leninist-the-economic-crisis-and-corona-virus-in-mexico\/","title":{"rendered":"Communist Party of Mexico (Marxist-Leninist): The Economic Crisis and Corona Virus in Mexico"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The economic crisis and the coronavirus pandemic, both in Mexico as well as at the international
\nlevel, are two different developments of different origins, which coincided in time and place,
\nboth, but of course, like all the problems of human society, they interrelate and affect each other.<\/p>\n

The Economic Crisis in Mexico<\/p>\n

The characterization that we have maintained of the economic situation in Mexico in recent
\nyears, after the crisis of 2007-2009, has been one of economic stagnation, with short periods of
\nweak growth, which never surpassed the levels of growth before 2008. Therefore, the Mexican
\neconomy did not reach a boom, permanently creating the tendency towards a new crisis.
\nThe anti-cyclical measures that the governments of Felipe Calder\u00f3n, Enrique Pe\u00f1a Nieto, and
\neven Andr\u00e9s Manuel L\u00f3pez Obrador (AMLO) (in the last year), with their nuances, sought to
\ncounter the downward trend in the rate of profit, placing the costs of the crisis on the proletariat
\nand the masses of people \u2013 increasing the exploitation of labor power seeking to increase the rate
\nof surplus value.<\/p>\n

To achieve this, the governments of Felipe Calder\u00f3n and Enrique Pe\u00f1a Nieto imposed in Mexico
\nall the measures recommended by imperialism, through their international organizations such as
\nthe International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank (WB), the Organization for Economic
\nCooperation and Development (OECD). These were the same neoliberal measure that were
\napplied at the global level; this package of counter-cyclical measures were synthesized into
\nstructural reforms, the country\u2019s indebtedness and renegotiation of the North American Free
\nTrade Agreement (NAFTA), now known as the Mexico-United States-Canada Treaty (USMCA
\nTreaty).<\/p>\n

The consequences of these measures can be summed up fundamentally in an exponential
\nincrease in the exploitation of labor power \u2013 with the loss of many of the rights won in the
\nstruggles of the working class since the Bourgeois Revolution of 1910-1917. They increase the
\nabsolute and relative surplus value, and a major effort to privatize basic services, such as health
\ncare and education.<\/p>\n

This has also resulted in the handing over of more than 30% of the Mexican territory for mining
\nexploitation by foreign capitalists, the devaluation of the Mexican peso by more than 50% (in
\n2011, $1 US dollar was equivalent to around 11 Mexican pesos, in 2018 it was worth 21 pesos,
\ntoday it is worth 25), and the doubling of public debt (in 2011 the country\u2019s public debt was
\nequivalent to 24% of GDP, now it is equivalent to more than 47%). However, just in this period,
\nthe bankers and a handful of oligarchs of the country increased their capital exponentially; for
\nexample the magnate Carlos Slim was among the first four richest men in the world, where he
\nstill is, while more than 80% of the population remains below the limits of poverty and extreme
\npoverty.<\/p>\n

In the last 10 years, the above led to the intensification of the class struggle in the country, where
\nthe proletariat and the popular masses raised historical struggles. However, we did not achieve
\nthe level of revolutionary accumulation of forces to give it a revolutionary way out, nor did the
\noligarchy have enough strength to impose a fascist way out. In the elections of 2018, Department
\nII of the bourgeoisie (production of articles of consumption \u2013 translator\u2019s note), through a<\/p>\n

populist discourse, with social democratic overtones, brought AMLO to the leadership of the
\nMexican government and State.<\/p>\n

At that time, we pointed out: \u201cWith the arrival of AMLO-MORENA, a new phase of the cycle of
\ncapitalist accumulation opens, one of the fundamental features of which, is that the fraction of
\nthe bourgeoisie linked to Department II, of the economy is being put in charge\u201d (Conclusions,
\norientations, resolutions and tasks of the 7th Ordinary National Congress of the PCMML,
\nNovember 2018).<\/p>\n

In the same document, we warned that a new discourse was being prepared with \u201cnew patriotic
\nsymbols\u201d, such as the referendum in the current constitutional frameworks, the sale of the
\npresidential plane, a cut in the salaries of top officials, and an \u201ctransparent\u201d management of
\npublic resources. The fight \u2018from above\u2019 against corruption had begun, the official government
\nresidence was converted into a museum, among other measures.<\/p>\n

In fact, at no time did they propose to dismantle the foundations of neoliberalism, which have
\nbeen established in the country for the last 40 years, much less to improve the conditions of the
\nworking class. On the contrary, the central objective of the so-called Fourth Transformation of
\nL\u00f3pez Obrador has been to modernize capitalism in Mexico, in order to guarantee the continuity
\nof the process of capitalist accumulation for the benefit of big capital.<\/p>\n

AMLO has sought the growth of the internal market; however, his government is pro-oligarchic,
\ncharacterized by the revitalization of the national economy. It is the same as all the measures of
\nthe capitalist governments, from whichever faction, they are unable to avoid the crises. This is
\nespecially true when, in the case of Mexico, the structural reforms have remained intact; the
\npublic debt has not grown under AMLO because of the austerity policy that has been imposed; it
\nhas been paid on time.<\/p>\n

The Mexican government promised a growth of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by 4%
\nduring its six-year term. In the first year, a growth of about 2% was projected, and in any case,
\nthey claimed that a possible crisis could only be caused by external factors, specifically the
\nweakness of the world economy. Our Party, in its First Ordinary National Conference of
\nDecember 2019, analyzed the following data to argue that the tendency towards crisis in Mexico
\nwas largely rooted in the contradictions of capitalism in Mexico itself:
\n\u201cWhat should be noted is that since the second quarter of 2018, the GDP has been declining,
\nuntil the third quarter of 2019 to 0.0%.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe data on the industrial sector, the decline in gross fixed capital investment, among other
\nindicators, show that, in the short term, that is, the years 2019-2020, it would not be able to
\novercome the conditions that would allow it to move from a phase of stagnation to one of boom.
\n\u201cGiven the conditions of the world and Mexican economy, there is a better chance of a crisis
\ndeveloping. This would be to such an extent that the increase of tariffs on Mexico\u2019s exports to the
\nUS, a coordinated flight of capital outside the country, a speculative attack of financial capital
\non the peso, the decline of foreign and local investment, among other economic factors, could
\ntrigger a crisis.<\/p>\n

\u201cIndustrial production is central to understanding the state of capitalist accumulation.
\nAccording to data from the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI), in the first
\nquarter of 2019 the main features of industrial production (secondary activities) is the following:<\/p>\n

A contraction of \u20130.5% in the first quarter, \u20131.8% in the second quarter, \u20131.7% in the third
\nquarter; if to this we add the contraction of the last quarter of 2018 from 1.1% to 0.5%, we can
\nsay that technically the secondary department in Mexico is in recession, according to the method
\nof INEGI itself.<\/p>\n

\u201cSince industry is in recession, this is not only reflected in the whole economy, the main thing is
\nthat it shows the complications of the process of capitalist accumulation; to know the state of a
\ncapitalist economy, the way industry is remains the central thing. Therefore, the crisis that is
\ngrowing in Mexico does not come from \u201cabroad\u201d, but is the contradiction of capitalism itself in
\nMexico.<\/p>\n

\u2018On the other hand, the stagnation registered by the INEGI is reflected in employment and
\ndecrease of consumption. During March, only 48,515 formal jobs were created. The reality is
\nthat the 269,143 jobs created in the first quarter represent the lowest number of jobs created in
\nthe first three months of the year since 2014.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn net terms (if we consider layoffs), for the third quarter of 2019 there was only an increase of
\n696,614 (formal) salaried jobs compared to the same quarter of 2018 (that is, an increase of
\n2.0%, less than the 2.4% obtained in the same period last year). The last data to point out the
\nmain features of the Mexican economy, apart from GDP and industrial production, is gross fixed
\ninvestment.<\/p>\n

\u201cAccording to the report by the INEGI, Gross Fixed Investment registered a real decrease of
\n\u20133.9% in March and \u20131.3% in September. This indicator represents expenditure on construction
\nmachinery and equipment, both domestic and foreign.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn its cumulative annual comparison, Gross Fixed Investment was reduced by \u20135.5% in March
\nand \u20136.5%) in September. In particular the expenses of total machinery and equipment have
\nfallen from \u20137.3% to \u20137.8% and in construction from \u20134.2% to \u20135.9% in the respective months.\u201d
\nNow (the second half of March), the crisis has arrived both in Mexico and the world; they are
\ntrying to hide the real causes of the crisis, which are in the Law of the Tendency of the Rate of
\nProfit to Decline, social production and private appropriation, wage exploitation, the
\naccumulation of capital and the insatiable thirst for profit. These are all inherent in the
\nimperialist-capitalist system itself; the state has intensified the propagation of the idea that the
\ncrisis has been caused by the economic war between China and the United States, the
\ncoronavirus and the fall of oil prices.<\/p>\n

On March 19, Michelle Meyer, Bank of America\u2019s Chief US economist pointed out that \u201cthe
\n[US] economy has fallen into a recession\u201d and with this the crisis has started, and the economy
\nof US imperialism will collapse in the second quarter of 2020, with a 12% decrease.
\nThe destruction of the productive forces with this crisis will be brutal, Meyer continued, with
\nmore than 1 million jobs lost every month and \u201cwealth will be destroyed\u201d.
\nWith this apocalyptic statement, it is inevitable that this new crisis that we are witnessing will
\nhave an international character and its fundamental feature, such as that of the most recent crises,
\nis a crisis of overproduction. Both the so-called trade war between the United States and China,
\nand the sharp drop in oil prices, have their cause in the overproduction of commodities.<\/p>\n

The coronavirus pandemic only means that it is spreading at a time of crisis; the pandemic only
\naggravates it, and is very far from being one of the causes of the crisis.<\/p>\n

In any case, the relationship of the Covid-19, which began in Wuhan, China, on December 31,
\n2019, with this new economic crisis is that, on the one hand, it has affected world trade to the
\nextent that it has caused the closure of borders for people and commodities, both in China and in
\nvarious parts of the world. As China is one of the important sources for five industrial branches
\n(pharma-chemical, automotive, aeronautics, electronics and telecommunications), this has led to
\na significant decline in world trade. However, various monopolies of the different imperialist
\nblocs have taken advantage of the health problem caused by Covid-19 to impose lockouts, to the
\ndetriment of the workers, in order to reduce the overproduction of commodities.<\/p>\n

Mexico, arriving on the international stage with a stagnant economy and without even minimal
\ngrowth, industrial production in decline, and subjected economically to US imperialism,
\nimmediately suffered the blow. For more than 10 days up to March 20, the fall of the Mexican
\nStock Exchange reached more than 7.1%; in two weeks the Mexican peso was devalued by more
\nthan 30%, reaching a rate of one US dollar to 25 pesos, while 15 days before one US dollar was
\nworth about 18 pesos. A barrel of Mexican oil fell by more than 22%, reaching $18.78. This is
\nnaturally causing a shock to the Mexican economy.<\/p>\n

The Current Anti-Crisis Measures Are Striking the Proletariat<\/p>\n

In Mexico and globally, the anti-crisis measures are the same that imperialism has applied in
\nprevious crises, such as the credit line opened with the IMF, and advancing public investment
\nspending with 150,000 million pesos to stabilize the budget, insurance to guarantee that in the
\nface of the fall of oil prices the public budget will not be affected, the auctioning of the
\ninternational dollar reserves, in addition to the fiscal stimuli for big national and transnational
\nmonopolies.<\/p>\n

These measures are decided fundamentally by the oligarchy itself and imperialism, for example,
\nimmediately, on March 19, the Federal Reserve Bank of the United States offered a swap line to
\nthe Bank of Mexico and eight other countries, in order to avoid a shortage of US currency and at
\nthe same time to put these central banks into debt. The Business Coordinating Council, for its
\npart, is preparing its fangs to benefit from the anti-crisis measures, proposing to the Mexican
\ngovernment the cancellation of taxes, the injection of liquid money to avoid the dismissal of
\nworkers, as well as the indebtedness of the Mexican government in order to face this crisis.
\nTaking advantage of the panic caused by the spread of the coronavirus, governments around the
\nworld have begun to impose fascist measures. These are for social control and to prevent popular
\nuprisings because of the loss of millions of jobs, and imposing states of emergency to suspend
\nthe fundamental rights of the population. In addition, the state has suspended the labor rights of
\nworkers, imposing more enslaving labor on certain vital sectors of workers, for example in the
\nhealth sector, or by legitimizing lockouts without pay for workers, etc.<\/p>\n

There are important prospects for the working class and peoples<\/p>\n

The economic crisis is provoking the deepening of all the contradictions inherent in the
\ncapitalist-imperialist system at the world level, but, in this particular crisis, unlike the one that
\nstruck us more than 10 years ago, the world proletariat is more active in its class struggle.<\/p>\n

Recent events in Sudan, Iran, Haiti, Ecuador, Colombia and Chile show that the mass movement
\nin the world is regaining ground.<\/p>\n

Even though the working class has not been the main force and leader of the recent movements,
\nthe International Labor Organization (ILO) is already estimating that, with the current crisis, it is
\npossible to lose approximately 25 million jobs, which will necessarily force the working class to
\nstand up in battle.<\/p>\n

In Mexico, after the ebb in the mass struggle that began in the second half of 2018, the first
\nquarter of this year saw a revival of the mass movement, on March 8, with hundreds of
\nthousands of women taking to the streets, the outbreak of some university strikes (Autonomous
\nUniversity “Benito Ju\u00e1rez”; of Oaxaca, Autonomous University of Chapingo), the strike of the
\nSingle Union of Workers of NOTIMEX (state news agency), and the teachers’ mobilizations.
\nThe struggles of the peoples for the defense of natural resources in the southeast of the country
\nare, among others, the elements that shape this perspective.<\/p>\n

The financial oligarchy and its most fascist and bloodthirsty manifestations are licking their lips
\nin order to impose a fascist solution: the mass destruction of the productive forces and a new
\nredivision of the world through a Third World War. The measures imposed by border closures,
\ncurfews and states of emergency in many parts of the world, under the pretext of the coronavirus,
\nare erasing at one stroke all the rights won by the struggle and blood of the working class. They
\nare arguing for a state of emergency, which is being magnified and\/or provoked in many cases.
\nTheir main purpose is to advance the putting down of the protests and the legitimization of
\nfascism.<\/p>\n

In Mexico, since the coming of AMLO to power, these same sectors, the fascists and the ultra-
\nreactionary right, have reactivated all their mechanisms to seek roots among the masses. They
\nare constantly seeking to snatch away the historic banners of struggle of the proletariat and the
\nmasses of people. They are not yet taking the lead within the mass movement, but the crisis we
\nare entering will also create conditions for them to step up their fight for the masses.
\nWe, the working class and the popular masses, must be clear that there are still varying solutions
\nto this crisis, but the main ones are: on the one hand, the fascist solution, with a world war, and
\nthis is the best solution for the benefit of the international financial oligarchy; and the
\nrevolutionary solution that, with the intensification of the economic crisis that will lead to
\npolitical crises and possibly revolutionary crises, in which the proletariat must take the initiative
\nand unite all the popular sectors around itself, opening the way to the proletarian revolution.
\nFrom this perspective, it follows that the path of the working class necessarily involves
\nintensifying its efforts to advance as quickly as possible in its processes of revolutionary
\naccumulation of forces. This places as a current and immediate problem, the building of the
\nAnti-Fascist and Anti-Imperialist United Front, raising the slogan \u201cLet the rich pay for the
\ncrisis!\u2019, taking up as forms of struggle the General Political Strikes, advancing towards a new
\noffensive, opening the way to a new epoch of proletarian revolutions.<\/p>\n

This process, in Mexico, is in the building of the National Assembly of the Proletariat and
\nPeoples of Mexico, the centralization of the struggles of the whole country, under a single plan
\nof struggle, and the revival of the mass struggles, unmasking on the one hand the oligarchic
\nnature of the AMLO government, but also denouncing the fascist and ultra-reactionary right,<\/p>\n

which pretends to stand in opposition to AMLO, with whom it has differentiated positions, but
\nboth share the bourgeois pro-oligarchic nature.<\/p>\n

The crisis has arrived and all the contradictions inherent in the capitalist-imperialist system will
\ndeepen. The class struggle will intensify exponentially; the proletariat has no other way but to
\nresume its leading role in conducting its class struggle.
\nWe Marxist-Leninist communists, revolutionaries, democrats from all over the world have to
\nplay our historical role to help raise again the perspective of scientific socialism and
\ncommunism.<\/p>\n

Now more than ever\u2026<\/strong>
\nIt is time for Proletarian Revolution! Workers of the World, Unite!<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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