We are in a process in which the economy has hit bottom, unemployment has grown, hunger and poverty are spiralling, workers have got to the point where they set themselves on fire in city squares, the exploitation of children has become an everyday event, narcotics and corruption are on a scale unprecedented in the history of Turkey, farmers have rebelled, saying “Enough is enough, rise up,” the cost of living has grown and injustice is rife.

We live in conditions that in fascist terror surpass the September 12, 1980 fascist junta. We have been living in a period in which an unjust war has been waged on Syria, the imperialists have tried to partition Syria, they slaughtered the peoples and also involved the peoples of our country in this war.

In truth, the oligarchic system and the governing party the AKP has internally collapsed and rotted. The judicial and justice system, which was only there for show, has been removed. The KHK system dominates. The fascist AKP has legitimised everything it does on this soil: theft, massacres, collaboration, plunder, narcotics, rape, prostitution…

As the AKP’s crisis over its inability to rule deepens, the biggest ideological source of fascist terror has been religion. But at the point that has been reached, what they say and what they do are not in harmony. Debates about making religion “everyday” are on the agenda. There is no word for this, other than decay. The AKP, the political party in power all by itself for the past 16 years, is responsible for all this.

This situation is connected to the AKP being a system party. It is connected to it being a party of collaboration with imperialism, the party of the monopolies. It is connected to the AKP being the enemy of the people. All system parties have more or less the same character. One cannot be preferred to the others. Preferences are limited to either the system, or revolution.

We go towards May Day amid early elections, OHAL, the AKP’s fascism and growing fascist terror and the crisis derived from its inability to rule.

Once again, the oligarchy and the system parties have placed general elections on the agenda. When the oligarchic system is in a deep crisis, when the crisis of rule deepens, that is when its starts to lose legitimacy among the people and what it does next is obvious.

It practises wild fascist terror to prevent the displeasure of the masses from finding expression,

It organises fascist massacres of the masses to legitimise repression,

It boosts chauvinism, incites war to distance the masses of people from their own agenda while drawing them to that of fascism,

It puts the election game on the agenda in order to create hope in the system among the masses…

The history of our country is full of such examples. Just to examine the last 3-4 years is enough. IS, nurtured by imperialism and the oligarchy, committed large-scale massacres in Diyarbakir, Suruc and Ankara.

The AKP which organised these massive slaughters aligned the IS killers and the pro-American Fethullah supporters alongside the revolutionaries and said “We will put an end to terrorism” while legitimising fascist terror and seeking to intimidate our people… The November 1, 2015 election, the April 16, 2017 referendum…

What haven’t the oligarchy and reformism said about the elections process? They said the future of the country is democracy, and called on the people to lay ownership to democracy and run to the ballot boxes. And more recently they whipped up war fever in Iraq and Syria and entered Afrin, occupying Syrian land.

Now what is in the oligarchy’s calculations is how they will deceive the people. What they are calculating is how they will keep the people under pressure and prevent them from going outside the system. Every day there is a new repressive law, if that is not enough they calculate on new omnibus bills. They calculate how to plunder the people further… They are the foundation of the oligarchy’s agenda. Now the elections are their vehicle.

The System Left, The Reformist Left Once Again Wrap Themselves In Elections. They See A Solution In Parliament

Fascism thus creates hopes that a brake can be put on it. It deceives the people that way. Because there is no alternative. It is hardly surprising that those who cannot fight fascism on May Day and accept Maltepe also see elections to the fascist parliament as a solution. On the contrary is the product of the same mentality. On the subject of elections in the system, we do not err if we list a handful of reformist left thoughts as follows, as well as the thoughts of the opportunists who are under their influence:

“If there is no politics, there is no politics for the liberation of the people. The overriding principle of politics is the system perpetuating itself. The people do not demand a reckoning and must not demand a reckoning. The children of the “people” are to be raped, women are not allowed out into the street, science is expelled from the academies, young people are set in motion to kill and to be killed, death is made sacred both morning and evening… Those who say, let us rebel or let us not rebel are not making an analysis of profit and loss and must not do so. The people must not rebel. Let the bourgeois engineers do as they will, there is a politics outside of this accounts book mania that is scattered in all directions. Some will represent the uprising of the people and the willpower of the workers and organise this. What will be do in the elections? Equality, justice, freedom, secularism, independence, a politics for all these, in short we will engage in politics that brings the working people closer to their liberation. Did you say technique? We will find a technique for all that.” (SOL “Left” – Aydemir Guler)

If we think naively, we might say this is a statement calling on the people to rebel. We might say that in this statement there is a call for the liberation of the people. We can say there is a search for an alternative outside the system.

But this is not the truth. Because the truth goes beyond what they say and rests on concrete actions. For these gentlemen to enter the system’s elections, it means nothing other than to say to the people, “Vote for me”. Reformism’s idea of a popular uprising is for the people to vote for them and not for the parties peculiar to the system.

Do not deceive the people – there is no liberation of the people inside the system! No liberation can be ensured within the election game!

Also an evaluation from the front of the Kurdish nationalist movement:

“(…) All indications are that fascism stamped by RTE will in a short space of time reach its end. Such that revolutionary democratic forces in the near future can achieve power. Erdogan called these forced elections to achieve his goal but on the contrary they will shorten his life-span. Turkey is showing all indications of confronting a revolutionary situation. International finance capital is aware of this fate approaching and is working to ripen its own preferences, up to and including the alternative of imperialist intervention, as a precaution against revolutionary democratic forces making it into government. (…) A historic period is before us in which dreams are fulfilled.” (Yeni Ozgur Politika – Cenap Ozek)

Whatever reformist or, tailing it, opportunist evaluations we examine we see the same lines. In a country in the midst of crisis, with the people groaning, an economy that has hit bottom and social decay transgressing all boundaries… Everyone thinks like that. But the problem is what comes after? How do we change this picture? How do we change it with concrete duties and tactics of the day? This is the problem.

Once again, whatever we say, life moves in terms of concrete results. There are concrete politics and revolutionary tactics to create these results. This is how dreams are made reality.

For example, we are up against elections the oligarchy has put on the agenda. What tactics will be put into practice in these elections? What propaganda will there be? What aims will be presented to the masses? After reference is made to the system of fascism, imperialism, exploitation and tyranny, will the elections be about seeking a solution in the system, with the target being elections and parliament?

Outside Of Concrete Revolutionary Politics And Tactics, All Words Uttered Are Deceptions, Empty Words, They Are Means Of Concealing Being A Part Of The System!

Before the elections, May Day is just ahead of us. What will our tactics be for May Day? Will reconciliation with fascism be sought? Will action be taken in line with what it desires, or will tactics be put forward that present us to the masses as a legitimate and rightful alternative? Will we be satisfied with Maltepe which fascism has presented to us, or will our place be May Day Square in Taksim and we say fascism cannot impose its will on us. This is the problem.

There is value to any words that ignore these truths or more precisely fail to produce revolutionary politics and tactics. Outside of concrete revolutionary politics and tactics, all words are deceptions, empty words and a means of concealing being a part of the system. This is the general character of reformism and opportunism. They flee from all day-to-day duties. They flee from concrete aims. They hide behind flowery and pretentious words and flee from responsibility.

The oligarchy and the system left also try to make the people’s agenda their own. Increasingly openly they echo the system’s interests and the system’s calculations as to its interests as though they were the people’s interests. Nowadays there is a common saying: “The future of the homeland is in question and the rest is detail”. This is said by the system party the CHP. The reformist left answer to this is “We remove all red lines for the future of democracy”. Being part of the system, liquidation and a tendency to surrender are all concealed behind these sayings about “democracy”.

Now the bourgeois opposition and the reformist left have found a common point: “Put an end to rule by one man, it is necessary to go back to a system of parliamentary democracy!”

The agenda of our people: hunger, unemployment, injustice, poverty, fascist terror, narcotics, corruption, sexual exploitation, rape… Our peoples are simply worried about getting through the day. Work safety, safety of their lives, how they will get through the day, the debt and living expenses burden. They try to solve their problems with small acts of resistance here and there. This is their agenda. The elections are not on the agenda of the people. Because for decades this parliament and countless general elections have solved none of the problems of our people, on the contrary their problems have grown.

The duty of revolutionaries is to look to the agenda of the people. To build up their agenda, put pressure on the oligarchy, to ensure rights, in short to organise the people and build up their struggle. The revolutionary duty is to resist and to want justice, to say we want our rights and if we are not given them we will take them. To organise not in the system’s parliaments but in the People’s Parliaments and to see solutions there. It means elections are not the cure, revolution is.

In line with this understanding, the revolutionary duty is to not accept the will of a system that is not legitimate, it is to shout out our demands and be in Taksim on May Day, where our blood has flowed.

WAITING FOR THE APPROVAL OF FASCISM, SEEING IT AS LEGITIMATE TO ACCEPT ITS WILL, IS THE GREATEST TREASON TO LABOUR AND THE WORKER!

The statement by the AKP governor of Ankara that “May 1 is contrary to the organisation of the workforce” means that if the workforce serve my fascist system it is not their workforce and it is contrary to their establishment. Certainly what they call the workforce must serve fascism. All the people, all the workers must obey the orders of the fascist system. While they say it is in the interests of the people and the nation, everything must serve the fascist system. Search for rights, demand rights? It cannot be. No rights, resistance or demands, just duties…

This is fascism. Fascism imposes this on all the people. There is no middle way. The sides are fixed. Any concessions made are not enough, it wants what it wants. The Ankara Governor’s Office objected to slogans it considered harmful and fascism showed its face as an enemy of the people.

“Biji Yek Gulan” (Kurdish: “Long Live May Day”) and Kurdish slogans like it are totally banned. Fascism’s character is utterly chauvinist. You can shout slogans in English but you cannot shout Kurdish slogans in this country. The slogan “General Strike, General Resistance” is considered harmful. Certainly fascism fears this. The Ankara Governor’s Office has banned slogans simply because they are written in red.

The governor’s office has banned all May Day slogans. You can do nothing against molesters, rapists and those who damage the environment but those who desire human living and working conditions are undesirable and banned. A scientific, democratic and free education; calling on the USA which has spilled the blood of the people in the Middle East to leave is banned. It is forbidden to say no to price rises, tyranny, torture and fascism… In short fascism is imposing its will on all the workers.

Who says May 1 is “just a day”? Who says May Day is just a “day of rest” that can be celebrated whenever? The AKP fascist governor knows well what is banned and why. He attacks like a bull that has seen a red cloth. And this is how it is with fascism.

OK, where are we?

Reformism and opportunism are trying to prove how peaceful and common sense they are. They are deceiving themselves. Look at the banned slogans. Look at how May 1 has been banned as a whole!

Surrendering and accepting these impositions is the reality of fascism. With the understanding you defend you are bowing down to the molester and rapist, those who turn the peoples against one another, the life of slavery, price rises, tyranny and torture. Whatever you may say, you are accepting fascism’s will. You are denying this to yourselves. This is bowing down to fascism. By bowing down to it, you can forget your own slogans, you might as well be shouting theirs.

We will never accept fascism’s will. The fascist system is not legitimate. It is the enemy of the people. As we have said historically, we will drown fascism in the blood it has spilled. We say we will fight for people’s democracy against fascism.

BECAUSE THE CRISIS OF RULE IS NOT PECULIAR TO THE AKP, IT IS THE GENERAL CHARACTER OF THE OLIGARCHIC SYSTEM…

WHICHEVER SYSTEM PARTY THERE IS THAT COMES TO POWER, IT CANNOT RULE; BECAUSE IT IS A QUESTION OF THE SYSTEM.

THE CRISIS OF BEING UNABLE TO RULE… Henceforth everyone accepts that this is the case. Even the AKP has accepted it. Both by deciding for early elections and explaining why it has done so – signalling the economy and the situation in the north of Syria. Certainly the picture of the country presented by the AKP is quite wild.

What is a crisis of being unable to rule? What are the determining factors? What are the reflections of it, what are the results?

Saying that the AKP cannot rule, our peoples also do not want to be ruled, they are not pleased with this system. Reformism and opportunism also note that the AKP is going through a crisis of being unable to rule but do not want to see that our peoples do not want to be ruled, and in reality they do not see it. The system left merely looks to see whether the people react or do not react. It ignores its own responsibility for its reactions. Essentially it does not trust the people.

While the AKP is in the form of being unable to rule, it is “ruling”. It is a statement of how one way or another it continues in government. This is a point that is not noticed in many situations. While it is in a situation in which it cannot rule, it rules. This is not something just to be explained by saying the AKP fills the gap of its crisis of being unable to rule with fascist repression, lies and demagogy. While fascism experiences the crisis of being unable to rule, it continues to exist in government and this is a sign to all who call themselves revolutionary, left-wing, patriotic and progressive. Essentially AKP fascism succeeds in ruling through the inadequacies and wrong approaches in the people’s forces and the progressive, left and revolutionary forces.

For A Government That Has Lost All Shreds Of Legitimacy, Those Not Showing The Courage To Resist The System And Who Accept Becoming A Part Of Its Election Game Are Objectively Giving The System A Blood Transfusion And Simplifying Its Rule. This Is Why They Take Great Pleasure In Being A Part Of The Early Elections. This Is Why They Surrender To May Day Bans And Maltepe.

While it claims to be a defender of the rights of labour and the workers, the defender of this reformist understanding expressed in these lines in the Evrensel newspaper is really a statement showing what character has been lost by this environment.

“This country cannot be ruled in the normal way. This does not just condemn us to state of emergency conditions, we are being ruled by a government that does not know how to overcome its situation with state of emergency conditions. We are ruled by a helpless government that, rather than planning out the future with moral and consistent foresight, is today unable to decide what it needs to do to cope with crisis, compared with experiences of the past.

Determining correctly the source of the crisis and what precautions are necessary and convenient, there is a ruling psychology that is in a state of panic, seeking to destroy everyone it thinks is an enemy. Crises cannot be managed with panic, nor can correct strategies be formed. Turkey is in a crisis of rule today in the truest sense of the word. After this point, henceforth the essential matter is not the crisis but that those rulers will be held responsible who are the actual source of the crisis, those who were unable to resolve it justly and intelligently after having pushed the country into it.” (Evrensel, September 16, 2016 – Esra Arsan)

It expects from the oligarchic state and the fascist system a solution within an intelligent, just and legal framework. And it actually wants to teach AKP fascism how to overcome its own crisis caused by its inability to rule.

The revolutionary duty is not to think for the system or to worry about its crises, it is to think about revolution and to search for the questions arising from people’s revolution. The revolutionary duty is to present a revolutionary alternative to the people in their displeasure with the oligarchic system and AKP fascism. The aim of this is creating organisation targeting the system every day and to produce a line of struggle against the system. The people’s forces must be united on that basis.

On a daily basis there must be unity of actions, both large and small, and these must be spread wider. The revolutionary will made concrete in Yuksel must be built up and extended to new areas. May Day must be fought and won in Taksim.

We will be in Taksim with our militancy, our awareness of our rightness, and our vanguard responsibility to our peoples. The source of our militancy and legitimacy is this system of exploitation and tyranny. It is the fascist system itself.

They say, do not fight, they throw up pink dust and say “Have a peaceful May Day.”

Who will be pleased by that?

Workers left to deal with price rises?

Millions condemned to injustice and hunger?

Those who are molested and raped?

Children left pregnant?

Hundreds of thousands thrown out of work?

Every day a child is crushed under a TOMA (police water cannon vehicle), TOMAs drive into houses, towns, villages and provinces are declared “special zones” under a threat of massacre – is it the Kurdish people they want to surrender to this?

Is it the farmer who is not to receive the product of his or her labour?

Is it the millions of workers risking death in workplace accidents because of lack of work safety?

Is it the people waiting to have their houses torn down?

Is it the mothers and fathers who wait at primary schools seeking to “save these children and young people” from narcotics?

No, none of you can be pleased. It is only fascism that can be pleased with your system tactics, your displays of how peaceful and common sense you are, your willingness to bend your will to fascism’s desires. And at the same time you earn the anger and curses of the peoples.

Look what even the AKP ministers say – after the elections there is a bitter reckoning. Everyone knows the bill will be sent to the workers, not to bosses and capitalists. They say there will be “difficult days” in the country.

Difficulties will be overcome by paying a price, self-sacrifice, militancy and legitimacy.

The left does not have a duty to numb and calm millions who have nothing, are poor, lack justice and are suffering.

The left’s duty is to raise millions to their feet and to march against tyranny. The left’s duty is to be in Taksim on May 1.