The Reality of Fascism, Accumulating Anger, and the Sparks of Struggle

The devastation caused by the regime's economic attack programme is growing and contradictions are deepening. This situation is accelerating the erosion of the regime's support in the society, while the social backlash is growing in different directions and forms. In addition to the mostly individual reactions, workers and peasants have organised strikes, protests and rallies all over the country in the last few weeks. From Gaziantep to Thrace, from textiles to metal, from freight to warehouses, from wheat to tomatoes and hazelnuts in agriculture, a wide range of protests are taking place. New struggles are also being organised against the regime's endless destruction of the environment and we are witnessing the struggle of animal lovers against the animal-hating regime.

The government, which initially enjoyed serious social support and was able to use this basis to achieve a relatively smooth regime change with new allies, has lost its broad mass support in recent years. The fact that the consent generated is largely based on repression and deception, the exploitation of religion and nationalism, patronage and the exploitation of the needy increases the tensions felt by the forces of the regime. Regardless of the means by which it is produced, the level and quality of social consent is a factor that generally plays a role in the stability of fascism. Aware of this, the government imagines that the economic programme it is implementing will steady the ship after a 'troubled' transitional period and restore the eroding social consent. However, the possibility of such an outcome is not on the horizon because the ship is sailing on a course built on the destruction of the workers. This creates a ground for the repressive fascist character of the regime to manifest itself more and more.

It is precisely because of this that the regime can show its teeth in the crudest way from time to time in the parliamentary theatre, which functions as a vine leaf for the regime, while even a young girl who speaks out against the government in a street interview conducted by a small Youtube channel can be imprisoned in a hurry. Kurds all over the country are arrested for singing Kurdish folk songs and dancing the Halay. People who resist, simply because they do not want to see more environmental destruction in their neighbourhood, can be shot at and killed by representatives of private companies that support the government. The perpetrators can carry out this bloody brazenness with peace of mind, knowing that they will go unpunished, as is usually the case in fascist regimes. Instead of the perpetrators, it is the relatives and friends of the victims who pay the price.

The fact that Ahmet Şık was publicly exposed to the fists of fascism on the rostrum of the Parliament in front of the whole country, that Dilruba was put behind bars, that halayers are arrested everywhere, that those who tried to protect nature in Artvin were wounded and killed by pro-regime civilians and that the owner of the gun himself was released, is a reminder to those who forget the reality of fascism. Fascism says I am here. It should be stressed that the example of the Parliament is particularly significant here. Because the apparent existence of the parliament and even the fact that it includes representatives of the Kurdish movement and some socialists is seen by some as a fact that invalidates the diagnosis of the regime as fascism. However, the regime does not refrain from smashing the theatre and revealing its true nature in the parliament when it deems it necessary, and it can publicly announce death lists through the MHP.

The beating of Ahmet Şık and the deputies who tried to protect him, and the government's brazen handling of the incident after it, means that the ineffectiveness of the parliament under this regime has been confirmed once again. The fact that all power is concentrated in the hands of the executive, which has been reduced to one man, and that the legislative and judicial branches have become institutions under his control, does not require much explanation. In the parliament, only the laws and regulations desired by the fascist regime bloc are passed, while the proposals and motions of the opposition, except for what can be called insignificant issues, are thrown away under the smiles of the deputies of the ruling bloc. While the legislature is like this, the fact that the judiciary has become a plaything under the complete control of the executive needs no long description. The course of the Can Atalay case alone, among countless others, symbolises the fascist arrogance at play.

Despite this clear picture in which the separation of powers, which is a basic yardstick of bourgeois democracy, has been abolished, various opposition forces, including the Kurdish movement and a part of the socialist movement, do not give up their position, which means keeping the illusion of parliament alive among the broad working masses. However, as it can be seen from the increasing mobilisation of the workers and peasants all over the country, there is a tendency of struggle among the broad masses. Although it is limited and not yet strong, the struggle of these masses, whose cries are getting louder under the severity of the growing economic destruction, is important. This dynamic of struggle can grow and become stronger. Because the regime is unlikely to give up its current programme of economic destruction and even if it does, it will not mean the end of the devastation for the working masses. The factors that push the workers to increase their efforts to organise, to put forward their economic demands collectively, and the peasants to take to the streets and stop selling their produce, will not only not go away, they will get worse.

The failure of the government to win the 2024 local elections, despite all the repression, rigging and deception during the electoral process, was an indication that the masses tended to move away from the government politically as well. All polls conducted since then show that the AKP and Erdoğan's electoral support continues to erode as a general trend. There are other signs that the conditions for mass struggles are ripening. These are signs that indirectly indicate that the government is also worried and experiencing tensions. As we have just mentioned some recent examples, the regime has increased repression. But more importantly, it has tried to contain and absorb the backlash through the workers' organisations under its control. The bureaucrats at the top of the largest trade union confederations, such as Türk-İş and Hak-İş, are well aware of the growing unrest at grassroots level and realise that something has to be done.

Both confederations, which have done nothing against the government since they were taken over by the AKP, have organised meetings and rallies in different working class areas of the country in the last few months, ostensibly against inflation and for wage increases. While it is important that the union bureaucrats have been forced to organise these actions by the pressure from the base, it goes without saying that their intention is to deceive, distract and gaslight. They know that if they do not do these things, they risk losing their own seats and losing control of the rank and file. Obviously, these dangers are also potential dangers for the government and the regime. It is doubtful, however, to what extent the frivolous actions of the confederations will be able to absorb the reactions. Nothing that these restraining bureaucrats, whom the regime has put in charge of a part of the working class, seem to do will improve the working and living conditions of the workers. As we have already said, the government cannot abandon this socio-economic attack programme. We already know about the announcement that the minimum wage will only be increased in line with expected inflation and the promises made to the IMF and international capital circles. We also know that the rumours that serious taxes would be imposed on capital and the rich have turned out to be empty. Finally, as the Medium Term Programme (OVP), which was announced to be updated once again, clearly reveals, new attacks, especially on the pension system, are on the agenda. The confederal leaderships, which are the corporatist apparatus of the regime, have nothing to do in the face of these plans of attack.

In fact, the rallies of the new CHP leadership in different provinces with a workers' and peasants' agenda should be seen as an attempt to channel the workers' reactions in the direction of the CHP, to prevent them from flowing into non-establishment channels, to prevent them from becoming 'destabilising'. The leadership of DISK, which is under the influence of CHP, is also far from carrying out adequately organised and effective actions. In this process, DISK unfortunately dodges the issue with "mass" press statements etc. and does not carry out any work in the direction of mobilising the factories and other workplaces where it has a base against the burning problems of the working class.

Individual reactions are not enough, for an organised struggle against fascism!

While the discontent and the reaction in the society are increasing, while the working class and the peasants have started to show a tendency of mobilisation and struggle, while the demands are consciously or unconsciously, directly or indirectly aimed at the government, the fact that the parliament is still in the centre on the one hand and the general conditions of disorganisation on the other hand stand out as factors limiting the struggle. After the incident in the parliament, Ahmet Şık called on the whole opposition to withdraw from the parliament. However, this idea was not supported by any party, including his own. In fact, a mass withdrawal from the parliament, which is a stage for a spectacle that covers fascism and distracts the public, would have created much more favourable conditions for the struggle against the regime. The obsession with the parliament is one of the main obstacles to see the fascist character of the regime. The regime skilfully uses this obsession to legitimise its existence.

Undoubtedly, the strongest feature of fascism is the disorganisation of the working class and, in a broader sense, of the working masses. Basically, it owes all its intolerable actions and existence to this. The mental climate created by this disorganisation contains many elements. But among them, one mental pattern plays an important role in undermining the struggle: Pessimism, pacifism, characterised by the discourse "Nothing can happen in our country! It is undeniable that this view has deep historical roots. But to think that this is destiny is to understand nothing of history. In spite of everything, the working people, who are described as 'nothing can happen to them', are forced by objective conditions to take up the struggle, as the number of examples is increasing; the fact that such examples are not taken into consideration shows how strong this mentality is. On the one hand, this mentality breeds individual and ineffective reactions, and on the other, nihilism and a kind of misanthropy. In any case, the result is pacifism, i.e. inaction, alienation and even hostility towards mass struggle and organisation. There is no doubt that this is very favourable for the order and the regime. On the other hand, the bourgeois opposition, instead of organising social protest, tries to keep it within the limits of individual reaction. Get angry, rage, shout, blow the wind on social media, set records for likes, do everything as an individual, but don't organise, don't take mass action! Of course, the fascist regime has to suppress social media from time to time, but it generally keeps it as a controlled area.

In reality, although a fascist regime is in place, the ruling forces have not been able to eliminate or completely suppress social dissent and opposition. But very few people go beyond individual reactions and make meaningful efforts to organise. But the only real way of liberation is through organised struggle. Moreover, the workers and peasants who are struggling in different forms all over the country are demonstrating the importance and necessity of uniting and organising in general. The working masses are being pushed to the limit by the regime's economic and social attack programme and the working people are acting according to their class instincts. As the problem of livelihood is aggravated, more and more working people will take the path of struggle in a similar way. In order for these struggles to be successful, to make gains and finally to shake the fascist regime, it is of great importance to increase the organisation, to have a correct understanding of the reality of the regime and the order and how to act. In this context, the fundamental revolutionary political organisation of the working class, as well as the trade union organisation, which plays a role on the mass level, becomes even more important. It is necessary not to encourage the exaggerated emphasis on individual social media reactions, fancy word games, exposures against the government on the basis of religion, etc., instead of organised struggle. In the struggle against fascism, the organised struggle of the working class and increasingly of all working masses on the basis of their class interests is essential. Therefore, mobilising the working class organisations and forming a class front is the right way.