The Militant(logo) 
    Vol.61/No.10           March 10, 1997 
 
 
`Action Program' Is Out In Swedish  

BY CATHARINA TIRSÉN
STOCKHOLM - The publication of a new edition of Handlingsprogram for att bemota den kommande ekonomiska krisen (An action program to confront the coming economic crisis) in Swedish was celebrated at a Militant Labor Forum here February 8.

The action program was first published in English in mid- 1988 after the stock market crash in 1987. The program was adopted at a conference in Oberlin, Ohio, by the Socialist Workers Party and representatives of communist leagues from a number of countries, including Sweden. It has since been published in Spanish, French, and Icelandic.

The first Swedish-language edition was published by Pathfinder as a pamphlet in 1990. This second edition is published as a small booklet, with a new preface, an improved translation, and an upgraded design, as well as pictures and new advertisements for other Pathfinder titles.

The February 8 forum celebrated the accomplishments of a team of workers and students in Sweden who checked the translation, proofread and copyedited, designed advertisements, printed and collated the book, including printing a two-color cover -all as voluntary work in their spare time. The cover had been designed by Pathfinder in New York.

"This is an international program containing demands that have to be raised by everybody against the attacks by the capitalists today," said Maxi Ortiz, representing Young Socialists, in a presentation at the forum. "We must learn who `we' are, the international working class, as opposed to `them,' the capitalists all over the world. It is not `we, in Sweden' including workers and capitalists, against everybody else.

"That is why we raise demands such as `Cancel the Third World debt!' and `Enforce affirmative action!' " Ortiz continued. "You can not sell out any group. If one group gets weaker, we all get weaker. That is why these demands concern all of us, they make all of us stronger."

There was a lot of discussion on the demand for a six- hour workday, as a way of implementing the action program's call to "shorten the workweek."

Unemployment is growing in Sweden, and the bosses have been demanding a so-called "conjuncture-adjusted workweek" ranging between 30 and 50 hours, according to the needs of the production.

The need for a shorter workweek with no cut in pay was emphasized by several participants. "The struggle for a six- hour day will come out of the struggle to defend the eight- hour day," said one participant. "In the 1930s, during the depression, once workers started to fight, they would just move forward. Even at that time the demand for the 30-hour work week was raised."

"How will the six-hour work day affect women workers who often work part-time and have lower wages?" was one question raised from the audience. "I know we are one class, but some times you feel you are not really in the same class."

"The capitalists use divisions like those between men and women very consciously," said Ortiz. "That is why we need affirmative action and quotas, so women, immigrants, and so on, can get jobs with better pay and working conditions. That will reduce wage differences and make it easier to fight for higher pay for the whole class."  
 
 
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