September 12, 2004: Join the March against the Schroeder/Fischer Government on October 3 in Berlin! "Down with Hartz IV - We are the People!"

Dear workers in the factories and offices, dear men and women and young people af-fected by unemployment, pension--cuts, the reform of the health system, in brief: af-fected by the Agenda 2010 and Hartz IV, dear friends and comrades of the MLPD!
The Central Committee of the MLPD explicitly supports the resolution of the Leip-zig conference of August 28,2004, in which 186 people from 66 cities participated. The resolution reads: "Down with Hartz IV - We are the people!... We want to get rid of Hartz IV in full - we won't accept cosmetics! We resolutely attack any party and any govern-ment pursuing this policy. Mobilize for a national march to Berlin on October 3. This is our 'German unity'!"
Today, we regret to have to say that the Monday demo movement has been split into two directions. From the start, certain forces among the ATTAC and trade-union functionar-ies with membership cards of SPD, Greens and PDS tried to prevent this march. With downright absurd arguments they tried to put it into the rightist corner: "We are the peo-ple!" would be a "nationalist" ("völkisch") slogan. In reality, the call, "We are the people!" originates with the work of Georg Büchner, "Danton's Death", in which he reaffirms the people's right of resistance against exploiters and oppressors. In this spirit, the Monday demo movement overthrew the hated Stasi regime of Honecker and company in 1989.
Also, these forces claimed, October 3 would be unsuitable because, basically, the reuni-fication as an annexation had to be opposed and this would be the date for the right-wing extremists. In fact, it was the democratic movement of the GDR that gained reunifi-cation by struggle and the broad masses of the people in Germany explicitly welcome that the division was overcome. The proposal for October 3, in particular from the East German initiatives of the Monday demo movement, is a signal for the working-class unity in East and West Germany.
October 3 is best suited to take stock of 15 years of reunification during which those in power did not succeed in really overcoming the division of Germany. Unequal wages, unequal social benefits, etc. are still being maintained. The demonstration on October 3 must stress unrestricted solidarity in the struggle against the anti-people program of the government: Down with Hartz IV and the entire Agenda 2010!
On Tuesday, September 7, the trade-union leaderships had a meeting with Chancellor Schroeder in which they agreed again on a break in the struggle against the govern-ment: until February 2005, the DGB unions are not to take part in central anti-governmental activities.
On September 11, ATTAC convened a meeting in which 141 persons participated. Only a minority were representatives of the rank and file, only a few had been elected by the Monday demonstrations. Against all reservations and critiques, this meeting shat-tered the last chance of achieving a joint demonstration in the beginning of October. They did not only stick to October 2, but also dismissed the previous orientation of the movement "Down with Hartz IV - We are the people!" by means of an explicit, demon-strative decision. The following slogan is to be imposed upon the Monday demo move-ment from now on: "Social justice instead of Hartz IV! We have alternatives." Before-hand, the PDS had already changed its text on its poster: instead of the previous "Hartz IV... down with it!", the new version reads: "We support you!"
At the same time, the absurd accusation was renewed that the MLPD would split the Monday demo movement. Everybody can now see for him/herself: It is not the MLPD that tries to change the basic direction of the Monday demonstrations "Down with Hartz IV - We are the people!", but the splitters who do so.
They go down on their knees before the reformist trade-union leadership and the gov-ernmental parties. If the Monday demo movement would comply with this maneuver and go to Berlin with the request for "social justice" on October 2, this would mean to bury the Monday demo movement. The change of the central slogan of the Monday demonstra-tions means nothing else but contenting oneself with empty hopes. Is the entire move-ment of Monday demonstrations to go down on its knees before the authorities now, too, thus getting to nothing? This is definitely out of the question!

The most important achievement of the Monday demo movement is its political independence which finds expression in the following characteristics:
· There are regular political mass demonstrations against the government and its anti-people policy.
· The movement has its own slogans, own culture of demonstrations, its own principles and methods.
· It is carried by hundreds of thousands of ordinary people who start taking their fates into their own hands, and it enjoys the sympathy of millions of people.
· It is independent of the bourgeois parties, because to date no political force has succeeded in gaining control over this movement.
· It is really non-party affiliated and unites the most different forces in the struggle against the government.
· It is extraordinarily resolute in its goals and not inclined to be fobbed off with super-ficial cosmetics or hollow promises.
· Last but not least it is open for a socialist alternative and herewith contains revolu-tionary, society-changing seeds.
"Down with Hartz IV - We are the People!" This is the big common denominator behind which there will be no way back.
Dear colleagues, dear friends and comrades, the MLPD will do everything in its power to make October 3 a big success.
Strengthen the Monday demonstrations in all cities! They alone decide on their future path.
Criticize publicly the kowtow of the leaders of the DGB unions, ATTAC and PDS to the Schroeder/Fischer government! Reach out your hand to all members of these organiza-tions for the unity on the basis of joint struggle!
Stick to the goals of the Monday demo movement!
Organize a militant march against the government: the Monday demo movement is a nationwide political mass demonstration that fights until Hartz IV has fallen.
Every government, every bourgeois party that supports Hartz IV must know that it is equally attacked by the Monday demonstrations!
It is necessary that the movement of Monday demonstrations embraces many hundreds of thousands of people beyond party lines in order to build up appropriate pressure on the government. It is of crucial importance that the workers in the factories, currently in particular those at Opel and Volkswagen, combine their struggle against the exploitative offensive of the enterprises with the struggle against the Agenda 2010 and Hartz IV. In turn, the Monday demonstrations must support the struggles of the workers.
Anyone who supports the demonstration on October 2, objectively pursues the transfor-mation of the Monday demo movement into a left appendage of the Schroeder/Fischer government. Anyone who wants to do away with Hartz IV in full must participate in the march in Berlin on October 3.
United we are strong!