Like their brethren elsewhere, the rulers in south Korea are going directly after the rights and living conditions of the working class to try to reverse the decline in their profits. They claimed the need for more "flexibility" to lay off workers and ban unions in order to compete with rival bloodsuckers.

In response, Seoul got a taste of the power of the working class. When the workers moved into action, shutting major sectors of production, the economy was jolted, and many stock investors jumped ship. This is a glimpse of what is to come as working people internationally say "enough" to austerity measures.

The rulers fear the growing class consciousness of the working class and its allies. That is why the rulers cut away at the democratic foundations workers have won and use to defend their interests. That is also why the south Korean bourgeoisie pushed to implement laws that juice its political police, who have a history of killing and jailing working-class fighters, while at the same time banning unions, and opening the road for government-led binding arbitration. And that is why they sent full riot gear cops in armored vehicles to confront the strikers' demonstrations. Those workers are capitalism's gravediggers.

The irreconcilable conflict between the bosses and workers in the south is also marked by the half-century struggle of the Korean people to unify their country. The strike has won solidarity from south Korean students, some of whom joined in the demonstrations. University students have been among the most outspoken proponents for a reunified Korea.

In addition to the home-grown bourgeoisie and their armed forces, working people in Korea confront the reality that the Seoul regime is backed up by 37,000 U.S. troops. Washington has maintained and reinforced the division of the Korean peninsula for more than 40 years, since their failure to crush the workers state in the north in the Korean War.

Workers and all democratic-minded fighters the world over should back the Korean workers' demands for a repeal of the regime's antilabor laws. In addition, the labor movement should demand Washington get its boot off the neck of the Korean people, and demand all imperialist troops get out of Korea now.  
 
 
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