  27 November 2007 “It is better to die than to be enslaved”, Cícero
Friends! We would like to direct this message to our brothers and sisters, mothers and fathers who live in the city of Vsévolojsk in St Petersburg, to all the people that work in our plant and to those who have relatives working at the Ford plant in Vsévolojsk. For already one week we are in strike to reach our objective, more precisely- a wage increase which is in proportion with the increase of the company budget. You are all witnesses of the disdain for our collective demands from the part of the high bosses and their amazement with our "enormous" ambitions. "You are demanding too much" – they say in reaction to our demand for a wage increase of a welder or painter of up to a 30 thousand roubles (835 euros). But nobody is amazed when the wage of the superintendents and some managers, who earn 200 thousand roubles, is increased two times per year with more than 10-20 %. This means that the bosses and managers deserve wages of European standard, and the workers, who sustain this whole gang, do not work as the Europeans and are only earning cents. What a double standard and double plot! We enter in this strike which is not soft so that our children do not have to live hungry and so that their parents will have decent pensions. We are the first in the Russia of the 21st century who have started to defend their rights, counting on the law and on our unity. We are highly qualified workers and we have the right to a wage and a decent life of a human being. Among us there are many with high qualifications and living in Petersburg and the region of Leningrad all of their lives, contributing a lot to the common good and to the benefit of the wealth of this land.
We appeal to our comrades! Today our victory will be the victory of all the citizens of Russia who work in any company. Support us! Support yourself! In any way we will go for victory! But we would like to conquer it together with you! We are ready to share with you our experience and our results!
The plant is paralyzed. The work stopped one week ago. The administration hopes that we give up. Yes, we fight without hearing the hissing of bullets and projectiles. We do not have to leave trenches and to hurl ourselves against armoured tanks as our grandfathers did during the battle of Stalingrad. We do not need to expose ourselves to the bullets of ambushed shooters or the mortar fire as was the case of our fathers and brothers in the mountains of Afghanistan or the Caucasus. We have to face insatiable bourgeois and their body guards who in their nocturnal dreams only see simple workers who work for only a plate of soup and a slice of bread, who do not complain, and do not have ideas, desires and opinions. For them, the best worker is the one that works hard for a bit of cash and when he loses his last bit of health, sends his children to substitute himself in this same inhuman production line and goes to die in the street or to live a miserable life with an inhuman pension. This is natural and right for the employers. And in case somebody suddenly rises his head and declares himself to be a human being with human rights, then they soon consider this person an extremist or terrorist; choose whatever you like most. It cannot be like that! Our brothers, parents and grandfathers have spilled their blood for us to have a just and happy life. And we do not have the right to forget their deeds and to stay on our knees. Yes, we are afraid even while we are not in the battle of Stalingrad; yes, it is dangerous even while we are not in mountains of Kandahar. Simply there has not been anybody in Russia who has stopped production at a plant for such a long time and damaged a transnational company in such degree. The path is always more difficult and dangerous for pioneers than for its followers. But if we will not do it, who will do it?
The law of the FFR (Forces of Fast Reaction) - "Nobody except us"! Or did has the time arrived to forget our historical roots and to accustom ourselves to be on our knees? No! Our memory makes us rise ourselves and fight, to defend everything for which our grandparents gave their lives. For some of us it seems that our grandparents dreamed in the trenches that their children would damage their health and respect along the production line under the shouts of the supervisors, whose authorization to even go to the bathroom becomes a great act of benevolence? If it will be like that, then we should be ashamed to live in Russia and to call ourselves Russian people. A victorious people cannot live kneeled! In the reality the shift bosses who count the money of others and know the wage of each one in this plant, as well as the supervisors who lick the boots of the management are fearful... They fear their boss and they fear the organized workers! Organize yourself!
Brothers of Ford! In case you will be called to work to reactivate the production process, look for the activists. They carry with them forms and direct petitions for the general Director. Join us in the strike! Do not put water in the mill of those persons who spit on the workers and who are only interested in their own well-being and benefits! Will it be the Kliukins, Júkovs and Kuszmítskys that will be more near to you than the ones that work shoulder to shoulder with you at the production line and who today are fighting for the well-being of all? In case, for any reason, you cannot join the strike, then before starting to work demand the obligatory instructions of work security and the technical recommendations. Demand that the management presents to you the working norms in case you are transferred to another place of work. Remember that this is obligatory, instead of you starting to work, violating the law and assuming full responsibility for any possible consequences.
Trade unionists, fellow citizens, comrades and brothers! Today more than ever your support is very important! Any support! Moral as well as financial! It is important for us to hear and see you! It is important to know your opinions! Come to the plant. Visit the site www.ford-profsoyuz.ru and leave your opinion. The union gives financial support to the strikers using the strike fund, which resources unhappily are not limitless. We enter the second week of resistance and we will resist more! We already know many citizens who are not indifferent and who in support of the strikers and their families gave financial aid gratuitously to the strikers. Who wants to contribute will be able to find our account number on our website.
One more thing….... It is true that this transnational company is enormous and manipulates with an excessive amount of money. To make a front against it is not easy. But for a HUMAN BEING nothing is impossible! Remember the Spartans in the battle of Thermopiles, remember the Russians in the battle of the Kulikovo field! Who said that the time of courage and brave people passed, that for these things there is no place in history? Everything depends on us! We are making history with our proper hands! In addition, the life of our children and the recollections that we leave in their memory DEPEND EXCLUSIVELY ON US!
“When all other rights are trampled, the right to insurrection becomes undeniable.”
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