Contribution of Communist Party of Turkey

Contribution of TKP To the ECA Conference on “Conclusions and prospects for the labour movement in Europe”

March 16, 2025

Dear Comrades,

We are pleased to contribute to this meeting, where we discuss the working-class movement in Europe, by presenting an overview of the situation of the working class in Turkey and the intervention of the TKP. In this context, we would like to share key data on the composition of the working class, its current level of organization, representation, and class identity, as well as the basis for the TKP’s intervention.

Turkey has a population of 85 million, with 93% living in urban areas. This makes the class struggle in Turkey predominantly urban.

Seventy percent of the population falls under the definition of the working population. While the population is aging, young people still form the majority. Women constitute one-third of the workforce. Pensioners are also an integral part of the working class due to their income levels and the relatively early retirement age introduced in the past.

High unemployment is a persistent issue, with official rates between 8-10% and broader estimates reaching 25-30%. Informal employment accounts for one-third of the workforce. Migrant labor has become increasingly a common phenomenon, especially following the Syrian civil war.

The share of the service sector in employment is high, but the industrial sectors remain at the core of both employment and the economy.

Civil servants and workers have separate trade union organizations. While unionization among civil servants is relatively high, but the majority belongs to the state-controlled unions. For workers, the unionization rate is low—just 14%—with major industrial enterprises dominated by unions aligned with the capitalist class and the state.

Despite its numerical strength, the Turkish working class remains largely unorganized. This disorganization has both historical and contemporary causes, but two main factors stand out:

First, the 1980 fascist coup: The military coup of September 12, 1980, was not just a military intervention but a comprehensive program targeting the left and the working-class movement at political, ideological, and cultural levels. It succeeded in weakening the organizational strength of the working class.

Second, the absorption of the trade union movement: Over time, the trade union movement has been co-opted and neutralized by the capitalist class. While a few progressive unions exist, they remain exceptions rather than driving forces within the broader labor movement.

As a result, the working class in Turkey has a weakened political and economic representation. Although localized workplace-based resistance and strikes occur—mostly over wage disputes—these struggles remain fragmented and disconnected from one another. Consequently, they do not contribute to strengthening the working class as a whole. The existing trade union structures feeds this fragmentation and rely on it for their continued existence. Large-scale strikes or major worker mobilizations have not been seen in Turkey for years.

Addressing this regression requires more than just supporting local resistances or organizing strikes.

While these efforts must continue, a deeper intervention is necessary to rebuild class identity and working-class culture, both of which have been severely weakened.

At the core of this regression is the erosion of class identity. Economic struggle alone does not restore it. For this reason, TKP prioritizes reintroducing the mechanisms of exploitation and the labor-capital contradiction into public consciousness. This means moving beyond a narrow focus on wage negotiations—a perspective imposed by reformist trade unions. TKP sees this as a comprehensive ideological, cultural, and political struggle.

At our 14th Congress, we described this effort as "working-class enlightenment" and formulated our strategy accordingly. This ideological struggle prioritizes to achieve the psychological superiority of the working class over the bourgeoisie and the middle classes. The Party acts with this priority in every component of its struggle, from cultural and artistic work to trainings, from
publications to propaganda.

This ideological intervention is complemented by workplace-based organization. TKP is actively establishing workplace cells across key industries. These cells act strategically with the aim of deepening the existence of the party in those industries. This main instrument is followed by the other two mechanisms, the workplace committees and the solidarity network “Breathe Down the Bosses’ Neck”.

Three main elements facilitate the TKP’s efforts to organize the working class: District Houses / Workers' Houses, status of party volunteers, and the Breathe Down the Bosses’ Neck Communication, Struggle, and Solidarity Network.

District Houses were introduced when TKP organizations shifted their focus to neighborhood level organizing. TKP structures are established either at the district or workplace level. These ground floor offices with political and social functions aim to engage working people living in those neighborhoods directly. Similar initiatives include Workers’ Houses in industrial zones and Village Houses in rural areas. These spaces ensure that working people connect with the party where they live, while also facilitating workplace organization in those areas. District Houses also serve as hubs for fostering working-class culture, encouraging collective production, discussion, recreation, action, and solidarity.

Volunteer status makes it easier for workers to engage with the TKP. To become a party volunteer, one simply needs to approve the party’s program. This model made it easier for many workers, which have extreme working hours, worked in shifts and irregularly and could not have a very organised life for that reason, to contribute to the party.

The Breathe Down the Bosses' Neck" Network was launched in 2018 during a period of severe economic crisis. It serves as a direct action platform for workers to communicate, organize, and resist injustices in their workplaces. This initiative provides a legal framework for intervention and uses multiple communication channels, including a website, hotline, email, and social media. A dedicated team evaluates incoming reports and forwards them to relevant TKP units, which then organize responses—ranging from legal action and strikes to the formation of permanent workplace committees.

Since its establishment, this initiative has supported struggles in hundreds of workplaces. It has facilitated the formation of Workplace Committees in many enterprises—structures directly linked to workplace-based struggles. Additionally, solidarity networks have emerged, uniting workers from the same sector, such as the Municipality Workers’ Solidarity Network, the Istanbul Textile Workers’ Solidarity Network, and the Motorcycle Couriers’ Solidarity Network.

While this Network is not a trade union, it serves as an organizing and solidarity mechanism for workers who are excluded from, or not represented by, the existing trade union structures.

As a last mechanism to mention, to strengthen the political and theoretical development of worker cadres, TKP has established the Workers' Academy. The Academy serves to strengthen the historical and contemporary ties of the cadres from the working class with the struggle, and also acts as a school for increasing and strengthening the number of workplace cells and developing special training programs.

As we conclude, comrades, we believe that sharing insights on the dynamics of working-class movement in each country—understanding both common aspects as well as the unique conditions —is of great importance. The interventions of our respective parties can serve as a source of inspiration in that regard.