Year after year, poverty extends its claws among the working population, striking in a multi-faceted way. It affects their housing situation, their employment and their possibility to enjoy vacations and to rest during the summer – within the European Union, more than 40 million people, based on official figures alone, find themselves in what is called “vacation poverty”, which is an inability to afford a week-long trip away from home.
As the contradictions within the imperialist system sharpen, the situation for the working people of the world deteriorates; as capital in every country exploits the labour of the working class in collusion with governments and the EU and channels more funds to strengthen the war industry and prepare for war and for its own competitiveness, it leaves working families with less and less. Among other ways this manifests itself in fewer families having the possibility for meaningful recreation and vacation, cuts in social tourism programmes, and commercialization of beaches, forests and mountains for business activities.
At the same time, tourism under capitalism becomes a burden for many communities that crumble under the weight of mass tourism based on the profitability of capitalist market, driving prices through the roof and disrupting the possibilities for a normal life of the local population under the weight of the lack of modern civil protection infrastructure and staffed services due to the dangerous cost – benefit criterion. In the age of artificial intelligence, when workers —including those in the food and tourism sector— could work fewer hours, with less effort, and be paid more, ultimately they work exhausting hours in appalling conditions and for low wages.
This development, where recreation and rest is denied to more and more people, and where mass tourism takes on unmanageable proportions, is not necessary, but rather a result of the capitalist system and its logic.
We support the struggles of workers in the tourism and hospitality sector, and the demands of working people for free and open access to beaches, forests and mountains, free from business activities.
However, the capitalist system is unable to guarantee the right to recreation and vacation and in its stead, we highlight the need for a planned economy, guaranteeing the working people sufficient infrastructure to give them a dignified way to spend their vacations, and to plan tourism in such a way, as to make it rewarding and and allow for the recovery of mind and body.
With the working people in power, in charge of their planned economy, the door is opened to the organization of the planning of collective solutions, where working families are guaranteed recreational homes and sanatoriums, just as they were in the socialist countries, which emphasized the importance of rest and recreation as an integral element of their economy and society.
The struggle to expand vacation allowances, make holidays more affordable and raise wages to allow for sufficient recreation is a part of the class struggle and cannot be waged in isolation from the need for the revolutionary overthrow of capitalism.
Therefore, we are clear that only a socialist system can ensure the direction of resources to the welfare of the workers, the meeting and extension of the right of workers to vacation and recreation.
