At Cristalería Rigolleau, founded in 1882 and positioned as a symbol of the glass industry in the southern part of the Buenos Aires conurbation, history is repeating what Marxist theory predicted about capitalist modernity over 30 years earlier, in 1848: 'This mode of production, based on the oppression and exploitation of labor power to obtain wealth, carries the germ that will destroy it.' It is undeniable that we are witnessing the agony of this system. As in other cases, production is cut and replaced by imports—previously tableware from Brazil, today from China. As in other companies, like Fate and thousands of others, Cristalería Rigolleau is intensifying layoffs (100 in recent months), and periods of productivity are being carried out with fewer workers. In other words, the management is dumping the crisis onto the workers while seeking mitigating factors or capitalist maneuvers to continue enriching themselves—a typical employer trick, currently operated by Industrias Integrales del Vidrio S.A., which owns 75% of the shares. This reality, however nefast it may seem, cannot make us lose sight of the fact that we can turn everything around. Just as we produce everything, we can change everything because we have the capacity and the strength. Only political will is needed to put an end to capitalist modernity and build a just and egalitarian society in harmony with nature. This reality, however nefast it may seem, cannot make us lose sight of the fact that we can turn everything around. Just as we produce everything, we can change everything because we have the capacity and the strength. Only political will is needed to put an end to capitalist modernity and build a just and egalitarian society in harmony with nature. This path is destroying everything, from nature to human lives in wars, epidemics, famine, and genocide; it also destroys labor conquests and pushes a large part of the population toward precariousness and quasi-slavery, ultimately leading to marginalization. This scenario is harshly unfolding in the lives of the families and workers at Cristalería.
