National Sovereignty and the Sovereignty of the People: Video from the KKE February 16, 2012
Posted by Garibaldy in KKE.trackback
Below is the text which the KKE has given to introduce a new video, “Regarding a Lack of National Sovereignty and Inequality”, it has produced and which is available with subtitles in several foreign languages, including English.
I think – especially reading some, but not all, of the comments on the more on the crisis in Greek thread – that there is both a hunger and a need for as much information and analysis as possible from the Greek left to help us become better informed and to put to bed some misconceptions. For example, the idea that the disagreements among certain parties on the left have more to do with Stalin than the EU and the European Left Party, or attitudes towards the so-called youth uprising a few years back, or the burning of KKE offices etc; a reflection perhaps of the failure of some in Ireland to understand the Greek situation in contemporary Greek terms instead of the terms of the USSR in the 1920s, or their own understanding of the world or assumptions about people from other political traditions.
I took a race round the websites of the major Greek left groups, and apart from the KKE there is very little up-to-date information in English. However, of interest to people here will be the fact that the CWI does have a section dedicated to Greece including a recent interview that seems if I’ve read it right (and I may not have) to blame both Syriza and the KKE for what it sees as insufficient cooperation, while also raising some of the concerns about state agents that we see in the KKE’s statements. I went to wiki to look for links to websites and it had a story with a footnote to a website in Greek saying that the CWI left Syriza in April last year; is this the case does anyone know?
I would recommend that anyone who wants to know more about the KKE’s positions go to their website in English which has absolutely loads of press statements, position papers and documents stretching back several years.
Anyway, the video is here. To get the subtitles click on the CC button that appears in the bottom right when you press play and choose the one you prefer
From the KKE:
One of the arguments used by the bourgeois and opportunist forces in Greece, in order to blur the causes of the capitalist crisis rooted in the basic contradiction which characterizes capitalist society, the contradiction between capital and labour, is the argument concerning the “loss of national sovereignty”.
So, depending on who is invoking this argument, variations of this line are presented of the type “the government is not negotiating!” or “the government implements the orders of the foreigners” or “they serve the Germans”, “the foreigners govern us”, “we are under occupation”, “Greece has become a protectorate”, “ we have lost national sovereignty”, etc. Indeed, at some point the last argument was used by the leader of the social-democratic party and the Socialist International and former Prime Minister, G. Papandreou, who claimed that due to the crisis we lost national sovereignty and that the workers must endure harsh measures, so that the economy can recover and we can find our “national sovereignty” again…
The KKE comes into conflict with the abovementioned points of view, which deceive the people, as they conceal the reality and propose out-dated solutions within the framework of capitalism. In addition, they unscientifically present the relations of dependence and interdependence, which emerge in the framework of imperialism and within the imperialist unions (such as the EU) as a consequence of the loss of “national sovereignty”, while they constitute a result of the uneven development of the capitalist countries. The bourgeois class of every country participates in these unions, not because it operates allegedly “treacherously” or “anti-patriotically”, but to serve its class interests! In order to strengthen its position inside every country against the working class, using both repressive and other mechanisms and tools which these unions possess. It is incorporated in these in order to better participate in the global competition with the American, Japanese, Chinese, Russian and other monopolies and to increase its profits. In the framework of this ambition it cedes sovereign rights to inter-state bodies. These relations of dependence and interdependence are not abolished through the humanization of “imperialist unions”, e.g. with more “democracy” in the institutions of the EU, as the opportunists demand, but through the disengagement of the countries from these unions, their dissolution, the establishment of working class-people’s power, the socialization of the basic means of production, central planning and workers control of the economy, through socialism!
The short video of the Propaganda Section of the CC of the KKE is in this direction and is addressed to the Greek people. We considered it worth subtitling (English, Arabic, Spanish, Russian) and we present it to you today.
there is both a hunger and a need for as much information and analysis as possible from the Greek left
Given that this doesnt consist entirely of the KKE, would it be possible for this site to treat us to a slightly more balanced selection of material from that very same left? This might help us straighten out our, ah, misconceptions.
I think though that as Garibaldy points out the other formations don’t publish in English. That said anyone who has statements translated and wants them put up can email them to the usual address to be found in the right hand sidebar.
Well, Professor Varoufakis publishes in English, for instance, and plenty of other pieces are to be found in English from figures on the Greek left without trying too hard.
Greek Left Review is a useful English language resource:
http://greekleftreview.wordpress.com/
It’s not always obvious where on the Left spectrum the various writers sit, so whether that leads to balance or not I’m not sure.
SYRIZA and Democratic Left don’t appear to have English sections on their websites, true. But there is no shortage of English material online from the Greek left as a whole, most of it both less bombastic and less sectarian than the KKE’s statements. The following sources, amongst others, will tend to give a more balanced understanding of the Greek left, beyond simply denunciations of everyone who isn’t the KKE.
Xekinima, the sister organisation of the Socialist Party, regularly publishes in English on the website of the Committee for a Workers International. Here’s a link directly to its regularly updated coverage of Greece:
http://www.socialistworld.net/view/29
The SEK (Greek SWP) is a part of ANTARSYA, a coalition of revolutionary groups. The British SWP website doesn’t appear to have a specific section devoted to the subject, but it carries SEK material quite often.
International Viewpoint, the website of the United Secretariat of the Fourth International, often publishes the views of OKDE-Spartakos, its organisation there, and also statements by ANTARSYA:
http://internationalviewpoint.org/spip.php?mot21
On some of the issues Garibaldy raises, I can confirm that Xekinima left SYRIZA last year. There is more information about the ins and outs of that decision and about SYRIZA in general than you could ever really want at the Socialist World link above. Xekinima do indeed criticise both the KKE and SYRIZA for the counterproductive rabid hostility of their relationship with each other, and they do mention the existence of police agent provocateurs in riots in Greece. However, they do not at all share the KKE’s approach of wildly painting their political opponents as agents.
I disagree with Garibaldy’s characterisation of the discussion on the previous thread. In fact, I tend to think that you will learn more about the KKE there than you would be reading a half dozen of its relentlessly triumphalist statements (although that too is worth doing). As for understanding things in terms of the Irish left rather than “from a contemporary Greek perspective”, would it be unkind to suggest that our friends from the Workers Party are showing some signs of living vicariously through the KKE?
Mark, if the combined forces of the Irish Left could mobilise the working class to the extent achieved by the KKE (and others) in Greece then there would be no need to treat commentary on Greece in terms such as “living vicariously”. But that’s not the case of course, is it.
The Greek left is much larger and better rooted in the working class than its Irish equivalent. It also has its own problems. Taking inspiration from the successes of the Greek left is certainly worthwhile, but there is no point in taking an uncritical attitude towards it, or towards one chunk of it.
If anyone else suggested that it’s nesessary to take a critical and balanced view of the Greek Left I’d accept their bona fides, but you do acknowledge don’t you that you’re far from being blameless yourself in terms of sectarian on-line sniping?
As WbS said elsewhere, let’s all try to be a bit more fraternal and leave out the unnecessary digs.
If your looking for English language material from Xekinima, the Greek section of the CWI there is a dedicated page for Greece on the CWI website here: http://www.socialistworld.net/view/29
As far as Xekinima’s relations with SYRIZA goes, yes it is correct that Xekinima left SYRIZA earlier last year. The reason for this was the fact that membership of SYRIZA was becoming a barrier to discussing with active workers.
There are a number of reasons for this. Primarily it was SYRIZA’s failure to put forward any kind of fighting program to tackle the austerity crisis or even use their public positions in order to advance struggles their own members were leading! For example in a recent strike of bus drivers in Athens the leader of the bus drivers was a very senior SYRIZA member. Despite numerous attempts to get SYRIZA to take a public stand in support of the strike, SYRIZA MP’s and councillors failed to do so. This person ended up joining Xekinima but made it clear he wanted nothing to do with SYRIZA!
This behaviour is connected to SYRIZA’s flirtation with PASOK. During Xekinima’s time in SYRIZA we fought a constant rear guard battle against elements in the party who wanted SYRIZA to have a closer relationship with PASOK. Now most of those elements have since left SYRIZA and formed Democratic Left but even today SYRIZA is still not entirely clear about the need for a complete break with PASOK. Of course they don’t say that sort of thing too loudly lately now that PASOK are political kryptonite. Nevertheless in many workers mind, particularly the most class conscious and active layer there was a strong suspicion that SYRIZA wanted to do some sort of sell out deal with PASOK.
As you can imagine this creates great difficulties for Xekinima being associated with a policy of inaction and possible back room deals with PASOK. For these reasons it was decided to concentrate more on the Indignado movement, community struggles and trade union work under our own banner rather than SYRIZA.
That said Xekinima is still open about involvement in SYRIZA. There is still a substantial section of the left in SYRIZA who want Xekinima back in. There is a standing invitation to Xekinima reps to attend the National Committee of SYRIZA as observers. It continues to put forward the need for greater left cooperation based on a fighting, socialist program as part of it’s general political work.
Mark are you trying to be ironic about left sectarianism and attitudes of the KKE whilst never missing a chance at a dig at the WP et al?
Sectarianism has nothing to do with how charitably inclined you are towards small left wing groups. This seems to be a perpetual point of confusion on the Irish left.
The KKE aren’t sectarian because they are rude about groups like Xekinima or the SEK. They are sectarian because they relentlessly try to substitute themselves and the part of the workers movement they lead for the wider workers movement and take a relentlessly and counterproductively hostile attitude towards every other force in that movement.
In any case, in this particular thread, my comment about the Workers Party was meant as gentle ribbing of LATC and Garibaldy rather than a serious criticism of the WP.
“gentle ribbing of LATC and Garibaldy rather than a serious criticism of the WP.”
Taken as such. Let’s just leave it at that.
The KKE aren’t sectarian because they are rude about groups like Xekinima or the SEK
Well, it depends on one’s definition of sectarian, and one’s understanding one what is involved in that rudeness.
A number of points. Firstly, I am looking for material in English from the major left groups, of which there is a serious shortage. I am aware there is plenty of other material there, but I’m trying to find out what the formations that have demonstrably high levels of support are saying and doing, given their involvement in calling people out on the streets and explaining their actions in parliament. This is on the principle that if I were in Greece and wanted to find out what the major Irish left parties had to say I wouldn’t come here, I’d go to their websites.
I forgot to add the link to the general section on the CWI website where I mentioned its existence when I was doing this last night. Thanks for the info on leaving Syriza. I must have missed that.
I do think though that given what is being said here, it might make it easier for people to get inside the KKE’s head when it describes Syriza as opportunists. The dominant faction within it is significantly to the right of the KKE, and has fundamental disagreements with it over things like the EU. On top of which, it’s clear that there is no great appetite for cooperation with the KKE within it. Yet all this – plus the myriad other factors regarding relationships on the left in Greece (and look at some of the denunciations of the KKE by others to see what I mean) – are often just flattened out into a single blanket explanation of “KKE sectarianism”, which fails to reflect anything like the reality.
Regarding the other thread. We saw a lot of talk about Stalinism etc, and yet looking at the KKE’s statements on the crisis and criticisms of other groups, you’ll not find a great deal about interpretations of the USSR. You will find a great deal about contemporary issues in Greece and Greece’s place within the EU and the capitalist system. Again, none of this is addressed as everything is predicated on perceptions of what the KKE’s attitude towards the USSR is. But rather than debate that we get denunciations and a failure to engage with its actual policies.
As for living vicariously. Reality prevents that, otherwise I’d be lying on a beach in Cuba. It might be that we are interested in what the KKE is saying and doing because that is where the conflict within the EU is currently sharpest, and it is the leading force on the left there. I know that it can be hard for some people to imagine anyone outside their group being genuinely internationalist but there you go.
Even in this thread, we get distractions and diversions rather than engaging with the points made in the video.
Well, you know, too bad. The KKE has a noticeably hostile attitude to other people on the left – I mean really noticeably hostile, not just disagreement. And I mean even by the normal standards prevailing on the left.
This is a genuine political problem. So people aren’t going to say hey, let’s discuss the programme of the KKE and nothing else, because that’s not the only thing they see.
It’s neither a distraction nor a diversion, unless you think that everybody else’s responsibility is just to accept what the KKE puts in front of them.
It’s a distraction and a diversion when absolutely anything from the KKE produces the same set of stock responses. That’s not a debate, nor an engagement with the issues actually to hand at a given point in time.
It’s not a matter of simply putting what the KKE puts out without context, but nor is it simply a case of ignoring the point in hand.
The fact is, Garibaldy, that very many of the articles from the KKE posted here contain accusations that others on the left are agent provocateurs or wrong ‘uns. It’s not therefore surprising that very many of their articles result in discussion of the subject.
In fact, the policies of the KKE towards the rest of the workers movement matter because we are talking about actual mass forces. The idea that it’s a distraction to discuss this or that it represents some failure to engage with their politics is just absurd. Similarly, their baroque Stalinism.
The KKE may make statements denouncing provocateurs etc, but as far as I can see so does everyone else on the Greek left, including the people who describe the KKE as puppets of the state, saviours of the bourgeois parliament etc. I’ve already cited an example from the CWI in Greece, and I’m assuming most people have seen this from someone with Irish connections living in Greece who was out protesting on the Irish Left Review
http://www.irishleftreview.org/2012/02/14/view-streets-athens/
It mentions political parties paid to make chaos. I’ve no idea if the person has any political involvement as it doesn’t say. But from a range of statements I’ve seen going back to the period of the riots a few years ago, it seems clear to me that suspicion and accusations that others are paid agents of the state are a fairly normal part of political discourse in Greece in a way that they aren’t here (beyond the confines of the dissidents anyway). This is one of the reasons I have been keen to get statements from other major parties on the left, to be able to compare more like with like. My feeling is that the KKE is being judged by standards that aren’t native to Greece, and aren’t applied to all on the left there. It’s easier to ascribe this to”KKE sectarianism” than look at it in the round.
It seems to me that the KKE has come to the conclusion that many of the other forces on the left cannot be relied upon to act in a consistent and principled left manner (with in many cases good cause as far as I can see), and so is waging an ideological struggle to convince workers that the best way to support their own interests is to switch support to the KKE. I’d have thought that people who spend a great deal of time doing something very similar when it comes to parties in Ireland that they regard as parties that can’t be relied on to act in a consistent and principled left manner (in many cases with good cause as far as I can see) might understand this approach a little better than they seem to. I think if we looked a little more clearly at what is happening in Ireland and Greece we might see more similarities than people might care to admit.
I’ve no problem with people discussing the attitudes of the KKE (we’ve been doing that here for ages). But I think it would be better if they were looked at in context, rather than simply ascribed to terms that might sound good to some ears but don’t actually mean a whole lot (and I should say, given what NeilCaff has said below at comment 13, that we all recognise that he has consistently engaged rather than riding hobby horses).
SYRIZA’s mixed messages on PASOK put the more virulent statements of the KKE in some context. As I’ve said before a lot of what the KKE says isn’t entirely wrong, it’s just done in such a way that it seals off all hope of comradely collaboration with those who do support SYRIZA or other left forces for that matter.
After all a lot of what the German Communist Party used to say about the Social Democracy in the late 20′s and 30′s was formally correct but the whole method of the KPD simply isolated them from workers who did support the Social Democracy and allowed the SD leaders to continue their own sectarian and disastrous policies. This then created a fatal split in the German labour movement and paved the way for the rise of you know who.
The problem with the KKE isn’t so much that they criticise other left forces. That is their right. Robust discussion and comradely criticism are the life blood of the labour movement as they assist us, as a class, to arrive at the best tactics and strategy in the battle with the bosses and their political shadows.
It’s all very well for the KKE to say they won’t cooperate with such and such a force in the labour movement because of x, y, z but they never say under what conditions they are prepared to cooperate with other forces. At the moment the KKE position amounts to ‘our way or the highway’. Not only is this grossly irresponsible given the seriousness of the situation in Greece, it’s also massively counter productive. It allows other forces in the labour movement who are not in favour of a determined, united struggle to turn to their supporters and say, ‘The KKE are sectarians. What can we do?’
Let me give you an examples of how I think the KKE could act in a more fraternal manner to the benefit of the whole of the labour movement. The KKE has correctly criticised SYRIZA for it’s ambivalent stance in relation to PASOK. However the conclusion it draws from the behaviour of some SYRIZA leaders is that no joint work with SYRIZA as a whole is possible.
Wouldn’t it be much better for the KKE to say; “We don’t agree with any cooperation with PASOK because they sit in government and sign up to ECB/IMF diktats etc etc. We propose to other genuine left forces to enter into discussions to cooperate in the electoral field on the basis of, cancellation of the debt, no to IMF diktats, public ownership and democratic control of the economy etc (This isn’t a prescriptive list nor do I think there should be cooperation only in the electoral field, I’m just using examples of a general method)
The advantage of this approach is that it turns the image of the KKE as isolated sectarians on it’s head. It will then put pressure on those opportunist leaders in other left forces to either get behind a united fighting program or step aside. An open approach by the KKE would be an enormous boon to those in other left formations who do want to see a more united, radical and determined struggle in Greece.
The main reason I think the KKE does not adopt this approach is that genuine cooperation with other forces on the left necessarily implies a loss of control which the KKE leadership is unwilling to countenance.
This is partly understandable given they tend to confuse the poor positions many of the leaders of SYRIZA and others put forward with the members and supporters of those formations. This is why it’s so important the KKE puts forward a broad fighting program to appeal to genuine workers in other groups that acts to isolate backward or conservative leaders and allows for the broadest possible action by the labour movement.
However I think the bigger reason the KKE does not adopt this approach is down to the nature of their internal regime I spoke about in my post on the previous Greek thread. If you run a top down, bureaucratic regime the thought of a genuine coalition which inevitably involves surrendering some control is going to be distinctly unappealing.
Neil, I’m genuinely confused here. With who are you suggesting that the KKE should be opening up a co-operation, SYRIZA, which Xekinima itself has walked away from, with the Democratic Left, with Xekinima, or with all of the above? The KKE is already a mass party, what would it gain from such an alliance. What would the Greek working class gain? In the immediate term I’m not sure there’s any great case to be made for bogging down the existing political momentum in the distraction of a front. I can see why minor players on the Greek Left scene might want to tag along on the KKE’s momentum, but are SYRIZA or Democratic Left actively calling for a co-operation with the KKE at the moment?
Xekinima is no longer a formal member of SYRIZA but it still takes part in demonstrations organised by SYRIZA and works with SYRIZA members in the trade unions, the indignado movement, community campaigns and so on.
In Xekinima’s interactions with SYRIZA members and supporters they are clear that while they are prepared to cooperate with them in struggle SYRIZA needs to take a firmer line regarding PASOK etc before Xekinima will consider rejoining SYRIZA. This is the quid pro quo. Xekinima gives up some of it’s independent banner in exchange for knowing it is part of a broader formation fighting on a radical program.
Yes the KKE is a mass party much as the German Communist Party was a mass party in the 1930. However, to be blunt with you, the KKE pursuing it’s current go it alone course will not be able to defeat the onslaught of the native capitalist class and the ECB/IMF. It is also not going to win a majority within the working class on it’s current trajectory.
So what you will have in Greece is a situation where the decisive force in defeating austerity, the organised working class, will be divided on the industrial and political front.
The question then for the Greek left is how can they have the maximum unity on the one hand and maintain the most effective strategy that can defeat austerity?
I think you have misunderstood what I’m saying the KKE should do. I am not saying the KKE should go into an alliance with SYRIZA just for the sake of it. I am not saying the KKE should go into an alliance with SYRIZA while SYRIZA leaders are trying to do deals with PASOK. What I’m saying is the KKE should make a public approach to all broadly pro working class forces and say “this is what we think needs to be done, are you prepared to sit down and discuss how we can cooperate to achieve these things?”
I don’t just think only the KKE should do this. I also think SYRIZA should have done this. Certainly one of Xekinima’s criticism of the leaders of Xekinima is that they have made little or no attempt to approach the KKE for common action
The benefit of this could be that instead of different mass organisations doing their own thing we could arrive at a situation where the broad mass of the most active layers are united behind a common plan of action. This would present a much more formidable opposition and more importantly, alternative to the Greek bosses and the Troika then is currently the case.
“Certainly one of Xekinima’s criticism of the leaders of Xekinima is that they have made little or no attempt to approach the KKE for common action”
Bah, sorry that should say:
“Certainly one of Xekinima’s criticism of the leaders of SYRIZA is that they have made little or no attempt to approach the KKE for common action”
Just wondering if the question of power should be posed. There is a huge Greek army, 400,000, I am told. Interesting that troika has not called for it to be slimmed. Like everywhere else the crisis has to be solved, but at whose expense.
There is LAOS. Could it come to power as part of an army coup? Would Turkey take the chance to seize some islands and the oil beneath.
Successively marching people to the top of the hill can get counter productive.
Like here conservative and far right, New Democracy and Laos seem to be successfully appealing to the people.PASOK while weak still has residual (like FF) support.
There is a huge need for the KKE to lead a United Left and pose a governmental programme. Because of their size, only they can do it.My guess is that this should exclude PASOK.
The crisis cannot go on for ever. Either the Troika offer terms that allow Greece to recover or it gets worse.My worry is that an army captain is dreaming dreams.
If the left is not prepared to challenge for power, then someone or something will do it instead.
I think I posted a link to this article before, but I’ll stick it up again in case people didn’t see it; it’s an analysis of Greece from the radical left that’s critical of both SYRIZA and the KKE:
“Two factors weigh particularly heavily in this context. Firstly, the deep division—or rather state of virtual civil war—between the radical left’s two main components. The KKE is doggedly committed to a sectarian and nostalgic Stalinist line, which still dominates its electoral activity and grass roots. Syriza, the Coalition of the Radical Left—a grouping of ten parties and organizations, of which the main one is Synaspismos—advocates a united approach; but it has been unable to make its various factions cohere, and tends to fall back on minimal declarations of unity founded on a simple rejection of austerity. Necessary for united action, this has proven insufficient when it comes to posing an alternative to the ruling powers. Within Syriza—and especially for Synaspismos—the majority line is that the debt should be renegotiated at EU level, without halting repayments. The questions of the euro and of the anti-democratic, indeed quasi-colonial, structure of the EU are minimized or put off until some indefinite point in the future, when a ‘European social movement’ will supposedly have changed the entire EU system.
“Faced with this impasse, elements of Synaspismos—notably the ‘left current’ led by Syriza’s current parliamentary spokesman, Panagiotis Lafazanis—and members of Syriza who have reformed as the Front for Solidarity and Rupture, led by one-time Synaspismos leader Alekos Alavanos, are breaking with the Europhile consensus. They advocate a ‘Kirchner-style’ renegotiation of the national debt, involving cessation of payments, accompanied by exit from the euro and nationalization of the banking sector; this would allow for devaluation of the currency, offering a way out of the logic of ‘internal devaluation’—essentially a dramatic reduction in labour costs—that has been imposed by the high priests of austerity. Such a break with European institutions, without an immediate exit from the eu, is necessary on political as well as economic grounds, in order to release the country from Troika supervision and restore its basic democratic functions. This agenda, strongly argued for by the London-based economist Costas Lapavitsas and colleagues, is already promoted by the extra-parliamentary far-left group Antarsya, as the basis of a programme for an anti-capitalist rupture. [11] However, despite some important convergences and its growing audience, the ‘anti-EU pole’ of the radical left is finding it difficult to coordinate and gain greater visibility.”
http://newleftreview.org/?page=article&view=2924
There’s a couple of things about the tradition of orthodox CPs (I’ll avoid using the term “Stalinist” to avoid getting into a debate about what that means) that I think are relevant in this context.
The first is that they’ve always had a tendency to stigmatise other currents on the Left as “counter-revolutionary” – either “subjectively” counter-revolutionary because they are actually government agents, or “objectively” counter-revolutionary because they are the expression of alien class interests trying to mislead the working class. This definitely seems to be present in the rhetoric of the KKE, and of course it makes it damn-near impossible to work with others.
The second point is that orthodox CPs have often tended to swing between two very different ideas about how you should relate to others on the left. The first is to say that if you have significant political differences with another group or party, it is impossible to work with them under any circumstances, even to promote limited goals. But then the second approach, at the opposite extreme, is to say that you should forget about the differences altogether and unite with everyone while shelving your criticisms. You’d think it would be impossible for the same party to swing from one approach to the other in a short space of time but it happened many times in the history of the Comintern and since then.
I think the kind of unity that Neil is arguing for above, which I’d agree with, is not unity for its own sake on the basis of the lowest common denominator; but trying to work out the basis for a principled unity and then challenging others on the left to form a united campaigning front on that basis. If they refuse to work with you, then they show themselves up as the ones who are standing in the way of unity.
I think it should be obvious what the KKE has to gain from this kind of unity: they may double or treble their vote if elections are held tomorrow (I don’t know how many new members or supporters they’ve been picking up at the same time), but it won’t be nearly enough to give them a majority – even if we could assume that a KKE-led government with an electoral majority would be allowed to take power by elites in Greece and the EU, which seems like a very dubious assumption. If their goal is to win a social – not just electoral – majority for a transition to socialism, there’s still a long way to go, even if Greece is way in advance of other European countries. The right kind of united action by the Left is the only way to bridge that gap.
another useful source (more from the anti-authoritarian/autonomous left) is From the Greek Streets … another good source is ESSF
Some views from activists: sorry for the length.
Panos Garganas, Editor of Workers Solidarity
The experience of 15 general strikes over two years has resulted in a high level of radicalisation.The employers are on the offensive. The IMF and EU say the government must cut wages to be more competitive.
And since the collapse of the Papandreou government in the autumn, more employers are pushing wage cuts.
They say that workers must accept wage cuts or they will close the workplaces.
But people are saying they will not work for reduced wages.
Workers have always respected the general strikes. But with the earlier strikes—while rallies were big—most people would stay at home.
With each new strike this changed. The rank and file began to get more and more involved.
Union meetings and picket lines had to be organised from below, and clashes with the police meant it was important to organise contingents for protests.
A new layer of activists has now developed which is very experienced at organising.
This is how a general strike can be called at a day’s notice and then implemented solidly, as happened on Tuesday of last week.
Many groups of workers are strong enough to say they won’t take wage cuts and are shutting their workplaces down.
Meetings of whole workforces are taking place. They set up committees with the authority of mass workers’ meetings.
The prospect for this to generalise further is very real. We can see it in the latest 48-hour general strike.
If the blackmail continues about a Greek default this is the response they will get.
Before the first general strike two years ago, it was revolutionaries who took the initiative to push unions into a strike wave.
Back in October 2009 an election returned a Labour-type Pasok government. The unions said they couldn’t call a strike against Pasok.
But the rank and file was influenced by the anti-capitalist left to get this going.
And when the IMF came to Greece, revolutionaries raised the demand of not paying the debt. This wasn’t to be done by the politicians but by workers themselves. That’s workers’ control.
So revolutionaries have played a major part in shaping people’s ideas and putting them into practice.
Moissis Litsis, Eleftherotypia newspaper workers’ committee and Athens Journalists’ Union executive member
We have been on strike since 22 December, and we haven’t been paid since last August.
That is not unusual. Many industries leave workers unpaid. The law here is that companies near bankruptcy can stop paying workers the money they owe them.
Eleftherotypia is the second largest newspaper in Greece, and it has a radical reputation. But now its workers are set to launch our own newspaper, called The Workers in Eleftherotypia, on Wednesday.
This is part of a new wave of radicalism in the workers’ movement in Greece. We have seen many ups and downs in the movement, but now people know they need to go further.
At first workers here at Eleftherotypia were very hesitant to strike, partly because we are a left wing paper with a “different” kind of boss.
But we were left unpaid and facing massive layoffs.
We face a court decision on Wednesday over the future of the newspaper. Maybe we will be sold to creditors.
Since we went on strike, people have wanted a strike paper. People called it a utopian idea, but now we will make a newspaper not just for workers here but for the whole of society.
It will be produced by our 800-strong workforce.
We will start with a 50,000 print run. Our usual print run is a maximum of 30,000.
We want to publish our ideas. But we also need to make earnings, to try to help our strike fund.
That’s why the owner of the newspaper wants to open a new front in the war against us. He has tried cutting off our access to facilities in the office.
We are not formally in occupation, but we have access to our offices and printers.
And the unions are giving us money to help with the printing, so we can use a different printer if we can’t use Eleftherotypia’s.
Readers have a strong connection to Eleftherotypia. They read about the opposition to the troika here.
It’s time to take our newspaper into workers’ hands.
In Greece it sometimes feels like we are at war. People are without work, being fed at soup kitchens, without any security.
I hope we see our strike movement continue. We need more to prevent the measures being enforced through parliament.
People are very angry. There is no section of the ordinary population left unaffected by this, in either public or private sector. Even small business owners are desperate.
And without being paid for so long, we are relying on savings and money from our families and friends. This helps, but we have many desperate people.
People in Greece are encouraged to act individualistically, like in most places. But this crisis has drawn people together.
People now realise that we are all in the same boat.
The establishment tried to scare people—what if we are forced out of Europe, they ask.
But people are not afraid any more. They have nothing to lose.
Kostas Pittas, union rep, ministry of energy
Workers occupied the Ministry of Energy and Development in response to government plans to privatise the energy grid.
On Thursday of last week over 50 power workers and civil service workers occupied and 200 protested outside.
We went into the office of the energy minister and surrounded him. We blocked the doors, and forced him to “negotiate”.
He told us, “no privatisation means no loan from the Troika”. We told him he was bullshitting.
The minister was locked in for about three hours before police freed him through the basement and led him out past a picket line.
This wasn’t the first time we have occupied the building.
We occupied 15 ministries for 12 days in October. When the troika came there was no place for them to meet. Everywhere was occupied.
On Wednesday of last week the power workers were still striking and occupying the electricity company offices.
Over the past two years we have had 15 general strikes. We’ve seen strikes in steel, the media, hospitals and elsewhere—some of them all-out.
This has fed everyone’s confidence.
Georgia Koffa, OLME secondary school teachers’ union, Athens
The austerity measures have been terrible for education.
Teachers are losing their jobs, meaning there is a lack of staff in schools.
Students have no books and no heating in the classrooms. And many students are hungry because they cannot afford food. Students are taking exams in these conditions.
This terrifies us, but it also makes us angry.
We have been pushing our union to fight harder, and we are calling for strikes to beat the austerity.
We are set to strike across secondary schools on Tuesday, after the general strike.
Seeing the workers’ occupations in other workplaces has inspired teachers. We are demanding workers’ meetings to argue to take further action.
We are deciding on the most effective way to fight. We have to learn from workers in other workplaces and follow their example.
We are now in the process of deciding whether we can take our jobs into our own hands and run the school ourselves. We want to take this road to resist the attacks.
Whatever action we take, we don’t want to do it alone. We want workers from other public services to join with us in striking.
Kostas Katarachias, Doctor and union general secretary at Agios Savvas cancer hospital, Athens
Last autumn we saw two months of continuous mobilisations. There were all-out strikes, demonstrations and occupations in the hospitals.
In my hospital we set up meetings to organise from below. We held demonstrations of thousands.
Some people’s pay fell by 30 percent when our new wage rates were announced a few weeks ago.
And as many workers also have loan repayments deducted from their wages, they now get paid next to nothing.
Around half of Greece’s hospitals are threatened with closure. The government has already tried to close some hospitals, but we have resisted and have had some victories.
Hospital workers around the country are now coordinating at a rank and file level. Nearly every day there are demonstrations and rank and file meetings.
The government introduced new charges for hospital patients, but many of the collection offices have been occupied. This stops collection.
Workers from 15 hospitals occupied the Ministry of Health in Athens. We held a general assembly, where people demanded an all-out strike.
Another exciting development is at a hospital in Kilkis in the north. Staff have taken control of managing the hospital, and are taking steps to bring the hospital under workers’ control.
Tasos Anastasiades, coordinator of the EPASS solidarity committee
We are now trying to unite the struggles of workers in the different sectors.
Workers in the media are taking steps to coordinate between the TV companies, newspapers and elsewhere. We’ve been pushing for an all out general strike in the media.
At the Alabis pharmaceutical company thousands of workers have struck against redundancies.
There is also an ongoing strike for several weeks against pay cuts at Intracom Defence, an electronics company that also makes missiles.
We are trying to coordinate them all—and win over more factories to join them in united struggle.
We formed the EPASS committee for solidarity.
This is mainly made up of trade unionists active in workplaces.
The pharmaceutical workers’ union’s president and vice-president are part of it, supported by their members.
At the Eleftherotypia newspaper there are five different unions. Workers there elected a joint committee that supports EPASS.
So it’s half official, half unofficial.
This is important because people in different workplaces are learning from each other.
This coordination has pushed union officials to call bigger strikes.
Now we want to go further—we need an all-out strike for all workers. And we want workers’ control. We want the finance books open for workers to see where their money’s gone and what lies we were told about not having any money.
If a boss sacks people the factory should be nationalised, and the boss’s fortune seized and given to unpaid workers.
You can save an awful lot of space and scrolling time by providing a link
I think it’s important to note what the CLR is and what it isn’t.
This site lives or dies on the input of people. I and other contributors write posts more or less along the line of our inclinations and interests.
If anyone feels that there’s too much KKE stuff here then do precisely what Garibaldy has done and contact me or him, he’s not a sectarian person, with a post and up it will go.
In other words do the same amount of work, for all this is work which eats into our time, as those who write posts, whether guest or general contributors do. Any one is as free as anyone else who feels strongly about the issue to run up as many words as they like about alternatives to KKE.
But if people want the site to somehow take some sort of ‘neutral’ position – ie achieve a parity between pro-KKE posts and pro-a.n.other[s] posts – then that requires more input than comments, and particularly if the motive force for that is a distaste with the KKE.
I’m not for a second going to condemn Garibaldy – who through his open political position and the formation he’s involved with is closer to the thinking of the KKE than anyone else here – for writing something when others haven’t. He consistently makes the effort week in week out.
And I don’t think it is beholden on us as a site, or as individual contributors to do that work for people any more than I feel beholden when writing on Irish politics to try to incorporate the view of every left formation if I’m writing about, for example, the problems with the ULA, or likewise with SF or whatever.
None of this is to say it’s wrong to comment on the KKE and its nature.
Neilcaff’s comments in particular have been excellent in providing an overview. Mark P’s too. The fact people are using this as a means of gettin alternative left messages there out is great. But… if people want to put more effort in… great. It’d be very welcome.
I’m mostly agnostic about the KKE – albeit I find their retrospective attitude to Stalinism a bit futile. If I was in Greece it wouldn’t be my first port of call to join, perhaps SYN or even DL at a push, but beyond that I also have to admit that personally I’m not that interested in the machinations of the further left in Greece – everyone seems locked into prefixed flight paths that on the face of it aren’t going to lead to any positive political outcomes, and everybody has to shoulder some of the blame therein. The background history too seems to have been infected by violence and so on in such a way as to exaggerate difference and encourage over distinctiveness.
So at the moment I’m more interested to concentrate on what it is like to be in Greece and what Europe is doing in relation to it. That’s what I write about.
If people have contributions they’d like to make, or if they want to editorialise about the positions of various Greek formations send them to the usual email addresses and within the usual constraints they will be posted.
I think that some of us are too interested in the machinations of the further left in Greece and not interested enough in the struggles of the people of Greece.
Go KKE!
Go SYRIZA!
Go anyone else who is prepared to stand up to the dictatorship of the Troika!
http://greekleftreview.wordpress.com/
Group blog by greek academics etc
I have to say the direction this thread has gone in has been a bit disappointing.
For some reason the issue of how often Garibaldy puts up material from the KKE on this site has been given a disproportionate importance in the discussion. As far as I’m concerned Garibaldy can put up daily reports of what Aleka Papariga has for breakfast if he wants to (I’m reliably informed it’s dried prunes soaked in lemon juice and vinegar). Nobody is forcing anyone to read it.
I disaree strongly with Gariblady when he says:
“It’s a distraction and a diversion when absolutely anything from the KKE produces the same set of stock responses. That’s not a debate, nor an engagement with the issues actually to hand at a given point in time.”
Hmmm, I’ve reviewed the last two discussions on Greece and as far as I can see most people who are not from an, ahem, orthodox CP background have attempted to deal with the issues at hand. The difference is they’ve included criticism of the the tactics pursued by the KKE. I know I’ve tried to take a balanced approach and have said on numerous occasions all the fault for the division on the Greek left can’t be entirely laid at the feet of the KKE. I think other people have done the same as well.
It seems to me that those who take a broadly pro-KKE line have hardly attempted to engage in any sort of constructive discussion regarding this issue. The exception to this has been LATC and his contribution has been regrettably brief. Instead what I’ve largely seen is facile references to storming the Winter Palace and accusations of bad faith.
That’s a good point and it’s important to distinguish the point I make which is that it’s not fair to take Garibaldy to task about not having the view of others as well as the KKE and simultaneously that it is perfectly valid to critique what the KKE itself says. It’s the former I’ve a problem with, not the latter, but I wanted to underscore th geneal point.
It’s also perhaps worth noting that for some people on the left, and I’m one, the culture of left organisations (and people, and websites) is pretty much as important as the specific political positions they actually take. So it necessarily comes up for discussion.
Of course people can and should post what they want on their own blog (and whenever I’m advised to be what should be on mine, I make it a point of principle to take no notice). It’s just perhaps unfortunate that wall-to-wall-KKE-statements tends to reflect the KKE’s own us-and-nobody-else approach which is the problem people have with the KKE. If you see what I mean.
Well that’s easily rectified by you if you feel that’s a problem given that you still retain contributor status on this site and have for years now. [and I mean that latter term in both the general and the technical sense given you have access passwords etc].
Yeah but it’s all weird in there.
I’ve discussed some of what you might be referring to a bit above when you say that you feel there isn’t an engagement with some issues, but in regard to the KKE’s attitudes towards what went wrong in the USSR, I think there is a fundamental misunderstanding among many people of what the KKE has been engaged in. The KKE, from what I’ve read of their extensive documents online and heard them saying when representatives came to WP conferences, is not saying that everything went wrong from 1956 forward and looking back through rose tinted glasses. What it is doing is engaging in a serious study of the political economy of the USSR to see what lessons it might learn from it for the future in Greece, allied to detailed analysis of the nature of Greek society within the world of contemporary capitalism and international institutions. In other words, it is in the early stages of preparing a serious economic programme that it can use for the Greek economy should it find itself in power in the medium to long term. It is also trying to work out what conditions led to the counter-revolutions in eastern Europe and the USSR so that they can be avoided in any future socialist regime. At the same time, it is looking at its own history to learn lessons from that as well.
The KKE is engaged in a genuine attempt made on a serious Marxist basis to learn from the past and plan for the future. And to ensure above all else that class politics remains at the heart of everything the KKE does, and that it, or at least substantial sections of it, cannot be distracted from that again. It is the very opposite of a retreat into the past.
As for the idea that it is top down, bureaucratic etc. This doesn’t reflect what I have seen of the KKE, or the way it puts together things like its Congress documents, although it is clearly a well-organised and well-disciplined revolutionary party. Whenever I see remarks along these lines, I can’t help but wonder if this isn’t what people want to believe because that is what they expect orthodox CPs to be like.
“Whenever I see remarks along these lines, I can’t help but wonder if this isn’t what people want to believe because that is what they expect orthodox CPs to be like.”
Sorry Garibaldy, that won’t wash. I’ve had enough discussions with people who are active members in the Greek labour movement plus ex-members of the KKE to know that top down and bureaucratic is precisely what they are.
I’m not surprised Neil that the people you talk to disagree. But it’s not the impression I get at all. Like I said, disciplined and well-organised, yes. An organisation and discipline based on an education programme and practices that create a party of class conscious and thoughtful activists.
One English-language (and indeed English) source that I am sure many readers follow is the BBC economics correspondent Paul Mason, who has written frequently, and well, about Greece. This is his latest.
a declaration by KOE: http://kasamaproject.org/2012/02/16/calls-for-a-united-front-for-greek-revolution/
ED says
“Within Syriza—and especially for Synaspismos—the majority line is that the debt should be renegotiated at EU level, without halting repayments. The questions of the euro and of the anti-democratic, indeed quasi-colonial, structure of the EU are minimized or put off until some indefinite point in the future, when a ‘European social movement’ will supposedly have changed the entire EU system.”
Difficut for the KKE/KNE to have a principled unity on that basis particulary on an election slate ?
It was Stathis Kouvelakis who said that, not me. In the quote I gave above, he also said the following:
“Faced with this impasse, elements of Synaspismos—notably the ‘left current’ led by Syriza’s current parliamentary spokesman, Panagiotis Lafazanis—and members of Syriza who have reformed as the Front for Solidarity and Rupture, led by one-time Synaspismos leader Alekos Alavanos, are breaking with the Europhile consensus. They advocate a ‘Kirchner-style’ renegotiation of the national debt, involving cessation of payments, accompanied by exit from the euro and nationalization of the banking sector; this would allow for devaluation of the currency, offering a way out of the logic of ‘internal devaluation’—essentially a dramatic reduction in labour costs—that has been imposed by the high priests of austerity. Such a break with European institutions, without an immediate exit from the EU, is necessary on political as well as economic grounds, in order to release the country from Troika supervision and restore its basic democratic functions.”
I would imagine one of the aims of a call for principled unity would be to encourage those elements in SYRIZA. And of course, there’s a difference between issuing a call for united action on a principled basis, and actually uniting with other groups – it all depends on their response.
There has been much debate on this thread about the KKE and its “sectarianism” and its approach to other forces on the left in Greece. As I am not an expert on all the internal goings on of the Greek left I can’t comment. I would like to make a couple of points.
Certainly it has been the persistent and militant strike action and many other forms of struggle undertaken by PAME that has been a significant factor in the mobilisation of workers and the resistance that is so visible in Greece. They have also played an important role in pushing the two major trade union federations into taking the actions they have taken over the last two years.
PAME is more than just KKE it embraces many militant workers both Greek and from the very large numbers of migrant workers, nearly a half a million alone in Athens. It has been a ten year struggle to build PAME into the undoubted working class forces that it is. This is why the use the very specific term “class struggle orientated forces”
The KKE has been engaged in a struggle to bring about a “rupture” in the system for many years now. They want to turn the economic crisis of the system into a political crisis of the system in order to bring about that rupture.
They believe there is no half way house between monopoly capitalism and the struggle for socialism. They do not believe that you can have a fairer better capitalism. Whether the balance of forces are there currently for such a course of action I am not in a position to judge. But to paraphrase James Connolly – you never know when the time is right until you have tried.
Clearly, central to their strategy is the winning of state power by the working class, which is different than being in government. That the working class must challenge for state power. This brings them right up front and into struggle not just against the Greek ruling capitalist class but most importantly at this point up against the EU itself.
From their analysis of the EU they see the forces of monopoly capitalism at its heart and driving it and the class nature of the institutions and whom they serve as well as the imperialist character of the EU. They do not believe in some form of benign European imperialism an understanding I share.
Such concepts as “Social Europe” or the “democratic deficit” at the heart of the EU “Project” or the call for more powers to the EU “Parliament” they would argue as nothing more than reformism. These are issues that are not just confined to Greece but are very relevant to progressive forces here in Ireland and across the EU.
They are mindful of what they see as the degeneration of some of the major communist working class forces particularly in Italy, France and Spain over the last four decades and their – as the KKE sees it – abandonment of class politics and of anti-imperialism. They had simple become election machines rather than partisan parties of the working class. That their struggles where around elections and not about what class has state power and how to bring the working class to power.
So their approach to other forces will be based upon a number of key elements.
Are they in favour of the overthrow of capitalism to turn the economic crisis into a political crisis of the system to create that political rupture.
That the struggle is about the working class taking state power and not just the election of a left government.
Opposition to the EU is a central question for them.
They believe that social democracy has lost all credibility and in fact its material base no longer exist, but its ideas and values still linger in the minds of their supporters and need to be challenged.
Much of the criticism of the KKE is borne out of a deep seated anti-communism not just of the KKE but of communist in general. No other section of the working class movement has had it history and its role trawled through and dissected as that of the communist movement.
Everyone appears to be experts on the minutia of the communist movement and its many “mistakes”. I don’t have a problem with that, but we need to be mindful of the fact that history is always written by the victors and in a class divided society by the ruling class.
Very few of us are immune from our own prejudice or from influence of the dominant ideology.
History is a guide to understanding today and may provide possible answers for a way forward, a knowledge of history will certainly help to avoid previous mistakes. But we should try not be prisoners of history. But then the communist movement is surely not the only working class movement to have made mistakes?
One would hazard a guess that those most knowledgeable about the “crimes” of communists probably know more about the mistakes of communists than the role of imperialism over the last century. As the old saying goes if you never made a mistake you never did anything of importance.
The debate about the KKE will no doubt generate more heat than light. But our opinions will amount to nothing if we are unable to come forward with a credible strategy for our own working class to take power and we reduce ourselves to the politics of protest without any clear alternative strategy for challenging the dominant class and combating its ideology.
Sorry Eugene.The KKE has had a sectarian past. It has made some amends to its military leader during WW2. He was killed in shady circumstances. Many fear that the KKE has not left remants of Stalinism behind. Exchanging the Troika for gulags worrys some.
On a connected note, what is your views on McLaughlins book on the 3 Irish victims of the Gulag. I appreciate that none of the CPI members I know hanker for Stalin and Stalinsim but it would be nice to see a clear and explicit break from it.
When rightwing forces use this, they have a point. Many workers dont want to risk the little democracy they have under Imperialism for a dictatorship. I remember when FF tried to get rid of PR, the CPI played a leading role in defending it. So I assume the CPI regard our limited democracy as worth defending and would regard socialism as removing teh dictatorship of capital or the troika).
All leftwiong groups have this burden to carry, where communism is identified as role by a narrow group of people and in the case of North Korea as the rule of a family with more power than the Windsors/Mountbattens/Battenbergs
G. Sifonios, President of PAME aligned Greek Steel Workers Union, welcomes leaders of Golden Dawn to a strike by Greek steel workers
http://www.xekinima.org/arthra/view/article/anatrixiastiko-to-pamekke-kalosorizei-tin-xrysi-aygi/#.T0EfNLUYU68.facebook
You’ll have to use Google translate which is a bit spotty. The gist of it is this. A picket line by Greek steel workers from a trade union aligned to PAME, which is run by the KKE, was visited by members of the Central Committee of the Golden Dawn a far right fascist organisation. I’m not taking far right like the BNP or the modern day French National Front, I’m talking proper 1930′s, private army, kill the foreigners and the left, fascist organisation.
Here’s a report from Al Jazeera about the Golden Dawn:
As you can see, these people are not the types you want anywhere near a picket line. Just in case there is any misunderstanding, these were not striking workers who were Golden Dawn members, they were the actual LEADERS of one of the most violent and dangerous far right organisations in Europe.
Now all that is bad enough, but it’s worse. G. Sifonios is not some wet behind the ears KKE member, he is the President of the union and yet he allows fascist leaders to address striking workers.
Here’s a video of what happened.
No prizes for guessing who the fascist is, G Sifonios is the leader, long haired guy who speaks after him. According to my Greek speaking partner he justifies this by saying “All Greece is on our side”
So in the world the KKE, work with SYRIZA/other lefts = bad, allow uncritical, unchallenged platform for fascist = good!
There is a kind of twisted logic that can only make sense to a Stalinist. Golden Dawn, you see, want to leave the EU and repudiate the debt, so they’re not, you know, opportunists or ultra-leftists like those dastardly folk in SYRIZA.
Stalinists, you just despair sometimes, you really do…
The KKE have now responded to criticism of allowing fascists to speak at a picket line of a KKE aligned union by
A) claiming they did nothing wrong what so ever
B) claiming the SYRIZA, Xekinima, SEK etc are provocatuers just like Golden Dawn!
http://www.xekinima.org/arthra/view/article/xrysi-aygi-kai-xalyboyrgia-apantisi-ston-rizospasti/
Those zany Stalinists, dont’cha just love’em?
I’m interested that neither Eugene (above) or any of the other people who support or defend the KKE have attempted to deal with this point. I know history is supposed to repeat itself, first as tragedy, then farce, but this is just tragedy twice-over. Golden Dawn have actually killed anti-fascists.
http://www.leftcom.org/en/articles/2012-02-23/update-more-manoeuvres-by-the-greek-stalinists
As a supporter of the KKE I would like to put my thoughts up regarding this incident. Like usual the KKE have closed ranks and is refusing to comment on the situation, apart from statements condemning the fascists visit to the steel works as provocateurs.
I feel that one of two things has happened. That the PAME president fucked up big time in allowing these people to visit the steel works and is currently being disciplined internally. Or, and this is a complete conspiracy theory, there has been some kind of deal done-possibly related to the huge links between the fascists and the armed forces/police.
Someone brought up the fact that demonstrations in Greece are often heavily infiltrated by police provocateurs who try to turn every protest into a violent riot. This of course happens all across the world. Yet the standard labour movement tactic to avoid being sucked into such actions by marching in disciplined ranks that are heavily stewarded and do not run away off the route to smash up shops.
The very fact that some on the revolutionary left refuse to even acknowledge the need for discipline in order to prevent such things is linked to the animosity in Greece between some anarchists and the KKE. The KKE charging the anarchists as providing cover and excuses for actions that are designed to alienate ordinary people from the movement. For instance, on LibCom they attack the KKE for “defending parliament”. During the last general strike there was a KKE/PAME demonstration outside parliament that was attacked by people dressed as anarchists. Some anarchists claim that the KKE prevented the overthrow of parliament, although it seems a little convenient that this attempt to overthrow parliament just happened to occur when there was a KKE/PAME demonstration in front of parliament. Why didn’t they attack parliament before, why haven’t they lead a charge on parliament since?
In my opinion many anarchists are far too easily tricked by state agents to carry out attacks, or allow ‘hooded ones’ in their ranks to carry out attacks, on KKE and PAME demonstrations. Website such as LibCom also immediately and uncritically defend such actions and fail to see the flaws of such strategies.
One reason why some ultra-left groups past and present have been described/are being described as infiltrated by state agents…etc is because they seem to over-concentrate on attacking trade unionists, socialists and communists (rather than capitalists) and are too easily lead into actions that suit agents of the state.
And that leads us to the striking steel workers allowing fascists to speak at the steel works. Now LibCom and the AWL have used this incident to attack the KKE and try to say that it is in alliance with fascists…etc. It is funny that for people who spend all their time saying that Communists only ever betray workers in struggle now acknowledge the role of the KKE in the longest on-going strike in Greece. I would suggest that such people, committed as they are, simply have no experience of organizing such strikes or any leading role in any struggle.
In my opinion they prefer to imagine ‘pure’ revolutions from the comfort of their armchairs, rather than get involved with the gritty business of actually organizing strikes and trade unions and confront the inevitable mistakes/contradictions or work with ordinary people who are often politically naive/easily become pessimistic/don’t always make the correct decision.
What occurred is not clear. A group of fascists turned up to picket lines unannounced with messages of support and supplies of food and drink. During the oil refinery dispute a few years ago the BNP did something similar. It turned up on a picket line to give it’s support, gave out stuff…etc Now using the same logic as LibCom and the AWL as the guys on that picket line were members of UNITE and UNITE is affiliated with the Labour party, so the Labour party is in an alliance with the BNP!
For whatever reason the Greek fascists were allowed to speak, whether this is down to the steel worker’s naivety/being surprised/being too tired or intimidated to stop them or was the result of being out on strike for 4 months and welcoming anyone who came to them in support and with gifts of food and drink? I dunno.
It has been suggested to me that they were caught off guard, that many of the workers were booing the fascists and that the president took the microphone and, while thanking them for their support, stated that he was against fascism.
Both PAME, the trade union, and the KKE have released statements condemning the fascists and describing their action as a ‘provocation’.
To be honest I think this could be utter bollocks. The KKE is a very old fashioned communist party, this has negatives and positives. They are very dogmatic and sectarian and they are far too uncritical of the Soviet Union under Stalin. They are however very organised, very disciplined and very committed.
Unlike most communist parties in the world they refuse to be on the defensive the whole time and are not afraid of singing the praises of the achievements of socialist countries-defeat of Nazism, elimination of poverty/unemployment, the cultural and scientific advances, the support for liberation movements….etc
They are very committed and very active. They refuse to work with the social democrats and fail to hang on to illusions about the labour party and compromised trade unions that are far too prevalent in the left in this country.
Yet they are the biggest and most successful communist party in Europe. Their members have strict discipline. They are very organised and, in many cases, very secretive about their inner workings. (For instance, rumour has it that the KKE has numerous very organised cells in the Greek armed forces)
However, how does such an organised, effective communist party allow fascists to turn up to one of their struggles?
The leader of the strike and many leading figures have warrants out for their arrest. They have been out for 4 months and have had to put up with a hell of a lot.
Golden Dawn are a very strange Nazi group. They have huge links with the police and armed forces. They even organised a group of Greeks to fight in Bosnia in the 1990s.
I do not know for certain, but I have suspicions that this may have something to do with some kind of deal, whether it is to stop the police harassing the strikers or to keep the police from arresting the leaders. It could even be much bigger than that.
What ever the truth is the KKE have their lips firmly closed-whether this is because they are conducting internal discipline for the leaders of the strike for fucking up, or whether it is something more sinister I do not know.
I wonder if anyone has any thoughts? (other than idiotic crap such as ‘those Stalinists have always been allies of the fascists, remember when they deliberately lost the spanish civil war/ hitler-stalin pact proves they were best friends …etc’)