EXTENDED VERSION
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PART D
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F. Unilateral refusal to pay the entire debt
The existence of the fact of the country’s financial bankruptcy has been
questioned by all the bourgeois forces, as well as organizations
(parliamentary
or otherwise) with reference to the Left. In this context, some forces are
talking about renegotiating the debt, which essentially means new loans, again
with usurious terms, and extension of the debt’s repayment time schedule, as
well as the supervision by the imperialist institutions. Other forces
completely reject the refusal to pay the debt, again postponing this immediate
need to the “change” in a future “anti-capitalism.”
The refusal of recognizing, and the unilateral suspension of paying the entire
debt (in the context of the bankruptcy of the Greek economy), - in direct
connection with the withdrawal, HERE AND NOW, of Greece from the EU-EMU-Euro -
and the struggle proposal of the Movement for the Reorganization of the
Communist Party of Greece 1918-55” for this crucial historical period (a
period
when neither a revolutionary situation nor the revolutionary party of the
working class exists) means the refusal on the part of the working class and
the people to pay for the crisis and the looting of public wealth, on which
the
capital and the government are justifying the imposition of the most extreme
anti-worker measures and are asking people to make “shared sacrifices for the
motherland” with the rich, as if it were the first who created the crisis,
robbed the social security funds and robbed the public wealth.
In order to justify their attitude, the forces that refuse to propose the
suspension of payments - objectively in line with the government and all
bourgeois political forces that do not pose such a question as well – claim
that this slogan is either supposedly directed to the Government, or is a
“positive proposal” within the system, which helps to address the crisis for
the benefit of the system. However, the claim for the unilateral suspension of
payments is directed solely to the working class and all the toiling masses,
putting very clearly the need for immediate, daily and increasing political
action against the misery the capitalist system is promising. We maintain that
strikes, whose sole aim is defending the workers’ gains and which do not have
a
clear target and prospect for success, are only “some” while we are living in
the historic times of a systemic crisis of capital and its institutions
(banks,
etc.), when the clear issue of this system’s sustainability or the
disappearance of workers is set on the agenda.
The confinement of the working class’s struggle to strictly trade-unionist
demands, as this is projected by the social democrats (“K”KE-SYN) as well as
the organizations of the extraparliamentary Left (KOE-NAR-ANTARSYA-KKE
(m-l)-M-L KKE, etc.),3 even as “having as a spearhead the demands of struggle
for the overthrow of the enslaving memorandum of the government-EU-IMF”
(“Laikos
Dromos,” 3/7/2010, p. 13), is at first sentencing the working class’s struggle
to a defensive position, demobilizes and paralyzes it, and second – and more
important – disconnects this necessary and of vital importance struggle of the
working class for the defense of its class interests from the struggle against
imperialist dependence by the EU – a dependence which has caused directly a
series of the country’s economic problems, which are impossible to become
understood to the required degree by the workers and the people without the
struggle against EU, despite the breakdown of the myths attached to the EU.
The social democratic leaders of SYN have abandoned the anti-imperialist
position-slogan “Greece out of the EU” and are in favour of the country
staying
within EU, while those of “K”KE, who are sometimes invoking the slogan
phenomenally-demagoguely in order to deceive the working people, have
essentially abandoned it as well, because firstly, they are also in favour of
Greece staying inside EU, as A. Papariga recently confessed in an answer of
hers to a relevant question that the exit of Greece from the EU at this moment
“is not a solution in itself”4, and therefore they are in favour of Greece
staying in the EU, and secondly, they, along with Maoist revisionist KKE (m-l)
and M-L KKE5 are transferring and relegating Greece’s exit from the EU to – as
far as “K”KE is concerned – the Greek calends, i.e. the “Doomsday” of
so-called “people’s power” – “people’s economy)6, and to – as far as the
Maoists
are concerned – their “socialism” – both of which remain in the confines of
capitalism.
Despite all these, the social democratic “K”KE and the Maoist revisionists of
KKE (m-l)/ M-L KKE attempted unsuccessfully to construct a “Left” disguise, to
appear “more on the Left” by those (NAR, “Left Economists”) who only suggest
an
“exit from EMU-EURO,” and criticizing them, while at the same time, they are
the
ones who do not even suggest an “exit from EMU-EURO,” even as a “first
reformist
step,” and even more they do not suggest the here and now exit of Greece from
imperialist EU, and therefore, since they do not do so, it is obvious that they
are silently but fully and faithfully supporting the local capital’s current
strategic choice of KEEPING Greece inside EMU-EURO-EU.
The adoption of unilateral suspension and refusal to pay the debt, namely the
refusal of the working class and the people to recognize and pay the debt may,
as a slogan of struggle, mobilize broad segments of society at the risk of
poverty, because on the one hand the debt is not their creation, but of the
reactionary bourgeoisie, and on the other hand, it is in large part the
product
of usurious interest rates. The extent to which this slogan can be translated
into everyday multiform action will show the way the movement on its part
could
“blackmail” and press (any) government to stop donating cash to save banks and
borrowing at usurious interest rates, which could save a lot of money for
wages
and pensions. The escalation of the struggle around the request for the
unilateral suspension of payments, always in a direct connection to the exit,
here and now, of the country from the EU-EMU-Euro is the only realistic way
to
implement the slogan “capitalists pay for their crisis,” i.e. the banks and
industrialists and those who rip off the public wealth.
G. Struggle for the defenceof people’s rights to work, social security,
democratic freedoms and the re-conquest of demolished gains
The immediate objective of the struggle of the working class and of the broad
working masses, in this very difficult period, is the defense of class
interests at all levels to defend the rights and gains that have not been
affected by the hurricane of Memorandum and the re-conquest of the demolished
gains earned in bloody fights over a century. More specifically, main
objectives of the struggle must be:
* Struggle for the prohibition of lay-offs and re-emloyment of all
those who
have been sacked
* Public, free and universal health care and social security
* Rehabilitation of the 13th and 14th pension to all pensioners and the
13th
and 14th wage for workers in public services
* Increased and unconditional benefits for all unemployed people for
the total
time of unemployment
* Respect for collective bargaining agreements and prohibition of any
blackmailing “individual and business bargaining agreements”
* Reduction in indirect taxes that affect only the broad masses,
especially in
basic goods
* Defence of the public and free character of the university and all
education
* Stop the ongoing privatization of public property and the selling out
of
social services
* Business Taxation from 20-25% to 35-40%
* Hit evasion and contribution evasion of the capitalists, without
gracious
closing arrangements
* Drastic reduction of expenditures on military equipment and increase
of the
budget for education and health
* Full taxation of the property (not just real estate) of the church,
which is
not its own anyway
* Defence of the university sanctuary as the highest democratic and
people’s
right
* Unconditional legalization of all immigrants living and working in
the
country
* Resistance to State Terrorism
H. The unity of the labour-popular movement is the prerequisite for victory
The battle against the Memorandum and in general against the onslaught of
capital requires the maximum mobilization of the forces of the working class
and of the broad working masses in order to create the conditions for the
overthrow.
The working class and the sum of working people failed in the previous period
to repel the attacks of foreign and local capital (attacks attempting to be
consolidated for several years), as these were launched by the Troika and the
government and were reflected in the Memorandum. This is due to the
treacherous
line of class collaboration by the sold-out reformist workers’ patrons of
GSEE-ADEDY and their respective leadership factions: PASKE-DAKE-PAME-AUTONOMI
PAREMVASI.7 On the one hand, the pro-employer unionism of GSEE-ADEDY (with the
leadership of PASKE, the support of DAKE and the tolerance of PAME-AP), with
the declaration of one-day (!) strikes only for the eyes of the world, which
strikes they do not even care to organize, propagandize in elemental level,
leading inevitably to their ever-decreasing massiveness and participation at
the moment when the burst of mobilizations was necessary (May-June 2010). On
the other hand, the consistently divisive tactics of the reformists of PAME,
who, with their separate demonstrations and gatherings, the paternalistic and
propertarian attitude within unions (even reaching the establishment of
separate unions that are controlled purely by their forces (!), even breaking
existing unions on the grounds that are they are “sold out” because they do
not
follow PAME), and the submission of all mobilizations to their narrow
electoral
designs, have been permanently undermining the unity and massiveness of
mobilizations, rendering them ineffective.
The effective resistance to the measures being imposed consistently through
the Memorandum and in accordance with the appetites of international and local
capital, requires a broad and united front that will understand that true
class
action does not mean separate gatherings under the guise of greater militancy,
but, on the contrary, common, collective and joint action in the workplaces,
the creation of new grassroots unions and reorganization of existing ones, the
revival the student unions, the development of popular resistances on the
neighbourhood level, and generally whatever contributes to the unity of the
workers’-people’s movement and the militant response from the base the
movement, independently of the reformist patrons
Furthermore, in the context of the struggle for the unity of the working class
and against the goals of capitalists and workers’ patrons to divide the
forces
of workers, the labour movement must fight for the immediate, equal and
unconditional integration of the immigrants (with or without “papers”) and the
unemployed in trade unions, and hence the movement, which will be a step to
increasing the massive character and making effective the action of the
movement.
The example of the unity of French workers’ protests shows the way for the
development of the labour-popular movement’s mass resistance. The success of
the protests by French workers - in terms of massiveness and militancy -
against Sarkozy’s anti-social security law, protests which paralyzed France
for
days, is due to the fact that in a country with 4 (!) Workers’ Confederations
(and despite their ideological and political differences), the unity of the
whole class, the immigrants, the unemployed, the youth is considered to be
established and is put into practice by coordinating the protests, without any
political or trade union force to even think of committing the class betrayal
of division, which automatically means the weakening of class struggle.
The proposal of the Movement for the Reorganization of the Communist Party of
Greece 1918-55 is in direct opposition and rupture with the big local capital’s
strategic choice of KEEPING Greece inside EMU-EURO-EU, as it is promoted in an
auspicious moment and favourable condition, both in relation to the interior
and the European context. It is a proposal, and an overripe demand for
promotion when the myths of imperialist Europe and local capitalism are
becoming bankrupt daily in front of the wrathful eyes of the Greek people; the
only proposal expressing popular and national interests, and most importantly,
it is contributing to the development of an anti-imperialist consciousness for
the broad popular masses and is suitable to cause the development of a large,
broad, gigantic anti-imperialist movement – this is exactly what big local
capital as well as EU monopolies fear –, suitable for the shifting of the
necessary and requirement balance of power for the preparation of the future
terminal release of the country for imperialist bondage, opening the way of
revolutionary perspective, in combination with the fermentation of relevant
revolutionary slogans in each phase of the struggle, in the direction of
anti-imperialist-proletarian revolution and socialism-communism.
November 2010
1 Aleka Papariga – “K”KE: “they are bringing back the scarecrow of bankruptcy,”
“Rizospastis” 23/4/2010, p. 6, Alexis Tsipras – SYN: “nice fable about the
dragon of bankruptcy,” “Eleftherotypia” 14/3/2010,
2 S. Zorbalas: “Marxism and Our Age,” p. 41, Athens 1976. Also look N.
Kyritsis, “Neos Kosmos,” 9/1971, pp. 120-21, Th. Zachos, “Neos Kosmos,”
11/1972, pp. 40-41, etc. As for D. Koutsoumpas in the spirit of E.David
(1899),
Kautsky (1901), Tscheprakow (1969), Farakos (1974), he rejects-denies both
relative and absolute immiseration, despite being economic laws, replacing
them
with the version of “tendency”: “a tendency of absolute and relative
immiseration” (“R,” 25/4/2010, p. 4).
3 KOE: Communist Organization of Greece. Maoists co-operating with SYN in
SYRIZA (Coalition of the Radical Left). KKE (m-l) (Communist Party of Greece
(marxist-leninist) and M-L KKE (Marxist-Leninist Communist Party of Greece)
are
Maoists as well. NAR: New Left Current, split of KKE from 1989. ANTARSYA:
Anticapitalist Left Co-operation for the Overthrow: a coalition of
organizations of the extraparliamentary left.
4 “Rizospastis,” 5/3/2010, p. 10
5 “Laikos Dromos,”, newspaper of M-LKKE, 5/6/2010, pp. 12-13
6 “K”KE: “disconnection from the EU along with people’s power,” (“Rizospastis”
27/6/2010, p. 11)
7 GSEE: General Confederation of Greek Workers. ADEDY: Civil Servants’
Confederation. PASKE (All-Greece Militant Syndicalist Movement): the
syndicalist wing of PASOK. DAKE: Independent Democratic Workers’ Movement. The
syndicalist wing of Nea Dimokratia. PAME (All-Workers Militant Front): the
syndicalist wing of “K”KE. AP (Autonomi Paremvasi, Autonomous Intervention):
the syndicalist wing of SYN.
The Political Committee of the "Movement for the Reorganisation of the
Communist
Party of Greece 1918-55"
PO Box 3689, 102 10 Athens
Greece
Tel: +30 2108621543
Site:http://anasintaxi.awardspace.com
Blog (English):http://anasintaxi-en.blogspot.com
Blog (Greek):http://anasintaxi.blogspot.com
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