Sixth general strike in Greece confronts austerity plan

The working class in Greece is taking up the challenge the European capitalist class has thrown against them. The unions held their sixth general strike to combat the government’s austerity program, this one for the 48 hours of Oct. 19-20 and with even more massive participation than earlier actions manifested.

The action’s high point was a demonstration of hundreds of thousands of people surrounding Parliament in downtown Athens on Oct. 20. The PAME trade union federation, close to the Communist Party of Greece (KKE), played a strong role in the action. Other unions, left groups and mass organizations of students and women also supported the struggle.

The courage of the workers in Greece is an example for workers throughout Europe and North America. They have thrown themselves into this struggle, which is not only against the Greek capitalists, but against the capitalist class of all of Europe. These latter are represented by the “Troika,” that is, the European Union, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund.

The events of Greece — indeed the entire economic crisis of Europe — have been presented in a false light in the U.S. corporate media. Somehow, according to the capitalist pundits, the Greeks have been too extravagant in government spending. They claim that a tight austerity plan in Greece and an intelligent “rescue” loan might stop the capitalist crisis from spreading to other countries and sparking another recession or depression.

The truth is that the crisis is not solvable by capitalist means. Even upturns in production wind up spreading new technology and eliminating jobs, thus exacerbating the crisis of overproduction. What is at stake in Greece is not whether the crisis will be overcome, but simply whether the bankers and billionaires will be able to make the working class pay the entire cost of their capitalist crisis.

Communists call for debt cancellation

Since the KKE and the PAME unions played such a big role in the strike, it is instructive to reproduce some of the comments of KKE General Secretary Aleka Papariga to the media following meetings Oct. 19 with various party leaders.

“From now on things will literally be decided by the mighty people and not by the negotiations,” she said. Calling on the people to go forward without fear, without illusions until the final victory, she added, “There is one solution: the wealth which exists in this country must become the people’s. We must disengage from the bonds of the EU and unilaterally cancel the debt. There is no intermediate solution.” (inter.kke.gr, Oct. 19)

The second day, police estimated 120,000 people surrounded Parliament — a low estimate according to PAME — as Papariga addressed the crowd, saying, “The struggle doesn’t stop today, it will continue. This torrent must be more turbulent, more radical, more subversive. It can sweep everything away under one condition: that they won’t steal the victory in the nick of time as has happened many times before.” (inter.kke.gr, Oct. 20)

Clashes with ‘anarchists’ or provocateurs?

The New York Times and other corporate media distorted the mass character of the protests in Greece by concentrating their coverage on outbreaks of “violence” and especially on the direct attack by allegedly anarchist groups on the PAME and Communist contingent.

One can understand that some people might honestly feel it liberating to attack some symbol of their oppression, such as a bank headquarters or police station, whether or not this is a wise tactic.

But what happened in Greece was that some group pretending to be “anarchist” attacked the organizers of a mass workers’ demonstration. There has been evidence from past strikes in Greece — and this happened in Barcelona in the Spanish state, too — that police and fascist elements have disguised themselves as anarchists to provoke confrontations in those situations and bring about police repression of demonstrators.

Thus the KKE evaluation has even more weight: “On the second day the forces of capital sought to suppress the strong political message of the workers. PAME had announced the encirclement of the Parliament for the time when the anti-worker measures were to be discussed and voted on by article with a roll call vote, at the request of the KKE.

“For this reason they [the pro-capitalist forces] mobilised and unleashed in a planned way organized groups with specific instructions and anarcho-fascists who with Molotov cocktails, stones, and other weapons that are used by the police, such as teargas and stun grenades, attempted to disperse the majestic rally of the workers and people in Syntagma and especially the part where PAME was concentrated.” (KKE statement on media, Oct. 21)

The provocation caused injuries to 80 PAME members but failed to disperse the demonstration.