Final Update on the Greek election
Greece now has a new
government. SYRIZA's Alexis Tsipras was sworn in yesterday as the
new Prime Minister. In order to get there Tsipras made a deal with the
right wing Greek Independents (ANEL), a split from New Democracy, in order to
obtain a clear majority in parliament. Final results for SYRIZA see
them with 149 seats in Parliament, two short of a clear majority. The coalition
agreement with ANEL gives Tsipras another 13 seats. Although ANEL is
anti-austerity, at least rhetorically, they are also racist and
xenophobic. This is a terrible start for the new government and it bears
out the warnings that were issued by the EEK statement in their election
statement that we reprinted (below). Most troubling of all is the
appointment of the leader of ANEL, Panos Kammenos, to the position of the
Minister of Defense in the new government.
Considering the close ties of much of Greece’s military and militarized
police with the Golden Dawn neo-Nazis and Greece’s history of having endured a
right wing military dictatorship in the 1960’s this is an ominous development.
However, the
conciliatory character of SYRIZA's leadership should not diminish the magnitude
of the historic change that this election represented. For the first time
in more than a generation a political party that claimed to be "Left"
- even "far-Left" has won a national election in Europe and is
forming a government. And the election itself electrified Greece. One of the remarkable things about this election was that the percentage of the vote for SYRIZA was
about the same in the rural areas as it was in the major cities of Athens and
Thessaloniki. Traditionally the rural parts of Greece were the backbone
of the Right whereas the major cities were the stronghold of the the Left.
This indicates a massive defection from the Right. There were of
course still some regional differences in the election results. For instance, in
the working class Athens suburb of Nikaia, which had once been a stronghold of
the Communist Party, SYRIZA obtained 42% of the vote while New Democracy
obtained only 18%. This contrasts with the nationwide result of 36% for
SYRIZA and 28% for New Democracy.
What this election
means for the people of Greece is that they see hope for the first time since
the brutal austerity regime began in 2009. And while we understand that
SYRIZA's leadership is bent on a course that will dash those hopes, we do not
accept failure as pre-ordained. Rather we think it is the responsibility of
Marxists to work for an autonomous mobilization of the masses who supported
SYRIZA. Such a movement, if it develops can go beyond the limited
vision of SYRIZA's leaders. And it is only by going through that
experience that the Greek masses can be brought to the point where they can
look to a new leadership.
Such an approach is in
stark contrast to the lifeless approach found among many of the sectarian
groups on the left. Typically such groups think that all they need to do is to
denounce SYRIZA and that this will somehow lead to masses of people supporting
them. And while these groups can say some correct things about the bourgeois nature of SYRIZA’s leadership, they also
discount the significance of SYRIZA’s victory. For instance, one such outfit
said the following the day after the election,
"Syriza’s victory is by no means the popular endorsement claimed by the
media and its various pseudo-left apologists."
But this is just to
deny reality. As practically all observers have testified, SYRIZA, a
wholly untested political party that has never been in government before, was
swept into office on the wave of an unprecedented movement against austerity
and for a radical alternative. Take for instance the following
observation made during the campaign by a member of EEK who had been travelling throughout the country;
"There is a tsunami
of popular support for Syriza to get rid from the Right and austerity but
this support is not at all uncritical. Many questions are rising
from the moderation of the Syriza's leadership and its accommodation to
right wing forces. The general left wing turn of the masses
creates new opportunities for us revolutionaries too."
The sectarian groups are
blind to the opportunities because they are indifferent to the mass movement.
And when that mass movement breaks out as it did in the election of
SYRIZA, they work overtime to make this inconvenient truth go away.
(The other side of the equation are the opportunist groups on the Left, those
who uncritically praise SYRIZA and offer no independent perspective.)
An excellent counter
to the arrogance and stupidity of the sectarian groups was made by one of the
people who commented on the article we quoted. We think it is appropriate
to reproduce his comment in full even though we do not agree with everything he
writes. Nevertheless, he is correct on the main point, the sectarians are
clueless when it comes to the historical experience of the Greek working class
and the significance of this election.
" Speaking
as a Greek who has fought for revolution all his life, there happens to be a
political reality in Greece which should be recognized and that is that after
many years of being propagandized by center-right to right-wing media controlled
by oligarchs and by center-right governments, it will take some time for the
Greek people to realize not just whom they should support but what exactly has
happened to them. The lies that have been told from the big majority of power
centers in Europe have managed to create the idea that Greeks owe as much as
has been advertised, that they have been given a "helping" hand from
the populations of Europe and shouldn't demand more and that the Greeks are
lazy people who only want to drink ouzo and have good times. Many Greeks have
become non-believers in the possibility of exiting this situation which, by any
analysis will and would be very difficult under these international crisis
situations.
Greek reality is different
from the reality in other European countries as she is a microcosm of nearly
every type of political movement. For example during and after the Second World
War, the communist resistance forces were on the brink of taking power but were
betrayed by the so-called allies of the west like the US and England and who
supported the ultra-right pro Nazi forces and denied the Greek people the right
to chose their own destiny, just has they are once again trying to do once
more. It is the first time in the world since the changes in South America and
the first time in Europe where a what is considered left wing government has
been elected in any country. One has to be patient and to see what this
experiment will bring before condemning the attempt even before it has taken
power. Denying political realities and not supporting the ONLY left-leaning
elected government in Europe only gives support to the enemies of the left,
something that the left has been prone to and used by the right for years and
thus accentuating the left's failures to convince a majority of population that
revolution and support of the working class is the only way out."
Jan 28, 2015
Update on Greek election results
The polls in Greece closed just hours ago and the exit polls are predicting a resounding victory for SYRIZA. Greek Prime Minister Samaris has already congratulated Alexis Tsipras on SYRIZA's victory. Whether SYRIZA will have enough seats to gain an outright majority in Parliament and thus form their own government without coalition partners still remains to be seen but they are now predicted to be very close toward getting the 151 seats in Parliament needed for a majority. They are expected to get anywhere from 35 - 39% of the vote with the right wing New Democracy expected to get no more than 25% of the vote.
PASOK, including the new breakaway group formed by George Papandreou, is down to a miserable 6% of the vote between them, a well-deserved rebuke for their acceptance of the austerity measures of the EU. PASOK is no longer even the third place party in Greece. That "honor" will now go to either the neo-Nazi Golden Dawn or another right wing party. The KKE (Communist Party) with a predicted 6% of the vote will get about a dozen deputies into Parliament and will have a larger representation there than PASOK. No news yet of results for the EEK or ANTARSYA - the two 'far-left' parties fielding candidates in this election - though it is doubtful either will get enough votes to make it into Parliament.
Whatever the final result this election could mark a sea change in European politics. It is the first time in more than a generation that a country has voted for an avowedly left wing party and put them in charge of the country. (The acronym SYRIZA stands for "Coalition of the Radical Left"). Again this is an avowedly left wing party - not a "Social Democratic" party. It remains to be seen just how different from traditional social democracy SYRIZA will turn out to be once in power. But for now what is crucial about this vote is what it expresses about the aspirations of the Greek masses: this is without question a vote FOR radical social change.
And coming as it does in year 7 of the most serious crisis of capitalism since the the Great Depression and standing against the prevailing orthodoxy of austerity, it signifies a huge challenge to international capital. Suddenly there are new possibilities for revolutionary socialists.
Here is a video of the celebration at SYRIZA headequarters in Athens when the initial results were being announced:
Updated posted on Jan. 25, 2015.
*****************************************************************
Note:
We are publishing the election manifesto of the Workers Revolutionary Party of
Greece (EEK). We believe this is an important statement that should be studied
and discussed by all those working towards a socialist resolution of the crisis
of capitalism. Greece has become the epicenter of that crisis and the fate of
Greece could very well determine the fate of Europe and of the world for
decades to come. While Greece is a relatively small country with a relatively
small economy compared for example, to Spain or Italy, it has the potential to show the way
forward to others. And this is a
historic moment in Greece as there is every indication that a party of the Left
– SYRIZA - (an acronym for the ‘Party of the Radical Left’), will win the
elections for parliament on Jan 25. As the EEK statement points out, SYRIZA
will not be able to meet the expectations of those who will be voting for
it. We believe that the EEK’s
approach, seeking to join in a common
struggle with the masses who see in SYRIZA
an alternative to the austerity measures of successive Center Left and
Center Right governments, while patiently explaining the limitations of SYRIZA,
is fundamentally right. EEK’s decision
to field its own candidates independent of those groups on the left who have
made common cause with nationalists of the Left and the Right is also welcome.
That
being said, our posting of the EEK's election statement doesn't mean we agree
with every aspect of the party's program. The statement makes a formally
correct warning about the dangers of a Chile-style counterrevolution in the
wake of a powerless left government. This is a real danger but it is by no
means a pre-determined outcome. What is troubling here is the tone of the
statement and its implicit message: SYRIZA will betray, the other left groups
will adapt opportunistically to this betrayal, the bourgeoisie and the
overlords of European capital will hatch their plots, and it will all end badly
for the aspirations of the Greek masses. But this leaves those masses out of
the picture, renders them passive observers. Revolutionary socialists should
welcome the prospects of a SYRIZA government, not because there should be any
illusions in the capacity of SYRIZA to “negotiate” their way out of the crisis,
but because a SYRIZA government will provide a new experience for the working
class, making possible rapid advances in consciousness and the possibilities
that such advances open up for the building of a genuine revolutionary
leadership. The job of revolutionaries is to go through this experience with
the masses by putting demands on SYRIZA that can rally mass support. A long
time ago this used to be known, in the international Trotskyist movement, as
the 'transitional method'. It seems to us that most parties that call
themselves Trotskyist today have lost sight of that approach. But while the EEK
shares the problems facing all revolutionary groups today, it is making a
serious effort to think through the practical and theoretical problems of what
is to be done when one is a small group facing an important historical turning
point. This is a refreshing contrast to
the numerous sterile sects who think that revolutionary strategy consists in
proclaiming themselves the only revolutionary party on the planet while
denouncing everyone else.
We
have adapted the translation originally published by the EEK in their online
publication:
We
made stylistic changes from the original translation to facilitate a smoother
reading experience while leaving the content unchanged. We have also added notes to the document in
order to explain references that might not be familiar to an English speaking
audience.
***********************************************************************************
 |
| EEK banner at one of the earlier anti-austerity marches |
For a revolutionary intervention in the forthcoming elections
Resolution
of EEK in the Extraordinary Conference of Dec 28th 2014
1. 1. The country’s economic bankruptcy
and social disintegration led to the most acute crisis of political power.
The collapsing Samaras-Venizelos government tied to the troika’s[1] Memoranda can no longer govern; and
a successor SYRIZA-based government is not a viable option, neither for the
ruling class or the masses that are likely to vote for them.
Samaras’
headlong rush with the attempted termination of the Memorandum and his failed
“success story” rhetoric ended in a tragicomedy.[2]
The troika, and above all the IMF itself and Schäuble[3] pulled the rug
from under the feet of the Samaras/Venizelos government by demanding a
new and devastating series of measures be
enacted against the people of Greece,
thereby accelerating the timetable for the presidential election and
early parliamentary elections. There is no doubt that the troika’s ultimatum
had as its final recipient not the departing right-wing prime minister, but the
left-wing government that is likely to follow. The cynical EU blackmail is
clear: either SYRIZA will capitulate to their austerity measures, disappointing popular expectations and losing its base of
support or it will be crushed by the “markets”. This expected chain of events
in turn is supposed to send a message to Podemos[4]
in Spain and Ireland’s Sinn Féin’s.[5]
On
the EU side, there is no room for compromise either. The Union is sinking into
recession, over-indebtedness, deflation and the systemic crisis of capitalist
that is radiating from the periphery but now threatens its inner core: Italy,
France and Germany itself. On the other hand, the right-wing political
subordination to the Troika and capital have squeezed the Greek working class
and the middle class below even a minimal level of subsistence. The politics of
SYRIZA - to reduce austerity through negotiation and compromise with the EU,
the IMF, international and Greek capital - cannot be realized given the
objective limitations imposed by the worsening crisis of capitalism.
The
forces of right wing reaction are preparing for the confrontation,
strengthening their positions in the state, the para-state, the repressive,
judicial, and ideological apparatuses and fascist gangs to turn a SYRIZA
government into a “left parenthesis”, a phantom government without any real
power, before the extreme right-wing returns with a revanchist social
counter-revolution.
The
upcoming elections are undoubtedly a crucial episode in the new phase of the class
struggle. However, whatever the election result may be, it is certain that
it will not solve but rather further exacerbate the crisis of political power
and, finally, the crisis of class rule. The ruling capitalists are unable
to lead society out of their system’s crisis. Only the working class, supported
by the masses that the crisis is currently destroying, can provide a way out of
the crisis, organizing the exit from the system, from domination by the
bourgeoisie and imperialism, toward international socialism in the region, in
Europe, and worldwide.
If
in the epicenter we are confronted by the crisis of political power itself,
then the fundamental question becomes that of revolutionary strategy. All
the tactical issues involved in the class struggle, our electoral tactics; the
transitional program; the attitude towards the debt, “austerity” measures and
the EU; the creation of fronts, alliances, etc, derive from and are subordinated
to this fundamental strategic question.
1.
2. The
next political battle is being staged on the hostile terrain of bourgeois
parliamentarism, controlled by capital, parties of the establishment and
corporate media, condemning to silence
the voices of the revolutionary Left. Nevertheless, the fight is taking
place precisely under conditions of the advanced decay of bourgeois parliamentarism coinciding with a
popular outcry against the austerity regime, providing an important arena for a
revolutionary intervention by the EEK.
The
early presidential election[6]
with the suffocating stench of scandals, “transfers”, pay-offs, extortions,
back-stabbings, accelerated the decay of the political system. It unmasked a
zombie-like Parliament, rubber-stamping pre-approved decisions within a
bourgeois regime in a state of “emergency”. In the name of the dying bourgeois
democracy, the ruling class, following the imperatives of the coming class war,
have built Type-C prisons[7]
not only for the prisoners but to imprison any potential resistance; for the
confinement of the entire society. The elections will not revive the undead
parliamentarism, although parliamentary illusions may grow along with the
expectation of a parliamentary “left government”.
The
road to freedom does not pass through electoral “self-reliance” or
parliamentary coalitions and compromises between left-wing and center-left or
right-wing nationalists of the ANEL type [Independent Greeks][8],
but through the working-people's self-organization and mass struggle for
workers' power, the power of those in
the “bottom” against the power of those
on the “top”. The system has reached its limits and must therefore be
overthrown.
1.
3. The
Samaras government and the Official Opposition party are fighting to convince
the people who will be on February 2015, “the most reliable and effective
negotiator with the EU, ECB and IMF”, the right-wing "familiar faces"
to Juncker, Moscovici and Merkel or the more difficult “left-wing negotiator”. [9]
In reality, however, there is no room
for real negotiations. On the one hand, the diktats from Berlin, Brussels and
Washington are not negotiable, as far as the troika is concerned. On the other
hand, our lives, our lives, the lives of the people have reached their limits,
if they haven’t already been surpassed and cannot be negotiated by anyone. It
is not possible to tolerate a further deterioration of their conditions of life
and this cannot be "negotiated" by anyone.
We
don’t choose negotiators for our lives! The memoranda will not be torn apart by
any bourgeois government but by the working people itself with the Indefinite General Political Strike[10]
as its weapon. A strike that will not end until the dissolution of the
memoranda and the interrelated cancelation of the foreign debt to the
international usurers!
Whoever
gets elected, the only choice is the continuation of the class struggle up to the victory of the
working class and all oppressed. If, as is likely, the crumbling Right is
overthrown, there should be neither a day nor an hour of respite, a negligent
marking of time, or any “grace period” granted to the new government. The power
of the people must immediately be exercised with all forms of mobilization and
self-organization of its forces in neighborhoods, public spaces, places of work
and study. If the cause of our liberation from suffering is left in the hands
of the “negotiators”, the local and international Reaction lurking and
preparing its revenge will win. Victory is a
strategic question, to organize
the struggle for power from the part of the oppressed and downtrodden,
unemployed and those with precarious jobs, the poor and the newly poor of the
memoranda whirlwind.
1.
4. The
EEK is not indifferent nor politically
snobbish against the broad masses who hope for a SYRIZA victory in order to get
even the faintest respite from the suffocation of austerity. We do not keep an
equidistant attitude or flatten the differences between the Right-wing and
SYRIZA, as does the Stalinist Communist Party [KKE]. We share the popular anger
and we join its struggle. We are ready for joint action against the troika, the
memoranda block, the black-blue-green Right[11] and the common class enemy.
We
recognize the conditions and also, the limits of the mass shift towards the
Left which from 2012 took the form of mass political support to SYRIZA, not
just as as an opposition force and a pressure group to bourgeois power, but as
an alternative government of the Left. Together with the hopes of many, we do
not ignore the aspirations of some “former” pro-troika, “former” PASOK, “former Democratic Left”, center left, and other
scoundrels, seeking in SYRIZA a Siloam's Pool[12] to absolve
their public sins and an access to the scoop of honey of bourgeois power. Above
all we are not blind to the maneuvers of certain “business circles” and
bourgeois politicians promoting a “necessary alliances with a SYRIZA-based
government”. Their goal is to turn SYRIZA toward class collaborationist
policies the day after the election, to ensure that Greece remains within the
capitalist orbit and the EU regardless of who is nominally the head of state.
Already,
the acceptance of such class collaborationist policies that are inimical to the
interests of the workers and the people
is seen in the declarations of loyalty of the SYRIZA leadership for the “continuity of
the State” under conditions of the crisis of bourgeois rule. They have made
clear their intention of staying in the EU and NATO, of accepting the
conditions of the suffocating domination of imperialism and of continuing
Greece's support for imperialist intervention into the geopolitical explosions in our region, the Balkans and the
Middle East.
We
call upon the forces within the working class, the youth, the intellectuals
supporting or investing their hopes in SYRIZA to demand from their
leadership that they break with the
bourgeoisie, the political nomenklatura, and all opportunists and suitors of
the power of capital. To reject the
policy of the “continuity of the State” and the agreements with
imperialism, bankrupt capitalism, the EU, the IMF and NATO.
At
each step that the masses will take towards this direction we will be on their
side maintaining our political independence, our criticism, and warning that
reformist leaders are not at all prepared for such necessary ruptures. These
leaders have already shown their servility through their reassuring statements
to the capitalists and the EU, through their actions, and especially through
their program.
The
austerity measures cannot be cancelled without the unilateral cancellation of
the debt and without exemption from the prison of the EU, ECB and IMF.
Austerity measures, the debt and the Troika are the heads of one Hydra; we
cannot cut just one head leaving the others in place. The totally inadequate
“program of Thessaloniki” advanced by
SYRIZA[13]
wants to empty the ocean of the people’s
sufferings with a teaspoon. The
program's promise to “continue the State” opens the way to a 1973 Chile-type
tragedy.
To
get bread, work, health, education and freedom, it is necessary to overthrow
the system of hunger, unemployment, ignorance and repression. Otherwise we will
be buried under the ruins of capitalism’s bankruptcy. What is required is a radical re-organization
of the economy on a new social, socialist basis, in accordance with a
democratically drafted plan to meet social needs; nationalization of strategic
sectors, without compensation to the capitalist sharks, under workers' control
and workers' management.
We
will work to build a powerful United Front of all workers' and popular
organizations, movements, collectives that can bring together the entire Left and the revolutionary
movement, from KKE, SYRIZA, ANTARSYA[14] to the EEK, the
other left organizations, anarchists and anti-authoritarian movements to become
a focus for the struggle against the crisis; to smash the Reaction, imperialist
domination, the police state and the fascist para-state, to end social slavery,
to open the road to universal human
emancipation that for the EEK is none other than universal, emancipatory
communism.
1.
5. The
crisis is not merely a Greek peculiarity but is an expression of a global
process. At the epicenter of this world capitalist crisis is Europe. A definitive way out of the crisis isn’t
feasible if it remains within a single country, tied to a program of national
“autarchy” or national entrenchment. The economic nationalism that caused
tragedies in the interwar period and laid the basis for the Second World War,
flares up again, especially in the EU, with a far-right, right-wing or even a
“left-wing” coloration, depending on the specific country. This is the end
product of the cannibalistic measures adopted by the E.U. and its member
nations. If it proved to be ineffective and destructive in the past, today it’s
a reactionary utopia, a recipe for disasters. The ΕΕΚ declares unambiguously: no
compromise with the devastating economic nationalism even under a “left-wing”
sign. The salvation of the people requires nothing less than a social
revolution. The revolutionary struggle
can begin in Greece or in another country, but its victory cannot be completed
except on an international scale, with the unification of all social
revolutionary struggles, for the socialist unification of our region and Europe
over the ruins of the imperialist E.U.
1.
6. All
the requirements, opportunities and risks of the historical moment in which we
live, require the political independence of the working class to be forged and
to be preserved from a new Varkiza treaty[The 1945 Varkiza agreement between
British imperialism and the ELAS partisans betrayed by Stalinism].[15]
This makes more than ever necessary and urgent, the independent
political intervention of the revolutionary forces, of the revolutionary Left
and EEK, in the forthcoming crucial for the people electoral battle.
With
that in mind we organized an open meeting and discussion on Dec 15th at the
University of Athens Law Faculty on the topic of “December’s road – the
revolutionary response to the crisis”. At this meeting the EEK presented its
proposals and invited other organizations from the so-called
“extra-parliamentary left” and the antiauthoritarian movement to present
theirs. ANTARSYA [Anticapitalist Left Cooperation for the Overthrow] responded
and two representatives, from the organizations NAR [New Left Current][16]
and SEK [Socialist Workers Party][17],
participated and spoke. On December the
18th a meeting of delegations from ANTARSYA and EEK took place (see the Announcement
of the Politburo of EEK on Dec 20th and the Joint Communiqué of ANTARSYA and
EEK on Dec 22th).
Both
at the open event and the delegations meeting, beyond the agreement on
individual programmatic points (such as the cancellation of the debt, nationalizations without
compensation, workers’ control), the EEK insisted on putting forward the perspective of workers' power as a
revolutionary anti-capitalist response to the political power crisis, and to
challenge the government proposal of SYRIZA, and categorically reject any
compromise with any “left” nationalism. Thus the proposed partnership with
formations such as “Plan B”[18]
and PAMES [Initiative for a left Front Coalition], - groups that also held
meetings with known representatives from the “left patriotic movement” of
imperialist France[Nikonoff][19]
and Italy[Campo Antimperalista][20]
- would have to be rejected.
Unfortunately,
the majority of ANTARSYA under the responsibility of NAR and ARAN [Left
Recomposition] and ARAS [Left Anti-capitalist Group] (grouped together in
PAMES),[21]
not only did not take into account the critical remarks made by EEK, but also
solemnly signed a political-electoral alliance with PAMES. “Plan B”, which is
involved in this Coaltion from the beginning, at the same moment that it shakes
hands with the majority of ANTARSYA, has no problem to provocatively raise its
nationalism and drachma-fetishism.Leaders of “Plan B”, jointly signed on Dec19th(the
day after the meeting with ANTARSYA) a common public statement “for the
creation of a democratic patriotic pole” with Kazakis’ EPAM [United
Popular Front][22]
and the invisible to the naked eye “Drachma, Greek Democratic
Movement Five Stars” of... Katsanevas [ a corrupt ex-PASOK statesman]!![23]
Of
course, EEK could never be associated with such a denigration even of the name
of the revolutionary left, on the pretext of winning “the currents that
tend to differ from reformism and turn to the left". It is not difficult
to see that the “patriots” of ‘Plan B’
have not broken from reformism and are definitely located to the right of
KKE, but also, of forces within SYRIZA that are not hiding their critical
attitude.
Without
being accused of “interfering” in ANTARSYA’s “internal affairs”, keeping in
mind the responsibility and courage of a
comradeship forged through decades of common struggles, we call on the comrades of
ANTARSYA, specifically the comrades of NAR and its youth organization, nKA [Youth
of Communist Liberation], to reject this opportunistic
electoral-political alliance and being dragged into the swamp of “left” nationalism.
1.
7. Within
the specific, extremely tight in terms of time and of financial requirements
circumstances, EEK must bear on its shoulders the struggle for the political
independence of the working class and for the proletarian internationalism and participate
independently at the elections. The voice of ΕΕΚ should be the voice of the
social revolution, a minority voice, but nonetheless an incompatible and
insubordinate. We must show the only way out, to discuss with the people as
wide as we can, to mobilize the people –from this very moment– for the
aftermath of the defeat of the memorandum supporters, to recruit and organize
revolutionary forces, to train and educate ourselves as vanguard fighters for
the historical battles to come. EEK’s mode of existence, its raison d'être,
is the ceaseless struggle for international permanent revolution under the most
diverse, sometimes exceptionally unfavorable conditions, defying obstacles and
opponents on the road to social liberation and Communism.
Let
us dare again, let us act decisively, let us take up the gauntlet of this
historic challenge!
Emergency
Conference of the EEK, December 28, 2014
[1] The term
"troika" refers to the representatives of the International Monetary
Fund, the European Central Bank and the European Commission that have been
dictating terms to Greece since its financial crisis erupted in 2009, forcing
Greece to request emergency loans.
[2] The
'Memorandum' is the agreement entered
into by successive Greek governments to enforce the austerity demands made by
the EU in return for 'bailout loans' which allowed the cash starved government
to stagger on for a few more weeks. Prior to its collapse on Dec. 29, 2014, the
New Democracy / Pasok coalition government had been bragging that its austerity
policies had been so successful that Greece would shortly be able to complete
all its obligations to the troika and would be free of the onerous terms of the
Memorandum. But the European bankers cut Samaras loose when they declared that
Greece was nowhere near fulfilling its obligations and in fact demanded further
austerity measures.
[3] Wolfgang Schäuble, the Finance Minister of Germany, has
been the leading advocate of the austerity measures imposed on Greece by the
EU.
[4] Podemos is the new left wing party in Spain
formed just a year ago by Pablo Iglesias on an
anti-austerity program. In just over a year it has won substantial
support and now leads in the polls over the governing Popular Party and the
Socialist Party as Spain approaches general elections later this year.
[5] After adopting the
rhetoric of anti-austerity, Ireland's nationalist Sinn Fein party made dramatic gains
in the elections for the European Parliament last year at the expense of
Ireland's traditional parties. A recent article in Jacobin noted the contradictions within Sinn Fein, that it is
fighting austerity measures in the South of Ireland, where it is out of power,
while helping enforce them in the North, where it is part of the local
government. https://www.jacobinmag.com/2015/01/ireland-water-charges-sinn-fein/
[6] Prime Minister
Samaras set the election date for Jan 25, less than 4 weeks after his
government lost a vote of confidence when its candidate for President failed to
win a majority of the votes in Parliament.
[7] "Type-C"
prisons are new maximum security prisons recently enacted into law. They have
been justifiably called "prisons fit for the age of austerity". https://www.opendemocracy.net/can-europe-make-it/yiannis-baboulias/greece-is-creating-prisons-fit-for-era-of-austerity
[8] ANEL, or
Independent Greeks, is a right wing split from New Democracy that opposes the
memorandum agreement with the troika. In spite of their reactionary positions
on immigration and other issues they have been courted by various left wing
groups searching for a coalition against New Democracy.
[9] Jean-Claude Juncker
is the chair of the European Commission. Pierre Moscovici is the European Economic Affairs
Commissioner. Angela Merkel is the Chancellor of Germany. All have been vocal
in recent weeks about the possibility of a Greek exit from the euro. The right wing "familiar faces"
would be those of the outgoing Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras from New
Democracy and his coalition partner Evangelos Venizelos from PASOK. The possible "left
wing" negotiator would be Alexis Tsipras, should his SYRIZA party win the
election and form a new government.
[10] The EEK has raised
the slogan of the "Indefinite General Political Strike" as an
alternative to the numerous calls for a "General Strike" by the trade
union bureaucrats and the "left" political groups. The latter have
worked to keep in check the opposition of the working class to the austerity
measures within the confines of harmless one day protests. By refusing to place
a limit on the duration of a General Strike, the EEK seeks to turn the General
Strike into a potent weapon of working class power
[11] The color black in
Greek political symbolism represents the neo-Nazi Golden Dawn. The color blue
on the other hand represents the traditional Right wing parties such as New
Democracy. The color green in Greece
symbolizes not the Green Party, but PASOK, the PanHellenic Socialist Movement,
that was in charge of the government from 2010 to 2012 under the leadership of
George Papandreou, when it imposed the austerity measures dictated to Greece by
the troika. After PASOK was repudiated
in the elections of 2012 it continued to play a reactionary role by joining the
government of New Democracy's Antonis Samaras as a junior partner.
[12] 'Siloam's Pool' is a Biblical reference to
a pool in ancient Jerusalem where Jesus was supposed to have cured a blind man.
A significant number of former officials of the pro-austerity government have
thrown their support to SYRIZA in an attempt to wash away their misdeeds in the
eyes of public.
[13] The 'Thessaloniki
Program' was adopted by SYRIZA earlier this year. It includes a number of
reassurances to the EU and Greek
capitalists that they have nothing to fear if a SYRIZA government takes
over. A recent statement to this effect
was posted on the Huffington Post by SYRIZA's leader, Alexis Tsipras. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/alexis-tsipras/on-the-cusp-of-a-historic_b_6417124.html
[14] ANTARSYA, an acronym for "The Anticapitalist Left Cooperation for
the Overthrow" is a coalition of several radical groups that have agreed
to jointly field candidates for parliament.
[15] The treaty that
was supposed to end hostilities between the forces of the British-backed right
wing government and those of the anti-fascist resistance, EAM-ELAS, was finally concluded at Varkiza, near
Athens, on February 12, 1945. It was signed on the one hand by the Minister of
Foreign Affairs of a new, British-bolstered Greek government and the Secretary
of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) for EAM-ELAS, on the other. Article IX
of this agreement provided for a plebiscite within the year to decide upon the
constitutional problem, with elections to follow for a constituent assembly
that would draft a new organic law. Both parties, moreover, agreed to ask the
Allied powers to send observers to these elections to verify the genuineness of
the expression of the popular will. None of the terms of the treaty were
honored by the British or their Greek proxies. After the partisans surrendered
their arms they were subject to heavy persecution that precipitated the Civil
War that ensued. http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Varkiza
[16] NAR, or the New
Left Current originated as a split from the Communist Youth (KNE), the youth
organization of the Communist Party (KKE) after the Communist Party entered a
coalition government with New Democracy in 1989. NAR is currently one of the
members of the ANTARSYA coalition.
[17] The SEK, Socialist
Workers Party, is the Greek affiliate of the International Socialist Tendency
(IST). They are the second largest group
affiliated to the IST, behind the British Socialist Workers Party They are part of the ANTARSYA coalition.
[18] 'Plan B' is the
name of a new political party founded by the former leader of SYRIZA, Alekos
Alavanos. It advocates that Greece exit the Eurozone and return to the drachma.
[19] Jacques Nikonoff is the president
of Attac, an anti-globalization movement based in France.
[20]
Campo Antimperalista, a radical group
based in Italy that favors withdrawal from the Euro.
[21] ARAS, NAR and ARAN are some of the groups
constituting ANTARSYA. ARAS is the “Left Anti-Capitalist Group” and is
influenced by Maoism. ARAN or “Left Recomposition” is another part of ANTARSYAS
and is also influenced by Maoism. NAR, or New Left Current, is a group that
broke from the Communist Party Youth organization in 1989.
[22] The United Popular Left, or EPAM, headed
by Dimitris Kazakis, began as the group of Greece’s “indignatos” and has been
transformed into a party advocating Greek sovereignty.
[23] The Drachmi Greek Democratic Movement Five
Stars was founded by Theodore Katsenevas, a former PASOK official,
and advocates leaving the Euro and returning to the Drachma.
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