Greece

Greece: on the brink of a social explosion

Paulin, Giannis, and Mika, activists from the Greek revolutionary socialist group OKDE, spoke to Solidarity on 22 May. We asked first whether any new committees or coordinations have emerged which allow rank-and-file workers to discuss and develop perspectives independent of the bureaucratic leadership of the unions. There are no real rank-and-file coordinations at present. But at the base of the workers' movement, a lot of new unions have emerged. ["First-level" or "base" unions in Greece are typically fairly small, often limited to single workplaces or cities. There are about 4000 of them...

Euro crisis: level up across Europe!

We demand the cancellation of the Greek debt. To reject the austerity plans, to divest the banks of the control they exercise over the economy and society, to substitute a single European public banking service in place of the European Central Bank, with a monopoly over credit, is to fight for the cancellation of the debts and for a genuine European construction: that of the peoples and the workers, of a convergence of their struggles, for a social and ecological Europe of solidarity. If we do not initiate this about-turn, to build another Europe, the sovereigntist and nationalist logic, with...

Greece: "We need united working-class action across the continent"

An interview with Stavros, a militant in the Trotskyist Organisation of Communist Internationalists of Greece (OKDE). The general strike on 5 May was a huge success. It showed very clearly that there are many tens of thousands of people who are thinking seriously about politics and prepared to take militant action. The strike on the ground actually went beyond trade union and economic demands; it looked more like a political strike. If it had continued, the government would have fallen. The trade union bureaucracy undermined this and has held back from calling further strikes. So far it's only...

Greece into the darkness?

On May 5 the biggest workers' demonstration since 1976 took place in Athens. All the avenues of the city center were flooded by hundreds of thousands of workers who were protesting against the IMF-EU-Greek government austerity plan. It is impossible to make an accurate calculation of the crowd's number. There are estimations which start from 150,000 and end up to 500,000 people. No matter the exact number of the protesters, there is no doubt that this was an unbelievable show of of the working people's force. At the same time, in cities all around Greece we had extremely massive mobilizations...

Greek debt and the arms industry

Greek debt needs a little more thought. We all know about the caricature of over-indulgent civil servants, early retirement generosity by the state, the fiddling of EU money. Many countries are immersed in corruption, bribery, expenses scandals, jaw-dropping bonuses for making losses, so what is the real geopolitical issue causing all the fuss about Greece? The issue is about weapons and war. The German President may say that Germany sympathises. The Bild-Zeitung may say that Germans get up earlier than Greeks and work longer in terms of hours and years. But we ask these politicians and...

Eurozone crisis: for a workers' Europe!

A general strike on 5 May against planned cuts stopped Greece, and brought onto the streets of Athens the biggest demonstration there since the fall of the military dictatorship in 1974. Although Greece's big union federations are closely tied to the governing party, Pasok, they plan further strikes. There is protest within Pasok. On 6 May three MPs were expelled from the Pasok parliamentary group for voting against the cuts. Panicked by the growing Greek crisis, on 10 May the eurozone governments, with the IMF, put together a 750 billion euro (about 」650 billion) rescue plan not just for...

The debt we owe to Greece

Greek debt needs a little more thought. We all know about the caricature of over-indulgent civil servants, early retirement generosity by the state, the fiddling of EU money. Many countries are immersed in corruption, bribery, expenses scandals, jaw-dropping bonuses for making losses, so what is the real geopolitical issue causing all the fuss about Greece? The issue is about weapons and war. The German President may say that Germany sympathises. The Bild-Zeitung may say that Germans get up earlier than Greeks and work longer in terms of hours and years. But we ask these politicians and...

Will the Greek crisis spiral into default?

The economist Wolfgang Munchau has written a series of articles in the big-business paper the Financial Times over the last month arguing that Greece is now bound to default [i.e. fail to pay its international debts] sooner or later. His argument runs as follows. In the run-up to the global financial crisis, and even in the early phases of it, the eurozone ran with a big trade surplus for Germany matched by a big flow of loans from German and other richer-country banks to the poorer eurozone countries, like Greece, which were running trade deficits. Now the flow of new credit is drying up...

Three general strikes in Greece

Greece's trade unions have organised three general strikes in the last month against the drastic cuts programme developed by the PASOK (social-democratic) government to conciliate the international financiers: 24 February, 5 March, 11 March. Two union federations loosely linked to PASOK - ADEDY (public sector) and GSEE (private sector) - and the PAME union federation, led by the diehard-Stalinist Greek Communist Party, called the strikes. Further strikes are talked of. The financial crisis has eased slightly, with EU discussions about loans to help out the Greek government, but the cuts are...

General strike rocks Greece

A general strike which mobilised two million workers brought Greece to a standstill on 24 February as the Greek working class moved into battle against the public spending cuts, wage freeze and other austerity measures by the “social-democratic” PASOK government. The strike led to the cancellation of all flights in and out of the country and the closure of countless public and private sector workplaces. Strikers who joined the mass demonstrations chanted slogans with clear anti-capitalist implications, demanding that the country's bosses and rich should pay for the crisis they created rather...

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