The result of the vote on the latest austerity measures in the Greek parliament on Sunday, February 12, was a "Pyrrhic" victory for the Papademos government. It had earlier set itself the goal of winning the support of more than 200 MPs. Eventually 199 MPs voted in favour of the measures “in principle”, while 190 actually voted for the overall package.
Terror tactics and the "Pyrrhic" victory of the government
The casualties were heavy: 22 PASOK and 21 New Democracy MPs voted against, in spite of the fact that their respective party leaders had threatened them with removal from the party lists of parliamentary candidates. Thus, the PASOK’s parliamentary group has now been whittled down from 160 in 2009 to only 131 and New Democracy from 73 down to 62. As a result, now 63 MPs belong to "independent" group in parliament.
On the other hand, LAOS [the far right party], despite its group walking out of parliament just before the vote was about to take place and their leaving the government, also suffered significant losses as their two most popular MPs after the party president, Mr Georgiadis and Mr Voridis, were expelled from the party for having voted in favour of the measures.
The workers' struggles and the widespread popular anger were the main reasons that explain why within 48 hours the government split and the parties supporting it began to break into pieces. It produced political developments which in normal circumstances would take decades to unfold.
The climate inside parliament during the debate of the measures was tense, which was a reflection to a certain extent of the rage of the people. The angry throwing of the bulky text of the new memorandum towards the government benches by the KKE MP, Mr Mavros and the strong verbal exchange between the finance minister Venizelos and the SYRIZA MP, Lafazanis, were indicative of this situation.
A central figure in this debate was the “imposed” Prime Minister Mr Papademos, the man who was never elected to the post. He addressed the people on behalf of the creditors and other capitalist bosses using coercive propaganda, posing the dilemma as one of “disorderly default or impoverishment.” To justify the measures he depicted an image of a country without pensions or wages for the civil servants, without fuel, medicines or machinery, with thousands of businesses going bankrupt and with shortages of many basic essential goods.
A socialist programme is the only answer to this propaganda of terror
The frustration and anger among the workers and poor in the face of this terrorist blackmail on the part of Mr Papademos and the ruling class was perfectly justified. What is far from being justified is the anger of all those prominent neo-Keynesian economists and politicians of the Left, whose radicalism only goes as far as suggesting a temporary or complete pause in debt repayment. What they are incapable of coming up with is the idea of the “cancellation” of capitalism itself and the putting into place of a programme based on a socialist internationalist perspective.
Famed personalities of economic analysis and policy, such as the academics Varoufakis and Kazakos, the former Stalinist and now Social Democratic theorist Kotzias, the former minister of the Synaspismos-KKE and New Democracy coalition government of 1989 and leading theorist of today’s Synaspismos, Dragasakis, cannot claim that they are surprised by the words of Mr Papademos. They know deep down that Papademos was simply telling the truth about capitalism. He described in general terms the prospects facing Greece if it defaults on its loan repayments and remains within the confines of the capitalist system and so long as the commanding heights of the economy and the key levers of the state remain under control of the bourgeoisie. All these neo-Keynesians, who imagine that “another deal” can solve the problems of Greece and then the country will be in a position to rejoin the path of “progress”, and all this without in any way undermining capitalism and its state, in spite of their genuine intentions, are in practice being less truthful than the “imposed” Prime Minister.
In fact, for those who believe in capitalism, the dilemma was exactly how Papademos posed it: either submission to the Troika and acceptance of mass misery or disorderly default and catastrophe. What the leaders of the Left should have done last weekend was to use their speeches in parliament to offer the masses another road, that of socialism, as an absolutely necessary and feasible one.
They should have replied to Papademos that they have a solution which does not involve starving the Greek people, which can be none other than the nationalisation of the banking system, the major industries, including transport (of people and goods), telecommunications and infrastructure of all kinds, wholesale and foreign trade, the large landed estates and production in general to be placed under state ownership and planned democratically by the workers.
In answering this attempt to terrorise the masses with the prospect of lack of medicines, fuel, essential machinery, etc., they should have opposed the willingness to sacrifice on the part of the working class if such control over the economy were guaranteed and above all, they should have posed confidence in the valuable support of the international and particularly the European proletariat. The workers of Europe after a bold and clear internationalist appeal, and because of the common problems they are facing with their Greek colleagues, would put enormous pressure on the governments and monopolies of their own countries and would follow the example of revolutionary Greece.
Papademos’ terror tactics remain unanswered by the Left
But the leaders of the Left did not explain to the workers that a clear socialist programme is the only way out. As a result of their attitude – if the truth were to be told – a large part of the masses, even among the hundreds of thousands who took to the streets to protest last Sunday evening against the Memorandum vote in parliament, were confused and, given the absence of clear and specific political solutions from the Left, they could not say with certainty whether it would be better for the parliament to vote against or in favour of the new measures.
The leaders of DIMAR [Dimokratiki Aristera, the Democratic Left] party were happy to simply reiterate their “disagreement” with the austerity measures, and to reconfirm their commitment “to the euro” by proposing that the Troika should be asked for “more funds for development”. The leaders of the Democratic Left once again, expressed their belief in the magical ability of the banks and capital to lay the basis for economic growth and of a capitalism with “a humane face”.
The positions of the leadership of SYRIZA [the electoral alliance based around the Synaspismos party] reaffirmed their recent shift to the right, which flows from their inability to adequately explain the growing support for the Democratic Left in the polls and the idea that this is due to its “moderate profile”.
The call for a write-off of most of the debt has now been replaced in the rhetoric of the leadership of SYRIZA with the idea of a “three-year freeze on debt re-payments”. The essential unity of all workers in the struggle against the government’s offensive has been replaced with a “patriotic” unity against foreign occupation, which is aimed at winning the full support of the Greek ruling class against the Troika’s plans and thus blurs the social and class character of the struggle of the masses.
The political method adopted by the leadership of SYRIZA is not based on finding a solution to the country’s problems that excludes the ruling class, but rather they give the ruling class advice on how to run the “negotiations” with the troika for the “good of the country”. But the bourgeoisie knows full well what their interests are. They understand very well that they are not at all based on the “good of the country”, but on the interests of the international creditors.
Generally, a programme based on “income redistribution” in the context of a deeper capitalist crisis, which is an attempt to contrast the leadership of SYRIZA to the terror tactics and blackmail of the government and the troika, undermines the appeal for a government of the Left.
The stance of the leadership of the Communist Party in parliament, with its constantly calling for the need to plan the economy and the social transformation of society in order to guide the country along a radically different path, was absolutely correct. Only on this basis can a new power be built that will reflect the interests of working people. This is a position that must be adopted by the majority across the Left and more specifically, SYRIZA and Synaspismos. This is what the Marxists of Synaspismos are consistently fighting for.
However, the leadership of the Communist Party while presenting this correct position, does so with a wrong approach to the movement as a whole. The proposal for bringing into being a power which will socialise the means of production is unclear, abstract and ignores the current political balance of forces within the labour movement.
The “people’s power” proposed by the KKE, appears as an imaginary scenario of an alliance of the working class with the middle class. But the fact is that the workers and the petty bourgeois strata that are being crushed by the present crisis have elected concrete political representatives. A leadership that wishes to speak to the workers without evading this issue and that wants to put forward the appropriate solutions within the current political reality, and not in another imaginary one, has the duty to propose an alliance of the mass parties of the Left based on a socialist programme. This concretely means an alliance of the Communist Party and SYRIZA, i.e. the only mass left parties that have officially declared that they will not participate in any bourgeois government.
In the (very likely) event that the other Left leaders were to refuse such an alliance based on the socialisation of the economy, then the leadership of the Communist Party would clearly – and without hiding behind imaginary social alliances – have to call for the active support of the workers and poor to implement this programme of power by itself.
The second grave error of the leadership of the Communist Party is to raise the slogan “Out of the EU” (and the euro) without linking this to the perspective of the United Socialist States of Europe. The old Stalinist illusion of “socialism in one country” that the leadership of the KKE embraces and promotes in Greece, by its very nature, in the eyes of the masses, cannot answer the bourgeois propaganda, and does not answer the fundamental question of how in the long run a socialist planned economy in a single country can be developed, surrounded by a hostile capitalist environment.
Towards the elections with New Democracy, PASOK and LAOS in deep crisis
The result of the vote in parliament reveals the increasing inability of the Papademos government to remain in power and carry out the plans demanded by the troika and a large part of the ruling class, who wanted this government to survive at least until the end of the year.
The leadership of New Democracy, realising that it is stuck in this coalition government and that their popularity has been damaged irreparably because of their reneging on their previous anti-memorandum demagoguery, have declared that they would not tolerate any postponement of the elections beyond April.
Karatzaferis, the leader of LAOS, stated clearly that he was withdrawing from the government so as not to help the Left to reap the fruits of the mass protests against the measures and so as not to “start a revolution in Greece that will burn throughout Europe”.
The Greek ruling class understands that maintaining the “imposed” Papademos government in power, is “playing with fire” in that it strengthens the Left, burns all their political options and, above all, their strongest option, New Democracy and Mr Samaras. In line with this view, the government spokesperson has issued a statement indicating they are preparing for elections in April.
These elections are considered a “necessary evil” by the bourgeoisie in order to curb the mass movement while at the same time seeking to legitimise their government. But it is extremely doubtful whether they will succeed in this. The image of their politicians and leaders has been damaged and weakened and the political parties that they have based themselves on until now, PASOK, ND and LAOS, are now split into “pro-memorandum” and “anti-memorandum” blocs.
The large losses suffered by the leaders of the three government parties in the parliamentary vote of the new measures and the subsequent expulsion of “rebel” MPs, add to what for them must be dispiriting results in recent opinion polls that place ND at 31 % [27% since this article was written], LAOS 3.5% and PASOK at a mere 8%! The leaders of these parties had better pay attention before they announce any new measures!
A whole section of PASOK MPs, among them top former ministers, have already been expelled from the party for refusing to vote in favour of the new Memorandum last Sunday. Among them were potential contenders for the party leadership, such as Kastanidis and Katseli. These bourgeois career-politicians, who voted for all the harsh austerity measures when they were ministers in the Papandreou government, are now hurriedly trying to salvage their political futures. None of them have much influence within the ranks of the workers and therefore it would be extremely difficult for them to set up a new party. Most likely many of them will stand as candidates of the Democratic Left.
In New Democracy the “rebels” come from the ranks of the so-called "popular right", such as the president of the party. Some of them are likely to approach LAOS, while any possible attempt to create a new party would face the hostility of the ruling circles of the bourgeoisie, who do not wish at this crucial stage any further divisions in the political camp.
Karatzaferis’ LAOS party is today facing its most serious crisis. Its participation in the government led to its losing significant electoral support to the neo-Nazi “Chrysi Augi” [Golden Dawn]. Karatzaferis was thus forced to manoeuvre. He did not participate in the parliamentary vote of the new measures and withdrew his party from the government. This he had to do in order to salvage some of the popularity of the party, but the price he has paid has been a serious division in the leadership, and the “pro-memorandum” MPs of LAOS, Voridis and Georgiadis have now been appearing regularly on TV news channels and chat shows.
Disorderly default and exit from the euro
At this stage the bourgeois seem inclined towards holding elections in April and at present this seems the most likely development But events and the tempo of the objective situation may not turn out according to the plans of the bourgeoisie.
European capitalism and the Greek economy are in an extremely volatile and critical situation. The worldwide recession is deepening. In Greece we are now in the fifth consecutive year of recession. The decline in GDP this year is expected to be close to 7% and the official number of unemployed has exceeded one million! The new austerity measures only serve to exacerbate the problem, with a cut of €1.5 billion in state revenues from taxes on wages and around €2 billion from the pension funds.
Furthermore, the new loan of €130 billion, even if it finally were to be paid in full, would not be spent on “wages and pensions”, as has falsely been claimed by the government. It would be used solely to cover the losses of Greek banks due to the “haircut” on Greek bonds (€39-60 billion), to compensate the foreign banks so that they can participate in the “haircut” (€30 billion) and on the payment of interest and debt repayments (what is left of the €130 billion). With tax revenues collapsing because of the recession, the prospect of a disorderly Greek default and exit from the euro is looming as each week passes.
Further to all this, the attitude of the troika, and especially of Germany, towards Greece has clearly changed. Greece's exit from the euro is no longer an imaginary scenario, but an option that is becoming increasingly likely. The German finance minister Mr Schäuble stated clearly this week that Germany is ready for such an option “if Greece fails to meet its commitments”.
The position adopted by the leadership of SYRIZA, according to whom, “ in the negotiations, Greece must take advantage of the damage a Greek exit from the eurozone would cause, because this is something which the Germans do not even want to think of” is wrong. Clearly the cost of Greece exiting the eurozone would be immense. It would open up a new period of instability for the euro and the eurozone. However, the huge and continued financial support provided for the European banks, the high concentration of Greek bonds in the hands of the ECB and the acceptance on the part of the Greek government of very strong guarantees on the loans to the country's creditors (now coming under English Law which removes all legal powers of Greece to put pressure on the creditors), have all served to reduce the cost of a Greek exit from the euro. And, furthermore, the cost of maintaining Greece within the eurozone in conditions of deep recession, and with Greece’s inability to recover, will multiply as Greece constantly needs to be provided with new loans, while the old debts have to be written off.
If Greece hurtles towards default and exits the eurozone, the ruling class, including the leadership of New Democracy, under the disguise of an “emergency” situation, may move to postpone the elections and impose a new government of technocrats with the support of this parliament, while assuming “exceptional” authoritarian measures against the labour movement. Violent clashes on the streets, with the burning of buildings and banks may provide the excuse for such a postponement of the elections until the situation is “normalised”.
That is why in order to guarantee that the elections are held as soon as possible and in order to free the workers from this government of the troika and the Greek ruling class, the masses must remain vigilant and keep up the fighting spirit.
The labour movement and the pre-revolutionary situation
The working class of Greece can lay claim to a historical record. In conditions of a deep recession, with over one million unemployed, three million living below the poverty line, with one in three workers not paid for months because of the crisis, and despite the accumulation of one defeat after another in recent years, the Greek working class is fighting with unprecedented heroism, having organised 18 days of general strikes in recent years and hundreds of strikes in many workplaces, some of which are all-out strikes and accompanied with workplace occupations.
Prior to last Sunday's demonstration of several hundred thousand people in Athens we had been through two years of massive class struggle. Unfortunately, this cycle of struggle brought the workers only a harvest full of defeats. Solely responsible for this result are the leaders of the labour movement, with the trade union bureaucracy of GSEE and ADEDY taking most of the blame, but with the trade union and political leaders of the Left having their own responsibilities, as at no stage in the struggle have they stood together and offered an alternative way out of the crisis.
But last Sunday's immense crowd once again confirmed the assessment of the Marxists that we are in a pre-revolutionary period. The objective conditions for an openly revolutionary situation, as described by Lenin and Trotsky, are maturing day by day. The masses have entered a decisive stage showing their willingness to fight. The petit-bourgeois strata are in turmoil and their relations with the ruling class have changed irreparably. The latest political developments reveal in the most dramatic manner the splits at the top of the ruling class. What is missing to bring into effect a revolutionary change in society is only the subjective factor, i.e. the adequate revolutionary leadership.
The shift to the left and the duties of Left leaders
It is a historical law that when the broad masses begin to move they turn to the traditional mass organisations. The parties of the “traditional Left” who have their roots in the communist movement in Greece, the KKE, SYRIZA and Democratic Left, as shown by recent polls, have experienced a big increase in their electoral popularity. The broad masses of the working class and the poor are now pinning their hopes on these parties. Unity of the Left around a socialist programme would inflict the final blow on this rotten Greek capitalism, in the quickest and most decisive manner, thus relieving the masses from this painful situation. Unity of the Left is what the masses want, and it is what the vanguard wants, that vanguard which we saw demonstrating in huge numbers last Sunday in Syntagma Square and in other big squares around the country.
The Democratic Left is a party without any roots in the labour movement and the youth. It was founded as a reaction by the right-wing social democrats of Synaspismos against the party's turn to the left and in order to weaken the unity of SYRIZA. Their aim was to create a party that would play the role of the future "left" partner in a bourgeois government of national unity.
The Democratic Left appears to have a very high level of support in the polls of around 18%. What does this figure represent? It basically is the result of the decision of its leadership not to participate in a bourgeois government before having in hand a strong parliamentary group in the upcoming elections and thus to remain outside the Papademos government. It is worth recalling, however, that this decision – as we also saw to some extent with the question of whether to vote yes or no to the first Memorandum – was taken only by a narrow majority in the leading organs of the party.
So now the party appears in the eyes of the masses as a “moral party” standing to the left of PASOK. The masses believe that voting for the Democratic Left is the quickest way of winning back what has been lost in the various Memoranda. But the political positions and tactics of the leadership of the Democratic Left reveal that they are moving in a completely different direction to that of the masses.
Their wavering on the question of the Papademos government and their ambiguous stance on the austerity measures, together with their declarations that they will never work with the KKE and SYRIZA – while at the same time announcing their preparedness to collaborate with former executives of the Simitis government (Bistis, Panayiotou, etc.) – demonstrate that the leadership of the Democratic Left are attempting systematically to exploit the people's dissatisfaction and turn it into future support for Papademos-type governments, “when the interests of the country and its remaining within the EU” requires them to do so. The chances are that this will become increasingly more visible to the broader masses as we approach the elections, which could result in reducing the Democratic Left's success.
Thus, given the stated intention of the Democratic Left to participate in government with the bourgeoisie and not with the rest of the Left, the building of the unity of the Left around a programme that reflects the interests of the struggling masses falls on the shoulders of the KKE and SYRIZA.
In the context of the present crisis of capitalism, every day and hour that passes means more pain and tears for the working class and the poor. The leadership of the KKE and SYRIZA should therefore immediately establish a political alliance that will struggle for power! The Marxists of Synaspismos and the Synaspismos Youth who publish the newspaper “Epanastasi” [Revolution] and the magazine “Marxistiki Foni” [Marxist Voice] propose the following programme of action:
- KKE-SYRIZA unity in the struggle to overthrow the Papademos government as soon as possible.
- A joint appeal by the two parties to the working class and the poor to prepare for a general all-out political strike if the government does not set a date for elections by early March.
- The immediate signing of a central political agreement for a common platform in the elections and for the taking of power, calling on the masses to organise and actively fight for the victory of the Left.
- Organise special conferences of both parties to discuss and decide on the programme to be implemented by a Left government in power and to elect representatives to a joint conference which will take the final decision on the programme, the number of delegates to be determined by the influence of each party within the organised labour movement and on the most recent results in national elections.
- An appeal to all the other mass parties of the left and other mass left forces to struggle for power on the basis of this programme.
- Join with the Marxists of Synaspismos and the Synaspismos Youth in the organised struggle for the adoption of a genuine socialist programme aimed at overthrowing capitalism with the socialisation and democratic planning of the commanding heights of the economy, and the taking of power by the mass organisations of the workers, together with the struggle for the Socialist United States of Europe!