Greece: The first death, but millions are in an all-out struggle

Protesters confronting police. Photo: odysseasgrToday’s
[Thursday, October 20th] second day of the great 48-hour general strike,
was marked by the first death, a 53-year old militant building worker,
Dimitris Kotsaridis. He died as a result of a police operation, during
which tear gas was used against the demonstrators, which is common
practice for Greek police. All this happened in the background of the
implementation of an insidious plan of repression of the strike rally,
which the police cooperated with hooligans and provocateurs.

>The
plan was implemented in order to overshadow the fact that today in the
general strike the turn-out was even bigger than yesterday and in order
to break up the demo in Syntagma square, in which for the second
consecutive day, hundreds of thousands of militant strikers rallied and
for the first time after a long period there was united action of the
entire labour movement.

The main target of this plan of repression
was no accident. It was PAME [the Communist Party’s faction inside the
trade unions]. To anyone who participated in today’s demo, it was clear
that the organised and strong presence of PAME around the Parliament –
of course in conjunction with the massive, organised presence of dozens
of unions – was a key factor in delaying the use of stone throwing
provocateurs with the tacit collaboration of the riot police, which is
then usually used as an excuse by the police to disperse demonstrations
in clouds of chemical gas.

The brains behind the forces of state
repression understood that the PAME stewards had to be removed if
Syntagma Square was going to be cleared of the angry protesters.
Therefore, the police put in place their tried and tested method of
using hooligans and provocateurs against the forces of PAME.

The
organised forces of PAME, based themselves on the best traditions of the
labour movement, and courageously faced the provocateurs and the
hooligans. They showed how the labour movement should respond in an
organised manner to the vile and reactionary actions of agents
provocateurs and to the violence of the forces of state repression. They
demonstrated in their action the burning need, but also the concrete
possibility for the establishment of an organised workers’ militia,
based on the solidarity and participation of all the forces of the
labour movement.

Tear gas against protesters. Photo: odysseasgrUnfortunately,
the passive response of the leadership of the labour movement and the
Left, and particularly the leadership of the Communist Party, to the
tragic events has to be criticised. Its reaction so far to the murder of
a PAME militant fighter, has been lukewarm, to say the least. The
moderate stance of these leaders has been praised for its sense of
"political responsibility" both by the government and other
representatives of the ruling class, such as A. Georgiadis (a right-wing
LAOS MP).

In contrast to this passive attitude of the Left and
labour leaders, the objective situation has become very critical. The
labour movement today mourns the first death in the battle against the
government and the Troika. The only way to honour the memory of this
militant is through the continuation and escalation of the strike
movement, for the sake of which he was sacrificed.

The bloody
methods of suppression that lead to the death of a militant, but also to
dozens of other wounded protesters, is another symptom of the political
impasse and panic on the part of the government and the ruling class,
in the face of such a mighty strike movement. We have to understand that
although the new bill is expected to go through parliament, we have
"cornered them", and now is the time to escalate the struggle decisively
in order to finish with them!

The attempt to make the working
class pay for the crisis and the condemning of a large number of workers
to a permanent state of misery and mass unemployment, in order to
protect the superprofits of the international usurers – the creditors of
the state – and to save big business from the deep capitalist crisis,
will continue inexorably as is eloquently demonstrated by the report of
the Troika published today, in which it calls for new austerity measures
to the tune of €8 billion. At the same time, the conflicts among the
“strong” eurozone states, who are being called on to pay higher costs
for a controlled bankruptcy of Greece, but also among the other highly
indebted countries who will inevitably follow, are intensifying more and
more, bringing closer the prospect even of an uncontrolled bankruptcy
and an exit of Greece from the eurozone.

The prospects of an
impending deep recession in the country and the movement towards a new
slump at the international level, underlines the need for the labour
movement to pursue the struggle more vigorously. The 48-hour general
strike that ended today should be the first step in the preparation of
an all-out political general political, prepared by the unions and
strike committees in every workplace, with the aim of removing this
government and the Troika and the election of a government which will
carry out the demands of the labour movement, cancelling the predatory
debt and establishing a socialist, democratically planned economy.

On
the basis of such a militant programme and objectives, the KKE, SYRIZA
and the mass forces of PASKE involved in the struggle who repudiate the
leadership of PASOK and the government, should set up a united front.

• One dead, but millions march on!
• An all-out political general strike is our answer to the murderous state violence and the manoeuvres of the government in power!
• The Leaderships of the Left should offer a solution for power!
• For broad unity of the left on struggle!
• Fight for a government of the Left with a Socialist Programme!