What kind of movement do we need? With what forms-objectives-perspective?
The recent developments, the mass struggles of the workers and the youth triggered off by the murder of the 15-year-old student have brought to surface the debate about the movement, its character and content, the forms of struggle etc. At the same time, the old bourgeois intervention of the state mechanism and its bodies along with the intervention of the media and the political parties of the bipartisan alternation have brought back again the action of forces calling themselves“ “left” or “radical progressive”. These forces, however, are the same, well-known forces of opportunism –both at national and international level- that are used as a “Trojan horse” in the labor and youth movement.
KKE has not fallen into the trap of disorientation and provocation which has been set methodically and early on by those whose interest is to slander the popular movement, to intimidate it, disorient it, to split its class, militant unity, the unity between workers small and middle strata and youth, which needs to be forged through mass, militant, organised and self-protected struggles. Consistent with adventurism and opportunism, the other political forces had no intention at all to act in that way.
Since the beginning, KKE has called upon the people to continue, develop and intensify their struggles. These struggles have been in progress over the last months. They developed on the basis of the people’s problems, of the economic crisis and the increasing people’s discontent and intensified after the murder of the 15-year-old student. KKE has put its stamp on the political scene with its clear-cut position about the resolute development of the people’s action and mobilisation, the organisation and the increased protection of the struggles and the development of advanced forms of struggle. These struggles should respond to all aspects of the anti-popular policy, from the rise of the state repression to the economic and social demands of the working class, the small and medium strata in town and country.
KKE has not fallen into the political trap; it has not blamed merely some ministers or only the right-wing forces neither called for the formation of a “democrat front” that will continue the management of the people’s problems and the implementation of same reactionary policy, changing only the political staff. It has also stressed the responsibilities of the ND and PASOK governments that promoted and implemented the EU terror laws, the expansion of the secret agencies powers, the creation of surveillance systems, the gradual involvement of the armed forces in issues of public order, the bills for the restriction of demonstrations etc. These parties are constantly taking measures against the people; they care only about the rise of the profits of the bankers, ship-owners and industrialists. KKE has presented to the people and the youth a cohesive platform of demands, a program of struggle that responds to the current pressing needs and at the same time paves the way for the general social and political changes in favour of the working class, the other popular strata and the youth.
In order for this mass, strong movement to develop, the workers in our country should confront the operation organised against them in order to intimidate and blackmail the conscious of the people and lead them to a conservative and therefore reactionary redeployment.
The state power, the bourgeois state and the government are trying to utilise the blazes, the damages, the “blind” violence of the hooded persons in order to stop the increasing wave of discontent and popular mobilisation, especially in this period, as they expect new social explosions in the future due to the new anti-popular measures they take in the name of the elimination of the consequences of the economic crisis.
Since the beginning, KKE has not stopped stressing that the measures for the protection of the struggles are an issue of the organised popular movement and not of the police and state repression forces. KKE proved in practice that the struggles, the movement can protect themselves from the state repression and its various instruments, the well known hooded persons the ally of all those who want to terrorise the people, disorient it and make it quit struggling. We are not induced by the fact that this form of struggle may attract young people. KKE has underscored that the core of such groups has been formed in pockets within the state, inside and beyond the borders of Greece, both during ND and PASOK governments. As the general secretary of the CC underscored, even the inspirers of these groups might lose control over them at some point as in the case of Taliban where the American secret agencies lost control over them.
KKE made clear that the spontaneous actions of indignant youths, school students –even those who are temporarily induced- have nothing to do with the coordinated, organised – as if it was a plan of military staff- action of the hooded persons. The forces that still “caress the ears” of the hooded persons bear an outsized political responsibility. Likewise, those who due to opportunism and adventurism are trying to conceal the fact that they do not provide any alternative to the popular movement and the youth only in order to preserve their role in the system as a force hindering the process of people’s radicalism. They have accepted this role believing that it will offer them some more votes in the next elections and lead them to social and political consensus with the so-called anti-right forces of social democracy.
Over the last years several theories are being developed which are not new of course; they keep coming back since the working class came to the forefront, led vanguard revolutions and paved the way not only for its emancipation but also for the emancipation of all the people, the youth, the women, since the working class built its own vanguard party, the communist party.
These theories seek for new revolutionary subjects such as “the uprising of the masses”, the “uprising or insurrection of the youth” (the generation of ARTICLE 16, according to Mr. Alavanos, or the current uprising of students”. All these are presented in contradiction to the movement of the working class and the other popular strata.
In Greece, these theories which have been appropriately adapted are mainly represented by SYN, other forces around it that join SYRIZA as well as by other left fringe groups lending a helping hand to PASOK.
SYRIZA promotes intensively the theories about a “new subject of the revolutionary progress” about “new movements” etc. Over the last years the practice of SYRIZA supports at the expense of the mass organised movement structures with strong anarchic characteristics and therefore open and vulnerable to the penetration of bourgeois mechanisms. A typical example is the case of the World Social Forum which gathers forces of different social backgrounds that protest spontaneously – segments of the middle strata, petty-bourgeois intellectuals, parts of the labour aristocracy (in Greece the compromised leadership of the trade union confederations participate in the World Social Forum) - as well as organised bourgeois forces such as segments of the state mechanism, publishing enterprises such as the Greek newspaper Eleutherorupia etc. At the same time various organisations and movements are being supported financially and by all means in order to control all the movements throughout the world and prevent their radicalism in an antimonopoly anti-imperialist direction.
However it was shown that due to the character and the nature of such forums their star falls soon. Ten years after their bloom and their provocative promotion, trends of degeneration and disorganisation began to appear not only in our country but in Europe and all over the world. Their inspirers are reasonably looking for other alternative-additional structures that will be adapted to the inherent radicalisation of the young people. These structures should also be combined with the development of the class struggle under the conditions of the economic crisis where more essential, radical demands and advanced forms of struggle will emerge and call the bourgeois power to question. This puts the fear of God in the ruling class and the big capital who know better than anyone else that they themselves created their gravedigger.
The intensification of the struggle is not determined only by the forms of struggle but mainly by its content, direction and objectives. The spontaneous appeasement –often through advanced forms of struggle- combined with the “left” cover and the camouflaged state control operates as a contemporary method to divert struggle and prevent it from being a strong labour movement. All forces take part in this action openly or secretly, while at the same time they declare their hate communist and labour movement.
At the same time, the same forces of modern opportunism contribute to the disorientation and assimilation of forces in a fight against "neoliberal" management, without an anti-monopoly, anti-imperialist direction. They serve as a "pool of Siloam" for "centrist-left" forces and for the revival of social democracy. On every occasion, they systematically spread the notion of the «demise of the communist movement». Their programs intend to make the people moderate their demands. It is no coincidence that the efforts to disorientate, trap and manipulate the labour and youth movements coincide with the development of nucleus of resistance of oppressed peoples and the rise of the radical forces' movements that tend to adopt demands and goals of struggle against the whole spectrum of imperialist policies.
The fact that in our country the demands of the poor popular strata become more moderate is not accidental or spontaneous. It is a result of the systematic work carried out by bourgeois, reformist and opportunist forces within the labour movement through the carrot-and-stick method. The struggles of the past two decades led to gains; they delayed the implementation of reactionary measures and prevented worse ones. However, the role of the vanguard is to see clearly, to develop theory and practice in order to politically awaken the labour masses and lead them beyond protests and defensive struggle -no matter how acute they are- to the overthrow of the bourgeois power. This position is opposite to the flattery and deception of the popular masses by all the opportunist forces. The political line of the latter leads to the disorientation and the undermining of the movement, to the resignation of forces and, eventually, to their assimilation. Thus, they lay the ground for the forces of the bipartisan alternation and their allies to remain in power, serving the bourgeois system, capitalism. On the contrary, a revolutionary workers' party speaks openly and explicitly. It guides the joint attack of all the workers and youth. It organises struggles that overcome the tactic of "divide and rule", promote a cohesive platform of demands that corresponds to the contemporary needs of workers, calls into question and fights against the monopolies and imperialist policies, against the commitments deriving from international treaties, the EU and NATO.
In the framework of the 18th Congress of KKE, the Communists have to help resolutely the people realise the kind of movement we need, its content, forms and processes, based on the experience accumulated by their struggles and the political conflict. The people and the youth should recognise their true friends and their disguised enemies. Through the struggle they should accumulate experience on class exploitation and realise that the wealth is produced by the working class. The workers and the youth should understand what private ownership over the means of production and the produced wealth means and how these are related to the political power. That's the truth they tried to conceal behind the broken shop windows. Instead, they widely spread the theory that the shop windows are a «symbol» of wealth and injustice and therefore they must be broken!
If we reveal and explain all these systematically, the people will be able to understand the nature of the problems, what lies beneath TV shows, what causes scandals and corruption, who are benefited from this, and why do these intend to remain in power and increase the exploitation of workers.
For the avant-garde, the promotion of various fronts of struggle should be combined with the strategic goal of gaining the power. This is the political line of KKE. It has not concealed its political proposal for the establishment of the Front of socio-political forces which supported by the will and the strength of the people can bring into question the issue of power.
e-mail:cpg@int.kke.gr