Communists and Elections
Informational article of the International Department of the CC, KKE.
KKE’s response to the results of the recent parliamentary elections
in Greece
and comparisons to corresponding results from
On October 4, 2009, early parliamentary elections were
held closely following analogous electoral procedures in
These analyses were based on the combination of the
percentages of 3 parties: the social democratic party PASOK, which is a vehicle for harsh
anti-popular policies and constitutes one of the two basic “pillars” of the
bourgeois political system; the “new left” formation SYRIZA, (a meshing of euro
communist and former communists, that originated from the base of a social democratic
programme); and KKE
that struggles daily for the interests of the working class and the people’s strata,
heading towards a transformation of
society, the overthrow of the power of the bourgeois class and the building of
socialism. This arbitrary combination of dissimilar political forces in the
name of the “Left”, clearly shows that this meaning does not correspond to the
real political and social divisions of society, when they place together e.g. forces
that support the imperialist body NATO (such as PASOK),
the EU (PASOK and SYRIZA) and KKE that wages battles against both these
imperialist bodies and demands the withdrawal of our country from both of them.
Such a combinationof political forces who have
‘bought’ the argument of the bourgeois class regarding the “competitiveness” of
the Greek economy: (PASOK, SYN),
with KKE with which they clash along the entire ideological-political front on
this and other concepts of the bourgeois class, with KKE, who bears the
greatest burden in the struggle against the anti-popular restructuring and that
determinedly takes on the forces of capital.
Basic facts regarding the
election results
KKE amassed 517,138
votes in the recent elections, which is 66,612 less then the 2007 elections,
where it had 583,750 votes. The result of this small loss was that the
electoral percentage dropped from 8.15% to 7.54%. KKE lost one seat in
parliament, electing 21 deputies
(instead of 22) in the 300-seat parliament. At the same time, we must note for
readers abroad, that in the 2007 elections, PASOK was
experiencing a serious crisis and a victory for New Democracy (ND) was considered
certain. For this reason, we must take the election results from 2004 into
consideration as well because then the ruling party PASOK
was defeated and ND came into power due to strong popular discontent. At that
point KKE had received 436,561 votes and the percentage reached 5.9%.
Conclusively, in 2007, KKE had achieved a significant electoral increase for a
communist party; about 150 thousand votes, or more than 2%.
In addition, in the 2009 elections, the forces of the
bourgeois two-party system, (PASOK and ND) amassed in
total 77.4% of the votes. This
percentage is the lowest amassed by the two-party system parties since the 1981
electoral battles. PASOK gathered 43.92% (+5.8%) while ND had 33.48% (-8.4%).
An increase was noted by the nationalist party LAOS, gathering 5.63% (+1.8%), however in an analysis of the results it must be
considered that the liberal party ND, which constitutes the “reservoir” from
which LAOS draws its forces, lost more than 8% of its vote.
SYRIZA retreated from 4th
or 5th political position, receiving 4.6% (-0.4%). This retreat was covered up by all the jubilation
expressed in part by the bourgeois mass media that support social democracy and
who had become anxious since the polls showed that SYRIZA
was marginal given its predicted electoral percentage to get into the
parliament (3%); especially since it had covered all of the demagogic “curve” from
18-20%, that was polled 15 months earlier, reaching the lower limit of 3% in
just one year.
Finally, the party “Ecologists – Greens”, despite the overwhelming support it enjoyed
from the mass media and corporate circles, could not at this time amass votes
over the limit of 3% to elect parliament members, gathering only 2.5%.
Certain qualitative facts
on KKE’s electoral results
The electoral results of KKE show that the Party
gathers the highest percentages in the city centers, where on average it
amasses 8.8%. In the sub-city areas,
the percentage is 6% and in the strict agricultural areas, it is 6.1%. KKE
receives high percentages (from 10% to
20%) in the working class
neighborhoods of
On the
However, as sociological research shows, the electoral
strength of KKE is greater than the percentages that it received among the youth ages 25-34 (11%), and the productive age groups 45-54(9%), salaried private sector employees (11%),
the unemployed (11%), and university students (11%).
Assessment of the results
The CC of KKE estimates in its initial conclusions
that “the electoral result, as far as KKE is concerned, is low in relation to the
prestige and the influence that the Party has gained through its political
action and it does not correspond to its role in the development of the
struggles that have taken place, without which the results would have been unfavourable (…) KKE waged a tough battle under conditions
of economic crisis, an upturn for the social democratic forces. Despite the
fact that it did not succeed in reinforcing its forces, it showed resilience,
it managed to thwart the attempts to remove it from third position in the parliament,
to apply ideological pressure, to destroy as much as possible the greater part
of its political and electoral influence. KKE’s
endurance throughout the dilemmas, the fears, the blackmail and manipulation,
shows its capabilities, its correct line, and its readiness for tomorrow to be
MORE DECISIVE on the front line.”
It is obvious that in PASOK’s
electoral victory the logic of “the lesser of the two evils” played its role
which social democracy played on, as well as the mechanisms of ‘buying votes’, through
a system of promises and exchanges in the working class sector, that made use
of the harsh fact of unemployment and poverty, under conditions of a global
capitalist crisis, intensifying the insecurity and the pressure for quick
fixes. Clearly, there are other reasons for this result, such as the
anti-communist campaign that was developed in
There are as well more generalized reasons, such as
the effect of the situation in the workers’ trade union movement in Europe and
in
The result indicated that the efforts to oust KKE from 3rd
position that have taken place during recent years, also aided by the
intervention of the American factor, did
not succeed. These efforts which are supported by powerful publishing centres who control the electronic mass media, aimed either
at SYRIZA’s ascension, or that of LAOS, or of the
“ecologists” to the political position that is maintained today by KKE.
External factors
We need to keep in mind that, as the Statement of the
CC of KKE states, “We find ourselves in a period where intra-imperialist contradictions are
sharpening in the area.”
The effort of Russia to promote its own plans for oil
pipelines and natural gas in Europe, in conflict with similar plans of the USA,
are reflected in the agreements that have been signed by the previous
government, and are also reflected in the participation of Greece in some of
these Russian plans (oil pipeline Burgas-Alexandroupolis,
section of the natural gas pipeline “South Stream”). In parallel, the efforts
of
Both
It is not by chance that the American President, Barack Obama, rushed first of all of the foreign leaders,
before the electoral results had even been announced, to hail the victory of PASOK and George Papandreou. This was not by pure chance as
prior to the elections G. Papandreou made various skeptical comments against
the construction of the Burgas-Alexandroupolis
pipeline, while the situation with the other Russian plan for the “South
Stream” pipeline remains unclear.
During the entire pre-election period this specific
issue became a point of reference and exploitation and clearly demonstrates
that the intra-imperialist rivalries
play a role in the internal political conflict between bourgeois political
forces in the country. Except for this, prior to the elections, PASOK left open a possible revision of the agreement with
the Chinese COSCO. A section of the bourgeois Press
directly “nailed” G. Papandreou stating that if he were to be elected he would
faithfully serve American plans, while related innuendos were also made toward
the former ND Minister of the Exterior, Dora Bakogianni,
who is now laying claim to the leadership of the ND party.
“Wherever there is smoke, there is fire”. It is a fact
that various monopoly circles, both national and foreign, and the great powers
are interested in having the support of the varied political forces for their
plans. The most characteristic example is provided by Mr. Alex Rondos, whom we should keep in mind went from being a G. Papandreou advisor (Minister of the
Exterior in the former PASOK government), with a role
in the overthrow of Milosevitz, in Serbia, to
becoming an advisor in the services of American supporter President of
Agriculture, M. Saakasvili.
The position of KKE on the
issue of intra imperialist disputes
Here we would like to refer to KKE position on the two
aforementioned examples:
KKE emphasizes that the construction or not of oil
pipelines and natural gas pipelines and the transformation or not of Greece
into an “energy center” does not mean at all that the access of Greek working
people to energy resources will become easier(cheaper). What it will mean is that
it will enrich the profits of those
private associations who will benefit from the specific projects. The benefit
is just as direct (from the exploitation of the pipeline), as it is indirect
(with the alliances that will be created with sections of capital from other
countries, e.g that of
The construction of energy
pipelines, just like every project
for the energy infrastructure, would be useful for the working class only
within the framework of a Peoples’ Economy, which would insure the utilization
of transport pipes and domestic energy resources, based on peoples’ needs and
not capitalist profit. Something like this, of course, demands something
radically different, popular-workers’ power, that is socialism.
At the same time, the Communist Party of Greece
denounced the privatisation of the ports and the signing of the specific
agreement with COSCO. KKE demanded both before and
after the Parliamentary elections that there should be “no review, no
renegotiation, but complete annulment of the agreement with COSCO
as well as of all the laws that the governments of PASOK
and ND have voted concerning the privatisation of the
ports”. The communists supported the
In general, KKE calls upon the workers not to
comply with any imperialist power, as some suggest arguing that it is for the
sake of “national interests”. Behind the latter lie the often colliding
industrialists’, ship-owners’ and bankers’ interests and certainly not those of
the working class and the other popular strata.
What does the percentage of the Communist Party
of
The rivals of KKE,
capitalists, and their system mechanism attempt to dictate their criteria
regarding the evaluation of the electoral results. They conduct biased analyses
to undermine the impact that the theses of our party have on people.
Reality demonstrates the upward course of KKE in
recent years. Its influence has grown both in the workers’ - popular movement
and in the elections, through rallying significant parts of the working class,
of the popular strata and of the youth to struggle against big capital, its political and trade union
representatives and anti-popular policy in general.
Reality shows that the Communist Party of Greece
is a revolutionary party that concentrates and educates forces in the struggle
for socialism. It does not have parliamentary
illusions. It does not believe in the progressive rise of its electoral
percentage from one electoral encounter to another that supposedly may eventually
lead to the formation of a “socialist government” through elections. KKE has rejected as dangerous and
inadmissible the idea of participation and support of “centre-left” or “left”
governments that will manage the capitalist system. The policy of alliances of the Communist Party of Greece projects
the need to build the anti-imperialist,
anti-monopoly, democratic front, where the social and political forces that
are willing to fight against monopolies and imperialism will converge and bring
forward a frame of struggle for popular power and economy.
The Communist Party of Greece is well aware that
the ideological and political consciousness of the workers’ masses requires a
process of successive confrontations
with capitalists, with the ideology and political power of the capital, with
its institutions that include its political parties and its “differentiated” supporters.
The electoral abandonment of the bourgeois
parties and the electoral support of the Communist Party of Greece is an act of confrontation with the
establishment of exploitation, an act of emancipation.
The
electoral percentage of KKE has no relation to the electoral percentage of the
“mutated” forces
That is why the electoral percentage
of KKE cannot be compared with the results of the so called “left” parties that
serve to manage the capitalist system (PASOK and SYRIZA)
or with the results of parties or coalition-parties of our country or other
countries that have “mutated communist forces” as their core (for example SYRIZA in Greece, Die Linke in
Germany and Bloco in Portugal). Despite their
declarations those forces fit into the system. They are forces of capitalisms’
management. They support the imperialist centre of the EU
spreading illusions that it can be “humanised”. They
cannot be models of revolutionary parties’ development because they
have resigned from the revolutionary world view of Marxism-Leninism and the traditions
of the communist movement. Often, these particular forces are
protagonists in the anticommunist propaganda reproducing the bourgeoisie’s
charges against the socialism that was built in the
KKE stresses that the need for change in the correlation of forces and therefore for rallying around the Communist Party requires realisation of the need for confrontation with capitalist exploitation, not only for the perspective of its abolition but also for the satisfaction of immediate demands, such as the improvement of working conditions (wages, workday, pension, insurance), the survival of poor farmers or small-shop owners and manufacturers, the guaranteeing of public and free Education, Healthcare and Welfare for the people.
Class struggles, party and trade union building
KKE works in this direction aiming to build more and
more Party Base Organizations (PBO) mainly focusing
on production and other workplaces. Communists are in the forefront of
all struggles, small or big ones that PAME (All
Workers’ Militant Front) organises. PAME is a front
of class-oriented organizations. Big industrial confederations, district trade
union organisations (Labour Centres) and a big number of trade unions
participate in PAME and organize the struggle of the
working class in our country against the employers, the anti-popular
governments, the compromised General Confederation of Greek Workers (GSEE) and the Confederation of Civil Servants Unions (ADEDY).
Thus, during the summer for example, the class
orientated Federation of Workers in the Food and Beverage Industry which
participates in PAME, organised a big strike that
brought to a standstill the production in big factories. As a result, the
workers won several new gains. Similar struggles have been fought in many
sectors and workplaces. Definitely in workplaces where such struggles took
place the workers appreciated the struggle of the communists even more. And we
don’t say that without evidence; during the very short pre-election period
communists managed to get into thousands of factories, construction sites and
other workplaces, where they discussed the political positions of KKE, during
worker’s brakes and at workers meetings.
Regrouping of the labour and trade-union movement – a basic
element of the struggle
The liberation and emancipation from bourgeois dilemmas
that trap people into bourgeois power is a subject matter of class struggle.
The electoral bourgeois institutions do not determine
whether KKE will be a party that rallies the majority of the working people, a
party recognised by other popular forces as vanguard. On the contrary, this is
the process that determines the fate of those institutions, their
destabilization and the need for their overthrow.
Thus, the problem of the labour movement is not
primarily its political deception in the national, the EP elections or even in
the local elections. The primary task is for the labour movement to deal with
this deception within the labour movement itself. Therefore, the main issue becomes
the regrouping of the
movement.
Regrouping of the labour movement means that the
majority of the workers are organized in their trade unions; that it organizes
struggles for all the employees in an enterprise, in a sector or in all
sectors, no matter if a segment of the employees works under a
better labour or pension agreement; it means that the labour movement is
organized and organizes struggles not only against a specific capitalist but
against the government of capitalists; not only against the governing bourgeois
party but against all bourgeois parties that as “opposition” parties use the
labour and trade union movement to achieve their rise to the bourgeois
government management, only to serve the interests of the
monopolies.
In other words the regrouping of the labour movement
necessitates a militant workers’ majority that is organised in the trade
unions, struggles for its rights and is capable of isolating the influence
exerted by
The shortcomings of party forces must be overcome
The subjective and objective difficulties that KKE
faces can be overcome with a stronger impetus, above all with a stronger
ideological power. Our ideological persuasion concerns primarily the
strengthening of our ideological front, the elaboration of our positions in
each sector or in districts, the study of the history of our party and the
international communist movement, the quality of our publications and our
media, the party schools for Marxist education etc. Furthermore, it also concerns
our ability to work so that all these aspects become a fundamental element of
the internal functioning of the PBO, of the communist
groups in schools, hospitals, factories, shopping centres, trade union boards,
mass organisations etc. It has to do with our ability to make each group of
communists, no matter if they are members of the Party or not, each group of KNE members more capable of fermenting and spreading our
ideology and organising the masses. The communist trade unionists must play the
leading role in this action.
Our organisational power must also grow stronger. We
have to think more creatively, to take multifaceted and bold steps for the
acquisition of the required knowledge and competence. This refers to the
functioning, the content and the action of the PBO.
This process will bring substantial, qualitative changes in the functioning,
the content and the activity of trade unions, mass organisations, youth and women associations. Furthermore, the forms of
organization and rallying of forces as regards the trade union struggle, but
also the struggle for cultural, educational entertainment must become more
attractive. However, they should neither lose their class political character
nor substitute the struggle for the satisfaction of these needs with the
responsibility of the state.
KKE assumes its responsibilities. It has experience
and finds itself in a state of readiness and better ideological-political unity
and maturity compared to that of the parliamentary elections in 2007, regardless
of its electoral percentage. It will employ all its capabilities for organizing
the people’s counterattack against the plans of monopolies, the new government,
the EU and international imperialism. This process
will bring about ideological and political maturity for new segments of
employees; it will forge the class struggle and produce changes in the balance
of forces.
22/10/09
e-mail:cpg@int.kke.gr