Strike Rallies of PAME on Workers’ May Day

New Impetus for the escalation of the class struggles

Tens of thousands of workers, youth, women, immigrants, self-employed, pensioners, and poor farmers participated in a mass and militant way in Athens’ largest square, Syntagma, and in the 75 May Day demonstrations of PAME throughout the whole of Greece. Once again the demonstrations of PAME were many times larger than those of government and employer-led trade unionism. The workers have turned their backs on the orders of government and employer-led that they support the anti-worker measures, the policies of poverty, unemployment, and starvation wages. The demonstrators at the rallies of PAME gave a clear answer that the anti-people assault has not been legitimised in the consciousness of the working class and that inspired by the sacrifices and struggles of their class they will fight against the anti-worker political line of the social-democratic government, capital-EU-IMF, which is supported by ND and LAOS, until the overthrow of the power of capital.

Christos Katsiotis, member of the Executive Secretariat of PAME mentioned in his speech amongst other things that:

“In this period the slogan for 8 hours work, 8 hours rest and 8 hours education inspired tempestuous struggles. Today the slogan “Worker you can do without the bosses, without you the cog cannot turn”, inspires us in the new struggles and accurately expresses the contemporary content of the class struggle. We are better aware today that the acquisition of a decent life with stable and permanent work for all, with more free time and less time at work, with substantial rights in every area of life, is inevitably connected to our liberation from the yoke of the monopolies.

If this relationship is not abolished, by which the few steal the work of the many, if the regime of wage slavery is not abolished, there can be no life or future.

It is a case of us or them. We are the producers of all the wealth. We are the many. The future belongs to us and our children, it is in our hands.

With our slogan, “the law is what is right for the workers”, we are organizing our forces and alliance to impose this.”

The GS of the CC of the KKE, Aleka Papariga, was present at the strike rally of PAME in Athens.

After the rally the demonstrators marched past the embassies of France, Britain and ended up at the US embassy. They shouted slogans and symbolically threw red paint on the building of the French embassy.

Communists in Greece are intensifying their activity, by playing the leading role in the class-oriented trade unions and PAME, in order to give impetus and continuity to the struggle. Over the next period the class forces will throw themselves into the workplaces in order to prepare the Nationwide General Strike of PAME on the 11^th of May, to escalate the struggle, to strengthen the response and counterattack against the new barbaric anti-people measures which are being prepared.