Press conference of the GS of the CC of the KKE Aleka Papariga on the political developments

Athens, 7/11/2011

New government of the black front-capital, bourgeois parties, EU.

Press Conference of Aleka Papariga, GS of the CC of the KKE, on the 7^th of November regarding the formation of a new government from the forces of the two bourgeois parties of the country, the Social-democratic PASOK and the right-wing ND, which also has the support of the nationalist LAOS party. Aleka Papariga called on the working class, the popular strata to cast down this government as quickly as possible with their struggle. She stressed that a social people’s front is needed to overthrow the power of the monopolies, to socialise them, for the disengagement of Greece from the EU and NATO and the cancellation of the debt.

The full introductory statement of the GS of the CC of the KKE at the press conference:

“A government of the black front of the parties of capital is being formed, of capital itself, with the EU in the role of chief maestro. This government is being formed in order to impose the interests of Greek and European capital in conditions of crisis and competition, to deal with the friction in the EU and to subjugate the people. Ostensibly the EU pressured ND and PASOK to form this government. In reality the pressure is being turned against the people. We state with certainty that this government is not going to deal with the debt or the deficits or the depth of the crisis, if you like it is not even going to deal with the possibility of an uncontrolled bankruptcy.

The avoidance of uncontrolled bankruptcy in the following months or/and the following years does not depend on the formula of political management, which the various bourgeois governments implement, nor whether it will be a coalition or single party government etc. The question as to whether there will be more parties in the coalition, we reiterate, is chiefly related to the disciplining and subjugation of the people, because the problem of the crisis is deeper, it concerns the capitalist system itself and not its management.

The people must know the following: that what it has experienced in the previous period it will experience now. To begin with they will take anti-worker anti-people measures and afterwards the instalment will be paid and indeed we will now begin the new cycle of instalments of the new memorandum. We do not believe in the slightest that the initiative of G. Papandreou to proceed with a referendum “Euro or Drachma” is what led to the formation of the coalition government. They had been preparing it for a long time, of course this was the opportunity.

Capital in our country and the EU wanted to impose a dynamic and strong government. And indeed if you look at it, it has surpassed what it saluted in Portugal, where the opposition before the elections stated that it will agree and vote for everything. This was not enough. It did not want to have ND as an official opposition which clearly for reasons of opposition and not for strategic reasons voted against measures, stating of course as before that it will respect the signature of the previous government. It wanted a unified alliance government.

A large section of the people, but the strange thing is that politicians are presenting themselves in this way as well, feel humiliated by the interventions of the EU and the statements of Merkel and Sarkozy. We make the following clear. If the people want to stop feeling this humiliation , which if you like if the situation does not change in the years to follow will be even worse, if they want to be liberated from this humiliation they must, first of all, be liberated from the power of the monopolies in our country, to disengage from the EU. Otherwise such humiliations will exist and we reiterate that they will be even worse.

Contemporary patriotism for us is this: Socialisation of the monopolies, working class-people’s power, disengagement from the EU, which in today’s conditions, in contemporary conditions also entails the unilateral cancellation of the debt.

This government will not be for a few weeks only. They intend to drag it on for as long as possible. But even if it is for a few weeks it will take measures which concern the life, the living standards and the rights of the people for at least 10 to 15 years.

And indeed the IMF talks about a two-year government. We call on the working class, the popular strata to cast down this government with their struggle as quickly as possible, to make its life difficult, to utilise whatever difficulties the new alliance government has (with old material, but new in terms of its joint composition) and to shorten its stay as far as possible, before final decisions are made, and to impose elections. Of course what is needed here is an unprecedented struggle and particularly that the workers, popular strata who still believe in PASOK and ND should not have any inhibition about this, they must not hope that this alliance will bring about something better. It took place in order to bring about the worst and indeed much worse than we have yet experienced. The people have an additional weapon today, not only their just cause and experience which they have acquired in the past and recent period, but also the fact that the EU is experiencing serious difficulties. The governments of the EU cannot manage the crisis, the political system in Greece has friction, and for this reason they were forced to make an alliance government while they were still struggling to maintain the regime of the rotation of the two parties in government.

The people must not be anxious about the weaknesses of the bourgeois system, the anxieties and dilemmas which it has. The debts, the deficits, all these, the memoranda, the medium-term programmes, whether they will be passed or not, is the anxiety of the ruling class of our country and the parties which serve it and the people must not be anxious as to how these things will proceed.

The people must be anxious about one thing: How it will be able to prevent and overthrow measures, how it will be able to be victorious.

They are threatening the Greek people that they will expel it, that they will expel Greece from the Eurozone. The people must use this threat, to lift their heads and say: With our decision, with our strength, with our project from now on we will disengage from the EU.

It is not impossible; it is possible that in the following years the EU might not look as it does today. Countries might be expelled from the Eurozone, from the EU, the EU might be split, and something else might appear in its place. Indeed there was a discussion to transform the EU to an organization like the USA. They think that they can abolish the nation state organization through political decisions. The reason is that this is a way to subjugate the people, to suppress their militancy. And secondly, it is a way to ensure that the struggle between the monopolies is carried out in the best possible way for them. Nor can this plan abolish the crises in the capitalist system, the rivalries and the divisive splits.

And as the opportunity has presented itself, because the media keep saying that Ms Papariga argued that if we go back to Drachma some will speculate, let me clarify this. As regards the question Euro or Drachma specifically our answer was that there are sections of capital, not only in Greece but in other countries as well, which are interested in Greece remaining in the EU and leaving the Eurozone because their economic position in the system is appropriate for speculation. However our answer is: disengagement. Because we will not take sides with the speculators of the Euro or the speculators of Drachma. Thus, we consider that the people’s interests will not be served by a general “anti-memorandum” front, no matter if it is called progressive, patriotic or left. Until now ND classified itself amongst the forces against the memorandum and you see where it has ended up. Of course it is a conscious choice it has not changed sides. What is the meaning of a front against the memorandum, left, progressive?

The front we need today must not be simply an “anti” front. It must say where the people should go. And this determines its “anti” character. So we are talking about a social popular front for the overthrow of the power of the monopolies, for their socialization, for the workers’ and people’s control, for the disengagement of Greece from the EU and NATO and of course all these entail the cancellation of the debt. We do not want the anti-worker policy either with the Euro or with the Drachma.

From this point of view any fronts against the memorandum like these are not only temporary –they will split sooner or later- but they also constitute one of the ramparts to protect the bourgeois class which on the one hand wants a clear reactionary conservative front but at the same time it can utilize a front for struggle as a form of protection. Because, anyone who fights within the framework of the EU in terms of negotiation and changes in the political formula does not constitute a threat to the system. The joint action with the KKE constitutes one of the irreplaceable preconditions, we do not claim that it’s the only one, but it is an essential precondition in order for this social people’s front –seeds of it already exist- to be able to form itself and counterattack.

At the same time, we believe that fronts of struggle must develop immediately, tomorrow morning if it is possible, with updated demands on the basis of the seven points of the road map. New specific demands arise. I won’t say in detail. For example: social security funds, the haircut provides 50% haircut for the banks and the social security funds; sectoral collective bargaining agreements, the forthcoming budget which cuts expenditure even further, I don’t know if it leaves anything for education, healthcare, welfare, nurseries, for the elderly, for the persons with special needs, for the special problems of women and youth; unemployment, labour reserve, the so-called liberalization of professions. I mention some examples I am not presenting a comprehensive platform of demands. Furthermore, the fronts of struggle arise from the people themselves in the neighbourhood in the factory. Nevertheless, these fronts of struggle must aim at impeding the measures, at their prevention, at the overthrow of the government. Elections.

And of course after the elections the people must seek to create the conditions for a strong counterattack. Don’t forget that there are other issues as well: Aegean, sovereign rights in the Aegean, the Hague Tribunal that will decide on the name of FYROM- it’s not the issue of the name that concerns us but the other issues that have to do with the borders, the Constitution etc. These developments are in progress today and the people cannot wait for the programmatic statements of the government. The programmatic statements of the government are well known. The developments will be worse than in the previous days. Consequently we need to struggle immediately using all forms of struggle – strikes, demonstrations, people’s committees at the ground level, social alliance at the ground level. There cannot be any factory or people’s neighbourhood without centres for action and struggle. All of these must gather together in a massive torrent for the overthrow of the power of the monopolies. There is no other alternative solution today.”