Immediate response of the communists and the working class

Immediate response of the communists and the working class

“Greek and foreign workers united” “profits bathed in the blood of the workers in all Greece and Manolada” “The law is what is right for the workers” were the slogans shouted by the Greek and foreign workers in the centre of Nea Manolada as well as in Athens, Thessalonica, Giannena, after the call of the KKE, denouncing the murderous attack that was unleashed by the big strawberry farmers of Nea Manolada on 17/4, in response to the obvious demand of the immigrants to be paid for their hard work.

The communists, who for many years have been at the side of the immigrant workers, participated in the demonstration of the KKE in Nea Manolada alongside many agricultural workers. “This situation cannot go on, as the evil committed in Manolada and the wider region by the big business men in strawberry production and their thugs has gone on too long” stressed Dimitris Tzavaras, member of the CC of the KKE and secretary of the Pelopponese region of the party, at the demonstration “the attack against the immigrant agricultural workers is an attack on the whole working class, its movement, its vanguard. The immigrant agricultural workers of Manolada are a section of the Greek working class, so they are with us and we with them. While against us we have the capitalists and their thugs, and all those who provide support and toleration (state, mechanisms, political forces). The stance of each person regarding this issue tells us about their quality, about what interests they serve.” Dimitris Tzavaras noted.

The profits of the strawberry producers are dyed in blood, stated Nikos Karathanassopoulos, member of the CC of the KKE and MP, at the demonstration stressing that the government and the local authroities in the municipality and region bear enormous responsibilities, as they have let this situation be perpetuated. With a dynamic and mass march to the fields where the sweat and blood of the workers is shed, those who produce the wealth, the mobilization of the KKE came to an end, answering in an immediate and dynamic way all those who want to foster racism, and to keep the workers divided, Greeks and foreigners, who have no reason to be divided.

Apart from the mobilizations against the anti-worker crime which were organized by the KKE in this specific region, as well as in the capital and other cities, the All-workers’ Militant front (PAME) also took important initiatives. PAME carried out protests at the Ministry for Citizen Protection and the Ministry of Labour, together with the “Bangladeshi Union of Workers”, as well as many local neighbourhood demonstrations in Athens, Thessalonica, Piraeus. While dozens of trade unions, federations, and labour centres that are rallied in PAME all over the country issued statements which condemned the murderous attack against the immigrant workers.

The KKE brought the issue to Parliament

A parliamentary question to the ministers of Labour, Social Security and Welfare and Public Order and Citizen Protection was tabled by the MP of the KKE, N. Karathanassopoulos regarding the murderous attack against the immigrant agricultural workers in Manolada. Amongst other things, he demanded to learn what measures the government intends to take in order to:

• To stop the modern “slave-trade” of agricultural workers, immigrants in the area of Manolada and to secure humane living and working conditions.
• For their wages to be paid, based on the collective bargaining agreement.
• To arrest and punish the perpetrators of the murderous attack, to secure the full rehabilitation of the health of the injured, that no one be deported and to secure their legal residency and work.