Yesterday
the Greek parliament approved the austerity measures required to get
further lending from the European Union. The PASOK government is
determined to force through its austerity measures, even though 75% of
the population is totally opposed to any further austerity being imposed
on them.
Yesterday
the Greek parliament approved the austerity measures required to get
further lending from the European Union. The PASOK government is
determined to force through its austerity measures, even though 75% of
the population is totally opposed to any further austerity being imposed
on them. [Note: this article was written on the basis of discussions
with the Greek comrades of the IMT, of Marxistiki Foni, presently
intervening in Syntagma Square].
Greece in flames – Photo: PIAZZA del POPOLOA total of 155 MPs voted in favour and 138 voted against. One PASOK
MP, Yannis Kourouplis voted against the austerity measures and
Papandreou immediately expelled him from the party. So much for the
right to express one’s opinion freely! Also, one New Democracy MP, Elsa
Papadimitriou, voted for the measures and Samaras reacted in the same
manner expelling her. The result of this is that the PASOK government’s
majority has been slowly whittled down. Since last year its
parliamentary group has gone from 160 to 154, out of a total of 300 that
make up the parliament.
The new bail-out from the European Union
and the IMF involves raising taxes to the tune of 14bn euros cutting
spending by 14.3bn euros and selling off state assets over the next five
years. VAT is to be increased, while lower income earners who
previously were exempted from tax will now have to pay.
Whereas in
the past wages would be frozen while inflation ate into their real
value, now Greek workers are facing real direct cuts in their nominal
wages. Public sector workers’ wages will be cut by 15%. Workers in
state-owned enterprises will see their wages cut by 30%. All public
sector workers on temporary contracts will be sacked, and for every ten
public sector workers that retire in the coming period only one will be
taken on to replace them.
This programme in fact meets the demands
of international capital that has stated quite bluntly that Greece must
slash unit labour costs by at least a third. And the only way they
propose doing so is through wage cuts. What they ignore is that real
wages in Greece are already abysmally low, among the lowest in Europe,
and that explains the angry militant mood on the streets.
Drastic
cuts are also being imposed on healthcare, local government subsidies
and education. Close to €1.5 billion will be cut from healthcare alone,
while close to 2000 schools will either be closed or merged. Many social
security benefits will also be eliminated, and the age of retirement is
going to be raised to 65. In order to get a full pension one will have
had to pay forty years of contributions, something which is impossible,
given how long it takes for many young people to find a stable job.
Also, many workers have had to work in the black as many bosses have
evaded paying contributions. But it is the workers who will have to pay
for this, not the bosses!
Over the next few years the government
also hopes to raise around €50 billion from privatizations. Parts of the
utilities, such as water and electricity companies, refineries,
airports, telecommunications, motorways, port operators and state owned
banks, are to be sold off.
Today the Greek parliament was voting
on the details of the overall package approved yesterday. The PASOK
government is under immense pressure from the European Central Bank, the
IMF and the World Bank to deliver unprecedented levels of cuts in
public spending.
The PASOK was elected by the Greek workers in
reaction to the measures of the previous New Democracy government, but
now the party has lost the support of many of those same workers.
Opinion polls show that the PASOK would only get 27% of the votes in new
elections, while the New Democracy would muster only 31%. That means
neither of the two major parties could govern alone should early
elections be called. That explains why for now the Greek bourgeois is
pushing for the PASOK to do the dirty work for them.
There is no
room for manoeuvre any more, as was the case in the past. As things
stand now, Greece will have to pay 10% of its GDP just to cover the
interest on its debt. And to achieve the 3% deficit limit established by
the Maastricht Treaty (yes, does anyone remember that nowadays?),
excluding interest payments, Greece would have to move from a deficit of
around 5% last year to a surplus of anything between 7 and 10% of GDP.
So if one adds the 10% to be put aside on interest and the shift from
-5% to +10% in the balance of state finances, that means that what is
required is a total of cuts, taxes and sell-offs to the tune of around
25% of Greek GDP.
Dilemma of Greek and international bourgeoisie
These figures show the dilemma the Greek and international bourgeoisie are facing. It is clear that it is not a question of if Greece will default but of when.
The choices everyone is discussing are either a massive uncontrolled
default in the immediate future or a “managed” default involving
cancelling some of Greek’s debt and delaying some of the repayments.
There is no such thing as a “best case scenario” now. What all the
bourgeois economic experts are talking about is the “least bad
scenario”. Should Greece default then it would set in panic
internationally and trigger a much wider European and world financial
crisis.
International banks are exposed to the Greek public sector
and Greek banks by billions of dollars. The French banking sector is
exposed to Greece’s $485 billion debt to the tune of $42 billion, while
the French government is exposed by close to $15 billion. The figures
for Germany are $11 billion and $24 billion respectively. The combined
overall exposure of France and Germany to Greek debt has reached over
$90 billion. Britain and the US are the next in line after the French
and German banks.
Serious analysts have calculated that Greece can
only realistically pay half what it owes, which would put international
banks exposed to Greece in severe difficulties, having to write off a
large part of what is owed to them, some $33 billion immediately after
any default on the part of Greece and up to $100 billion in the long
run. All this would come on top of the massive crisis of the banks in
2008.
All this explains why France and Germany appear to be so
keen to secure Greece’s financial future. If they don’t come up with
some package to “save” Greece it is their own banks that would have the
most to lose. Furthermore, a Greek default would spark off defaults in
Ireland and Portugal that would in turn spark of a financial crisis in
Spain, then Italy and then the whole of Europe would be dragged down,
pulling down the United States as well. As one commentator recently
described this scenario, it would be “Armageddon”.
All this
explains why the governments of France and Germany, and behind them
Britain and the United States, are so keen to come up with some form of
new bail out for Greece. They are in a Catch-22 situation. If they don’t
come up with the money their own banks face collapse; if they do, their
own deficits mount up, forcing them to adopt more austerity measures at
home as their own debts increase.
French President Nicolas
Sarkozy recently announced that French banks would be prepared to give
Greece 30 years to repay its debts to them, a so-called “roll-over”. The
German government has also been putting pressure on the private banks
and other lenders to contribute to the latest Greek bail out. But all
this will end up doing is further exposing the banks to the risks of a
Greek default. In fact the credit rating agencies have already stated
quite clearly that they would consider any such “roll-over” as a
technical default, i.e. bankruptcy.
Mass protests
While
Greek parliament today was holding a second vote on the austerity
programme, on how to put into practice the measures listed above, the
masses have been involved in the 48-hour general strike organised by the
trade unions. Participation in the strike this time round has been rock
solid as on June 15, but with a far lower turn out at yesterday’s
gathering of the GSEE and ADEDY organised away from Syntagma Square in
"Pedion Areos", one of the largest public parks in Athens. There were in
fact 40,000 people demonstrating in front of the Parliament building in
Syntagma Square, many of whom had not gone to the trade union rally.
There
is a mistrust of the trade union leaders which is palpable on the
streets. This is perfectly understandable, as the trade union “leaders”
rather than leading, are being pushed. The trade union leaders are being
forced to call strikes that they would rather not have to call. That is
the fact of the matter.
For example, yesterday the GSSE
leadership refused to organise a central strike rally, so the only rally
that was organised was by the Syntagma Coordination Committee. We also
see the behaviour of the leadership of the electricity workers’ union,
GENOP DEI, who yesterday, after 10 days, announced a suspension of the
electricity workers’ strike. This is the result of the pressures from
the government on these trade union leaders, who as a result have broken
the strike front of the public sector workers.
In spite of all
this, the general strike has been a powerful one. Hundreds of ordinary
people, workers, unemployed and young people, fought the fully armed
riot police with their bare hands. This comes after millions of workers
and young people have been participating in rallies and supporting the
movement. Meanwhile anger against state terrorism has been growing.
Police brutality
The
response of the government and police authorities has been brutal. In
the past two days the government has implemented its plan to crush the
mass movement and to get the police to occupy Syntagma Square. Once
having secured the passage of the austerity measures in parliament, the
government wants to make sure that the movement, which has terrified the
ruling class and its international patrons, will "die out" under a
barrage of teargas and truncheons.
Yesterday we witnessed
unprecedented police brutality against thousands of demonstrators who
from the morning flocked en masse to protest outside Parliament. The
police were determined to remove thousands of fighters from Syntagma
Square. Hundreds were trapped in the metro in a cloud of chemicals.
Countless rounds of asphyxiating teargas and other chemicals were fired
into the crowd. According to the volunteer doctors on the scene over 500
demonstrators were injured. Among those who were brutally attacked by
the police was the vice-president of the POE-OTA (municipal workers
Union), Dimitris Harissis. The police were also firing stun grenades.
With this level of state terror, it is purely a matter of luck that so
far there has been no fatality.
However, yesterday’s police
violence was not limited just to Syntagma Square. In the late evening
the police turned their attention to the Popular Committees in the
working class neighbourhoods close to the centre of Athens. They clearly
aim to destroy these expressions of popular power.
And as on
other occasions, they used the old and tested technique of planting
among the demonstrators agents provocateurs, protected by the police.
Some private TV channels have actually broadcast footage of such
provocateurs at work.
None of this, however, has dampened the
militant mood of the masses. Today in Syntagma Square, another mass
rally against the government and its state terror is being organised.
Ordinary working people are very angry and especially the youth and the
unemployed want to continue the struggle. The same mood exists among the
public sector workers. In the working class neighbourhoods people
continue to organise committees and rallies.
That is why ADEDY
[public sector trade union confederation] organised a new rally in
Syntagma Square for 7pm (Greek time) today. The workers in the private
sector are also very angry but due to the lack of clear leadership on
the part of the trade unions are confused about how to continue the
struggle. Tonight’s turnout will be a way of measuring at what stage the
movement has reached.
Critical point
At a critical point
like this the lack of a fighting leadership is the key element that
determines which way events will turn. The masses have been struggling
now for over one and a half months. They have had to face an incredibly
brutal police response. In spite of this they have kept going and have
stepped up the struggle. The masses have done everything they could do.
Had the leadership been up to the task the government could have been
brought down.
The overwhelming majority of the population rejects
the austerity measures. They have made it abundantly clear that they do
not consider Greece’s debt something of their making. It is not the
workers and youth who are responsible for this mess, but the Greek and
international bankers and capitalists. And yet in spite of all their
efforts the Greek workers and youth can see the situation slipping out
of their hands. The government has steamrollered through its hated
austerity measures and the masses are not being offered a way out.
In
a situation like this, what is required of the leadership of the labour
movement, of its trade unions and parties, is a revolutionary
determination to go to the end. The Greek Marxists of Marxistiki Foni
issued a statement yesterday, in which they explained what was required
to push the movement to a higher level and go forward and win. We quote
from their statement:
“It is necessary to continue
and escalate the movement until the government of speculators is brought
down and police brutality is stopped. The steps that the movement needs
to take are the following:– Meetings directly in all the
neighbourhoods and workplaces to discuss and arrange the next steps to
continue and escalate the struggle.– Organise new mass protests
tomorrow [June 30] in Syntagma Square and all the squares of the major
cities, with defence squads organised by the trade unions to combat
police violence and the activities of agents provocateurs to maintain
control in the squares.– The recent 24 hour and 48-hour general
strikes, mass popular assemblies and mass concentrations in the squares
have proven not to be enough to win. What is required is that the
struggle be escalated into an extended political general strike.–
Strike committees should be elected in all workplaces, large and small,
to coordinate strike action together with committees of struggle
elected by the local assemblies.– To set up a Centralised
National Action Committee to coordinate a nationwide movement, to set up
strike funds and soup kitchens for the strikers, to organise picket
lines and to establish workers’ defence squads, adequately equipped to
protect the mass demonstrations and rallies against the violent actions
of disguised police agents provocateurs.– The Centralised
National Action Committee should also organise a campaign of solidarity
with the Greek workers within the European and world labour movement.
The Action Committee should be based on and legitimised by the popular
and working-class assemblies and be prepared to replace the government
of the "troika" and the banks and take over the concentrated wealth of
the country and place it under the control of the masses.– On the
basis of such a plan of action and demands, the Left parties [KKE and
Synaspismos] and the trade unions should form a united front to fight
for the leadership in each neighbourhood and workplace.Down with the government’s oppression and exploitation of the people – fight until victory!”
This
expresses succinctly what is required. Unfortunately, this is not what
is being offered to the Greek workers and youth by the present leaders
of the labour movement. And it is precisely this lack of fighting
leadership that has allowed the government to manoeuvre in spite of the
immense will to struggle on the part of the masses.
This could
lead to a temporary pause in the movement. As we explained above the
events tonight will be an indicator of where the movement will go in the
immediate future. But whatever happens, the anger of the Greek workers
and youth will not go away. The movement may subside for a while, but as
the austerity measures outlined earlier in this article begin to be
implemented real pain and suffering will be inflicted on the Greek
masses. It will be an ongoing, relentless onslaught against the Greek
workers. Life has already become difficult enough. Now it will become
intolerable.
What we are witnessing is only the first act in a
much longer drama. In the coming period the workers will begin drawing
the lessons of what has happened. It is clear to millions of Greeks that
the economic measures being imposed on them are in the interests of the
rich. It is also clear to them that the will to struggle is there. What
has become abundantly clear is the lack of a real fighting leadership.
This
means that a period opens in which the struggle will be concentrated on
changing the leadership and replacing it with one that is prepared to
struggle to the end. Within this struggle the Marxists will play their
part in patiently explaining what is required. There is no short-cut to
this. But in the long run a mass revolutionary tendency will emerge
within the workers’ organisations. Once this is achieved no one will be
able to stop the Greek workers from fighting for the revolutionary
socialist transformation of society, for this is the only answer to the
present crisis of Greek capitalism.
