by Greek socialists Sissy Vovou and Andreas Ydriotis in Athens Greece is being rocked by a series of one-day general strikes, the biggest trade upsurge in the country for years. No photographs could adeuately paint a picture o thens and many other bis cities today.
Pickets are everywhere, in front of power stations, banks, post offices, company head ofices. In many cities, clashes with riot police are an everyday event.
Tear gas and CS gas have been used twice in Athens, canisters aimed directly at strikers, not fired into the air as the law demands.
The chaos stems from the right-wing New Democracy government's attempt to attack every layer of the population at once in a bid to getto Maastricht paradise.
Stunts over the past year include; • increased direct and indirect taxation and extra taxes on homeowners • selling off highly profitable state enterprises atknock-down prices • freezing public sector pay and pushing less-than-inflation awards in the private sector • sacking 1,500 Athens bus workers and - when 7,000 colleagues struck in support -shutting the company down completely promoting new social security legislation to slash pensions and other benefits despite higher contributions, and increasing retirement age for both men and • a hi ducation bill that will tate funding, introduce for books, restrict democracy for both lecturers and students, and gear higher education to the needs of the private sector • overseeing massive cuts in living standards for peasants (27 per cent of the population) after withdrawal of EC farm subsidies The package aims to cut state debt, trim the public sector and modernise the Greek economy in preparation for the single market. The government is ready to see it through at almost any cost.
Protests called by the private sector General Confederation of Labour have not been successful, because member unions have been seriously weakened in recent years. But state employees, public sector companies and the banks are in continuous mobilisation, using mass participation to build effective picketing.
This militancy has seriously damaged the economy, not to mention the government's best efforts to tame the working class and the labour movement.
The right's slogan is: 'We must relieve the citizens of this country from the yoke of the guilds', as it calls the strong trade unions. Bus workers' bust-up with the bureaucrats 'We need less state, better state', declares prime minister Mitsotakis, preparing mass sackings of state employees, privatisation of electricity, telephone and transport concerns and a build up in the police force.
'This government is antipopular, an electoral minority, and must fall, declares president Papandreou of PASOK, Greece's mass workers' party, between two votes in favour of After promising repeal of the right's laws, he adds: 'If, I say if, we need austerity measures, they must apply to everyone. So there you are, then. Austerity is to be multilateral rather than unilateral.
Right wing policies are what must be defeated, state both wings of the ex-CP in parliament, skirting the basic obligation of the left to fight to overthrow right-wing governments. And what if the next PASOK government tries it on, too?
Yet the unexpected strength of the movement has created divisions within all parties, especially the governing one. New Democracy's 'traditional', 'serious', 'historic cadres fear the leadership's antics will cost the party the next elections. also student left independents, anarchists and former CPers.
Moves are afoot to regroup the trade union left. Demands include union democracy decisions to be taken at rank-and-file meetings and not by the bureaucrats - - and repudiation of the recent 'class peace deal the PASOK-led General Confederation signed with the bosses.
The sacked busworkers have proved especially militant. Daily mass marches bring traffic to a standstill, while strikers guard aepots to prevent government forces taking out the vehicles.
Irresponsible
The few circulating buses get attacked by strikers, despite union official's denunciation of 'irresponsible' action as 'the work of provocateurs' by union leaderships. Army lorries driven by soldiers are substituting for public transport, with many accidents as a result.
The government tried to split the busworkers by offering 3,600 of them the chance to be come shareholders in a new bus company to replace the existing one. The idea attracted a few hundred.
The militants made their opinion plain; about ten 'shareholders' were badly beaten up and stripped naked in Omonia, Athen's central square. Both government and opposition denounced this 'outrageous act'.
Scabs have been helicoptered into power stations outside Athens. The use of pensioners and unskilled personnel has already resulted in an explosion in one of them.
While powercuts are routine everywhere, electricity bosses deliberately concentrate them on the poorest areas. About 70 power workers have been sacked, adding the demand for their reinstatement to the struggle.
The extreme right of the governing party wants the return of para-statal organisations; fascist calls in the press to 'open the heads of strikers like rose' have been prosecuted.
Some 3,000 strikers planned a 'visit to Mitsotakis in Salonica as he inaugurated the annual international trade fair, a major economic event in Greece. It was a breathtaking decision, carrying a direct class message.
Sixty-two coaches set off on a 600km journey from Athens, despite a police ban on public meetings in Salonica for the first time since the dictatorship. Around 3,000 riot police were mobilised to meet them just outside the city.
Politicians, union chiefs and media stars pleaded with them not to go. After the trip nad already started, the strikers' own leader held a press conference begging them to return. A mass meeting decided to go ahead.
Meanwhile, Salonica's trades council had cancelled a mass welcome meeting and supporting demonstration. Only a few leftists were present to greet the coaches at the cops cordon. Many workers understood the meaning to this betrayal, deciding to return to Athens.
Slogans of the struggle include; 'law is the right of the worker', 'terrorisation will not pass' and 'students and workers, one voice, one fist. As these events dramatically prove, all the acres of pseudoanalysis about 'the end of class struggle' are not exactly verified.
Sissy Vovou and Andreas Ydriotis are members of the Greek section of the Fourth International