{"id":6788,"date":"2015-08-28T12:00:46","date_gmt":"2015-08-28T18:00:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lavozlit.com\/?p=6788"},"modified":"2015-08-28T12:00:46","modified_gmt":"2015-08-28T18:00:46","slug":"greece-a-workers-international-is-lacking-in-europe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/workersvoiceus.org\/es\/2015\/08\/28\/greece-a-workers-international-is-lacking-in-europe\/","title":{"rendered":"[Greece] "A Workers International is Lacking in Europe\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>
\nGREECE
\nWritten by Corriente Roja’s correspondent
\nThursday, 27 August 2015 18:28
\nWe interviewed Stephanos from the left Greek party OKDE (Organisation of the Communist Internationalists of Greece). This interview is part of a series of reports that our correspondent has been carrying out in Greece during a fortnight.
\n–\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 How do you assess Syriza\u2019s government?<\/strong>
\nSyriza increased from 3% of votes to 37% when they constituted its government. This change is the aftermath of the struggles that have been shaking Greece especially between 2010 and 2010. Syriza had no leading role at that time. They have even been either absent or trying to minimise the events. But the people decided to vote them against all those parties who stood for the Memorandum.\u00a0 Syriza is not like the old social-democracy. Their social connection with the grassroots is very weak and they don\u2019t control the trade unions.\u00a0 That is even why they can twist out of their policies with not much control.
\nAlthough their programme said that socialism has always been their strategic aim, they have always been reformists. They would set up a plan of class collaboration against the memorandum in their belief that it is possible to meet the needs of the workers while complying with the requirements of the Greek and European bourgeoisie. The new government introduced themselves as \u201cof national salvation\u201d: all the classes against the Memorandum because even the employers would be harmed. The idea was to increase the minimum wage to encourage consumption and so solve the crisis and reactivate growth, all this, of course, within the UE and without any workers mobilisation.
\nThe failure of this plan leads to concessions quickly. As soon as the 20th February the debt was dutifully paid and a statement was issued saying that no unilateral decisions would be taken. The signature of the agreement was nothing but a consequence of the aforesaid.
\n–\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 What policy has the OKDE developed before the new government?<\/strong>
\nFirst of all, we tried to explain the limitations of the Tsipras plan so as to expose the danger ahead. We tried to organise the workers and the poor in workplaces and at home and also the students at schools and in universities. This is what we tried to obtain through the meetings in workers\u2019 neighbours, at the trade unions and students\u2019 associations.
\nOur political proposals are to cancel the debt, quit the EU and the euro, nationalise banks and the strategic companies under workers\u2019 control. That is why we want a workers\u2019 government based on the mobilisation and self-organisation of our class.
\n– \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0What now?<\/strong>
\nThe \u201cno\u201d won because of the vote of the youth, the workers and the poor. There were pressures coming from everywhere: all the mass media, the closure of the banks and even the call to vote \u201cyes\u201d that came from the trade unions. The \u201cno\u201d was deeply rooted in the struggles. The outcome was a proof of the radicalisation of the workers and a slap on the face of the EU.\u00a0 Surveys say now that 30% of Greeks are in favour of leaving the EU. Tsipras\u2019 disrespect for the \u201cno\u201d cannot change that. People are shifting leftwards and a third memorandum would harm people but it would also harm Syriza. The illusion in them will wan as the memorandum is applied. It is our task to organise people in the \u201cNo\u201d committees with a programme I mentioned above. We are trying to organise the struggles and deal with the growing humanitarian crisis underway.
\nThe solution is not a second Syriza closer to Lafazanis positions. Syriza\u2019s Left Platform is very much responsible for what has happened for they prepared nobody for what was coming and they have a lot in common with Tsipras. Its vision is that of a capitalist Greece developing autonomously, without struggles, with no workers\u2019 control with any socialist or even anticapitalist measures.
\nTo be sure, if Syriza is Eurocommunist and strategically declares to be socialist, just imagine what Podemos (in Spain) would do. A party that does not see the depth of this capitalist crisis, a party that does not realise that EU and the euro can only survive due to the memorandums will kneel down much faster than Syriza did.
\n–\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 What internationalist coordination should we have between our peoples?<\/strong>
\nWe were happy with the solidarity with Greece that took place all over Europe, but we need a workers\u2019 International. The groundwork for this is the common problems we have and a situation that is clearly European. Imagine what we could do if we had joint parties all over Europe. We would exert a great pressure with our mobilisation\u2026 it would be a clear vision of a possible united and socialist Europe. We do hope that the bankruptcy of Syriza will allow for more radical options to become stronger in the different countries and fight these monsters such as the EU and all the other European institutions.
\nNo shortcuts can be taken to \u201cbring the left together\u201d or \u201cbroad anti-capitalist parties\u201d. The right thing to do is to get the working class organised around concrete things.
\n–\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Will people react against the new memorandum?<\/strong>
\nSure they will. The electoral illusion is vanishing. The youth and unemployed people will explode sooner or later. They will not starve in silence. Syriza is not fit to avoid this. The question is whether future struggles will go as far as necessary, as far as self-organisation of the proletariat in readiness to take the future into their own hands; up to the unlimited strike; as far as challenging the police state because without it the memorandum can\u2019t be applied.
\n–\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Is there any chance for a revolutionary party to grow in Greece?<\/strong>
\nThe boom of Syriza blocked the possibility that such a party emerged. With Syriza now in the opposite trench, such opportunities grow. But at the same time, there are great threats. We, the revolutionaries must anchor ourselves deeply in the working class and organise it. \u00a0Whoever can accomplish this task will have the groundwork for the building of a big revolutionary party.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

GREECE Written by Corriente Roja’s correspondent Thursday, 27 August 2015 18:28 We interviewed Stephanos from the left Greek party OKDE (Organisation of the Communist Internationalists of Greece). This interview is part of a series of reports that our correspondent has been carrying out in Greece during a fortnight. –\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 How do you assess Syriza\u2019s government? […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13882120,"featured_media":6789,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27806],"tags":[27829,27862,29439,28106],"class_list":["post-6788","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-internacionalinternational","tag-europe","tag-greece","tag-left-platform","tag-spain"],"translation":{"provider":"WPGlobus","version":"3.0.2","language":"es","enabled_languages":["en","es"],"languages":{"en":{"title":true,"content":true,"excerpt":false},"es":{"title":false,"content":false,"excerpt":false}}},"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pdQxqk-1Lu","amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/workersvoiceus.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6788","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/workersvoiceus.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/workersvoiceus.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/workersvoiceus.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13882120"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/workersvoiceus.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6788"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/workersvoiceus.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6788\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/workersvoiceus.org\/es\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/workersvoiceus.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6788"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/workersvoiceus.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6788"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/workersvoiceus.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6788"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}