The provocative stance of the EU and Tsipras' government on the issue of Germany's WWII Reparations

In a joint press conference held in Strasburg on Tuesday, the KKE delegation in the European Parliament and the National Union of Fighters of the National Resistance and the Democratic Army of Greece (PEAEA– DSE) denounced the decision of the Europarliament's Petitions Committee to reject, without any investigation, the report regarding the German WWII reparations towards Greece.

KKE GS Dimitris Koutsoumbas: "Mr.Tsipras' promises are only for a few monopoly groups and the big capital"

Source: 902.gr

Attending a massive rally of PAME (All-Workers Militant Front) on the day of Thessaloniki International Fair (TIF) inauguration, the General Secretary of KKE Dimitris Koutsoumbas made the following statement:

"The promises of Mr.Tsipras from TIF regarding development are only for a few monopoly groups of the big capital which will see again their profits soaring, by giving a pittance, a plate of food to the most extreme poverty.

For all the others, for the working class, for the popular strata- which will continue to be tormented- the antipeople measure will continue to exist, cuts in wages and pensions will continue, small businesses will continue closing down and being subject to foreclosures and auctions, the wild unbearable taxation will continue as well.

The situation can go no further; the SYRIZA-ANEL government continues to please the big capital, the EU, the quartet and continues to bleed our people. It continues the same policy of the previous governments of New Democracy and PASOK.

European Communist Initiative: Statement on the meeting of the so-called “Alliance of the South” in Athens

From left to right: French President Francois
Hollande, Greek PM Alexis Tsipras and Spain's
PM Mariano Rajoy. (Archive Photo).

The European Communist Initiative carried out an important intervention regarding the upcoming meeting of the heads of the states of the so-called “European South”, which the Greek government is organizing on the 9^thof September in Athens.

The “European Communist Initiative” notes in this statement that the organizers of this meeting aim to utilize it to reinforce the illusions of the peoples of Europe about an “Alliance of the South”, which will allegedly “put an end to austerity” and calls on the peoples to strengthen their struggle to overturn the anti-people political line of the EU and the capitalist system which they serve.

The full statement of the Secretariat of “European Communist Initiative” can be found below:

“A conference of the leaders of the Mediterranean countries of the EU, of the so-called "South" of the EU, will be held in Athens on the 9th of September, at the initiative of the "left" SYRIZA-ANEL government of the new memoranda and the dozens of anti-worker measures, and will be focused on the developments in the EU, the refugee-immigrant question and the notorious issue of "development".

Mr. Tsipras' new fairytale can no longer convince the people

Source: inter.kke.gr.

The overwhelming majority of the Greek people are being called on in this period by the "left" government to pay an unbearable property tax, which had been introduced by the previous government. This is a tax that has been kept in place and intensified by SYRIZA, despite its pre-election promises to abolish it. And it is precisely this period that the Prime Minister, A.Tsipras chose to spread new illusions amongst the people, by supporting with gusto in an interview with the newspaper "Real News" the fairytale of supposedly "just" development. He also seeks to utilize the upcoming meeting of the leaders of the EU's Mediterranean countries, which he is convening in Athens, in this direction.

He said, when explaining the goals of the attempted coordination of the states of the "South" on behalf of their bourgeoisies,  that the aim was to push for the transfer of funds to the periphery in order to support the capitalist recovery and the way out from the economic crisis. And he noted: "We do not want to be the poor periphery of the EU, we want to be a new centre, with an agenda and positive proposals for development and social cohesion."

KKE: The "debt regulation" of Greece will be accompanied by new anti-people measures

Regarding Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras' message about Greece's debt, the Press Office of the CC of KKE issued the following statement:

"In his unhistorical references, Mr.Tsipras "forgets" to say that the regulation of the debt and the post-war reconstruction of Germany wasn't aimed at it's people prosperity, but, on one hand, it was aimed at the deterrence of the increasing influence of the Soviet Union and the Socialist system- a plan which, among other things, included the utilisation of numerous former members of the Nazi regime- and, on the other hand, to the capitalist recovery of Germany.

Today, the regulation of the Greek debt, which has been agreed by the SYRIZA-ANEL government, will be accompanied by new memorandums of austerity and anti-people measures, for the benefit of the recovery of capitalist profits, while the debt will be paid by those who didn't create it, the people".

(Translation: In Defense of Communism).

SYRIZA government exposed: Τhey rejected KKE's proposal to relieve the people from their debts to the banks

Alexis Tsipras (left) and New Democracy
leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis.

Once again, the coalition government of Alexis Tsipras has been exposed. This time, the governmental coalition of SYRIZA-ANEL, with the support of the other bourgeois parties (New Democracy, PASOK, To Potami, Center Union and the Nazi Golden Dawn) rejected a draft law from the side of the Communist Party (KKE) to relieve low-income families from their debts to the banks. Once again, the Greek bourgeois parties show their real identity, as political representatives of the big Capital.

They refused to relieve the people from their debts to the banks.

Source: inter.kke.gr

The SYRIZA-ANEL government as well as the bourgeois opposition parties, with a common line in defense of capital, but using a "variety" of arguments, rejected  the draft law of the KKE for the relief of popular families from their debts to the banks in the full session of parliament on the 14/7.

Their class choice in favour of the banks and business groups became clear in the discussion and at the same time they were scornful of the KKE's proposal, because it presupposed that the bankers and capital would pay the costs for the measures to provide substantial relief to the working class and popular families. Their goal is to force the people to live with diminished expectations and demands, to live destitute wretched lives, with the noose of indebtedness, which is increasing due to unemployment, very high taxation, reductions in salaries and pensions etc.

KKE: Statement on the one year since the July 5th referendum

Source: 902.gr / Translation: In Defense of Communism.

On the occasion of the one year since the referendum of the 5th of July 2015, the Press Office of the CC of KKE issued the following statement:

"A year ago, KKE said that the referendum, with the phony dilemma it was posing, was "mined". That the "NO" and "YES" will be used as a supposed approval of the Greek people for a new antipeople agreement with Troika. What followed is known to the Greek people. The parties of "NO" and "YES" jointly voted a new memorandum, on the basis of which the attack against the people escalates.

Today, all these political powers utilize the result of the referendum in order to pose as- supposedly- vindicated: The SYRIZA-ANEL government in order to continue the- bankrupt- fairytale of the "hard" negotiation and of her "good" memorandum. ND, PASOK and the other political powers of "YES" in order to "whitewash" their antipeople policy and their vote for the 3rd memorandum. The political powers which splitted from SYRIZA, in order to hide that, for months, from governmental positions, they were cultivating illusions that the EU can change and reassuring the people that their government will not sign memorandums, while today they continue the deception by propounding as an alternative solution the capitalist Greece with a national currency. 

One year since the Greek bailout referendum: KKE's position has been fully vindicated

One year since the Greek Bailout Referendum: KKE's position has been fully vindicated.

By Nikos Mottas.

5/7/2016.

It's been a year since the bailout referendum was held in Greece. The whole story surrounding the referendum, as well as what followed the referendum result, consists a major episode in a series of deceptions created by the Tsipras' coalition government. The referendum's question was whether the Greek people agreed or not with the bailout conditions proposed by the European Commission, the International Monetary Fund and the European Central Bank [1]. The outcome was a triumph of the “No” vote with 61.31%, while a 38.69% of the voters choosed the “Yes” choice.

However, the referendum itself was proved a political fraud. The SYRIZA-ANEL coalition government- and Prime Minister Tsipras personally- openly advocated in favor of the “No” vote. Thousands of “No” supporters gathered in mass demonstrations, while the country lived a short but intense polarised period, trapped between the “No vs Yes” dilemma. A fake and illusive dilemma, which had nothing to do with the real interests of the working masses who, once again, found themselves entrapped in bourgeois political antagonism.

SYRIZA and New Democracy remain loyal to the interests of Greek industrialists

Both Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and opposition leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis addressed the annual meeting of the Federation of Greek Industries (SEV), assuring the Capitalists about their commitment to the anti-worker, anti-people policy. PM and SYRIZA leader Tsipras invited the industrialists in a "fruitful and constructive dialogue" ahead of the second evaluation of the 3rd memorandum which, among other things, includes collective redundancies and a new law that will restrict the right of the labour unions to decide mass strikes.

The European Union and the crisis of capitalism-lessons from Greece

Source: inter.kke.gr.

On the 14/06/2016, The Workers Party of Ireland held an event in Belfast, Northern Ireland, on the topic:  «The European Union and the crisis of capitalism-lessons from Greece. A delegation of the KKE headed by Elisseos Vagenas, member of the CC and Responsible for the International Relations Section of the CC of the KKE had been invited to speak at the event. Below you can find his introductory intervention at the event.

Dear comrades and friends,

We are very pleased to be here today with you in Northern Ireland, at the invitation of the Workers’ Party of Ireland, in order to discuss the situation and developments in Greece, as well as the conclusions that the workers can draw from them.

Greek government versus 'Resign' initiative: A phony and staged confrontation

Pro-EU protests in Athens; such protests
actually promote the existing anti-people
governmental policy.

COMMENTARY.

The stage is ready and the actors are well prepared. A internet-based initiative under the name "Paretitheite" (Resign) calls for a mass demonstration in front of the Greek Parliament, having one basic demand: the resignation of the SYRIZA-ANEL government. Their major argument is that the government cannot effectively manage the present situation. On the other side, the SYRIZA-ANEL government reacts to this initiative, accussing the major opposition party, New Democracy, as the instigator of the demonstration. This is the framework of a staged, fake confrontation.

The 'Resign' initiative promotes slogans such as the following: "No colours, no parties, no labor unions", "we ask for Greece's fast exit from the memorandum's phase", "the country's position in the eurozone is non-negotiable" etc. What they truly ask for is drastic cuts everywhere, more cuts of wages and pensions, lay offs in the public sector and privatization programs. Their political proposal is no different from the one of the government- a capitalist development with harsh anti-people measures. Like the SYRIZA-ANEL government, the 'Resign' movement promotes the EU and the eurozone. 

PM Tsipras praises Greek Shipowners, SYRIZA's love-affair with the big Capital goes on

In Defense of Communism, with info from 902.gr.

The Greek shipping industry is a global power in the maritime sector. In 2015, the Greek Merchant Navy controlled the world's largest merchant fleet in terms of tonnage. Shipowners from Greece epitomize the power of the Greek bourgeoisie- according to a 1975 law, they have at least 70 tax breaks (!), while their fortunes are estimated in billions of dollars. 

The Greek Prime Minister- and SYRIZA's leader- Alexis Tsipras choosed the Maritime exhibition "Posidonia 2016" in order to express his strong will to serve the interests of the shipping industry. Addressing the event in Athens, Tsipras called the ship-owning billionaires to "trust the government" and praised the Greek shipping capital for it's "plan" and "vision". In his effort to convince the shipping giants that his government is an ally of the bourgeois-class, Alexis Tsipras said: "We feel the need to convince the Greek shipowners to trust us as far as we try to reform the Greek economy".

Spain Elections: 'Podemos' coalition is a spanish version of SYRIZA; a social-democratic fraud

Alberto Garzón (left) with Pablo Iglesias.

COMMENTARY.

The electoral alliance between 'Podemos' and 'Izquierda Unida' (United Left) in Spain aims in offering an alternative of Capitalism's management. The leaders of the two parties, Pablo Iglesias and Alberto Garzón hailed the formation of the coalition as a "historic step". Amid anti-austerity fever in the country, polls in Spain show that the 'Unidos Podemos' coalition could unseat the long-established the center-left 'Socialist Party' (PSOE) for first time in Spain's political history.  Podemos leader Pablo Iglesias said the party has offered to form a coalition with PSOE after the election. "We need to agree with them [the PSOE] so that we can have a progressive government", he said.

What does Iglesias mean by "progressive government" is something we can easily understand by having a look at the 'Podemos' ideology and political program. In fact, the electoral alliance of Iglesias' party with 'Izquierda Unida' (in which the opportunistic Communist Party of Spain-PCE participates) is a spanish version of SYRIZA. It consists a social-democratic formula which uses radical slogans in order to foster illusions to spanish people that "another capitalist world is possible". The 'Podemos' program, like SYRIZA, does not - in any case- questions the EU and NATO membership of Spain. On the contrary, it tries to offer an alternative political vision within the boundaries of the capitalist system.

European Parliament: Enormous hypocrisy by SYRIZA MEPs regarding privatizations

Source: 902.gr / 

Translation: In Defense of Communism.

The hypocrisy of SYRIZA was once again highlighted during a discussion in the plenary session of the European Parliament in Strasbourg regarding a resolution which promotes the privatization of the railways. 

More specifically, the SYRIZA MEPs signed an amendment which denounces the railways privatization, while, on the same time, they promote the privatization of the Hellenic Railways Organisation (OSE) in Greece! Furthermore, some of them signed the above resolution but avoided to sign another resolution which calls the governments (the SYRIZA-ANEL government in Greece as well) to reject the privatizations of the railways! Hypocrisy at it's best!

Addressing the plenary session the KKE MEP Sotiris Zarianopoulos said the following:

"KKE votes against the resolution because it further promotes the privatization of the railways project, in detriment to the industry's workers and the passengers as well. 

The Varoufakis Illusion- An "erratic Marxist" at the service of Capitalism

By Nikos Mottas.

Last April, the former Finance Minister of Greece Yanis Varoufakis was among those who addressed one of "Nuit Debout" movement's rallies in Paris. Expressing his solidarity, Varoufakis compared the french "Nuit Debout" with the 2011 Greek movement of indignant citizens: "It was an earthquake. We changed the policy in Greece, but also in Europe" he said. Of course, that was another example of bombastic nonsense by the former Minister. 

Varoufakis and his former political alter ego, Alexis Tsipras, didn't change anything, neither in Greece nor in Europe. The coalition government of SYRIZA-ANEL, which came to power on January 2015, continued on the steps of the previous governments; they served the aim of Greek capitalism's recovery and they continue doing so. Mr.Varoufakis- who since then has been an international 'celebrity' by presenting himself as a 'guru' of economics- never disagreed on the fundamental policy of the SYRIZA government. As we wrote in a previous article ("The simple truth about Varoufakis and his DiEM25 party"), Mr.Varoufakis had agreed on the 67% of the austerity reforms, according to his own words in a Berlin press conference, on February 2015. 

The KKE is fighting for Greece's disengagement from the EU and NATO with workers' power

Interview of the MEP of the KKE, Sotiris Zarianopoulos, with the Russian newspaper IZVESTIA. Reproduced from inter.kke.gr.

There is a scandal around the already approved plan of economic reforms proposed by the party in power, "Syriza". As it turned out after the plan has been carried out hastily through Parliament, it contains a clause that allows the country's top officials to own offshore companies. Party and Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras is now accused of bad faith and a departure from its own commitment to fight corruption. Could you give your reaction? Why your party think this item needs to be?

Answer: The SYRIZA-ANEL government has also been exposed by the unacceptable governmental provision concerning offshore companies, which it later withdrew. Nevertheless, the KKE stressed in Parliament that the offshore companies, the tax havens, the multifaceted privileges of capital are integral to the rotten system of exploitation today and are being reinforced in every way by the EU, which is a reactionary anti-people union. For this reason the government and the other bourgeois parties do not dare to even look at the proposals of the KKE for the abolition of the confidentiality of shares and the naming of the shareholders. We have no illusions that any provisions in the conditions of capital's dominance can deal with the decay and corruption that is a fundamental characteristic of the capitalist system. It is in its DNA.

KKE political event held in London - The political developments in Greece and Britain's EU referendum

Source: 902.gr / Translation: In Defense of Communism.
Read the full speech of G.Marinos here.

A successful political event organised by the KKE Party Organisation of Britain took place in London, with major speaker being Giorgos Marinos of the Political Bureau. The subject of the event was "The political developments in Greece, the British EU referendum and the positions of KKE". A large number of Greek immigrants, as well as British people, attented the event.

In his introductory speech, Giorgos Marinos refered to the anti-people policy of the SYRIZA-ANEL coalition government: "The political route of this government must be condemned in the peoples' conciousness, this is a precondition for the development of class-struggle and the confrontation of the fake dilemmas which favor the phony bipolarism between SYRIZA and New Democracy [...].

Would the situation for Greek people be better if KKE participated in a government with SYRIZA?

Question: Would it not be better if KKE participated in a government with SYRIZA or even supported it critically so that it could shape government policy?

Answer: 

The experience of the 1 year government of SYRIZA confirms the fundamental conclusion that there cannot be a pro-people management of the rotten and obsolete capitalist system. The government of SYRIZA not only did not give whatever crumbs promised to the people, but continues the same unpopular policy as the previous governments, it did not overthrow even one anti-people law from those which were voted in the previous years, it voted a 3rd barbarous memorandum with the lenders. The participation or support of KKE in such governance would mean betrayal of the people’s interests. It is not a matter of intentions, besides as historical experience shows, the road to hell is paved with good intentions. The illusion that the participation of Communist Parties to bourgeois governments can pressure for something better for the people, has been answered not only by KKE but also from other revolutionaries. 

What the Capitalist Economic Crisis in Greece has taught us

By Nikos Mottas.

It was six years ago, on May 2010, when the then Prime Minister George Papandreou, in a televised message from the picturesque island of Kastelorizo, was announcing Greece's entry to the support mechanism of the IMF and the EU – the 'memorandum phase'. The economic crisis in Greece had manifested itself a year earlier, in 2009, when it entered in a phase of rapid recession, following the outbreak of global financial crisis in 2007-2008. Today, after four bourgeois governments (Papandreou, Papademos, Samaras, Tsipras) and three memorandums of harsh austerity packages, we can draw some significant conslusions. What did the Capitalist Economic Crisis in Greece teach us?

1. The Source of the Crisis.

Contrary to various bourgeois interpretations and theories of the economic crisis (over-consumption, casino-capitalism, etc.), there is one clear, scientifically proven, reality: Capitalism itself contains in it's DNA the inevitability of crises. Capitalist production, with it's contradictory character and anarchy, contains the seed of such crises. In Capitalist economy lies the motive to push capitalist reproduction to extremes levels, to accumulate immense profits, thus giving a monetary speculative form to the appropriation of surplus value from the working class labour. The devaluation of capital (either commercial or financial) and the devaluation of labour power (as a commodity), has occurred repeatedly in the past and will certainly occur in the future for as long as the exploitative system called 'Capitalism' exists.

KKE: The anti-people work of the government has been acknowledged and approved via the Eurogroup agreement

Communist Party of Greece: Statement of the Press Office of the KKE on the Eurogroup Agreement, 25.5.2016 / Source: inter.kke.gr.

The anti-people work of the government has been acknowledged and approved via the Eurogroup agreement on the completion of the assessment.The agreement confirms that the downward spiral is endless, as each tranche installment has new anti-people measures as its precondition. Similarly, any "lightening" of the debt, which was not created by the people, will be accompanied by a new raft of measures in the various phases of its discussion, regardless of how the competition between the IMF and sections of the bourgeois classes of the EU will be expressed and regardless of what its result will be.

The lies of the SYRIZA-ANEL coalition will unravel quickly, as the laws that have just been passed are not the last difficult measures, as the government officials pretended in the previous period.