THE fact that the Greek working class brought Syriza from nothing to power, in the course of one general election, has been correctly taken to be the proof that the working class throughout Europe has had enough of the bankers imposed austerity, and is ready to defy the EU and its central bank, and bring both down, to regain all that has been robbed from it in the aftermath of the 2008 banking crash.
However, in just days the Troika, that is the IMF, the European Commission and the European Central Bank, all bodies that are unelected and embody the dictatorship of capital, have brought the Syriza-led government to its knees, reducing it to agreeing that by today it will produce a list of austerity measures, ‘Reforms’, in return for which the bail out agreement will be extended for just four months.
Then negotiations on further austerity measures will commence.
The bourgeoisie of the EU has acted with its expected ruthlessness, to make sure that other states grasp what they will have to endure if they dare to try to follow the example of the Greek workers.
Last Friday’s Eurogroup statement emphasised that: ‘The Greek authorities commit to refrain from any rollback of measures and unilateral changes to the policies and structural reforms’ that have been implemented as part of the austerity programme.
In its earlier letter to the Troika, Syriza had declared that Greece ‘will honour its financial obligations’, will ‘refrain from unilateral action’ and ‘agrees on supervision under the EU, ECB and IMF for the duration of the extended agreement’.
The truth is that the centrist, left-talking Syriza was incapable from day one, and proved that when it made a coalition agreement with a right wing party making its leader defence minister.
It rapidly found that its high flown phrases counted for nothing when it faced the ruthless troika dictatorship.
Its collapse is strengthening reaction in Greece. Witness the fact that just days after Syriza voted for a right wing conservative to be President, the riot police are back in action on the streets attacking the demonstration last Saturday calling for the concentration camps for immigrants to be closed down.
The Greek workers have now been shocked and angered by the rapid collapse of the left party.
An angry working class must take action to defend itself. Since the austerity measures are to continue, the state will have to more and more intervene to try to impose order on the workers, on the way to bringing down the new government and installing a new colonels’ regime.
The working class must form Councils of Action in every city and town to mobilise every worker and the rural poor to go forward to workers’ power and a workers’ and small farmers’ government.
Workers must demand the immediate realisation of a 751 euros minimum monthly wage, and take mass political strike actions to reopen the ERT state TV and radio corporation with its sacked workers restored, and to gain the reinstatement of all sacked cleaners, school guards, university administrative staff and others.
It must demand there be no payments to the ECB, IMF and international bankers, and must occupy the Central Bank and all of the banks and the major industries and demand that they all be nationalised and put under workers management.
Workers must also demand that the riot police be disbanded and replaced by a workers militia!
Crucial to this situation is the rapid building up of the Revolutionary Marxist League to provide the revolutionary leadership for the working class to take the power.
Workers throughout Europe must not be spectators of this great struggle, of which they are a vital part. They must take up the struggle to put an end to the austerity regimes and replace them with workers governments, so that they march arm in arm with the Greek workers to get rid of the EU and replace it with the Socialist United States of Europe.
