Greece Overwhelmingly Votes "No", Ostensibly To End Austerity

Greece Overwhelmingly Votes "No", Ostensibly To End Austerity
The Vote Resolves Nothing!
No To SYRIZA's Ploys to Preserve The EU, Capitalism, Austerity, and NATO

By Steven Argue

With 70% of votes counted, Greek voters have voted overwhelmingly to reject the latest imperialist proposal for more austerity to be imposed on the Greek working class. Counted votes are presently at 61% voting "no" and 39% voting "yes". The absent 10% of votes may well be supporters of the communist KKE who called on voters to spoil their ballots. This overwhelming "no" vote does not change the fact that the current capitalist Greek government is in no way capable of resolving the economic crisis of Greece. Nor does it change the fact that the SYRIZA government of Alexis Tsipras has already given in to the worst of the austerity demands made against the Greek working class.

For five years, capitalist austerity under the imperialist terms of the European Central Bank, European Commission, and International Monetary Fund have devastated the working class of Greece. This ECB-EC-IMF “troika” represents the interests of the German, EU, and U.S. imperialist capitalists that have been sucking Greece dry. Austerity is spurred on by the current economic crisis of capitalism and the desire of the ruling class to make the working class pay for it instead of the wealthy capitalists. As a result, the working class of Greece has suffered a dramatic drop in their standard of living by every measurable standard. Meanwhile, ninety percent of credit supplied has gone to refinancing, in other words to bail out capitalist banks.

Due to this devastating crisis and working class resistance, on January 25th, 2015, SYRIZA was elected on a program that supposedly called for an end to austerity. SYRIZA's means of ending austerity? Quite laughably, this would supposedly be done by negotiating a better deal with the imperialist creditors of the EU and IMF. Yet, those creditors have little interest in allowing SYRIZA to succeed. The troika would in fact, at this point, most likely prefer a regime change in Greece imposing a murderous military dictatorship similar to when fascist Germany and Italy occupied Greece (1941-1944) or when U.S. imperialism imposed a similar far right and murderous military dictatorship on Greece up until 1974. What is lost on many is the fact that Greece owes Germany and the United States nothing, in fact, Germany and the United States still owe Greece for their crimes under occupation and military dictatorship that include plunder and crimes against humanity.

In addition, despite the capitalist class forcing workers to pay, Greek workers owe the capitalists nothing. We create all wealth through our labor power. The capitalist class, despite hording the wealth of society for themselves, produce nothing. They are merely blood sucking parasites that need to be removed from their positions of wealth and power.

In response to Prime Minister Tsipras rejecting the latest terms of blackmail and austerity, the European Central Bank froze funding support to Greek banks. This forced the capitalist government in Athens to shut down the banking system and then reopen it under tight controls to keep the banks from collapsing. This is part of an imperialist economic attack that resembles components of other attempts at regime change by Berlin and Washington D.C., such as the the U.S. overthrow of the democratically elected government of Allende in Chile in 1973.

If need be, we must defend Greece from imperialist attack and foreign backed regime change, but at the same time, we need to understand that SYRIZA's strategy has failed. Instead of standing firm against the intransigence of the EU and IMF creditors, SYRIZA has agreed to one concession after another. Yet, the capitalist blood suckers of the EU and IMF never give back an inch of ground. In the latest round of SYRIZA's failed policy, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has brought the latest unacceptable proposal of the troika to a vote by the Greek people on July 6th. This vote, like the entire program of SYRIZA, once again has little meaning. The vote was called by Tsipras to supposedly strengthen his hand in negotiating with the troika. Yet, Tsipras has already agreed with the troika in carrying out major austerity against the working class of Greece. Still the EU and IMF wants more. What is in fact needed at this point is the strengthening of working class power against both Tsipras and the Troika.

As I pointed out at the time Alexis Tsipras was elected in January:

"The second major reason that legitimate Leninist-Trotskyists did not back Syriza is that Syriza's promises to end austerity are not realistic without a revolutionary program for the expropriation of the bourgeoisie, break with the European Union, and fight to extend the anti-austerity and anti-capitalist revolution across Europe. Instead, Syriza's program for ending austerity is primarily limited to renegotiating so-called "debts" with the blood sucking capitalists of the EU troika and continuing to work within this old framework for repayment."

The capitalist popular front government of SYRIZA and the Independent Greeks cannot resolve the problems of the suffering working class in Greece. Continued and expanded mobilizations of the working class will be needed against the popular front government. The campaigns of much of the left for a "no" vote have simply served to align working class discontent with the failed strategy of SYRIZA.

THis "no" vote will not stop the extortion of the Greek working class. What is needed is the revolutionary mobilization of the Greek working class to seize the banks, ports, airports, and means of production. Some of these will be seized to prevent privatization under austerity measures, others seized from the capitalist class to run them under the democratic control of the working class. All will be seized to strengthen the hand of the working class against the capitalist, pro-EU, and pro-austerity SYRIZA government. The immoral and unpayable foreign debt should be canceled just as was done by the victorious October 1917 Russian Revolution. Seized assets can be used for necessities like free healthcare, free public transportation, and investment in the Greek economy as a move towards establishing a planned socialist economy with zero unemployment.

To break out of isolation, the Greek revolution will find many allies across Europe. These will include the working class across much of Europe who are also facing vicious blood sucking capitalist austerity. It will also include Russia which is part of an important anti-imperialist block against EU and U.S. imperialism.

It is worth remembering that the United States recently overthrew the democratically elected government of Ukraine because that elected government rejected EU austerity measures and turned to Russia for a better deal. In the place of Ukraine's elected government, the U.S. and EU imposed a government in Ukraine that has tortured and murdered many communists opposed to imperialist austerity and banned their parties. Likewise, the new U.S. / EU backed government is riddled with a deep seated Nazi ideology that includes open support for Nazi collaborator Stepan Bandera. For these Nazis in power, the Russian speaking population of Ukraine is their new Jew and, with U.S. and EU backing, they have carried out brutal ethnic cleansing against large portions of the Russian speaking population.

The conflict in Ukraine was created through western intervention, austerity, and the terrible conditions capitalist counterrevolution has imposed on Ukraine. Yet, the western imperialists and their dupes blame Russia. This is all part of a political cover of lies that is being used to isolate Russia and carry out U.S. strategic goals in Russia. Those goals, openly stated by U.S. policy adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski include isolating Russia, regime change in Russia, and then breaking Russia up into three countries more easily controlled by the west. Russia, which is now under western economic sanctions, and with the west imposing hostile governments on its border, naturally is looking for other anti-imperialist allies. A socialist Greece could benefit from such cooperation just as countries like Cuba and Belarus are similarly doing so today.

SYRIZA's austerity, their commitment to maintain capitalism, and their commitments to stay in the EU and NATO are the opposite of what the Greek working class needs. One working class tendency in Greece that generally recognizes these facts is the Greek Communist Party (KKE). They also made gains in this last election. The votes they received increased by a whole percentage point from 4.5% in 2012 to 5.5% Jan. 25th., 2015.

The KKE correctly pointed out in regards to the election results in January:

"The election results reflect the great discontent and anger of the people against ND and PASOK, the parties that plunged the people into poverty and unemployment during the economic crisis. They express to a great extent the false hope that the new government of SYRIZA might follow a political line in favour of the people. The formation of a government of SYRIZA –either on its own or in a coalition government- will follow the beaten track: the EU one way street, the tactics of limited demands, retreat and compromise, the commitments to big capital, monopolies, the EU and NATO."

While legitimate Leninist-Trotskyists have a program that differs from the KKE in important areas, we presently do not have their numbers and most groups claiming to be Trotskyist in Greece are supporters of SYRIZA. They are politically far worse than the KKE. As a result, some critical support to the KKE is necessary. Yet, to lead the revolutionary struggle of the Greek and international working class, a legitimate revolutionary Leninist-Trotskyist party is needed in Greece that has a clear program for workers democracy and international revolution. This also means advocacy of a program to the left of the KKE's parliamentarianism and calling for working class seizures of the banks, ports, and means of production as well as for the smashing of the capitalist state, at its heart the cops, courts, prisons, and military who are called on to enforce brutal austerity.

Down With The Capitalist EU And Its Austerity!
For Proletarian Socialist Revolution in Greece and Across Europe!

-Steven Argue for the Revolutionary Tendency​

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