On Friday, the blogs which are guiding the movement of “indignant” citizens published a statement of the “indignant” citizens in Syntagma Square that called on the left forces to leave the squares. Thus, the “anonymous” leaders of the “movement of the squares,” the “non-partisan,” “spontaneous,” “non-politicized” citizens, appear to be politicized, declaring themselves “anti-left.”
Perhaps that’s the reason why they are hiding behind their anonymity. Up until this point they declared as their enemy the policy that brings poverty and unemployment while their slogan was to get rid of the memorandum and the politicians who implement it. This element, along with the fact that they organize mobilizations, already expresses a political position.
Now they are revealing another aspect of their political stance and practice, attributing the barbaric policy that leads the people and the youth to destitution generally to all the parties — including the KKE. Of course, they do not demonstrate who benefits from this policy; they do not show the real enemies, which are the monopolies, the capitalists.
They are against the organized class-oriented trade union movement, arguing that the trade unions must leave the squares. But the trade union movement is not homogenous. Is there any relation between the government and employer-led trade unionism that have assisted the adoption of the barbaric measures; and PAME, which has organized strikes and mass rallies against them, along with PASEVE, PASY, OGE, and MAS?
The self-definition of “non-partisan” that they have used so far, which was extolled by the media groups of capitalists, as well as their logic concerning the issue of democracy, proves to be nothing less than hypocrisy. Likewise with even their intention to allegedly unite the people on the basis of the vague anti-memorandum content of “the movement of the squares,” since positions like “Out with the Left,” “Parties Out,” “Trade Unions Out” are divisive. They are not that democratic, or, to be more accurate, they are undemocratic.
At the same time, while they oppose the memorandum and the horrible measures, they do not say a word against the government, the EU, the political forces that agree with this policy. They merely speak in general about the politicians who implement it, with vague arguments, while they equate the KKE with these parties.
The prevention of the political and ideological expression of working people, who have the right to have their own point of view and express it openly and publicly in general and in particular within the movement, where the ideological and political struggle unfolds, is not only at odds with democracy, especially within the movement, but it also muzzles it.
Furthermore, each movement — even the spontaneous ones, especially the movement of the squares — has an objective, no matter if one agrees with it or not. But this action reveals that the leaders of the movements of the squares have a point of view: Either you come to the square with our ideological-political positions, leaving yours out of the movement, or don’t come at all, stay away from the squares.
It seems that it is a well elaborated tactic in order to draw a dividing line between popular forces organized in the trade unions and parties that do not conceal their ideology, their policy, and even their party identity; and those who go to the squares, ordinary people, most of whom believed in the bourgeois parties that betrayed their hopes for a better life, are disgusted with the bourgeois policy, and are looking for a way out.
After all, whom does the logic of “Parties and Trade Unions Out” serve? At this point, we will not repeat that those behind the blogs are preparing a party with the name “Immediate Democracy,” as stated on TV. But there is also the truth that they do not want to come to the fore and that they try to conceal, as the bourgeois media do at times, the fact that not all parties are the same, that the so-called non-party movement of the squares is a political entity, which, despite calling itself non-partisan, has a political position against the other parties, no matter what it says.
From the beginning of this form of mobilizations, we have posed a question: Who is hiding behind the blogs and the Internet? Why do they not come out? What does their anonymity mean? Shouldn’t this fact concern those who gather in the squares? Because they should know which forces invite them and organize these activities. Because the blogs are not enough, nor does everything begin spontaneously with blogs, even if they contribute to the mobilizations as does their huge promotion by the media.
But it seems that anonymity helps not only those who are behind the blogs. After all, the experience of the people’s movement shows that there are also organized forces that appear as forces of the “movement” and yet oppose — no matter if they do it intentionally or not — the organized people’s movement while in action hiding their faces with hoods.
Now the movement of the anonymous has emerged. The individuals who are concealing themselves have a specific purpose which they are also trying to hide. They present themselves as pro-people leaders, but they do not point out the real enemies of the people.
The individuals who hide their faces with hoods are against the state’s repressive mechanisms and also against the windows of shops and banks — they consider these to be their enemies and not the monopolies. Their activity fosters tendencies for the movement to lose its organized character, impedes the participation of people, and does not cultivate a rebellious consciousness.
The procedures of direct democracy allegedly express participation from below in anti-memorandum activity. But which political force will impose its will so that the memorandum will be abandoned? They say they are against politicians and political parties. So who will do it? Other politicians, and perhaps other organized forces with the political line being expressed in the squares, who are not against monopolies and capitalists. So we are talking about another reformed bourgeois system. Maybe this is their aim?
Of course, the position of “Parties Out” allows some people from some parties to appear as defenders of their party lines in the morning, they flatter those who express the “non-party position” despite the fact that these very people are leading party cadre, and in the evening they go to the squares as “non-party people.” This is hypocrisy on a massive scale, if not outright fraud. Ordinary people, young people, participate in the squares to express their indignation, discontent, anger at the government, the EU, the Troika. But they either do not understand or do not accept the political line for the overthrow of the system. These working people must not be ensnared in the net which the system is preparing through the so-called “non-partisan” and spontaneous. The conflict with the monopolies is not colorless. There needs to be a plan, a strategy, ideals, contribution, and sacrifices. It means allying with the KKE, the class-oriented radical forces; the new forces that are starting to mobilize, overcoming their inertia and tolerance, must take this step forward.
“Parties Out” is a conservative point of view. The political parties are organizations which with their political line and ideology express specific interests. Our society is divided into social classes and strata. On one side, the bourgeois class, the dominant one, which has the power, managed by some of its parties in the government; and on the other side, the working class. There exist intermediate strata, which are differentiated economically as well as socially. The intermediate strata, which are in a lower economic position, are objectively allies of the workers and the opponents of monopolies. The “Parties Out” view equates the KKE with the bourgeois parties. It conceals the real enemies of the people, the monopolies, which have the power.
Workers are deluding themselves if they believe that the mobilizations in the squares are enough to liberate them from the old and new problems that have been foisted on them, without a movement that starts from and is rooted in factories and industries, in every workplace, against the capitalist class. When the movement is not strong in the factories, whatever mobilizations take place do not have solid foundations. The real arena of class struggle is the workplace, the industry. It is there where workers come into daily uncompromising struggle with big businessmen — which flows from their relative class relations, the relations of exploitation, because the wealth and profits of capitalists are produced by the labor of workers. Some say in the squares as well, and this is also necessary, but the struggle lies primarily in the place where the class antagonists come into conflict. Here is the real core of the class-oriented political struggle.
Workers are deluding themselves if they believe that people’s mobilizations must distance themselves from all the parties or be against all of them. Such a movement is condemned to be subjected to the political line of capitalists, to contribute to the perpetuation of exploitation.
Workers are deluding themselves if they believe that the bourgeois political system can function in the people’s interests. The bourgeois political system cannot be corrected, only overthrown.
Workers are deluding themselves if they promote the demand to get rid of the memorandum without accompanying this with the demand for withdrawal from the EU and the overthrow of the state of monopolies in Greece.
The people needs a movement which gives it a clear perspective. This means an organized struggle allied with the KKE, a struggle through the class-oriented movements of PAME, PASY, PASEVE, OGE, and MAS. Only these forces can oppose the strategy of monopolies and their servants with the strategy for the people’s interests. Without such a strategy, the people will not find a way out.
Rizospastis is the newspaper of the Communist Party of Greece. The original article in Greek was first published in Rizospastis on 5 June 2011.
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