International Secretariat, League for the Fifth International
Since the resolution below was adopted, there have been reports of continued attempts by Alexis Tsipras to continue negotiating with the EU and IMF authorities, despite calling the referendum. The Financial Times, July 1, refers to a letter by the Greek prime minister which it interprets thus: “Alexis Tsipras will accept all his bailout creditors’ conditions that were on the table this weekend with only a handful of minor changes”.
Such a retreat can only throw the campaign for a NO! vote into confusion and reveals once again the Syriza leadership’s determination to accept the EU terms. Whether these are accepted will now depend a) on the intransigence of the EU and (b) what the Greek left, including the left in Syriza, can do to insist on their rejection. The League for the Fifth International will issue another statement as soon as the outcome of these “negotiations” is known.
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Alexis Tsipras’ decision to suspend face to face negotiations with Greece’s creditors and call a referendum on the last set of terms they offered, has focussed the attention of the world on the severity of the crisis facing not just Greece but the entire European Union. Resorting to a referendum may be a two edged sword and will probably not soften the intransigence of the International Monetary Fund or the European Institutions but it has thrown down a challenge to the Troika; if the Greek people vote NO! as Tsipras is calling for, what option have they but to force Greece out of the euro and, logically, even out of the EU?
If they cut Greece off from all further credit, that will virtually guarantee that the country’s €320bn debt will not be paid and that will jeopardise financial institutions far beyond her shores. Are Angela Merkel, Christine Lagarde, Jean-Claude Juncker and Wolfgang Schaueble willing to take the risk of calling into question the viability of the euro and the EU by negating the assumption behind both, that the European nations share common democratic values that will allow them to converge in “ever closer union”? So far it seems that the answer is “Yes”. What price democracy when money is at stake! Indeed, it is clear that the IMF and the German government will do everything they can to destabilise and provoke the removal of the Syriza-led coalition.
The EU authorities and the continent’s media are campaigning ferociously to panic the Greek electorate into accepting whatever terms the “Institutions” are willing to give. Tsipras has indicated that if the Greek people vote “yes” he will resign. He may have played his last card, his ace, and the stakes could hardly be higher. But the referendum will not solve anything by itself.
Of course, the Greek people, after five years of “austerity medicine” which has slashed the country’s GDP by a quarter and employment by the same figure, should say OXI –NO! WE are going to stop taking the poison!
How effective that NO will be, however, depends on how fiercely and massively Greek workers, youth, pensioners and small farmers, mobilise on the streets in the coming weeks. It will depend on how much the Greek left, inside and outside Syriza, make it clear that they will never allow the Institutions’ measures to be carried out.
They themselves must take measures to protect living standards, jobs and services against sabotage and do this at the expense of the big foreign investors and Greek oligarchs. In short, they must cancel the debt, nationalise the banks, impose workers’ control over the economy and make the rich pay.
Across Europe, all those fighting the miseries of austerity should support these decisions by taking to the streets now and by taking direct action to force their governments to abandon this sadistic treatment of an entire people.
Quite literally, the Greek struggle is our struggle too. There is method in Schaueble and Lagarde’s madness. Along with non-eurozone austerity governments like Britain’s, they want to say: This is what what happens if you vote for an end to austerity – we will wreck your economy even more savagely.
Bleeding Greece Dry
Schaueble, Merkel, Lagarde and company have obviously been trying to bleed Greece dry. For weeks, the creditors have been playing a very hard game, blackmailing the Tsipras government with ever new demands. They insisted that the Greek government had to “deliver”, that is, make further cuts, agree to further privatisations, “reform” pensions and retreat from their “exaggerated” election promises. Those were the demands of the European Union, European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund.
Tsipras and Varoufakis went as far as they could to satisfy these demands but it was never enough for Berlin or Brussels. They accused the Greek government of once again failing to behave “constructively” and wanting to have “our money” for free. In fact, if the so-called “bailout” funds were released, almost all of the money would go straight into the hands of the creditor nations and to private international or Greek capital. But the money was not really the point, the real intention, all along, has been to make an example of Greece, as Napoleon would have put it, “to encourage the others”.
And that is what they have done when Tsipras could “deliver” no more concessions. In this situation, the Greek government took the “bull by the horns”. It has decided to let the people vote on the dictates from the Troika.
For the likes of Lagarde, unelected head of the IMF, the idea of consulting the Greek people in a referendum is an unacceptable “breach of trust”. She and the other heads of state and government expect the debtor nations to play by their rules; once elected, “acceptable” political leaders should then ignore their election promises and do as they are told. Lagarde haughtily dismissed the idea of a referendum by proclaiming that, in any case, the “final offer” was no longer on the table.
What is threatened?
The reaction from the European Union heads of government and the finance ministers shows what Greece can expect. The ECB is threatening to turn off the money supply for the banks. The country is to be bled dry financially. According to Schaueble, Greece can remain in the Eurozone but cannot receive any more euros.
That is to be the punishment for wanting to “save face” and not being prepared for a total capitulation but only 90 percent. Now the European Union and International Monetary Fund are showing their “true colours”. They are consciously pushing Greece into financial ruin. The cash flow will come to an end. The “markets” will deliver their verdict and close down the banks. That this is sure to bring economic chaos and decline in Greece is not an obstacle, on the contrary, that is the purpose. It is therefore all the more cynical that all the European Union politicians, in particular the Social Democrats like Schultz and Gabriel insist that they want to avoid any impact on the Greek population.
Their game is simple and transparent. They are preparing the ground for the fall of the government; the misery in the country is to be made so severe that, in despair, the population will turn against the government, removing its social support as well as its majority in Parliament. Whether that is by defections and a split within Syriza, a break with the ANEL or with the “left radicals” or whether there will be “call for order” by the president or the military, is a secondary issue.
Pressure from all sides
Tsipras and the Syriza leadership hope that a referendum will give them new room for manoeuvre. The breakdown in negotiations showed that the government was not only under pressure from the side of the imperialists to whom they were prepared to make concessions month after month. It also showed that the leadership is under pressure from its own party members, the strengthening left wing and, in the last analysis, the Greek working class. Syriza is not only a reformist party whose leadership wants to save Greek capitalism in collaboration with the “institutions”, that is, German imperialism, the European Union and the IMF.
It is not only a party whose leadership has repeatedly shown in recent months that it does not want a break with capitalism, which formed a coalition, a popular front government with the ultra-right racist ANEL, which left the chief functionaries of the Greek state apparatus in office and elected a Conservative as the state president.
It is also a mass party of the Greek working-class which, in recent weeks, it has become more and more difficult for the party leadership to control. Tsipras and Varoufakis have tried to do that but clearly the pressure from their own party has reached a critical point in the face of the ever more demanding blackmail from the Troika. The imperialists have repaid them with ingratitude. The capitulation of February 15 which led to the extension of the “aid programme” by the Troika was by no means enough.
In this situation, holding a referendum is not an entirely novel invention by the Tsipras government. The crisis facing the government of Papandreou in 2011 was resolved by such a device. At that time, Pasok was split and a “unity government” was formed out of the rest of Pasok under Venizelos, the New Democracy with Samaras and the right populist LAOS, which was at that time still represented in Parliament.
The Prime Minister then was the deputy head of the ECB, Papademos, and such a scenario is now clearly on the table and commentators are openly talking about the intention of the New Democracy to bring down the current government. This is the other edge of the sword, if Tsipras does not get the strong NO! vote that he wants, he has said he will resign, thereby opening the way to just such a governmental “solution”.
Liberal and reformist commentators are criticising the western leaderships, including the German government, for willingly accepting the ruin of Greece, failing to recognise that some part of the debts will have to be written off and that the austerity measures will only push the country further into recession. They plead for a more “reasonable” course, not dissimilar from that proposed by the Greek government. They say the federal government, the EU and the IMF should not slaughter the cow that they want to milk.
These bourgeois critics do not understand that “helping Greece” is not a purely economic question and certainly not about a “reasonable” economic policy that stands above the classes and for the interest of the common good. It is much more about the “new order” in Europe in the interests of German imperialism. One part of that new order is the subjugation not only, or not primarily, of Tsipras but of all the “weaker” countries of southern Europe. Above all it is about the subordination of the working class, the farmers the youth who are resisting the capitalist offensive, or could resist.
If, through a further sharpening of the economic and social crisis in Greece they are able not only to bring down the government but also to utterly defeat the working class and every class resistance then there will be no problem with Greece remaining in the Eurozone. Then, to use Merkel’s own words, where there is a will there will be a way.
The Greek government has indeed done a great deal to try to meet the Troika’s requirements. The imperialists and, indeed, a section of the Greek bourgeoisie, however, do not trust them to get the situation really under control. Moreover they fear that any appearance of a concession to Tsipras will strengthen a move to the left in other countries.
Many are even fearful that in Greece the situation is developing where Tsipras’s policy could lead to a strengthening of the left in which the working class, the rank-and-file membership of Syriza and the Left outside Syriza, could form a dangerous force which could force the government to go further than it wants or could even bring it down from the left. Imperialism wants to pre-empt such a development by destabilising the country, creating chaos in order to use that to call for order, for a new, more or less openly dictatorial government, whether that is through a “government of national unity” a “Cabinet of experts” or even a putsch.
No!
The bigger the NO! vote in the referendum, the more difficult will it be to implement such a project rapidly. However, the referendum itself does not solve the problem facing the Greek population. In a certain sense it is even a sign that the government does not want to take direct responsibility for the next political developments.
The truth is that Tsipras and company actually wanted a compromise and were prepared to meet almost all the demands of the creditors. But this became politically more and more difficult for them.
Therefore the situation is now on a knife edge.The working class in the whole of Europe, and worldwide, must stand by the people of Greece. Any interference by the EU, the IMF or individual governments such as Germany or by NATO must be fought. Solidarity actions are necessary in every country against the imperialists and demanding the immediate cancellation of the debt. Neither in Greece nor in other countries should workers pay for the cost of the crisis but rather the banks and corporations. We need a Europe-wide alliance of all Lefts, all trades unions and all workers’ parties in order to mobilise all available forces.
The EU still shrinks from taking responsibility for ejecting Greece from the Eurozone. Instead, it is presenting the country with an alternative; either agree to leave “voluntarily” or capitulate completely to the demands of the creditors. As revolutionaries we reject any sell out of the demands of the workers, any concessions to the dictates of the EU.
However, we also think that the solution proposed by the greater part of the radical Left in Greece, that the government should declare its exit from the Euro, is wrong. It is politically adventurist and irresponsible in the face of the unavoidable consequence of a further destabilisation of the Greek economy, the unstoppable devaluation of the new currency and the resulting impoverishment of the population.
In our opinion, the answer lies much more in an internationalisation of the struggle, a common struggle against all austerity measures and attempts to blackmail Greece.
Action Programme and Workers Government
In Greece itself, a programme is necessary to counter the threatening catastrophe and to secure the needs of the people. For that, not only capital controls are necessary but fundamental inroads on the capitalist system of property ownership. That includes the expropriation, without compensation, of big capital, both Greek and foreign, in particular the banks; the confiscation of the wealth of the super rich and an emergency plan to secure the needs of the mass of the people, above all the poor.
That, in turn requires that the working class assess the value of all assets, wealth, property, means of production through its own investigative commissions. In short, expropriation, workers’ control and a social plan are urgent necessities if the people are not to be further impoverished and demoralised by the pressure of a currency crisis, the collapse of the payments system and non-payment of salaries and wages.
Such a programme would certainly encounter fierce resistance not only from the Greek and international capital and sabotage by the bourgeois state apparatus but also from the coalition partner, ANEL and the President. The coalition with ANEL will be revealed as a trap. We demand that Syriza break from these ministers who will inevitably oppose the expropriation of their own class. Even though we defend the Greek government against any attempt to overthrow it from the imperialists, it is clear that any further development requires a split with ANEL.
We know from experience that the Syriza leadership will not do any of this voluntarily. On the contrary, they are still prioritising a deal with the Troika over any anti-capitalist policy. However, in the current situation it is the only way out. Thus, as important as a NO! vote in the referendum is, it is even more important to win and to mobilise the working class, the youth and the masses for a revolutionary programme of transitional demands.
To do this requires a united front of all the forces in the Greek working class movement. This includes not only the left in Syriza but all those in the party willing to break with the Greek and international bourgeoisie and impose the measures needed to save the ordinary people of the country. It requires the revolutionary forces in Antarsya but also the KKE and PAME.
The KKE has carried out a truly sectarian policy with regard to Syriza, not because it sharply criticised the negotiations and concession to the EU: not even because it makes Grexit its central strategy. But because it refuses to defend Syriza when it is under attack by the EU rulers and even refuses to vote against the EU terms. Their call for voters to place the KKE policy statement into the ballot box is simply an ineffectual form of abstention. If the vote is a narrow one this could even result in a triumph for the EU and a new savage austerity government.
Such “Intransigence” is in fact just an excuse for passivity – at such a critical moment it is vital that the rest of the left appeals to the members of the KKE and PAME to join them in the struggle for a workers’ government.
Mass meetings to mobilise for a NO! Vote should therefore not be “only” campaign meetings. They should also discuss the further perspective and take forward the self-organisation of the masses in the form of workplace and community action committees. These can become the organs of an alternative power to the bourgeois state apparatus, the basis of a workers’ government which expropriates capital, introduces an emergency plan under workers’ control and replaces the state apparatus with councils and militias.
A workers’ government would, of course, face a dire situation. The Greek economy is closely integrated with European society. A fundamental social change must therefore not only be defended by the whole European working class against any intervention, economic pressure and isolation. Ultimately, it could only survive if the lessons are learnt in other countries and it becomes the starting point for further revolutions and a United Socialist States of Europe.
In recent years, the Greek working class has time and again shown itself prepared to fight apparently more powerful enemies. It has succeeded in bringing down the old party system. Millions have placed their hopes in Tsipras and Syriza. However, ultimately, the working class needs a party that does not just promise reforms but leads a revolution, a revolutionary workers’ party. The current political polarisation in Greece, as in Syriza and the working class movement, is the soil in which such a party can be built, a party which, for its part, can be the starting point for the building of a new International, a World Party of Socialist Revolution.
Adopted by the International Secretariat, June 26th 2015