Mass strikes in Greece in response to new measures

Very interesting questions.

The CP is making bold moves that have until now only been employed by anarchists - long occupations of state buildings and TV/radio interventions. We know they are under a lot of police pressure for these, but most importantly such moves probably indicate a change of inner-party balances. As you probably know the internal situation of the Greek CP (KKE) is notoriously secretive and one can only guess what is happening inside this huge mechanism. KKE is the best organised apparatus outside the state in greece, and despite its eternally third place in parliament has a huge influence on workers and the public opinion at large. So changes like the above can have vast repercussions that we must wait and see. One thing is sure that you are right, such tactics will attract many proletarians who seek hope from well organised and consistent fronts. This is detrimental to the autonomous-anarchist cause no doubt.

As for the Radical Left Coalition, its role is small in labour struggle, and its public credibility and influence has been hampered by recent infighting. On the other hand it is the most nfluential force amongst intellectuals, teachers, academics etc. In short it exercises an ideological influence of great proportion in the middle and higher-middle "progressive" classes.

As for independent activity, there are the autonomous unions. The book n paper workers union is an example and their current struggle in support of Ntinos Palestidis has become a national top-story forcing all the left and a great part of academics and intellectuals to take sides, an effect of great importance in the present situation. Another example is the Cleaners Union (PEKOP) which after the Kouneva case has a unique force of moral weight in greek affairs. But no autonomous labour organisation has any force on the streets. There the main battle forces are a) the anarchists, b) to a much lesser extent some leftist groups, c) KKE's construction builders who rarely engage in battle but when they do the results are dramatic. The most important factor is the battling cohesion on the street, i.e. how tolerant different blocks are towards more dynamic moves. The present struggle is one of those that such tolerance is provided more than any other time.

Overall of course the CP and the Radical Left Coalition do not want a social insurrection. The CP wants power as always and the RLC wants a share in power as always. Yet, because of the horrendous measures taken they are put under immense pressure to prove their militancy to their base. This creates an environment where
they are forced to perform dynamic actions that create a climate of tension stretching the state's forces and legitimating more dynamic (and self-organised) actions on our part.

The state looks unlikely to be willing to use heavy hand, as it knows this will lead to more and more violence. What it wants is national consensus to be promoted to the eager-to-hear-about-it EU. Thats why today the cops ate stones and sticks and did not retaliate. They know that knee caping will lead to a spiral of uncontrollable situations like December (most slogans on the street talk about a proletarian December coming). And they are also deadly afraid of their own cohesion: PASOK's syndicalist base looks ready to desert the party at the sight of repression of the labour struggle and it would take with it enough MPs to make the government collapse.

All in all the balances in greece right now are so fine so tight and so precarious that just anything could overturn the whole social contract - social insurrection no party wants but no party knows exactly how to avoid.

By autonomous unions I mean autonomous labour unions independent of political parties as well as union umbrellas, the majority of which adopt a more or less libertarian or anarchist perspective (PEKOP does not). I can't currently find links to the construction builders clashing, but their street force is legendary in greece, although as from-gr says it is seldom put to practice due to the Party line.

ESE is a good effort to start coordinating anarchosyndicalist organising already in place in different sectors, but its effects at this moment are not great. However, its newspaper is distributed across the country and can be found even at the airport press stands. On the other hand the connection of the anarchist movement with immigrants is long and ever stronger. December played a vital role in this, and the fascist onslaught of 2009 further enhanced the alliance. Of course some immigrant communities prefer relations with the left, due to its tighter organisation, legal help teams etc.

The apparatus of the left is unfortunately unbeatable under present conditions in greece. And anarchists have a long distate here for federal-style organisation. That said efforts have been made in the last decade or more by tendencies in the anarchist movement such as the autonomous and the anti-authoritarians to build better structures, including in the labour struggle. At the same time the power of base unions like the books n paper one cannot be underestimated: Ntinos Palestidis has just been re-employed by Agra publications after a struggle by that union - a huge victory on which I hope to write about soon.

Thanks for your interest and for the translations! I hope out struggle here continues to inspire the international anarchist movement!

The KKE has purged Trotskyists off its ranks (for some time to death) since the 1930s. Last year's official rehabilitation of Stalin leaves no space for illusions concerning any such matter. There are of course various Trotskyist parties in Greece, some of them with a long and tormented history, which continue doing a serious job in their own way. Amongst them EEK is the closest to the anarchists both politically and on the street, receiving a bitter portion of police violence in return. As for Syriza, its leading group Synaspismos is the heir of the Romanian-funded KKE(internal), the Eurocommunist half of the KKE 1968 split, while its smaller groups include a big variety of leftist tendencies including Maoists like KOE.