24-hour nationwide strike - a response to high prices and military involvement:An important step in escalating the struggle of the labour and popular movement

Apr 7, 2022

Tens of thousands of people demonstrated on Wednesday 6/4 in Athens, Thessaloniki, Patras, and several other major cities in Greece, responding to the call of the class-oriented trade unions that rally in All Workers’ Militant Front (PAME), the mass organizations of the self-employed, women, and the youth.

Both the strike rally in Athens, which flooded Syntagma Square outside the Greek parliament, and the other rallies in the rest of the country, raised demands against high prices, for collective labour agreements, for salary increases, and against Greece’s involvement in the imperialist war. Large workplaces and important sectors such as public transportation and logistics were brought to a standstill, cancelling in practice a recent monstrous law introduced by the ND government, which poses obstacles to the right to strike, enriching a similar law enacted by the previous SYRIZA government.

The general secretary of the Federation of Builders, V. Syrigos, delivered a speech at the rally in Athens, expressing the will to continue and escalate the struggle for a dignified life, noting that “The upcoming Workers’ May Day is very important because our people are being severely tested in conditions of a new imperialist war and paying dearly for the profits of business groups. However, we do not choose a camp between thieves. We are on the side of the peoples; against poverty, war, refugees, and exploitation.”

He was followed by the vice-president of the Attica Federation of Craftsmen, D. Vitalis, who noted, among other things, that “We are here, together with the workers, to defend the people’s income. We assert our self-evident rights. To be able to work in our shops, to support our families with dignity (...) The struggle we wage is not only our struggle, we do not struggle only for ourselves. Our demands concern all the people.”

Furthermore, Vassilis Papageorgiou, member of the executive board of the Federation of Workers in the Milk–Beverage–Food industry, expressed the demand for measures to be taken immediately to protect the people’s income against high prices, which erode wages in the first ten days of the month.

Athens

Thessaloniki

Athens

Thessaloniki

Dimitris Koutsoumbas: Important step in escalating the struggle of the labour and popular movement

The GS of the CC of the KKE, Dimitris Koutsoumbas, attended the strike rally in Athens at Syntagma and made the following statement to the media outlets: “Today’s nationwide strike is an important step in escalating the struggle of the workers’-people’s movement against high prices, for the protection of the people's income, Collective Labour Agreements, and salary increases; and certainly against the imperialist war and Greece’s involvement in it. It can further strengthen the joint activity of workers, employees of the private and public sector, but also the self-employed, scientists, farmers, students, and women of popular families. We will carry on in a dynamic way.”

The police attacked the rally in Thessaloniki

It should be noted that following the unacceptable Russian invasion of Ukraine, the KKE and KNE are at the forefront of holding significant anti-imperialist demonstrations in ports and cities, opposing the presence of US-NATO bases and the deployment of NATO forces through Greece, overall against the imperialist war and the country’s involvement in it. Such were the recent demonstrations that took place in Piraeus, Alexandroupolis, Larissa, the Souda base in Crete, and elsewhere.

On 6 April, the mass strike rally in Thessaloniki, which condemned the country’s involvement in the imperialist war, turned into a march to the city port, after stopping outside the US consulate and the offices of the Hellenic Federation of Enterprises (SEV). When the rally reached the port, the slogan “Thessaloniki is a port of the peoples, not a launching pad for the imperialists” was chanted loudly.

The rally in the port came under an unprovoked and violent attack by the forces of repression, resulting in the unjustified arrests of 8 protesters, among them two members of the Central Committee of the KKE —one of whom is severely injured and hospitalized— and a member of the Central Council of ΚΝΕ.

In the photo Efthimis Dimakis, member of the CC of the KKE, is in the hospital, injured, in a wheelchair and handcuffed!

In the face of these developments, the trade unions held demonstrations in Athens and Thessaloniki against repression and demanded the release of the arrested protesters. A KKE delegation consisting of members of the Political Bureau, the Central Committee, and MPs of the Party participated in the rally outside the Ministry of Citizen Protection.

“We will not back down. We will not accept the climate of intimidation”, the unions stressed.

On the morning of 7 April, under the pressure of the workers’–people’s movement, the 8 militants were released, while the prosecutor set the trial date for 15 June. The 8 militants are charged with disobedience, release of a prisoner, damage to foreign property, and violence against officials. The provocative charges that were pressed against them yesterday concerning the violation of the law on weapons and flares, as well as the use of weapons, were refuted this morning as they were blatantly trumped-up.

7/4/2022