The indignation of the workers and youth over the train crash in Tempe, in which 57 people —the vast majority of them students— died, is not abating.

On 8 March 2023, a general strike took place in Greece, while university and school students abstained from their classes. Mass strike rallies were held all over the country to condemn the criminal policies that treat safety and human life as a cost and a burden for the profits of the capitalists and the bourgeois state.

This strike highlighted the criminal political choice over railway operation that has been pursued subsequently over the years by the social democratic PASOK, the “leftist” SYRIZA and the liberal ND governments, as well as the EU. The demonstrators
demanded that the real responsibilities and culprits be held accountable
and punished immediately! Through their collective and organized struggle, they fight against a policy that sacrifices the life, health and rights of working-class and popular families for the sake of employers.

The sea of people who flooded the streets of Athens, Thessaloniki, Patras, Larissa and other cities in the country shouted out loud “IT WAS A CRIME BOUND TO HAPPEN FOR THE SAKE OF CAPITALIST PROFITS”.

The working people and the youth, university and school students with their vitality, turned the grief and anger into struggle. They became the voice of the dead and consigned the government propaganda to the waste bin.

The images of today’s impressive demonstrations can neither be hidden nor overshadowed by the organized provocative plan of the government to disperse the demonstrators in Athens.

The strike took place against the organized attempt to cover up the murderous crime in Tempe, the employers’ intimidation in the workplaces, the measures of repression and intimidation of the people and the obstacles put up by the employer and government-led trade unionism.

The GS of the CC of the KKE, Dimitris Koutsoumbas, attended the mass rally of workers and youth in Athens. In the afternoon of the same day, he delivered a speech at the KKE’s event on the occasion of the International Women’s Day. He began his speech by saluting the enormous participation of the people and youth in the strike rallies all over Greece. “We want to begin this event by saluting the mass and magnificent participation of the people and the youth in the strike rallies across Greece. We would like to salute in particular the tens of thousands of university and school students who, with their vitality, their determination and their clear gaze, flooded the streets and squares in all the major cities and shouted with conviction that ‘this crime will not be forgotten’. Indeed, it will not be forgotten. We will make sure that it will not be forgotten, all of us. (…) As a Party, we look into the eyes of every woman who is enraged at such incidents; of the working and the  unemployed women, of the self-employed, of freelancers, of all mothers who wonder how they can feel secure for themselves and their children. It is our duty towards the victims of the crime in Tempe, towards our children, to strengthen the struggle against the policy and the state that leave the people and their children unprotected because they safeguard the competitiveness and profitability of the business groups. That is why every woman is faced with a crucial and decisive decision for her future, i.e. to show confidence in the slogan that emerged from the daily struggles: Only the people can save the people, on the path of the overthrow of capitalism, with a strong KKE. Such is the content of the militant call upon the people to join forces with the KKE in all struggles. This is the path providing every woman with courage, strength, and hope to change her life through her militant participation in the daily struggles and her vote in the elections”, he stated among other things.

 09.03..2023