A strike wave with a political edge
IN RECENT weeks Greece has seen a wave of mass protests against the policies of the rightwing New Democracy government.
NICOS SIMEONIDES
September 15, 1992 A PTER the coming to power of the rightwing New Democracy Party in April 1990, Greek workers have faced a huge attack; while inflation has been rising at an annual rate of 17%, wages have been frozen; more than 10,000 public sector employees sacked; state companies privatized or closed; sharply rising unemployment; and restrictions on union rights. Several times, demonstrations have been broken up by police.
The same two years have seen a number of struggles by the mass organizations against the right's policies, but all have failed to halt their progress. Nonetheless, there remains a widespread mood of opposition expressed through renewed struggles and the hope for a new government which will reverse current policies.
The general discontent was revealed by the results of a recent by-election in Athens where the New Democracy and the Communist Party did not run candidates and called for an abstention or spoiled ballot; the social democratic PASOK party, however, did stand, describing the poll as a referendum on government austerity measures and raised its vote from 280,000 to 400,000.
Since then everybody has been predicting crushing defeat for the New Democracy government at the next elections (scheduled for April 1994) and a PASOK victory.
In July the government announced 1,400 redundancies in the Athens public bus company and the firm's 8,000 workers launched an all-out strike. The government responded by closing the company down. Since then there has been no bus service in Athens; people are travelling in military trucks and buses driven by soldiers. The 8,000 sacked workers, who are organized in a PASOK-led union, have been coming into the streets every day to demonstrate against their layoff.
The CGT union called a demonstration in support of the bus workers which was a big success, bringing out tens of thousands in August. The same month, the government announced a social security law, raising the retirement age and cutting pensions. This provoked a big strike wave headed by the electricity company, the banks, and posts and telecommunications, which have been on strike for several weeks.
The CGT called a 24-hour general strike for September 3, a 48-hour strike for
September 9 and 10 and another for September 16 and 17. The turnout has been very high in the public sector and adequate in the private sector. The union organized demonstration on September
10 brought out more than 100,000 people, who shouted "Down with the New Democracy".
The struggle is highly politicized, with even the more moderate unions raising the question of a new government. Even the bosses have taken fright, with the Alliance of Industrialists calling on the government to make a deal with the unions, while leading officials of the New Democracy Party have been calling for a more subtle economic policy. However Prime Minister Mitsotakis has rejected such ideas, with the support of the European Community.
What is saving the government for the moment is the attitude of the opposition parties who first refused to give this struggle a political perspective, and, now that such a perspective has been raised from below, are trying to bring the movement to an end as soon as possible. PASOK's solution is that it should take over government and is demanding early elections to that end. However it is remaining coy about what measures it would take once in power.
### United front rejected
The Communist Party (KKE) and the Left Alliance (Synaspismos) which it dominates are against raising the demand for the downfall of the government, against early elections and claim that PASOK and the New Democracy are the same. In general they reject any united front against the government.
It is possible that the present strike wave will die down, but the situation in Greece will remain tense. The population has had enough of this government and its policies and there will be further struggles. The 8,000 sacked bus workers are continuing their protests, and enjoy broad public sympathy according to opinion polls.
Furthermore big internal pressure is building up on the PASOK leadership for a more dynamic policy. Party members and supporters are asking "why don't we topple this government?"
The government has suffered considerable damage in recent months but is hoping that the storm will pass. Even if it does, it will 27 soon face another. *
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