New youth and student radicalisation The case of the polytechnic occupation THE UPSURGE of protests against the Papandreou government's draconian austerity measures was one of the most dramatic developments in Europe toward the end of 1985. It was described in an interview with a Greek Fourth Internationalist leader in the last issue of IV.
The following two articles from the December issue of Ergatike Pale, the paper of the Greek section of the Fourth International, give more facts about the student and youth mobilizations that took place alongside the massive workers actions.
It is interesting to note that many of the same features and problems were present as in the Italian high-school student mobilizations that took place about the same time.
The tradition of the 1973 Polytechnic uprising is extremely important, not just for the student youth but more generally because it was the only uprising against the junta, and so in a sense is seen as having saved the honor of the Greek people.
GREECE having gotten permission from the Committee on University Inviolability, in which there was a representative of the PASK [Panellenia Syndikalistike Parataxis - Pan-Hellenic Union Fraction, the PASOK student-union fraction], one TH Tsamourkelis (!), invaded the Chemistry Faculty. Using tear gas and trampling under foot the fundamental concept of university inviolability, they arrested 18 anarchists.
As soon as the murder of the 15year-old youth became known, the government tried to appear "tender hearted." In the person of its chief, Alexander Papandreou, it started shedding crocodile tears and promising that the killer would be punished.
Parallel to this, the MAT and the MEA [Monades Ethnikes Asphaleias -National Security Units, a special police force similiar to the MAT] flooded the center of Athens, continuing in a provocative way the orgy of terror that they had unleashed the previous evening.
All the parties without exception condemned the murder, but none of them seemed inclined to make a concrete response. Only the far left responded immediately with a march on Monday afternoon. The anarchists participated in the march, and during it often broke off and trashed or It often broke off and trashed or set fire to shops. They came under attack from the MAT, which was waiting impatiently for an order to attack. The occupation of the Polytechnic
In the meantime, the slogan for an occupation of the Polytechnic was launched, and was finally followed. Along with the anarchists, quite a few far-left organizations took part. Other far-left organizations, however, disagreed with the action and left after the march. They included the OKDE [ Organosi Kommounistike Diethnistike tes Elladas - International Communist Organization, the Greek section of tae Fourth International], the OSE [Organosi Socialistike Espanastasi - Socialist Revolution Organization, sympathizers of the British state capitalist group, the SWP], and the KKE (ML)
1. The Communist Party split during the period of the dictatorship of the colonels. One section, which had the majority within the underground organization at the time, became known as the CP-Interior. The other section, with a majority in exile leadership and supported by Moscow, became known as the CP-Exterior. After the fall of the junta, the CP-Exterior far outdistanced its Eurocommunist rival, the CP-Interior, but the "Interior" retains a certain tradition in the student movement. In particular, it took a more sympathetic attitude to the Polytechnic uprising in November 1973 than the "Exterior." - IV.
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On Sunday, November 17, a march was planned at the Polytechnic. This year it came in a period of sharp confrontation between the government and the workers. Tempers were very high, and the political climate was heavily charged.
The PASOK government's severe economic austerity measures were still very recent, and the struggles of the workers were at their peak. Among other things, no more than three days had gone by since the giant national strike mobilization of November 14.
The two CPs (1) had made a considerable effort to put a damper on feelings of hostility to the government in the commemoration of the Polytechnic uprising. The crowning touch was their student trade-union groups voting for a common resolution with the PASOK trade-union fraction in the university, which avoided saying anything about the economic measures.
Nonetheless, it was clear that the Polytechnic march was going to have the character of opposition to the government's economic policy.
The government responded to the resistance of the working people by resorting both to ideological repression (lies, intimidating statements, demagogy) and physical repression (sending the MAT [militarized police ] into the offices of the CP-Interior union traction, etc.) union fraction, etc.)
The government's decision to respond forcibly to any resistance became clear also during the Polytechnic march, with the appearance of many platoons of the MAT, who followed the march in what can most mildly be described as a provocative way.
The march was almost entirely peaceful, except for the breaking of some windows in the Hilton hotel by anarchist groups. However, this seems not to have satisfied the police and the MAT, who did not want to confine themselves to intimidating people by their presence.
Thus, provocations began in Exarcheion Square, and when the anarchists in the square responded by throwing Molotov cocktails, one of the MAT "lost his head" and murdered a 15-year-old youth, striking him from behind.
The murder had the result of dramatizing a series of events that unfolded at a real cinematographic pace. They have to be looked at carefully in order to draw the necessary conclusions. In this article, however, we will only describe the facts.
On the same evening, a group of anarchists occupied the Chemistry Faculty to press the immediate demand for the punishment of the murderer. On the morning of Monday, November 18, special units of police,
International Viewpoint 27 January 1986
[Communist Party of Greece, Marxist Leninist].
The principal demands of the occupation were for punishment of the killer, dissolution of the MAT and the MEA, and the disarming of the police. Sometimes also slogans were raised against the PASOK government and its antilabor measures.
In the courtyard of the Polytechnic on Monday evening, at least 5,000 people gathered, expressing their opposition to the terror that had been unleashed by the MAT and the MEA and had culminated in the murder of the youth.
In the meantime, the EFEE [Eniaia Phoitike Enosis tes Ellados - United Student Union of Greece] decided to hold a march of witness for Tuesday afernoon. The motion was passed with the votes of the PSK, the DA [the CP-Interior fraction], and the Regroupments [multi-tendency far-left groupings in the student union]. At about the same time, the ministers of internal affairs and civil order, Koutsogiorgas and souras, resigned to show their "sensitivity," but of course their resignations were not accepted.
Throughout the night of Monday and also in the early hours of Tuesday, clashes occurred around the Polytechnic. The fighting was either between the occupiers and various fascist-like elements (the rightist party ENEK and its student organization, the ENEP) or "outraged citizens," the majority of whom were members of the PASOK, who had come to help the MAT impose order on the occupiers, or between the occupiers and the MAT, which attacked with tear gas, asphyxiating gas, and water cannon.
On Tuesday morning, there were about a thousand people left in the Polytechnic, who were looking for a way to end the occupation.
At midday on Tuesday, the EFEE announced its decision to call off its march, explaining that "we cannot defend it." Thus, in essence the parties of the traditional left had responded to the murder by doing nothing but send people home.
The march, however, was maintained by the parties and organizations of the far left. At the same time, the Regas Feraios [the youth organization of the CP-Interior] held its own separate march condemning the EFEE's decision to call off the mobilization.
During the march, the occupiers lett the Polytechnic, and the farleftists joined the demonstration, while the anarchists dissolved. Despite the provocations of the MAT, which kept stopping the march and then retreating, there were no incidents.
In the coming months, an enduring mark of the Polytechnic occupation will be the damage caused both by the anarchists and by the fascistic groups that attacked the occupiers under the protection of the MAT.
The murdering policeman was let go scot-free, thus demonstrating the government's "sensitivity" and "good will." At the same time, six of the anarchists arrested in the Chemistry Faculty were jailed, facing grave charges. Along with this, the CPExterior launched a crude campaign of provocation, which in essence
A nan b gave the accomplished nothing but gave the PASOK a basis for exploiting the events for its own profit.
Another point should be noted about these events. It is that the spontaneous reaction to the murder and repression took on significant scope, not only in Athens but also in other cities, such as Salonika and Erakleion. This is a fact of special importance in that it shows that a radicalization of some sections of the youth is combining with the great economic crisis.