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WorkersPowerL5I

Workers Power Britain

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workerspower.co.uk

Statement of the League for the Fifth International

o to blackmail. No to
humiliation. No to
austerity.
The determination of the
Greek workers and youth to end
austerity has been expressed in a
defiant rejection of the Troikas
ultimatum.
Today, Syriza has an
overwhelming second mandate to
carry out its promise to break with
austerity, to end the misery, to stop
the punishment of the Greek people
by the European ruling class.
No means no. No surrender, no
compromise, not one more cent to
the parasitic banks.
There must be no more delays,
no more concessions and no more
negotiations with the hangman
about the length of the rope. The
Greek people have decisively
rejected austerity, whether it's
offered by the Troika or by Tsipras.
The government should take the
offensive and demand the
immediate end to the currency
blockade. Any attempt to blackmail
Greece by withholding euros should
be denounced as an act of war

against the Greek people.

The government must give itself
the powers to wage an effective
struggle to end austerity within the
eurozone. It must respond to
sabotage and blackmail with
decisive measures:

Faced with lockouts and

redundancies workers should
occupy and demand the government
nationalise under workers control,
with no compensation to the bosses
Those who have taken their
wealth abroad should forfeit their
wealth and property at home

Against the investment strike the

banks should be nationalised and
merged into a single state bank
under democratic control

Faced with threats from the Generals, the movement should

organise a militia for its own
defence - no more 1967s!
If there is a protracted struggle
over currency supply, it will be nec-

essary to organise a temporary

alternative currency. Nevertheless,
this is not a solution; the goal should
be to fight alongside the working
class of Europe for an end to
austerity throughout the European
Union.
Syriza must prepare for the
consequences of Grexit but should
refuse to take responsibility for
ending either the free movement of
labour or the adoption of a worthless
currency.
If the EU expels Greece, then it
will be clear that the European
ruling class has exacted a vindictive
retribution against the people who
dared to say no.
There is only one force that can
stop this outcome. The working
class of Europe, which has seen and
respects the inflexible will and
determination of Greek workers and
youth, must come to their aid by
mobilising against the offensive
launched by our own rulers.
Despite the No vote, the Tsipras
wing of Syrizas leadership remains
determined to strike a deal with the
agents of European capital. That
would be a capitulation and an insult
to the courageous struggle waged
virtually alone by Greek workers for
seven years.
The only way to stop the
government negotiating the slow
strangulation of debt relief is to cut
the rope and make any deal
impossible to implement.
The movement that mobilised to
win the No vote must remain in the
streets and ensure Syriza defies the
Troika and implements its
programme. Syriza must break the
popular front with Anel and appeal
to the supporters of the KKE and
Antarsya to join it in a united front
of the Greek working class against
the European ruling class.

Sabotage and how to stop it

Such resistance will provoke a dramatic escalation of the struggle. The

longer Syriza defies the diktats of
the Troika, the sharper will be the
capitalists' efforts to sabotage the
economy and overthrow the government.
In these conditions of open
conflict between capital and the
Greek working class, the current
form of government will prove inadequate to the task of resisting the
capitalist onslaught and
implementing its programme.
For this struggle, a new form of
government will be needed - not one
based on the civil service, judiciary,
police and army who have been
trained and organised to defend the
capitalist state - but one held
accountable to the working class
through councils of recallable
delegates elected by workers and
youth.
This government would not be a
collection of ministers but would
involve the great mass of workers in
the organisation and governance of
society. This would be a workers'
government.
The aim of a workers
government is to deprive the capitalists of their economic dictatorship
and to put production and
distribution in the hands of the
working class according to a plan
which meets the immediate needs of
ordinary citizens.
The major industries and
infrastructure must be placed under
the control of workplace committees
to improve productivity and prevent
sabotage. Seize the banks to
safeguard the savings of the ordinary
citizen. Confiscate the wealth and
property of the oligarchs and traitors
who have secreted their money in
Swiss banks - spend it instead on
pensions

and employing the millions of

unemployed to repair the damage
done to the fabric of Greek society.
This means a direct confrontation
with the interests of capital and,
therefore, the preparation of selfdefence against the bosses reaction.
Anything less than this will disarm
and prostrate workers before the
counter-revolutionary forces.
The police must be disarmed and
defeated. There must be an appeal to
the rank and file of the army and an
independent force prepared that can
resist elements that join the generals
in battle against the workers.
The decisive hour is at hand. The
course of the European struggle will
be determined by the actions of the
Greek working class in the next days
and weeks.
The time has come for the Greek
working class to seize the initiative,
to take its destiny into its own hands,
to prepare for a fight to the finish.
Every conscious worker and youth in
Europe will come to their aid.
We say the struggle of the Greek
working class is our struggle, too. Their
victory will be a victory for the European working class.
We must carry the fervour and
fighting spirit of Syntagma into the
Plaza del Sol, the Place de la
Republique, into the squares and
streets of every capital in Europe.
The choice is not between reform
or revolution but between revolution
or counter-revolution. The failure to
seize the hour will see the initiative
pass into the hands of our enemies.
Just as the prospect of the defeat
of austerity and the opening of a new
stage of socialist revolution is before
us, so is the threat of counterrevolution which will weaken
workers everywhere.
Solidarity with the Greek revolution!

For a socialist united states of Europe!

Write to us: Workers Power, BM Box 7750, WC1N 3XX or email: contact@workerspower.co.uk