Current and proposed program of the KKE?

[tellyontellyon]

I know the KKE want to resist the cuts etc...
but what specific measures are they proposing to move the situation forward.

Protests are great, but what actions are they proposing to do next in order to bring about socialism? Up the ante? etc.

What needs to be done as a 'next step' on the ground?

[FSL]

I can't tell if you mean "what is its current propaganda strategy" or "what is its programme on bringing about socialism". The title doesn't really fit with the rest.

Right now, there are many "steps on the ground", not just a protest every few weeks. Visiting workplaces, arranging meetings presenting the party's programme and so on, trying to convince people that their welfare collides with that of the capitalists.
Something like that though doesn't bring results overnight.

So, basically, what do you mean?

[tellyontellyon]

Well, there is, as you say, a need for propoganda... pointing out the uselessness of capitalism... and the virtues of a socialist system etc.

However, it is obvious that large numbers of people are already on the streets taking part in strikes and protests... but the government are not moving... .. people have been letting off steam, but it may be time to start to move the street actions on further..

E.g. longer, 48hr general strike(s);
workplace occupations e.g. train stations, docks, media;
block national roads;
organise workers into democratic commities of action;
putting forward the demand of refusing to pay the dedt;
demanding immediate nationalisation of the bankers system under workers control etc. etc.... that sort of thing.

All i'm really asking is... if i am a person who has responded to the propoganda and is willing to follow the KKE... what are you asking me to do next?

[FSL]

Well, there is, as you say, a need for propoganda... pointing out the uselessness of capitalism... and the virtues of a socialist system etc.

However, it is obvious that large numbers of people are already on the streets taking part in strikes and protests... but the government are not moving... .. people have been letting off steam, but it may be time to start to move the street actions on further..

E.g. longer, 48hr general strike(s);
workplace occupations e.g. train stations, docks, media;
block national roads;
organise workers into democratic commities of action;
putting forward the demand of refusing to pay the dedt;
demanding immediate nationalisation of the bankers system under workers control etc. etc.... that sort of thing.

All i'm really asking is... if i am a person who has responded to the propoganda and is willing to follow the KKE... what are you asking me to do next?

There has been a 48hr strike called by PAME, and we had proposed to make the latest one a 48hr too but GSEE denied. There must have been at least 10 strikes since December and people can't always be there to fight the fight, at least until change seems closer.

There have been even more strikes at docks and cruise ships with rich tourists turned away (for which we are still hearing complains by those who "care" about the welfare of our country). Also short occupations in media, especially before strikes to annouce them and call people to join.

There are "committies of struggle" as they're called organized mainly in workplaces where communists have a strong presence.

We aren't putting forward what we think are "social-democratic" solutions that will probably end up only saving capitalism. Instead we're proposing that workers' councils become the foundation of a new state that will socialize all forms of big capital and encourage small owners to form collectives. What is termed as "People's power", being in our view the first step after a revolution and on our way to build socialism.

For example, in the all-Greece meeting in Athens we had on the 15th, tens of thousands of people shouted "Businesses belong to workers, not to parasites" and "Do not bow, onwards for another society". So this is our solution to the crisis and there quite a few people in Greece ready to accept it.




Some things though, you say there are "large numbers of people already on the streets taking part in strikes and protests". That's true but there are also many not doing so. And even among those who are on the streets, not everyone has the same level of consciousness, some people might be happy to just see a crooked politician behind bars.

The government isn't backing away from the imf programme and I wasn't expecting it too, to be honest. But it has lost almost half the support it had gained in the elections a few months ago and none of these people are heading to the other major bourgeois party either that's also losing support.
Many people are angry, rejecting politics as we know it, so our job as a "vanguard" is to show these people things can be done differently. That has more to do with day-to-day activities, basically speaking to others, rather than some flamboyant actions.

I've said it here before, that this "situation forum" if it stands out as something reporting only major current events, can be misleading. There won't be a revolution this month and in all probability not in the next month either. However, while I haven't been in a "pre-revolutionary period" before to know what it's like, it seems like in a couple of years thing will be different. Because now, you can pretty much smell the decay.

It's just that workers must be consciously in favour of any change for it to be genuine, which means it can't come from the sky, in a "magic" way. There has to be a lot of work involved.

[Mitsos]

KKE has no program.It's basic slogan was "it would be a shame if the austerity plan passes without resistance". So, what they are actually saying it's "just save the reputation of greek workers.the plan will pass but lets protest". They are even organizing the own protests and they deny to be in a protest with anyone else,unions,leftwing parties etc. The call for their own strikes and in general they are trying their best to leave the GSEE(greek UNITE) to the hands of the burrocrats.

Even when the general secretary was in a tv show the journalist asked her "if you are opposing the austerity plan what do you propose?" and she said "nothing.the people should resist,should march,protest,strike etc". but she didn't have anything to project as an alternative. LAME.

[chegitz guevara]

How about, revolution?

[FSL]

How about, revolution?

Essentially what "workers' councils become the foundation of a new state that will socialize all forms of big capital and encourage small owners to form collectives" is by I thought I'd use, you know, words.



KKE has no program


Someone is bitter!

[Mitsos]

Essentially what "workers' councils become the foundation of a new state that will socialize all forms of big capital and encourage small owners to form collectives" is by I thought I'd use, you know, words.



Someone is bitter!

So,let's hear it. how does KKE propose to smash the austerity measures?

[FSL]

So,let's hear it. how does KKE propose to smash the austerity measures?

Social democrats only care about the unjust austerity measures and nothing else. The communist party is "proposing that workers' councils become the foundation of a new state that will socialize all forms of big capital and encourage small owners to form collectives. What is termed as "People's power", being in our view the first step after a revolution and on our way to build socialism."

Thankfully, in Greece social democrats in the form of Antarsya (that's putting forward only the nationalization of the evil banks and the renegotiation of the debt as "a revolution is currently not in the daily agenda") or Syriza (who is constantly begging for eurobonds and not doing much else) are weaker than communists so I'm optimistic they won't manage to rescue capitalism in its time of need.

[Mitsos]

So KKE thinks that a revolution is on its way and we don't to fight back the austerity measures?

[Mitsos]

Right now they are no workers council.How does KKE propose the formation of workers councils?And since you believe the revolution is on its way I suppose that KKE is using all its members to propagate the formation of workers council,right?

[FSL]

Right now they are no workers council.How does KKE propose the formation of workers councils?And since you believe the revolution is on its way I suppose that KKE is using all its members to propagate the formation of workers council,right?

There are unions and we are propagating that they expand and that everyone takes an active part in them. As I said, there are also "committees of struggle" in some workplaces where a more general discussion takes place regarding the whole direction of the movement.
And yes, all members of the communist party are certainly out and propagating the need to change the class in power and to socialize the monopolies.

One thing though, you're saying "you believe the revolution is on its way" as if you were speaking to a dreamer who has lost all touch with reality.
I'm not saying that a revolution is "on its way", because revolutions don't just happen to walk around.

I'm saying that what we should fight for is not an "austerity-free" capitalism, but a worker's state with the alliance of the small peasant and of the cities' tradesmen, of people who have no future in capitalism but proletarianization. And that this won't even be a possibility unless this issue is raised and unless everyone who calls himself a communist (there are more of us in Greece in comparison to other places) makes this a permanent banner.

I don't think this is simply a period where the worker's income is under attack (when hasn't it been?), this is a period when an accumulated over many years dismay can manifest itself in all sorts of manners.
Communists need to push it to a revolution.

[Mitsos]

OK.So you don't want to fight back the austerity measures cause revolution is coming?

Or you are saying that fighting back the auysterity measures is not enough,so you embrace the anti-cuts fight but say that this is not enough?

[FSL]

OK.So you don't want to fight back the austerity measures cause revolution is coming?

Or you are saying that fighting back the auysterity measures is not enough,so you embrace the anti-cuts fight but say that this is not enough?

Once again, I'm not saying a "revolution is coming". I'm saying that we should strive to convince people a revolution should come.

The fight should be for the overthrow of the rulling class. This fight will of course also be an "anti-austerity fight" but it will at the same time be targetting much further than that.

[tellyontellyon]

I for one would welcome any reforms and improvements for the working class.. That is not the same as being 'reformist'.. It just means we need to win as much for the working class as we can in any given situation.

A reformist party ONLY proceeds by reforms and has a goal limited to reform.
A revolutionary party can still support reforms on the way to building towards socialist revolution.

Lenin in 'Left communism, an infantile disorder', made a point of saying that we should never abandon the working class, even if they are holding reformist or even reactionary views.
Carefully considered cooperation and comprimise with any working class organisation is a realistic and necessary aspect of the work of building a conscious revolutionary mass organisation.

[chegitz guevara]

At this point, I don't think reforms are on the table in Greece. They have two options, crushing austerity or communist revolution. Revolution will invite the invasion of NATO, very likely, so the workers are going to need a state to be able to fight back.

Reforms can only be won in a period when the state has the money to give, and right now, the, the Greek state is near insolvency.

[Charles Xavier]

KKE needs allies. They are very strong, but it may be too much to go alone.

[tellyontellyon]

The situation in Greece is not fixed, it is changing continuously.
The objective economic situation is changing, and so is the consciousness of the people changing and developing as they engage in struggle.

It is possible that the conditions for an viable insurrectionary program can develop, however there is a need for an organisation capable of drawing the mass of working people together.

There must be unified mass action, and that must begin now. Left parties need to engage in unified mass rallies to build the cooperation, consensus and consciousness needed to truly transform society.

[Mitsos]

Once again, I'm not saying a "revolution is coming". I'm saying that we should strive to convince people a revolution should come.

The fight should be for the overthrow of the rulling class. This fight will of course also be an "anti-austerity fight" but it will at the same time be targetting much further than that.

OK. So you agree that we have to react to the austerity measures and go beyond that,by propagating the overthrow of capitalism.I agree with that.

So,what's KKE's suggestion for fighting back the austerity measures and what it's practically suggesting to the workers to do?

[Die Neue Zeit]

Here's their program:

http://www.revleft.com/vb/long-live-kke-t135120/index.html?p=1747490


The choice is one: a change in the historically outdated social relations of ownership that determine the political system as well and concern the basic and concentrated means of production in the following areas: energy, telecommunications, mineral wealth, mining, industry, water supply, transportation.

Socialization of the banking system, the system of extraction, conveyance and management of natural resources; external trade, a centralized network of internal trade; housing for the people, research and the democratic provision of information to the people.

An exclusively public, universal and free system of education, healthcare, welfare and social security.

We estimate that there may be areas that will not be included in complete, nationwide, universal socialization. Complementing the socialized sector, a sector for the productive cooperatives in small-level agriculture may be formed, of small businesses in branches where concentration is low. Their participation in cooperatives will be understood as a beneficial choice, based on experience that exists from the monopoly ring.

The socialized as well as the cooperative sectors, production and distribution as a whole must be included in a centralized, national economic mechanism of planning and administration so that all of the means of production and the labour force can be mobilized, so that every possible form of international economic cooperation can be utilized based on mutual benefit. Domestic production will be protected and the interests of the workers will be protected from any possible consequences that arise from the needs of external trade.

Central planning is necessary in order to formulate strategic goals and choices, in order to prioritize branches and sectors, to determine where greater forces and means will be concentrated. The materialization of programming demands distribution by branch and area, and first of all, workers’ control of administration in every production unit and service, in every administrative organ.

The government as an organ of people’s power will be obliged to ensure the participation of the people in this completely new, totally unknown task, to support the people’s movement, to support and to be monitored by that within new institutions of workers’ and social control.

The centrally planned development of society is a need that stems from today’s demands, first of all the demands of mankind which is the primary productive force. The need to satisfy the wide-ranging modern needs of the working people, the need for the means of production to develop, for science and technology to develop for the benefit of the people, make central planning a vital necessity.

People’s power promotes intrastate commercial agreements and exchanges, agreements for the utilization of techno-knowledge based on mutual interest.

The public debt will be re-examined under people’s power with the main criteria being the interests of the people.

[tellyontellyon]

Here's their program:

http://www.revleft.com/vb/long-live-kke-t135120/index.html?p=1747490

*That is a series of demands and a statement of what the party would do if they were in a position to implement that program.

But what (I really don't think the question is that difficult), what do the KKE want the ordinary worker in the street to be doing now in order to help bring this program into being?

What should the next move be for the ordinary worker in the street?