The foundations for a Mass Anti-War Movement in Greece and Europe

The foundations for a Mass Anti-War Movement in Greece and Europe

What does it mean to fight against the Imperialistic War – How to organize it?

1. The war in Ukraine is the military escalation of the competition between the imperialists of the West and the East. The aggravation of the global capitalistic crisis and the continuous economic degradation of the USA and the EU have led the Western imperialists to an intensification of their attack (economic sanctions, coups d’états, militarization of Eastern Europe, etc.) and the suffocating encirclement of Russia. Thus, the imperialist invasion of the Russians was triggered by the Western imperialists.
2. The imperialist/ authoritarian Putin regime has imposed a brutal exploitation of the Russian working class in favour of a handful of oligarchs/ capitalists as well as a “satellitation” of neighbouring former Soviet republics. However, under no circumstances are the Western imperialists entitled to present themselves as democrats and defenders of international law against Putin.

American and European imperialists –especially after the September 11 and even more so with the exploitation of the Pandemic– are implementing a spurious “democracy” within their countries, according to which the law is the right of the rich elites and the implemented policy  remains indistinguishably savage and anti-labour, whoever you vote for. They are reviving racism, the far right and fascism. They are constantly reinforcing the undemocratic fall-back within their countries and the building of an emergency state. The US-EU foreign policy is the greatest rapist of any notion of international law. With lies and Gaebelist propaganda, they bombed and partitioned Yugoslavia, attacked and imposed military occupation in Iraq and Afghanistan, organized dozens of coups d’états, civil wars and massacres in order to promote their imperialistic interests. Westerners are not allowed to appear as defenders of international law; they are the greatest criminals responsible for countless wars and sufferings of the peoples of the world.

3. The EU is proving to be a devoted follower of the American imperialists, even against its direct economic interests. After playing a leading part in the breakup of Yugoslavia/ partition of the Balkans and becoming a willing ally in U.S. campaigns in the Middle East, it is now orderly following them in the Russia-China conflict. Those who have stained their hands with the blood of millions of victims of colonialism in all continents, for centuries, now appear as philanthropists and pacifists. Those who have turned the continent of Europe into an arena of memorandums and savage capitalism, want to convince us of their democratic and civilized nature. Those who massively murder refugees, are now shedding crocodile tears at the Ukrainian people. No illusions! The European imperialists are taking a fighting position on the side of the USA, they are arming themselves and dragging us into disastrous war adventures. Having stripped the European proletariat of labour and social rights, having turned the south of Europe into a debt colony, they are now preparing, using repression and violence, to eliminate all resistance of the workers’ movement, in order to send us ‘meat in the cannons’ for the interests of big capital.
4. The Greek bourgeoisie and its governments (New Democracy, PASOK, SYRIZA) have chained us to the European memorandums, sold off all public wealth, drained all popular property, abolished social, democratic and trade union rights and turned the country into a debt colony and an American-NATO base, engaging us in mortal dangers. The moment that we are getting decimated by expensiveness, poverty and unemployment, the Greek government, slashes social expenditures, sells off the Electricity Public Enterprise (resulting in a skyrocketing of the price of electricity), LARCO (public mining and metalworking industry), ports/ infrastructure and gives 10 billion euros (!)to the police for equipment and recruitment. Taking advantage of the Pandemic, they govern with bans, fines and repression. They have legislated a ban on strikes as well as a filling of trade union and political activity of any kind.

American spy planes and helicopters have been taking off from Souda and Stefanovikio, American troops have been transported through Alexandroupolis and the willing prime minister sends weapons to the Ukrainian army, turning Greece into a target for the imperialist opponents.

The Greek bourgeoisie, having bankrupted Greek society, is now preparing to offer us as a sacrifice for the US-EU war plans, in order to gain imperialist political protection and to facilitate the enrichment of the big capitalists of energy as well as of the Greek ship-owners (by carrying liquefied gas).  The truth is that our real enemy is in our own country: capitalists, supporters of the memorandums,  imperialists and their parties, who have been plotting against our intrests. All these supporters of the “European path”, who are amenable to support a war  because “we belong to the west” are the ones we must fight. We must drive them out of power and we must form a government for the salvation of the workers.

5. In order to stop the war and the sufferings it brings, we must turn mainly against the West imperialists and the Greek governments that follow them, denying any national unity with them, raising high the flag of the class struggle for our rights and our standard of living:
6. A) In workplaces, universities, schools, neighborhoods we must organize anti-war committees, with the aim of stopping any participation of Greece in the war and imperialist antagonisms. With strikes, demonstrations, blockades on roads/ports/airports we should stop troops and weapon shipment by the Greek Government and block the activity of NATO troops and bases in the Greek territory. We must fight for the demand for the exit from NATO and the EU to become prevalent, so that all bases can be removed, so that the internationalist solidarity of the peoples can prevail, through a common struggle against the war –no to the subjugation to the antagonisms of the imperialists and the bourgeoisie.
7. B) We must not back away from the demands of workers and youth for the satisfaction of labor needs and interests. We must fight for: increases in wages and pensions – abolition of anti-labour laws – re-nationalization of the Public Electricity Enterprise and the key sectors of the economy – money for Health-Education-Social Needs, no to armaments and police – cancellation of popular debts/ban on auctions – ceiling on prices, labour control to fight expensiveness. Organizing the struggle for our actual problems is the most honest and effective response to peoples’ anxiousness about peace, the most appropriate way to stop our warmonger governments.

The progression towards the generalized war is not only the result of the crisis of the capitalist/imperialist system, but also the result of the crisis of the labour movement. The failure/ betrayal of Stalinism –sealed by the dissolution of the Soviet Union– and the betrayal of social –which was lined up with the bourgeois camp without further ado, have wounded deeply the global labour movement.

The urbanization of a large part of the left and the “progressives” in Europe, the recent betrayals (see SYRIZA, Podemos, etc.) – the policies of “equal distance” without holding the front against “our” capitalism/ imperialism – the illusions about “European democracy” that we supposedly have to defend against the “tsar” Putin and generally against the “barbarism of the Easterners” – the tolerance or vote in favour of armament expenditure,  NATO bases and militarism: all the above spread further frustration and confusion among the workers and the youth, encouraged the class attacks and the war preparations by bourgeoisie and imperialists. The climax is the wretched position that “the people of Ukraine have the right to decide ‘freely’ on their own whether to join NATO”.

It is time to realize that the most effective and least cost-effective path to the salvation and prosperity of humanity is the socialist revolution. Anyone who is truly anxious about peace among the peoples must not be satisfied with pacifist appeals or a journalistic condemnation of all imperialists equally. They must take the path of the class war against the War for the only solution: the overthrow of the capitalist system of exploitation and wars, the establishment of a Europe of workers and of international socialism. The revolutionary left must bring this vision back into the current affairs in order to provide a realistic way out of the capitalist crisis and war.

It is on this basis that we need to unify the efforts of the anti-capitalist, communist forces to create a mass, class-based anti-war movement. But beware! Left-wing forces in our country and in Europe should not adopt views that echo the propaganda of western imperialists, embracing the reasoning of “equal distance” and “democratic West”. Even the slightest slips or ambiguities on this issue can be disastrous. The emphasis on the imperialist character of the conflict and the war (i.e. that it is not “fair”  or “defensive” on either side) is necessary –but, when it comes to critical political and practical tasks within our country, this does not mean that the struggle is “two-fronted”. We have to be clear! In Greece and throughout Europe, our main enemy is Western imperialism and the governments that represent it –the front of our struggle must be directed primarily against them.