The System’s not Broken, this is Capitalism, CEP President Dave Coles says

In the face of mounting job losses, poverty, community hardship and economic uncertainty in Canada, CEP President Dave Coles told convention delegates that this is not a product of a broken system of global capitalism; it is capitalism.
Coles said that it has been the neo-liberal economic policies of free trade, labour market deregulation, corporate tax cuts and privatization that gained traction among governments in the 1970s that have created income disparity and suppressed worker rights. He also said it’s those policies at the root of the global financial crisis of 2008.
“Some said (the 2008 financial crisis) will be the end of capitalism as we know it,” Coles said. “But capitalism continues to renew itself, and has come back with a vengeance.”
Coles likened the neo-liberal economic policies of the Thatcher, Reagan and Mulroney governments of the 1980s with the Harper government today, who has mounted an attack on important social programs like employment insurance and public pensions.
Coles called the federal government’s current economic agenda a “sinister attack on regulations” citing irresponsible cuts to Canadian marketing boards, environmental programs as well as massive tax giveaways to corporations.
Coles said the union movement responded to this shift in government policy-making like a “deer caught in the headlights.” He said that is what makes the New Union Project proposal so critical in forging a stronger voice for workers to challenge this dominant agenda.
“The New Union Project can bring us together, as a united force,” Coles said. “It gives us hope. It can give us power. The time is ours.”
Coles’ speech was delivered to convention delegates in the morning of August 22, prior to the debate and vote on the New Union Project proposal.

The Syrian conflict must be resolved by the Syrian people themselves

Statement of the Central Executive Committee,
Communist Party of Canada
August, 2012

The crisis in Syria continues to deepen with every passing day. Thousands have been killed or injured, including countless civilians caught in the crossfire between armed opposition groups and government forces. Thousands more have been displaced from their towns and villages and forced into internal or foreign exile by the fighting. In this very real sense, the situation has become a human and social tragedy of the first order.

But what is actually taking place in Syria? Who is really provoking the violence and prolonging the agony of the Syrian people?

The Western corporate‑controlled media would have us believe that the root cause of the conflict is the “tyrannical” government of President Bashar El‑Assad which clings to power at any price, willing to sacrifice the health and security of its own people. This “big lie” is central to the intensifying propaganda campaign to vilify El‑Assad in order to conceal the role of reactionary and clerical forces bent on destabilizing and ultimately overthrowing the current government and seizing power for themselves. And if necessary, this demonization campaign will be used as a pretext for imperialist military intervention and occupation to directly impose “regime change”, as was done in Iraq and most recently in Libya.

The global media offensive against Syria is only one aspect of a multi‑faceted imperialist strategy to crush (and possibly dismember) the Syrian state. The broader objective is to fashion a “New Middle East” of weak and pliant Arab states under the domination of U.S. and European imperialist powers and their local gendarme in the region, the expansionist state of Israel. This would guarantee unfettered access to the petroleum and other natural resources of the region, and extend imperialist geopolitical hegemony into the “underbelly” of Asia, further encircling both the Russian Federation and China.

Undermining the Syrian state is pivotal in achieving this imperialist ambition. Due to its central location in the region, its secular character and socially progressive policy orientation, and its firm solidarity with the just struggle of the Palestinian people and its opposition to the expansionist policies of Zionist Israel, Syria has long been in the cross‑hairs of U.S. imperialism. For their own reasons, reactionary Arab regimes – especially Saudi Arabia and Qatar – as well as Turkey are also anxious to weaken and crush Syria.

“Regime change” in Damascus and its replacement with a more pliant, pro‑imperialist regime would compound this catastrophe for the Syrian people. It would also dramatically alter the regional balance of forces, weakening the anti‑imperialist forces, and serving as a prelude – and launching pad – for NATO/Israeli aggression against neighbouring Iran, the most powerful state in the region.

When anti‑government protests erupted in Syria last year, U.S. imperialism and its local and regional backers seized the opportunity to launch its “tried and true” destabilization campaign, using popular discontent (and the at times crude methods used by local Syrian officials to quell the protests) as a cover to move into action. Many Syrians were justifiably angry at the impact of neoliberal “reforms” which weakened national production, increased unemployment, and widened social and economic disparities between the mass of working people and national and foreign capitalists, aided by weak, misguided and sometimes corrupt government officials.

But legitimate opposition voices were quickly either co‑opted or shunted aside by hardcore, heavily foreign‑financed and armed gangs determined to make Syria ungovernable. Terrorist attacks to spur further government crackdowns, sectarian violence to incite distrust and enmity between the Sunni majority and the Alawite and other minorities, the smuggling of heavy weapons and even mercenaries from abroad, and finally open calls for direct foreign intervention in violation of Syria’s national sovereignty – this has been the orchestrated game plan carried out by the “internal opposition”. The extent of foreign covert intervention already evident in the conflict proves that this is not a “civil war” but rather a highly coordinated imperialist conspiracy against Syria.

The misnamed “Friends of Syria” – the cabal of U.S. and other imperialist powers, the reactionary and despotic Arab regimes, and the counter‑revolutionary Syrian National Council – have dismissed every attempt of the Assad government to dialogue with the “opposition”, to achieve a ceasefire under the Kofi Annan peace plan, or to introduce constitutional reforms ending the state of emergency and opening the way for more open parliamentary elections. Instead, they have forced through several rounds of anti-Syrian sanctions at the UN Security Council, and have denounced Russia and China for vetoing strident and dangerous resolutions which would have given a green light for foreign imperialist aggression under the sanction of the United Nations, as was done in March 2011 against Libya.

The Harper government has played a particularly despicable role in this sordid affair, beating the drums for sanctions and war on Syria. Unfortunately, the main opposition parties in Canada’s parliament – the Liberals and NDP – have done little better. Indeed, all three parties have thrown in their lot with the imperialist conspiracy against Syria, arguing in favour of “humanitarian interventionism” and the “responsibility to protect” (R2P) as a justification for yet another aggression.

The Communist Party of Canada fundamentally rejects the building war frenzy over Syria and Iran, and warns that such military adventurism could well lead to a dangerous conflagration throughout the Middle East region, and beyond. We call for:
·        full respect of Syrian national sovereignty and independence;
·        the removal of sanctions; an immediate halt to all covert financial and military support to the Free Syrian Army and other armed groups inside Syria; and
·        the renunciation of a military “solution” in favour of a ceasefire by all combatants and a comprehensive national dialogue to restore peace to that troubled country.

Quebec heads to crucial vote

Marianne Breton Fontaine, leader of the
Young Communist League of Quebec,
is running for Quebec Solidaire

A shorter version of this article by J. Boyden will be published in the September issue of People's Voice newspaper.

As Québec approaches a crucial election on September 4, the majority of students have decided to halt their long‑lasting strike mobilization that helped trigger the vote.

     About 60,000 students remain on strike according to the militant student union la CLASSE (as of Aug. 21). Most strike votes saw long and intense debates about strategy and tactics. On most campuses, between twenty and forty per cent of students supported continued strike action.  The student's are expected to come back to the question after the election.

     In explaining the vote, the CLASSE pointed to the intense pressure faced by students. Repressive Bill 78 is now Law 12, which bans any kind of strike action (even symbolic) imposing harsh fines both on students, their unions, teachers, and post‑secondary institutions that don't obey the law. Many schools told students that if they voted for a continued strike everyone would receive a failing grade for the semester.

And it seems that this threat is now very real. The 60,000 students who have voted to continue the strike may have their session canceled.

Election battle in full swing

     There is also concern that continued strike action might backfire and actually help the Charest Liberals' "law and order" platform. Polls indicate the Liberals' major challenge is from the pro‑business Parti Québécois (PQ) headed by Pauline Marois. In third place is Francois Legault's ultra‑right Coalition for Québec's Future (CAQ). The main idea of that party is to put the national question on hold for ten years, and create an alliance of the right to attack labour, social movements, environmentalists and Quebec's social programmes in general.  (You can read more about these political parties on RY blog here).

     The big parties have tried to focus on economic development with Plan Nord, and the continued debate about secularism and "reasonable accommodation" (with Quebec culture and immigration) and corruption. But the pressure of the spring's massive popular student struggle refuses to go away.

QS stands out

     The progressive party most strongly identified with the cause of the students, labour and social movements is Québec Solidaire (QS). As one of its star ideas, QS would "eliminate all fees charged to students and their parents when attending any public or parapublic institutions from preschool to university" as part of social project for a progressive and more democratic Quebec.  In election debate, QS was the only party to wear the Red Square symbol of the students.

     Led by co‑spokespeople Dr. Amir Khadir (its one MNA, elected provincially in the Motnreal riding of Mercier) and feminist activist Francoise David, QS hopes to pick up seats in the vote and elect a strong block in the National Assembly. Québec Solidaire is the party with the most women candidates (62 female and 62 male; only 28.1% of all candidates in this election are women), and the party's website lists fourteen candidates who are trade unionists.

Time to stand-up!

     Their campaign slogan roughly translates as 'stand up.' The QS platform advocates many immediate demands that are similar to the policies of the Communist Party of Canada, including:

• Create a universal public drug insurance plan and "Pharma-Québec", a public pharmaceutical acquisition and production centre, and stopping privatization of health care;

• Amend anti‑scab legislation to prevent all indirect use of employees by the employer involved in a labour dispute as well as the use of production by alleged volunteers, and ban both lockouts and recourse to injunctions against picketing;

• Plant‑closure legislation, including financial penalties, forced payment of pensions, and the nationalization of solvent companies converting them to workers' cooperatives.

• Opposition to the Comprehensive Economic Trade Agreement (CETA) and the North American Free Trade Agreement;

• Reinforce and re‑establish a progressive tax system, with exceptions for the lowest income brackets, and introducing tax brackets for corporations, as well as reducing tax incentives and eliminating tax loop‑holes.

• Nationalize the strategic resources for which Québec has extraction and exploitation technical expertise, especially certain raw materials and energy‑related resources.

• Electoral reform including mixed‑member proportional representation.

     Broad but consistent emphasis is put on social justice and equity issues. The QS platform calls to create 40,000 new childcare spaces, shifting private facilities into the public sector, and expanding the hours during which childcare centres operate, to support parents working in non‑standard jobs.

     QS calls for the Québec National Assembly to pass and apply, without conditions, the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

     The platform proposes 50,000 new universally accessible social housing units (public, cooperative, or communal), a guaranteed minimum income starting at $12,000 a year, and a universal Québec pension plan.

     A Québec Solidaire government would advocate reducing greenhouse gas emissions by at least 40% compared to 1990 levels by 2020 and by 95% by 2050. Proposals in this direction include nationalizing wind power, expanding public transit and electrifying transit, banning the exploration and production of fossil fuels (oil, shale gas) and working towards the abandonment of fossil energy consumption by 2030.

     The party calls for a food sovereignty policy that will favour sustainable development of resources, and protect access to clean water as a social right.

Star candidates
   
    The party has attracted some controversy throughout the campaign. Former Federal Bloc leader Gilles Ducept launched into a vicious personal attack at co-leader Amir Khadir early in the campaign.  Corporate media commentators have also seized on the fact that in downtown Montreal the roster of QS candidates includes long-time Queer activist Manon Masse, whose poster was not air-brushed to obscure her facial hair.

   In the north of Montreal, anti-police brutality campaigner Will Prosper is also running for QS, who has attracted attention beyond Quebec for his outspoken criticism of racial profiling and the police murder of unarmed Honduran-Quebec youth Fredy Villanueva.

   Other star candidates in Montreal include Alexandre Leduc in Hochelaga-Maisonneuve, a former student activist and organizer with the FTQ trade union central, and leftist anti-poverty activist and Chilean-Quebeker Andrés Fontecilla who is runing in Laurier-Dorion.

QS, the PCQ and the future of Quebec

    Like the Communist Party, the QS calls to strengthen enforcement of the Charter of the French Language (Loi 101) in all work environments, countering the current direction of increasing exceptions to this law that have allowed a growing number of workplace orders to be again given in English.

     QS has a somewhat concurrent but different emphasis and vision from the CPC when it comes to the question of Québec's future.  The relationship between the two parties goes back to the ancestor of QS, the Union of Progressive Forces (UFP). The UFP was formed following the major anti-globalization protests in Quebec City, as a coalition of several left groups including the PCQ.

     In the long-term, QS calls for a society that moves 'beyond capitalism.'  While this ambiguous phrase is not prominent on the QS website, the campaign is talking about the current experience of Bolivia, Venezuela and Latin America in general as an example of social transformation for Quebec.

    In its interventions about this question, the Communist Party of Quebec (PCQ) has similarly called for QS to develop further towards a united front of labour and social movements around the most advanced and broad left-progressive basis of unity possible -- ie. a democratic, anti-monopoly and anti-imperialist platform, rather than socialism.  The clear orientation of the PCQ is towards socialism and it supports QS as the most helpful within the current context.

   As a founding member of the UFP and QS, the PCQ's approach is also not the same as so-called "enterism" where a radical left group (especially a Trotskist grouping) will join a social democratic political party in order to split that formation and win a large pro-socialist organization. The PCQ views QS in a very different strategic framework of a united front at the present juncture, based on its evaluation of the class struggle in Quebec.

Quebec independence

     The Communist Party of Quebec also has a long history of defending Québec's right, as a nation in Canada, to sovereignty and self‑determination, up to and including the right of separation. (You can read the programme of the Communist Party here). The PCQ proposes a new equal partnership of the Aboriginal peoples, Québec and English-speaking Canada in a confederal republic, with a new constitution enshrining the right to sovereignty.

     Like the PCQ, Quebec Solidaire also rejects the status‑quo of federalism and proposes a strategy that is more or less complimentary: an elected constituent assembly to be convened so that Québec would democratically decide its own future and draft a new constitution:

Québec solidaire recognizes the Quebecers’ right to choose its institutions and its political status. [...] The Constituent Assembly will: be elected by universal franchise, made up of an equal number of women and men and representative of tendencies, different socio-economic backgrounds, and the cultural diversity present in Québec society; conduct a far-reaching, participatory democratic process to consult the population of Québec on: the values, rights, and principles upon which community life should be based; the political status of Québec; the definition of its institutions; heir delegated powers, responsibilities, and resources; develop, from the outcome of the consultation, one or more proposals which will be put to the population in a referendum.

     However, like the majority of the left in Québec (but not the PCQ), QS sees the process of sovereignty as a road to independence. It's platform makes it clear that "Throughout the process, Québec solidaire will advocate for creating a sovereign Quebec state, without assuming what the outcome of the debates will be."

    The line between these two formulations -- summarized by leader Amir Khadir in a phrase that translates as "[QS thinks] indepedance is necessary, but [the result of the process we propose will] not necessarily [be] independence" -- may seem very thin or academic to out-of-province political observers. But within Quebec, this issue is explosive. The fact that QS claims to be a pro-sovereignty party and yet also wants to initiate a process that might not lead to separation (and instead a fundamentally different yet united relationship with Canada) has resulted in polemical denunciations from other nationalist forces like L'Aut' Journal.

     More than in previous campaigns, QS sometimes comes close to putting independence as an objective in itself, which is the approach of the Parti Québécois -- demanding seperation not as a way to social progress (which is the QS' stated policy) but as a means to an end. The platform says QS "will set in motion from the day it takes office a constituent assembly process" and in the televised debates, Françoise David tried to put the leader of the PQ on the spot, asking her when a referendum would take place. QS is clear, she said, that the ball will be set into motion within their first year.

     But is that the main priority task? The PCQ positively views the continued split of the nationalist camp away from the big business PQ and behind a sort of people's agenda of social demands. Placing greater emphasis on such struggle will help develop class consciousnesses that could convince people to understand the national project in a different framework of class solidarity and unity.

    While agreeing that the sovereignty of Quebec is a fundamental question that must be addressed and solved, the PCQ puts much greater immediate priority on uniting all the people of Quebec to confront and reverse the "class war" being waged by the capitalists against the people.  The PCQ also points out the serious danger to both Québec and English-speaking Canada from US imperialism that comes with the path of recognizing sovereignty through Independence, and instead calls for an equal and voluntary partnership of the working class and its allies in both Québec and English‑speaking Canada, united in the struggle for social transformation against our common enemy -- big business.

    Despite this difference, the choice for those looking for a strong left party is clear. (The QS program is available in English here.)


Option nationale

     Another party presenting a left-sounding platform is Option nationale (ON), which currently holds one seat in the Quebec National Assembly. ON is a dissident split from the PQ, and likely believes that PQ is on the edge of break-up -- which could be true if that party fails again to win another election. ON broke from the PQ in order to advance a more immediate and assertive trajectory towards Quebec independence than the PQ is currently prepared to take, and waits in the wings to succeed as the true party of separation.

     ON's platform is arguably a cheap copy and paste job from Quebec Solidaire, hoping to attract young voters who are pro-independence. The party is calling for nationalization of natural resources, free education (from kindergarten to PhD), abolition of nuclear energy in Quebec, a moratorium on shale gas operations, Pharma Quebec (a new crown corporation which will aim to reduce pharmaceutical costs in Quebec), construction of a monorail electric suspended between cities, and implementation of proportional representation in Quebec.

     ON's generally progressive rhetoric most likely reflects an opportunist sentiment. The main social basis of support for a "fast-lane" strategy of independence is from left-leaning voters.  While ON advocates for a pro-independence coalition government, it has vigorously attacked QS at the same time for its strategy stating that "All political programmes corresponding with the interests of Quebec will never be fully realized in the Canadian context. For us, independence is not maybe necessary, it is essential."

    This has left more than a few political observers wondering that if the ruling class had wanted to invent a rival party to split the QS vote, could they have done better? In fact, ON is headed by Jean-Martin Aussant a former PQ Member of the National Assembly (MNA) who is worked as a vice-president of Morgan Stanley Capital International in London, England. As an PQ MNA, Aussant was finance critic  -- a difficult position from which to jump into "left field."

Restrictions on "Third Parties"

     Québec`s election law severely restricts interventions by organizations not officially registered as so-called "third parties." The Liberals have demanded investigation of student groups. One blogger has been forced to take down her site because it was critical of the ruling party, and a labour union central has removed videos critical of the Liberals.

     The Communist Party of Québec (PCQ) is also in this position. The PCQ has issued a statement critically examining the flaws of strategic voting and the connection between electoral struggle and struggle on the streets.

     Marianne Breton Fontaine, who ran for the Communist Party of Canada in the last federal election, is a candidate under the Québec Solidaire banner in Acadie. This riding is currently held by the Liberal Minister of Culture who waded into the student struggle last spring, accusing a famous soft‑spoken Québec storyteller of endorsing "violence and terrorism" by wearing the red square.

The workers in the “Greek Steelworks” plant destroyed the plans of the employer and continue fighting using other forms of struggle.

Aspropyrgos, Steelworks plant, Monday 30/7, 9:05 a.m.

The Greek steelworkers entered the main gate of the plant to work following a 9-month strike (272 days). They conducted a rally, lifted their fists and held carnations in their hands. They implemented the decision of their 20th General Assembly, which took place on Saturday. The assembly stated that they will resume work and continue their struggle using other forms.

Thus, they once again destroyed the plans of the industrialist Manesis, who made it clear that he wished for the degradation of the strike and the dismantling of the trade union. In this he was fully supported by the government, which put at the industrialist’s service the state repression machine.

The strikers, along with all the members of the trade union board of the “Greek Steelworks” headed by the president of the trade union Giorgos Sifonios, entered the gate in a coordinated and organized manner as true winners of the 9-month strike.

Prior to this the employer posed outrageous offensive demands, using the riot police forces. He demanded that the workers entered the factory one by one, showing to the police their identity cards and wait for the permission of the employer to enter the territory of the factory. The decisiveness of the steelworkers forced the employer to yield.

The riot police forces as well as the remaining police forces were withdrawn and the workers entered the factory on their own and headed to their posts applauded and cheered by those present: “this 9-month strike will not be forgotten”, “The steel is hardened by blood and sweat, the steelworkers will not surrender”, “struggle, rupture, overthrow, the steelworkers lead the way”.

The proposal to suspend the strike and continue fighting by using other forms of struggle was posed unanimously by the board of the trade union. It was presented by the president of the board, Giorgos Sifonios and adopted by the vast majority of the assembly.

The report stated:

“272 days ago, when Manesis blackmailed us forcing us to choose either a 5 hour workday or 180 dismissals we held an assembly and unanimously decided to go on strike. We did what every honest worker who esteems himself and his class should do. None of us could foretell then that we set upon a struggle that would come to be one of the brightest of the labour movement of our country and internationally, that would become a benchmark. (…) In conclusion, we would never have managed this, if we did not tame our fear, if we did not fight unitary and decisively.

Our action was rich. We organized 20 General Assemblies of the Union, where we collectively assessed the situation and decided upon our next steps. Alongside the trade union board we formed committees helping to lift the level of organization, the safeguarding, the propaganda and the solidarity. All the members of our families participated in the struggle, both women and children. We addressed the working class, the toiling people and asked them to support our struggle. We fueled an unprecedented solidarity movement from every corner of Greece and from many countries worldwide. We organized more than 50 activities, meetings, concerts, book presentations, activities for children and women in front of the plant. We celebrated together Christmas, the New Year’s Eve, Carnival and Easter. Through our struggle we became “one family”, as workers should be. Thousands of workers came to the gates of the “Greek Steelworks” factory, young people, pensioners, pupils, students, workers from all over the world. Our strike became a school of class education and awakening. Our struggle crossed the gates of the “Greek Steelworks” factory and reached the whole world. We addressed tens of factories in Attica and other cities. All over Greece as well as in tens of cities abroad there were held hundreds of meetings and solidarity actions. We initiated the organization of a series of solidarity strikes in the broader region of the plant, Thriasio, in Attica, in Volos (the region of the other two plants of the group of “Greek Steelworks”) in order to better organize the resistance of the workers at workplaces. Our strike inspired workers, youth and students to struggle. We have received hundreds of touching solidarity letters sent to us by pupils. Poems and songs were written about us and it is certain that much more will be written in the future. People will read about our struggle, they will discuss it and sing about it years to come.

Its rich experience and conclusions will be used in future struggles. This is why its input is vast. There are people that are well-meaning and others that are prejudiced who raise the question: “What is the outcome of this struggle?”, “What have steelworkers gained, since their demands were not satisfied?”. We say: “The answer is simple”. No past struggle nor future ones had or will have guaranteed results, there can be no impeccable calculation of the odds. There are no such struggles in life. They merely exist such in the minds of the bureaucrats, those who have settled those who are scared and those who compromise.

The outcome of a struggle is not judged merely by the material gains. There are struggles resulting in much more than those, since they pave the way for the next steps, for the next struggles of the working class as a whole. They significantly contribute to the general awakening, to the repulse of terrorism, they become benchmarks. Such is the strike of the steelworkers and we should evaluate it as such. This is how all the workers think of it and this is why they have considered us already as winners.

What have we achieved through our struggle? Our struggle put in the forefront the strength and the value of the united class struggle, the greatness and the strength of workers’ solidarity. It showed the merits and the good traditions of the labour and people’s movements of our country, as well as the steel, disciplined, vanguard characteristics of industrial workers. It tamed the fear, the audacity of the employers, it stroke a blow against fatalism and moaning. It caused a severe blow to the so-called realism, the compromised stance of the employer-led and government trade unionism, to the so called social dialogue. It demonstrated vividly who produce the wealth and who steal it.

At the gate of the “Greek Steelworks” factory the clash of the two opposing classes, of the two opposing worlds and civilizations was vividly demonstrated. On the one hand the class of Manesis, with its government, its state and judicial system, its means of propaganda and its people in trade unions. On the other hand the steelworkers, their class, the solidarity and support of the class labour movement and its allies.

None of our opponents nor Manesis, nor the government, nor the employer-led and government trade unionism expected us to be as strong. They underestimated us, they thought we were inferior, frightened, submissive and they have been totally proven wrong. They also tried to discredit the efforts of thousands of workers to support our struggle materially by saying that “we get paid to strike”. They tried to name bribing the workers’ solidarity offers, collected from the meager means of the working class in order for us and our families to be able to withstand. They failed, because our great struggle cannot be slandered. We have prevailed, such is our conclusion! We have prevailed because we were right and united. They did not manage to divide us, no matter how hard they have tried, because we worked based on the principle “one for all, all for one”. Because we fought and at the same time safeguarded our struggle.

It has been proven in the best way who produces the wealth and whose hands hold the power, “without us no cog can turn”…

We have achieved something that 9 months ago would have seemed unbelievable. Workers went on strike for 9 month in order for their colleagues not to be laid off. The laid off workers went on strike for 9 months in order to be reinstated at work. That has never happened before. Finally, the opponent did not manage to beat us and was forced to shed the mask of “democracy and dialogue, to shed the sheepskin” and show his real face, the face of a tyrant, of an enemy of the workers. They were forced to put aside all the pretexts and resort to their final weapon, the repressive mechanisms. Today this weapon exceeds our forces.

All the state apparatus, the government, the parties of the capital, the class judicial system, the mass media, tens of riot police forces’ buses, tens of police cars and hundreds of secret police officers were coordinated in order to protect their boss, Manesis and to strike a blow against their enemies, the workers strikers. They assaulted us who feed them with our sweat all these years.

Manesis will soon bring back to the table the demands to change the working hours and the salaries that are defined by our collective agreement. He has withdrawn them temporarily due to the strike. The opponent knows this. They know that the struggle will not stop along with the strike. He takes measures in order to face us in the time to come.

We can deal with the new situation as we have dealt with the rest of the hard turns of our struggle. United, collectively and led by the board of our trade union. The opponent tries to prevent this in order to act freely in the future. Taking into account the new situation and the need to continue struggling in an organized and coordinated manner the board of the trade union proposes the suspension of this form of struggle.

We return to work by our own decision and will, in an organized, coordinated manner, holding our heads high. We rely on our tested trade union and continue by using different forms of struggle. We will continue fighting for the satisfaction of our demands. In order our 40 dismissed colleagues to be immediately rehired and the rest of our colleagues to be reinstated in due course. Until then no other people apart from our dismissed colleagues should be hired. All together the board, the women’s committee, the committee of dismissed colleagues we continue fighting around issues concerning the loans of our colleagues from banks, our unpaid bills, our problems to have access to medicines, healthcare services and more. We are vigilant and ready to react immediately and to struggle, in case the employer demands once again a change in the working hours and salaries. We will use all our means in order to investigate the reported existence of radioactive materials which use the “Greek Steelworks” as was revealed recently in Volos plant of “Greek Steelworks”. We will use all legal means in order to solve these issues.

We thank from the bottom of our hearts all the workers in Greece and all over the world who for 9 months supported our struggle morally and materially. We would especially like to thank PAME (All Workers’ Militant Front) that helped us throughout our struggle, day and night, and will continue supporting us in the future. It supported in practice all our decisions and initiatives, it spread the message of the heroic steelworkers all over Greece and across the world. This is why the opponent slanders it and fights it on a daily basis.

It turned out that we became the vanguard of the struggle. But we are not flying into clouds, since we understand that a small fraction of the working class, as we are, cannot fight all the state apparatus and drastically change the situation, if all the working class will not follow the path of the steelworkers, if the overall political balance of forces in the working class movement does not change.

Dear Colleagues,

Already, our struggle has made a great contribution. Our children will hold their heads high and will be proud that their fathers and mothers fulfilled their duty. They did not surrender; they disregarded the intimidation and threats of the employer. They did not bow their head down and struggled for a better future for their children. The next generations will admire our struggle and talk about it, it will inspire them as an example. We return to work with our head held high and continue fighting for the satisfaction of our demands, using other forms of struggle.

Long live the heroic struggle of the steelworkers!

Long live the working class!

Long live the workers’ solidarity!

The struggle will continue till the final victory!”

In its statement the Executive Secretariat of PAME underlines that: “the seeds that the steelworkers have planted will blossom in future struggles that will spring in the time to come, as a new storm of anti-labour measures is approaching. Each moment of this nine month struggle was an important lesson for the working class, it enabled it to come up to useful conclusions concerning class struggle.

It taught heroism and self-sacrifice! It showed the nature of class solidarity! It revealed the content of the multi-level confrontation! It showcased the necessity of the organized struggle! It revealed the unceasing struggle between capital and waged labour. The struggle of the steelworkers temporarily stopped the implementation of the general plans of the industrialists. The strike begun at a time when in the drawers of a series of factories lay orders to impose employment by rotation with flexible shifts and other general measures. It proved that only class struggle, confrontation with the employers, the government and the imperialist organizations can lead to such struggle. The struggle of steelworkers challenged the so called realism of the employer-led and government trade unionism. In these conditions it pressed employer-led Federations and Labour centres to call for strikes and work stoppages. We are proud of the steelworkers and those who supported them. The fist that they held high for nine months represents the strength of the forthcoming struggles. The General Assembly of the steelworkers’ trade union deemed that the time has come to conclude this great strike.

Those who pretended to be fighters and who tried to extinguish the radical spirit in the workers’ consciousness tried all this time to find blemishes in the strike, they tried to isolate and slander the steelworkers’ trade union. Now they try to present themselves as Christ’s prophets and critics. However, the struggle is not a clock that ticks and tells you what will become in the next second.

The struggle of the steelworkers showed that when the working class decides to stand tall, the cogs of exploitation cease to turn. When the furnace remains cold, each and every Manesis becomes “a null”. The struggle showed the incessant and hidden power of the workers that is revealed when they believe in their strength and decide to start a confrontation. Life itself has placed this struggle amongst the bright and hard class battles. It is a pebble in the incessant struggle of workers against their exploiters” concludes PAME’s statement.

Appeal for solidarity from Sudan

On Wednesday evening the 4th of July 2012 the major opposition political parties which include the Umma Party and the SCP, have signed the political document entitled the "Democratic Alternative". The signing took place on the twenth day of the continuous mass demonstrations against the rule of Albashir regime. These peaceful demonstrations which engulfed the main cities and towns of the country are being met with the most cruel repressive measures, wide spread detention, terrible torture to those detained, denial of medical treatment and beatings. Despite all this the demonstrators continue to defy the security repression and fill the streets. Yesterday Khartoum University students took to the streets for the upteenth time.

The journalist, members of the Journalist democratic network, demonstrated in their hundreds in front of the UN human rights building, demanding an end to security harassment, intervention and respect of freedom of expression and release of detained journalists. It worth mentioning that the security forces have released two female Egyptian journalists and deported them back to Egypt.

Lawyers, in their hundreds, have picketed the ministry of Justice demanding the respect of the constitution, fair trials to the demonstrators, better and more humane conditions for those arrested including the right to see doctors and defence lawyers and release of all political prisoners and detainees. It is clear that the demonstrations which have started as protest against rising prices and the austerity measures, is gradually taking a different shape with new forces joining the protest movement and more political demands are coming to the fore. The slongan demanding the overthrow of the regime is the main demand of the people.

In response to the ongoing demonstrations and the growing struggles of the Sudanese people, the document on the "Democratic Alternative" was signed. The document calls for a transitional period during which the country is ruled under a special Constitutional Declaration, beginning with the establishment of national unity government and finishing with the organisation of fare, free and honest elections. Furthermore the document called for the separation of religion from the state, and prohibited the exploitation of religion for political purposes and it is use in the political struggle so as to foster stability and social peace. The document defined the tactics to overthrow the regime through strike, peaceful demonstrations, occupation, civil disobedience and people revolution.

The different political forces have agreed to continue the struggle till final victory, stressing that there is no way for talks with the regime.

The main challenge now is to transform the document into a people’s manifesto that can help to bring all opposition forces together in the final push against the regime. The Sudanese Communist Party, which have signed the document, wishes to stress that adherence to the document by those who have signed, and support by other forces who are waging fierce struggle in Darfur, Southern Kordufan and the Blue Nile, as well as international solidarity will all pave the way for an end to the present regime, the sufferings of our people and the establishment of a democratic Sudan.

Long live International Solidarity.

Victory for the Sudanese people


Secretariat of the CC of the SCP