austerity &mdash; Fight Back! News https://fightbacknews.org/tag:austerity News and Views from the People's Struggle Fri, 24 Apr 2026 18:52:14 +0000 https://i.snap.as/RZCOEKyz.png austerity &mdash; Fight Back! News https://fightbacknews.org/tag:austerity Economy continues to slow even as more austerity looms https://fightbacknews.org/economy-continues-slow-even-more-austerity-looms?pk_campaign=rss-feed <![CDATA[San José, CA - On Friday, September 1, the Department of Labor’s report on the job market in August showed continued signs of cooling. Only 187,000 net new jobs were created, and the Labor Department adjusted down the new jobs for June and July by 130,000. This meant that the three month average was only 150,000 new jobs. In contrast, in the first three months of the year, employment grew on average by 312,000 jobs, so that the rate of job creation has been cut in half. !--more-- The official unemployment rate also rose in August to 3.8%, from 3.5% in July. The August rate was the highest since February of 2022, when the jobs market was still recovering from the 2020 recession. Almost all groups saw a rise in their unemployment rate, with teenagers and Asian Americans seeing the biggest increases of almost one percent. The biggest exception was for African Americans, whose unemployment rate actually fell by one-half of one percent from July to August. Government austerity, or cuts in spending, are showing up in the job markets, as all levels of government combined (federal, state and local) have only added 5000 job the last two months. More and more state and local governments, including school districts and state colleges and universities, are facing budget deficits, which means spending cuts and/or raising taxes or fees. Student loan interest starts to accrue this month, and payments are beginning in October. Last but not least, the federal government is facing a likely partial shutdown in October, as right-wing Republicans in the House of Representatives are refusing to pass any bill to continue funding. Signs of distress are also growing among working-class households. Rates of late payments are rising for credit cards and car loans, even as student loans, the biggest chunk of consumer debts, are still in payment suspension. Many retailers are reporting sagging sales. #SanJoséCA #austerity div id="sharingbuttons.io"/div]]> San José, CA – On Friday, September 1, the Department of Labor’s report on the job market in August showed continued signs of cooling. Only 187,000 net new jobs were created, and the Labor Department adjusted down the new jobs for June and July by 130,000. This meant that the three month average was only 150,000 new jobs. In contrast, in the first three months of the year, employment grew on average by 312,000 jobs, so that the rate of job creation has been cut in half.

The official unemployment rate also rose in August to 3.8%, from 3.5% in July. The August rate was the highest since February of 2022, when the jobs market was still recovering from the 2020 recession. Almost all groups saw a rise in their unemployment rate, with teenagers and Asian Americans seeing the biggest increases of almost one percent. The biggest exception was for African Americans, whose unemployment rate actually fell by one-half of one percent from July to August.

Government austerity, or cuts in spending, are showing up in the job markets, as all levels of government combined (federal, state and local) have only added 5000 job the last two months. More and more state and local governments, including school districts and state colleges and universities, are facing budget deficits, which means spending cuts and/or raising taxes or fees. Student loan interest starts to accrue this month, and payments are beginning in October. Last but not least, the federal government is facing a likely partial shutdown in October, as right-wing Republicans in the House of Representatives are refusing to pass any bill to continue funding.

Signs of distress are also growing among working-class households. Rates of late payments are rising for credit cards and car loans, even as student loans, the biggest chunk of consumer debts, are still in payment suspension. Many retailers are reporting sagging sales.

#SanJoséCA #austerity

]]> https://fightbacknews.org/economy-continues-slow-even-more-austerity-looms Sun, 03 Sep 2023 17:45:57 +0000 Social Security report leads to more calls for cuts https://fightbacknews.org/social-security-report-leads-more-calls-cuts?pk_campaign=rss-feed <![CDATA[San José, CA - On April 21, the Trustees of Social Security and Medicare released their annual report. The report includes a projection that the Social Security benefits will be greater than income next year for the first time since 1982. The Social Security trust fund, which has grown to almost $3 trillion, will start to be tapped for the first time. !--more-- The Wall Street Journal said that Social Security and Medicare “have contributed to larger deficits set to exceed $1 trillion in 2020.” This is the big lie promoted by Wall Street billionaires to try to get cuts in Social Security benefits. For more than 30 years, Social Security has brought in more than it spent, which has led to the large trust fund. In fact, Social Security has run a surplus, and made the federal government deficit smaller than it otherwise would have been. The Trump administration has already broken its campaign promise to not cut Social Security or Medicare; its budget proposal has $900 billion in cuts to these two programs over the next ten years. What none of the major or corporate newspapers mention is what happened the last time Social Security had a shortfall in the 1980s. There was no trust fund then, so the government borrowed money until it worked out a plan to raise the Social Security tax rate on workers from 5.4% to 6.2% - a 0.8% increase that was matched by employers. Today a similar tax rate increase of 1.1%, or $11 on every $1000 of income, would do the trick. This tax increase could be even smaller if the Social Security tax were made fairer. Right now, it is a regressive tax, that is, a tax that falls more heavily on lower-income taxpayers. The Social Security tax also only covers wages and salaries up to $128,400. So one way to make the Social Security tax more fair would be to lift the cap so all wages and salaries are taxed. Medicare already does this. Another way would be to have Social Security tax all other forms of income that are not currently taxed. This is would include interest, corporate dividends, business profits, rental income, or capital gains from sales of stock that mainly go to high income individuals. Either of these would reduce the need to increase the Social Security tax rate, and doing both might eliminate the need to raise the tax rate at all. Last but not least, the projected end of the Social Security trust fund is because the trustees expect immigration to fall in the coming years. While this is what Trump and the Republicans want, increasing immigration would help overcome the funding issue, as immigrants tend to pay more in Social Security taxes than they receive in benefits. Working people who rely the most on Social Security for their retirement and disability need to expose the lies of Wall Street and the politicians, including some Democrats. We need to fight any and all efforts to cut benefits. We also need to fight efforts to privatize Social Security, which would hand our retirement savings over to Wall Street. #SanJoséCA #PoorPeoplesMovements #US #PeoplesStruggles #SocialSecurity #Medicare #austerity #DonaldTrump div id="sharingbuttons.io"/div]]> San José, CA – On April 21, the Trustees of Social Security and Medicare released their annual report. The report includes a projection that the Social Security benefits will be greater than income next year for the first time since 1982. The Social Security trust fund, which has grown to almost $3 trillion, will start to be tapped for the first time.

The Wall Street Journal said that Social Security and Medicare “have contributed to larger deficits set to exceed $1 trillion in 2020.” This is the big lie promoted by Wall Street billionaires to try to get cuts in Social Security benefits. For more than 30 years, Social Security has brought in more than it spent, which has led to the large trust fund. In fact, Social Security has run a surplus, and made the federal government deficit smaller than it otherwise would have been.

The Trump administration has already broken its campaign promise to not cut Social Security or Medicare; its budget proposal has $900 billion in cuts to these two programs over the next ten years.

What none of the major or corporate newspapers mention is what happened the last time Social Security had a shortfall in the 1980s. There was no trust fund then, so the government borrowed money until it worked out a plan to raise the Social Security tax rate on workers from 5.4% to 6.2% – a 0.8% increase that was matched by employers. Today a similar tax rate increase of 1.1%, or $11 on every $1000 of income, would do the trick.

This tax increase could be even smaller if the Social Security tax were made fairer. Right now, it is a regressive tax, that is, a tax that falls more heavily on lower-income taxpayers. The Social Security tax also only covers wages and salaries up to $128,400. So one way to make the Social Security tax more fair would be to lift the cap so all wages and salaries are taxed. Medicare already does this.

Another way would be to have Social Security tax all other forms of income that are not currently taxed. This is would include interest, corporate dividends, business profits, rental income, or capital gains from sales of stock that mainly go to high income individuals.

Either of these would reduce the need to increase the Social Security tax rate, and doing both might eliminate the need to raise the tax rate at all.

Last but not least, the projected end of the Social Security trust fund is because the trustees expect immigration to fall in the coming years. While this is what Trump and the Republicans want, increasing immigration would help overcome the funding issue, as immigrants tend to pay more in Social Security taxes than they receive in benefits.

Working people who rely the most on Social Security for their retirement and disability need to expose the lies of Wall Street and the politicians, including some Democrats. We need to fight any and all efforts to cut benefits. We also need to fight efforts to privatize Social Security, which would hand our retirement savings over to Wall Street.

#SanJoséCA #PoorPeoplesMovements #US #PeoplesStruggles #SocialSecurity #Medicare #austerity #DonaldTrump

]]> https://fightbacknews.org/social-security-report-leads-more-calls-cuts Wed, 24 Apr 2019 18:41:13 +0000 French workers strike against austerity https://fightbacknews.org/french-workers-strike-against-austerity?pk_campaign=rss-feed <![CDATA[Washington, D.C. – Ongoing strikes by workers against proposed austerity measures, which would strip workers’ pay and protections, are disrupting France’s economy. Workers have been engaged in strike activity for weeks now as labor unions in the French rail, subway and airport transit, maritime transport, nuclear power, and fuel depot and refinery industries issue calls for work stoppages. !--more-- The strikes have reduced production and impacted the broader French economy. According to a May 26 article in the Telegraph, half of France’s petrol stations are completely or partially out of fuel and output has been cut at 16 nuclear power plants. Bloomberg reports that 15% of flights at Orly airport in Paris have been canceled and delays are expected at Charles de Gaulle airport. A key business federation representing small and medium-sized companies said that 58% of its members are struggling to make deliveries and 47% are having trouble getting supplied. Many unions are planning to further expand the strike activity starting on June 2. The strikes come after months of mass anti-austerity protests known as Nuit Debout or “arise at night.” The Nuit Debout movement is often compared to Occupy Wall Street and uses the occupation of public squares as a tactic to advance its demands, which include the withdrawal of the austerity labor bill. According to Jacobin magazine, the Nuit Debout mass waves of protest have stormed France ever since the Socialist Party government of Francois Hollande introduced the proposed ‘reform’ of the French labor code, which amounts to austerity. Some of the protests have been extremely large for a country with a population of just 66 million. Approximately 500,000 people engaged in a national day of action on March 9; more than 1 million joined trade union demonstrations on March 31. Hollande’s government pushes austerity for workers The recent attack on French workers comes under the guise of labor ‘reform.’ But what the ruling French Socialist Party calls reform, workers recognize as just more austerity. A review of the main points of the labor austerity bill as identified by BBC News demonstrates that the proposed bill weakens the 35-hour workweek; grants employers greater ability to cut worker pay; reduces layoff protections for workers; and deregulates special leave standards, such as those for maternity leave. French labor unions are also alarmed at the fact that the austerity measure threatens industry standards by granting individual firms greater power to negotiate directly with their employees on pay and conditions, thus avoiding sector-wide standards set by unions. Unsurprisingly, it is this oft-overlooked part of the austerity bill, known as Article 2, that most reduces union leverage and that the government of Francois Hollande says is non-negotiable. The anti-labor measures in France represent just one part of the global austerity agenda of the ruling classes during the present period. The 2007-08 global financial crisis and corresponding economic recession caused massive unemployment and home foreclosures for the working class in many countries. Yet government leaders in capitalist countries did not respond with massive jobs programs or social investment. And they certainly did not offer a critique of capitalism itself, even though capitalism is to blame for the widespread suffering of workers around the world. Instead, capitalist governments offered two different medicines, one for capitalist banks and big business, and the other one for workers. Banking and other preferred industries (such as the automotive industry in the U.S.) receive corporate welfare in the form of massive bailouts. Workers get austerity in the form of cuts to education and other public services, reduced retirement benefits, cuts to food stamps and other welfare programs, restrictions on the rights of organized labor, privatization or outright elimination of government jobs, and regressive tax increases, such as the 2013 increase in the U.S. payroll tax, all to pay for the corporate and bank bailouts. This agenda of bailouts for capitalists on the one hand and austerity for workers on the other is not new and it has played itself out in country after country. The workers’ movements in countries with strong left parties and labor organizations, such as France and Greece, organize mass resistance to austerity. In the U.S., organized labor and the broader left struggle to find their footing in leading a mass and prolonged struggle independent of the Democratic Party bosses who are complicit in the austerity agenda. The emergence of vocal and visible economic movements in the U.S. following the Great Recession, such as Occupy Wall Street and the Fight for $15, show that the popular will exists to fight back if it can just be tapped and led in a coordinated way. French resistance offers lessons to U.S. labor movement The strikes and mass protests in France have been spearheaded in large part by that country’s main trade union federation - the General Confederation of Labor (CGT) - and Solidaires Unitaires Démocratiques (SUD). The CGT union has it roots in the French Communist Party (PCF), but disaffiliated with the PCF in the 1990s. SUD is a radical union federation that emphasizes social justice unionism and has close ties to the New Anticapitalist Party. While the CGT has been accused of moderating its program since severing ties with the PCF, it still carries out militant actions, especially by U.S. standards, and has a vocal, militant rank and file that is often successful in pushing the union’s leadership to the left on key issues. It is important to note that what makes unions like CGT and SUD strong, and often successful, in leading anti-austerity battles is militancy in shutting down production and mobilizing in the streets, not size. France has lower union density than the U.S. As the Economist points out in a March 2014 article, less than 8% of French workers belong to a trade union, down from a high of about 30% in the 1950s. That figure is below the unionization rate of Britain (26%), Germany (18%), and the U.S. (11%). What sets French unions apart is their militancy, not their density. This militancy stands in stark contrast to the orientation of most U.S. trade union leaders, where some combination of Democratic Party politicking, social justice unionism, and new organizing for union industry density substitute for a sustained strike strategy. Some of the more active labor unions in the U.S. fetishize new organizing as the savior of the U.S. labor movement. These labor unions rightly point out that as U.S. union density has declined since its peak rate of over 33% in 1945, the share of income going to the top 10% has skyrocketed. However, they fail to account for one other important feature of the trade union movement that has declined in this country over this same period of time - the strike. There is nothing wrong with social justice unionism and new organizing to build density. These are progressive moves, but they do not have the same strategic value as withholding labor through a sustained strike, which by itself can stop production, curb the ruling class, force concessions and so much more. A militant rank-and-file minority is needed in this country to push labor union leaders to adopt a militant strike orientation, much the same as rank-and-file members in France’s CGT have forced that union’s leadership into the leadership of an anti-austerity fight. #WashingtonDC #austerity #NuitDebout div id="sharingbuttons.io"/div]]> Washington, D.C. – Ongoing strikes by workers against proposed austerity measures, which would strip workers’ pay and protections, are disrupting France’s economy. Workers have been engaged in strike activity for weeks now as labor unions in the French rail, subway and airport transit, maritime transport, nuclear power, and fuel depot and refinery industries issue calls for work stoppages.

The strikes have reduced production and impacted the broader French economy. According to a May 26 article in the Telegraph, half of France’s petrol stations are completely or partially out of fuel and output has been cut at 16 nuclear power plants.

Bloomberg reports that 15% of flights at Orly airport in Paris have been canceled and delays are expected at Charles de Gaulle airport. A key business federation representing small and medium-sized companies said that 58% of its members are struggling to make deliveries and 47% are having trouble getting supplied.

Many unions are planning to further expand the strike activity starting on June 2. The strikes come after months of mass anti-austerity protests known as Nuit Debout or “arise at night.” The Nuit Debout movement is often compared to Occupy Wall Street and uses the occupation of public squares as a tactic to advance its demands, which include the withdrawal of the austerity labor bill.

According to Jacobin magazine, the Nuit Debout mass waves of protest have stormed France ever since the Socialist Party government of Francois Hollande introduced the proposed ‘reform’ of the French labor code, which amounts to austerity. Some of the protests have been extremely large for a country with a population of just 66 million. Approximately 500,000 people engaged in a national day of action on March 9; more than 1 million joined trade union demonstrations on March 31.

Hollande’s government pushes austerity for workers

The recent attack on French workers comes under the guise of labor ‘reform.’ But what the ruling French Socialist Party calls reform, workers recognize as just more austerity. A review of the main points of the labor austerity bill as identified by BBC News demonstrates that the proposed bill weakens the 35-hour workweek; grants employers greater ability to cut worker pay; reduces layoff protections for workers; and deregulates special leave standards, such as those for maternity leave.

French labor unions are also alarmed at the fact that the austerity measure threatens industry standards by granting individual firms greater power to negotiate directly with their employees on pay and conditions, thus avoiding sector-wide standards set by unions. Unsurprisingly, it is this oft-overlooked part of the austerity bill, known as Article 2, that most reduces union leverage and that the government of Francois Hollande says is non-negotiable.

The anti-labor measures in France represent just one part of the global austerity agenda of the ruling classes during the present period. The 2007-08 global financial crisis and corresponding economic recession caused massive unemployment and home foreclosures for the working class in many countries. Yet government leaders in capitalist countries did not respond with massive jobs programs or social investment. And they certainly did not offer a critique of capitalism itself, even though capitalism is to blame for the widespread suffering of workers around the world.

Instead, capitalist governments offered two different medicines, one for capitalist banks and big business, and the other one for workers. Banking and other preferred industries (such as the automotive industry in the U.S.) receive corporate welfare in the form of massive bailouts. Workers get austerity in the form of cuts to education and other public services, reduced retirement benefits, cuts to food stamps and other welfare programs, restrictions on the rights of organized labor, privatization or outright elimination of government jobs, and regressive tax increases, such as the 2013 increase in the U.S. payroll tax, all to pay for the corporate and bank bailouts.

This agenda of bailouts for capitalists on the one hand and austerity for workers on the other is not new and it has played itself out in country after country. The workers’ movements in countries with strong left parties and labor organizations, such as France and Greece, organize mass resistance to austerity.

In the U.S., organized labor and the broader left struggle to find their footing in leading a mass and prolonged struggle independent of the Democratic Party bosses who are complicit in the austerity agenda. The emergence of vocal and visible economic movements in the U.S. following the Great Recession, such as Occupy Wall Street and the Fight for $15, show that the popular will exists to fight back if it can just be tapped and led in a coordinated way.

French resistance offers lessons to U.S. labor movement

The strikes and mass protests in France have been spearheaded in large part by that country’s main trade union federation – the General Confederation of Labor (CGT) – and Solidaires Unitaires Démocratiques (SUD). The CGT union has it roots in the French Communist Party (PCF), but disaffiliated with the PCF in the 1990s. SUD is a radical union federation that emphasizes social justice unionism and has close ties to the New Anticapitalist Party.

While the CGT has been accused of moderating its program since severing ties with the PCF, it still carries out militant actions, especially by U.S. standards, and has a vocal, militant rank and file that is often successful in pushing the union’s leadership to the left on key issues. It is important to note that what makes unions like CGT and SUD strong, and often successful, in leading anti-austerity battles is militancy in shutting down production and mobilizing in the streets, not size.

France has lower union density than the U.S. As the Economist points out in a March 2014 article, less than 8% of French workers belong to a trade union, down from a high of about 30% in the 1950s. That figure is below the unionization rate of Britain (26%), Germany (18%), and the U.S. (11%). What sets French unions apart is their militancy, not their density.

This militancy stands in stark contrast to the orientation of most U.S. trade union leaders, where some combination of Democratic Party politicking, social justice unionism, and new organizing for union industry density substitute for a sustained strike strategy. Some of the more active labor unions in the U.S. fetishize new organizing as the savior of the U.S. labor movement.

These labor unions rightly point out that as U.S. union density has declined since its peak rate of over 33% in 1945, the share of income going to the top 10% has skyrocketed. However, they fail to account for one other important feature of the trade union movement that has declined in this country over this same period of time – the strike.

There is nothing wrong with social justice unionism and new organizing to build density. These are progressive moves, but they do not have the same strategic value as withholding labor through a sustained strike, which by itself can stop production, curb the ruling class, force concessions and so much more. A militant rank-and-file minority is needed in this country to push labor union leaders to adopt a militant strike orientation, much the same as rank-and-file members in France’s CGT have forced that union’s leadership into the leadership of an anti-austerity fight.

#WashingtonDC #austerity #NuitDebout

]]> https://fightbacknews.org/french-workers-strike-against-austerity Mon, 30 May 2016 16:43:49 +0000 Greek general strike set for Feb. 4 https://fightbacknews.org/greek-general-strike-set-feb-4?pk_campaign=rss-feed <![CDATA[![Greek workers march in December, 2015 general strike.](https://i.snap.as/DOG0sPU0.jpg "Greek workers march in December, 2015 general strike. Greek workers march in December, 2015 general strike. \(Fight Back! News / Staff\)") Fight Back News Service is circulating the following call from the All-Workers Militant Front (PAME) for a general strike by Greek workers Feb. 4. !--more-- National - General Strike on February 4 Demonstrations All Over Greece On January 23 The Butcher-Bill on Social Security to be Withdrawn! We Demand Public Social Security For All The SYRIZA Government after it extended and imposed all anti workers’ laws, which were legislated by the previous Governments and destroyed Collective Contracts, after it imposed flexible working conditions, starvation wages, abolished workers’ rights in Healthcare, now comes to give the final blow to whatever rights are left on Social Security! Whatever rights the people managed to preserve through hard struggles, during the last years, the SYRIZA Government wants to cancel them, thus realizing the demands of the big capitalists. NOW Strike Response Everywhere! In Every Industry-Every Branch! At every workplace, school, university, neighborhood! We Organise and Escalate our Action aiming to: Block The Butcher-Bill on Social Security! Participation in the Strike, in the Demonstrations will affect the result of the Struggle! Social Security means “cost” for the capitalists and the state! But for us, social security is our basic right! It is our life and it protects our families! Justice For Us Is Life With Dignity! To Live Humane In The 21st Century And Not In Wretchedness! We Must Receive The Wealth We Produce! Hope is not A Slogan! Hope lies in the Struggle against the policy of the Government and the EU in favor of the profits of the monopolies. Hope lies in the path of rupture, of overthrowing the political and financial dominance of the monopolies. Hope lies in the path that will satisfy people’s needs! Till today, hundreds of trade union organizations have been campaigning, calling for Strike Action, rallying with PAME in a series of actions and activities to prepare the workers’ response. All In the Strike! - We strengthen the Struggle! We Organize! National - General Strike on February 4 Demonstrations All Over Greece On January 23 January 2016 #Greece #Labor #PeoplesStruggles #austerity #Syriza #AllWorkersMilitantFront #Europe div id="sharingbuttons.io"/div]]> Greek workers march in December, 2015 general strike.

Fight Back News Service is circulating the following call from the All-Workers Militant Front (PAME) for a general strike by Greek workers Feb. 4.

National – General Strike on February 4

Demonstrations All Over Greece On January 23

The Butcher-Bill on Social Security to be Withdrawn!

We Demand Public Social Security For All

The SYRIZA Government after it extended and imposed all anti workers’ laws, which were legislated by the previous Governments and destroyed Collective Contracts, after it imposed flexible working conditions, starvation wages, abolished workers’ rights in Healthcare, now comes to give the final blow to whatever rights are left on Social Security! Whatever rights the people managed to preserve through hard struggles, during the last years, the SYRIZA Government wants to cancel them, thus realizing the demands of the big capitalists.

NOW Strike Response Everywhere! In Every Industry-Every Branch! At every workplace, school, university, neighborhood! We Organise and Escalate our Action aiming to:

Block The Butcher-Bill on Social Security!

Participation in the Strike, in the Demonstrations will affect the result of the Struggle!

Social Security means “cost” for the capitalists and the state! But for us, social security is our basic right! It is our life and it protects our families!

Justice For Us Is Life With Dignity!

To Live Humane In The 21st Century And Not In Wretchedness!

We Must Receive The Wealth We Produce!

Hope is not A Slogan! Hope lies in the Struggle against the policy of the Government and the EU in favor of the profits of the monopolies.

Hope lies in the path of rupture, of overthrowing the political and financial dominance of the monopolies. Hope lies in the path that will satisfy people’s needs!

Till today, hundreds of trade union organizations have been campaigning, calling for Strike Action, rallying with PAME in a series of actions and activities to prepare the workers’ response.

All In the Strike! – We strengthen the Struggle! We Organize!

National – General Strike on February 4

Demonstrations All Over Greece On January 23

January 2016

#Greece #Labor #PeoplesStruggles #austerity #Syriza #AllWorkersMilitantFront #Europe

]]> https://fightbacknews.org/greek-general-strike-set-feb-4 Tue, 19 Jan 2016 01:08:04 +0000 Greek communists blast new austerity memorandum https://fightbacknews.org/greek-communists-blast-new-austerity-memorandum?pk_campaign=rss-feed <![CDATA[Fight Back News Service is circulating the following July 11 statement from the Communist party of Greece (KKE). !--more-- No to the new “leftwing” memorandum The government of “leftwing” SYRIZA and nationalist ANEL, with the support of the rightwing ND, the social-democratic PASOK (who governed together until January 2015), the centre party POTAMI, is thrusting new unbearable anti-people burdens onto the working class and other popular strata. On the night of the 10th of July, it placed before the full plenum of the parliament the question of “authorizing” the government to negotiate a new, 3rd memorandum of anti-people measures, posing the following dilemma: the continuation of the anti-people political line or the country’s bankruptcy and an exit from the eurozone. The Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras defended his memorandum, the Tsipras-memorandum, arguing in essence that the anti-people measures are being taken n order to regain the confidence of the investors and markets. At 5 in the morning 251 MPs votes for the government’s proposal, while the entire Parliamentary Group of the KKE voted against it. As a whole there were 32 against, 8 who voted “present” and 9 who were absent. These developments, which reveal once again the true face of the “left-patriotic” government of SYRIZA-ANEL, also expose the unacceptable stance of various forces abroad in recent months, which supported the government, including some communist and workers’ parties, allegedly in the name of “solidarity with Greece”. Speaking in the full plenum of the Parliament, during the discussion regarding the provision of “authorization” for the government to agree to the new, 3rd memorandum, the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the KKE, Dimitris Koutsoumpas, addressing the government stressed: “You were always supporters of political amorality, opportunism, which literally and without its deeper theoretical dimension simply means being opportunistic and adventurist. Just 10 days ago, in this very hall, during the discussion of the proposal for the referendum, the KKE clearly pointed out to you that you were calling on the people to take part in a referendum with a “yes” or “no” that only had superficial differences, as both the “yes” and the “no” meant the acceptance of a new memorandum, perhaps worse than those we have already seen. You adjusted the “no” of the people to a “yes” for the new memorandum. Something that was confirmed the very day after the referendum, when the rest of the political parties, those that supported a “yes” and those that supported a “no” agreed to a new memorandum which will be even harsher. We were certain from the beginning that this would happen. Not because we are soothsayers, but because your strategy, but because your programme, your position towards the EU, eurozone and the capitalist unions in general, your position regarding the development path and system that you want to serve, inevitably lead to you to struggle at the side of the EU, ECB, IMF, big capital, the monopoly groups, over how the division of the spoils will be conducted, how you will serve their profitability, how in the end you will reduce the people’s income, how you will economically reduce the price of labour power, how you will suck the people dry, so that the parasites of the system will prosper.” The General Secretary of the Central Committee of the KKE, in reference of the government’s dilemma “anti-people agreement, i.e. memorandum, or Grexit” stressed that: “The 3rd memorandum will also mean the real bankruptcy of the people. Of course in a somewhat more organized way. We will have barbaric anti-people measures. With the Grexit we will see a rapid pauperization, the people’s bankruptcy together with state bankruptcy, without a way out, still trapped inside the walls of the EU, inside the same old capitalist development path. This is why all the other parties bear historic responsibilities, especially SYRIZA which is in government today and was trusted by the people. A real way out from the crisis and development in favour of the workers’-people’s interests require the organization of the people, their full preparation, honest talk, clear programmes and positions so that the people themselves decide to take power and to organize the economy and new society, outside and far away from the imperialist unions, with central planning, with social ownership of the wealth produced by the working class and our people. All the other options are the failed experiments in social-democratic management, allegedly leftwing governments that manage the system, inside the framework of capitalism, and which after spreading fleeting hopes and false expectations lead the people to great disillusionment, the labour movement to retreat and strengthen conservative and even extremely reactionary trends among the popular forces.” In reference to the entanglement of the “Greek issue” in the inter-imperialist contradictions, D. Koutsoumpas noted that: “You often present the “cruel” Schauble as the only opponent, Schauble who represents an important section of German capital, and that the friends of Greece from time to time are the USA and the IMF, and now France, focusing on the issue of the restructuring of the state debt. Neither US or French or German capital are the friends of the people. They all demand the slaughter of the people’s rights and income. The competition between them is being conducted on the terrain of the capitalist crisis and the deep unevenness that permeates the hard core of the Eurozone. The USA and Germany are competing for hegemony in Europe. The IMF, France and Germany over the future of the eurozone. Sections of domestic capital, industrialists, banking and shipping groups are involved in this confrontation. As long as we are involved in this dangerous web of contradictions all the alternatives will be a nightmare for the people: either the anti-people agreement/memorandum or a state default or a Grexit or even a possible war in the wider region.” The General Secretary underlined the following as regards the future developments: Despite the temporary compromise the tendency for the expulsion of countries remains strong. This does not concern merely Greece but all indebted countries and even those which are candidates to join the euro. The people must not choose between their bankruptcy under the Euro or a bankruptcy under the Drachma. A decisive solution in favour of the people requires a true rupture that has nothing to do with the fake rupture that certain forces within SYRIZA invoke when they defend the exit of Greece solely from the Eurozone. Those who claim –including forces of SYRIZA, as well as other nationalist, reactionary forces from another standpoint– that the exit of Greece from the Eurozone, with a depreciated currency, will give impetus to competitiveness and growth and will have positive consequences for the people, are deliberately deceiving the people. The prospect of Greece as a capitalist country with a national currency does not constitute any rupture in favour of the people. Those political forces that promote this goal as a solution or an intermediate goal for radical changes (such as the “Left Platform of SYRIZA, ANTARSYA as well as other ultra right, fascist forces in Europe) are actually playing the game of certain sections of capital. So we will not choose whether we will go bankrupt under the Euro or the drachma, under an internal or external devaluation. For this reason we do not choose between a memorandum and a Grexit. Because there is an alternative solution if the people struggle for a rupture with the EU, capital and their power. For example, we can abolish the EU commitments which have caused stagnation in domestic production, from sugar and meat to shipbuilding and many other sectors. We can utilize the contradictions between the imperialist centres and achieve international agreements of mutual benefit for Greece under people’s power, which will be disengaged from the EU and NATO. We can pave the way for the satisfaction of the people’s needs if we proceed to the socialization of monopolies, the means of production with scientific nationwide planning of economy”. Finally, D. Koutsoumpas noted that the KKE called on the working people to organize their counterattack in the streets and the workplaces against the new destructive measures. In the afternoon of the same day (Friday 10th July) PAME organized mass rallies in Athens and other major cities throughout the country against the 3rd (“leftwing”) memorandum of anti-people measures. The demonstrations were joined by trade unions, People’s Committees, Women’s Associations and Groups, mass organizations and Struggle Committees of self-employed and craftsmen as well as students i.e. by those who are being attacked by the measures of the coalition government. All of them declared: “enough! There is another path in favour of the people”. D. Koutsoumpas who participated in the mass rally of PAME in Athens stated: “we cannot waste any more time. The working people must organize their struggle, promote their demands and organize the people’s alliance”. #AthensGreece #Athens #Greece #PeoplesStruggles #WorkersAndGlobalization #austerity #CommunistPartyOfGreece #Socialism #Europe div id="sharingbuttons.io"/div]]> Fight Back News Service is circulating the following July 11 statement from the Communist party of Greece (KKE).

No to the new “leftwing” memorandum

The government of “leftwing” SYRIZA and nationalist ANEL, with the support of the rightwing ND, the social-democratic PASOK (who governed together until January 2015), the centre party POTAMI, is thrusting new unbearable anti-people burdens onto the working class and other popular strata.

On the night of the 10th of July, it placed before the full plenum of the parliament the question of “authorizing” the government to negotiate a new, 3rd memorandum of anti-people measures, posing the following dilemma: the continuation of the anti-people political line or the country’s bankruptcy and an exit from the eurozone.

The Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras defended his memorandum, the Tsipras-memorandum, arguing in essence that the anti-people measures are being taken n order to regain the confidence of the investors and markets.

At 5 in the morning 251 MPs votes for the government’s proposal, while the entire Parliamentary Group of the KKE voted against it. As a whole there were 32 against, 8 who voted “present” and 9 who were absent.

These developments, which reveal once again the true face of the “left-patriotic” government of SYRIZA-ANEL, also expose the unacceptable stance of various forces abroad in recent months, which supported the government, including some communist and workers’ parties, allegedly in the name of “solidarity with Greece”.

Speaking in the full plenum of the Parliament, during the discussion regarding the provision of “authorization” for the government to agree to the new, 3rd memorandum, the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the KKE, Dimitris Koutsoumpas, addressing the government stressed: “You were always supporters of political amorality, opportunism, which literally and without its deeper theoretical dimension simply means being opportunistic and adventurist.

Just 10 days ago, in this very hall, during the discussion of the proposal for the referendum, the KKE clearly pointed out to you that you were calling on the people to take part in a referendum with a “yes” or “no” that only had superficial differences, as both the “yes” and the “no” meant the acceptance of a new memorandum, perhaps worse than those we have already seen.

You adjusted the “no” of the people to a “yes” for the new memorandum.

Something that was confirmed the very day after the referendum, when the rest of the political parties, those that supported a “yes” and those that supported a “no” agreed to a new memorandum which will be even harsher.

We were certain from the beginning that this would happen.

Not because we are soothsayers, but because your strategy, but because your programme, your position towards the EU, eurozone and the capitalist unions in general, your position regarding the development path and system that you want to serve, inevitably lead to you to struggle at the side of the EU, ECB, IMF, big capital, the monopoly groups, over how the division of the spoils will be conducted, how you will serve their profitability, how in the end you will reduce the people’s income, how you will economically reduce the price of labour power, how you will suck the people dry, so that the parasites of the system will prosper.”

The General Secretary of the Central Committee of the KKE, in reference of the government’s dilemma “anti-people agreement, i.e. memorandum, or Grexit” stressed that: “The 3rd memorandum will also mean the real bankruptcy of the people. Of course in a somewhat more organized way. We will have barbaric anti-people measures. With the Grexit we will see a rapid pauperization, the people’s bankruptcy together with state bankruptcy, without a way out, still trapped inside the walls of the EU, inside the same old capitalist development path.

This is why all the other parties bear historic responsibilities, especially SYRIZA which is in government today and was trusted by the people.

A real way out from the crisis and development in favour of the workers’-people’s interests require the organization of the people, their full preparation, honest talk, clear programmes and positions so that the people themselves decide to take power and to organize the economy and new society, outside and far away from the imperialist unions, with central planning, with social ownership of the wealth produced by the working class and our people.

All the other options are the failed experiments in social-democratic management, allegedly leftwing governments that manage the system, inside the framework of capitalism, and which after spreading fleeting hopes and false expectations lead the people to great disillusionment, the labour movement to retreat and strengthen conservative and even extremely reactionary trends among the popular forces.”

In reference to the entanglement of the “Greek issue” in the inter-imperialist contradictions, D. Koutsoumpas noted that: “You often present the “cruel” Schauble as the only opponent, Schauble who represents an important section of German capital, and that the friends of Greece from time to time are the USA and the IMF, and now France, focusing on the issue of the restructuring of the state debt.

Neither US or French or German capital are the friends of the people. They all demand the slaughter of the people’s rights and income. The competition between them is being conducted on the terrain of the capitalist crisis and the deep unevenness that permeates the hard core of the Eurozone. The USA and Germany are competing for hegemony in Europe. The IMF, France and Germany over the future of the eurozone. Sections of domestic capital, industrialists, banking and shipping groups are involved in this confrontation.

As long as we are involved in this dangerous web of contradictions all the alternatives will be a nightmare for the people: either the anti-people agreement/memorandum or a state default or a Grexit or even a possible war in the wider region.”

The General Secretary underlined the following as regards the future developments:

Despite the temporary compromise the tendency for the expulsion of countries remains strong. This does not concern merely Greece but all indebted countries and even those which are candidates to join the euro.

The people must not choose between their bankruptcy under the Euro or a bankruptcy under the Drachma.

A decisive solution in favour of the people requires a true rupture that has nothing to do with the fake rupture that certain forces within SYRIZA invoke when they defend the exit of Greece solely from the Eurozone.

Those who claim –including forces of SYRIZA, as well as other nationalist, reactionary forces from another standpoint– that the exit of Greece from the Eurozone, with a depreciated currency, will give impetus to competitiveness and growth and will have positive consequences for the people, are deliberately deceiving the people.

The prospect of Greece as a capitalist country with a national currency does not constitute any rupture in favour of the people. Those political forces that promote this goal as a solution or an intermediate goal for radical changes (such as the “Left Platform of SYRIZA, ANTARSYA as well as other ultra right, fascist forces in Europe) are actually playing the game of certain sections of capital.

So we will not choose whether we will go bankrupt under the Euro or the drachma, under an internal or external devaluation.

For this reason we do not choose between a memorandum and a Grexit.

Because there is an alternative solution if the people struggle for a rupture with the EU, capital and their power.

For example, we can abolish the EU commitments which have caused stagnation in domestic production, from sugar and meat to shipbuilding and many other sectors.

We can utilize the contradictions between the imperialist centres and achieve international agreements of mutual benefit for Greece under people’s power, which will be disengaged from the EU and NATO.

We can pave the way for the satisfaction of the people’s needs if we proceed to the socialization of monopolies, the means of production with scientific nationwide planning of economy”.

Finally, D. Koutsoumpas noted that the KKE called on the working people to organize their counterattack in the streets and the workplaces against the new destructive measures.

In the afternoon of the same day (Friday 10th July) PAME organized mass rallies in Athens and other major cities throughout the country against the 3rd (“leftwing”) memorandum of anti-people measures. The demonstrations were joined by trade unions, People’s Committees, Women’s Associations and Groups, mass organizations and Struggle Committees of self-employed and craftsmen as well as students i.e. by those who are being attacked by the measures of the coalition government. All of them declared: “enough! There is another path in favour of the people”.

D. Koutsoumpas who participated in the mass rally of PAME in Athens stated: “we cannot waste any more time. The working people must organize their struggle, promote their demands and organize the people’s alliance”.

#AthensGreece #Athens #Greece #PeoplesStruggles #WorkersAndGlobalization #austerity #CommunistPartyOfGreece #Socialism #Europe

]]> https://fightbacknews.org/greek-communists-blast-new-austerity-memorandum Sat, 11 Jul 2015 18:19:32 +0000 Communist Party of Greece against anti-people consensus of capitalist parties https://fightbacknews.org/communist-party-greece-against-anti-people-consensus-capitalist-parties?pk_campaign=rss-feed <![CDATA[Fight Back News Service is circulating the following July 6 statement from the Communist Party of Greece (KKE). The KKE is opposed to the anti-people consensus of the bourgeois parties !--more-- The council of the political leaders was held in the presidential palace a day after the referendum of the 5th of July, chaired by the President of the Republic P. Pavlopoulos. The Prime Minister and President of SYRIZA A. Tsipras, the acting President of ND E. Meimarakis, the President of POTAMI S. Theodorakis, the General Secretary of the CC of the KKE D. Koutsoumpas, the President of ANEL P. Kammenos and the President of PASOK F. Gennimata attended the 7-hour meeting. During the meeting the parties of SYRIZA, ANEL, ND, POTAMI, PASOK came to an agreement and indeed signed a joint statement, interpreting the result of the referendum as acceptance of the euro and the EU and paving the way for an anti-people agreement. The General Secretary of the Central Committee of the KKE, D. Koutsoumpas, expressed his complete disagreement with the joint statement. The General Secretary of the Central Committee of the KKE, Dimitris Koutsoumpas, made the following statement after yesterday’s meeting of the political leaders chaired by the President of the Republic: “We listened to the briefing of the Prime Minister in the meeting chaired by the President of the Republic concerning the course of the continuing negotiations and discussions, after the referendum of the Greek people. We clearly expressed on our part, once again, the views of the KKE regarding the assessment of the referendum result and chiefly as regards the enormous problems being experienced by the Greek people inside the predatory alliance of the EU, which has a political line that continually increases the impasses for the people, the people’s income, the course of the country and the course of our people as a whole. It has been demonstrated, once again, that there can be no pro-people pro-worker negotiations inside the walls of the EU, inside the capitalist development path. The KKE disagreed as a whole with the joint statement, which the rest of the political leaders and political parties agreed to. Our disagreement is related to how we understand the verdict of the Greek people yesterday and chiefly to our assessment of the course and tactics for the negotiations that the government is proposing and that the other parties accept, at least as regards its general framework and direction. No one has authorized anybody to go and sign new memoranda, new painful measures for our people. And these measures will be harsh.” In response to the question of a journalist as to whether he is talking about a “solution outside the euro”, D. Koutsoumpas stressed the following: “No. We made the following issue clear, that this political line can go in two directions: either they will sign, as it seems and is being scheduled – we will see in the days to follow- a painful agreement, with harsh anti-people measures, a new memorandum, or we will have a state bankruptcy, with a grexit, with a departure from the euro or a double currency or something else. We hear about this mainly from the “partners”, the political parties did not say this at the council of the political leaders. The “partners” talk about this. So our people must be prepared. The position of the KKE is that both these possible outcomes, i.e. an agreement with a memorandum and harsh measures or a grexit or something else will be at the expense of the Greek people. The rupture with the EU, capital and their power has as its precondition a totally different strategy, workers’-people’s power, that the people are truly in power and socialize the means of production, disengage from the EU and unilaterally cancel the debt. This is the comprehensive and totally different proposal of the KKE and has no relation to the various views that will lead to the new pauperization of our people. And I mean views that exist in other parties, as a minority at the moment, as they are in the governing party, that talk about exit only from the currency.” #Greece #austerity #KKE #Troika #Syriza #Europe div id="sharingbuttons.io"/div]]> Fight Back News Service is circulating the following July 6 statement from the Communist Party of Greece (KKE). The KKE is opposed to the anti-people consensus of the bourgeois parties

The council of the political leaders was held in the presidential palace a day after the referendum of the 5th of July, chaired by the President of the Republic P. Pavlopoulos. The Prime Minister and President of SYRIZA A. Tsipras, the acting President of ND E. Meimarakis, the President of POTAMI S. Theodorakis, the General Secretary of the CC of the KKE D. Koutsoumpas, the President of ANEL P. Kammenos and the President of PASOK F. Gennimata attended the 7-hour meeting.

During the meeting the parties of SYRIZA, ANEL, ND, POTAMI, PASOK came to an agreement and indeed signed a joint statement, interpreting the result of the referendum as acceptance of the euro and the EU and paving the way for an anti-people agreement.

The General Secretary of the Central Committee of the KKE, D. Koutsoumpas, expressed his complete disagreement with the joint statement.

The General Secretary of the Central Committee of the KKE, Dimitris Koutsoumpas, made the following statement after yesterday’s meeting of the political leaders chaired by the President of the Republic:

“We listened to the briefing of the Prime Minister in the meeting chaired by the President of the Republic concerning the course of the continuing negotiations and discussions, after the referendum of the Greek people.

We clearly expressed on our part, once again, the views of the KKE regarding the assessment of the referendum result and chiefly as regards the enormous problems being experienced by the Greek people inside the predatory alliance of the EU, which has a political line that continually increases the impasses for the people, the people’s income, the course of the country and the course of our people as a whole. It has been demonstrated, once again, that there can be no pro-people pro-worker negotiations inside the walls of the EU, inside the capitalist development path.

The KKE disagreed as a whole with the joint statement, which the rest of the political leaders and political parties agreed to. Our disagreement is related to how we understand the verdict of the Greek people yesterday and chiefly to our assessment of the course and tactics for the negotiations that the government is proposing and that the other parties accept, at least as regards its general framework and direction.

No one has authorized anybody to go and sign new memoranda, new painful measures for our people. And these measures will be harsh.”

In response to the question of a journalist as to whether he is talking about a “solution outside the euro”, D. Koutsoumpas stressed the following:

“No. We made the following issue clear, that this political line can go in two directions: either they will sign, as it seems and is being scheduled – we will see in the days to follow- a painful agreement, with harsh anti-people measures, a new memorandum, or we will have a state bankruptcy, with a grexit, with a departure from the euro or a double currency or something else. We hear about this mainly from the “partners”, the political parties did not say this at the council of the political le