On February 28, Greek workers took to the streets in their millions. The largest mass movement in the country since the 1970s took place on the second anniversary of the Tempi railroad crash, which killed 57 people and injured 180. The deadly collision was a crime of negligence by the government and private rail bosses, who ignored dire warnings from rail workers that a major crash was imminent due to chronic understaffing and underfunding.
The disaster bears similarities to the East Palestine, Ohio train derailment of 2023, which saw massive devastation and the release of at least 100,000 gallons of toxic chemicals. Just like their Greek counterparts, American rail workers had warned about the inevitable consequences of a lack of staffing and resources. In both cases, the bosses ignored the workers, putting their pursuit of profits over public safety.
Bringing the economy to a standstill
The Greek government attempted to scapegoat rail staff, but pressure from the victims’ families exposed the cover-up and the grotesque role of the capitalists and their state in the disaster. This led to strikes and protests in 2023, which waned for a period, but have now returned on a higher level. Without a clear political way out, they will surely ebb yet again. But since nothing fundamental has been resolved, will return on an even higher level in the future.
Greek workers launched a true general strike, paralyzing the state and bringing the economy to a standstill. In Athens, a million workers—one-tenth of the country’s population—participated in the strike. They were joined by 300,000 in Thessaloniki and hundreds of thousands more across 260 Greek cities and towns.
The movement was led by family members of those who died at Tempi. The scale of the strike was a result of the spontaneous movement of the working masses, who are the only real opposition to the ruling New Democracy party.
Trade union leaders played little role in organizing the strike. They’ve resisted mobilizing the real power of the workers, preferring backroom deals with the bosses. But the rage of the masses could not be held back.
State provocation and violence
The Greek government opposed the strike with provocations and violence. Hooded provocateurs infiltrated the strike rally in Athens’s Syntagma Square, throwing bricks and molotov cocktails. This gave police a pretense to attack strikers with tear gas and flash-bangs.
The masses remained disciplined in the face of this cynical brutality. They refused to disperse and removed the provocateurs themselves, while protecting children and the elderly from vicious police charges.
The workers’ composure and élan showcases the real nature of mass action. Far from the blind mob portrayed by ruling-class propaganda, the mobilized working class is a force that can rapidly organize self-defense against state violence. The movement’s slogans of “murders” and “resign,” directed against the ruling parties and rail bosses, made clear who the real perpetrators of violence actually are.
Mass discontent
The general strike was a direct response to the rail crash and cover-up, but the roots of the mass discontent go far deeper than the last two years. Greece was deeply affected by the 2008 world economic crisis. Public debt skyrocketed, and the economy collapsed—with GDP falling by 26%. Greek workers paid the price through massive austerity, poverty, and unemployment. They took to the streets time and again in over 30 general strikes. When wave after wave of struggle against the bosses failed, they expanded the fight to the political arena and elected SYRIZA—a new reformist party with roots in the communist tradition.
SYRIZA soundly defeated New Democracy and the social-democratic PASOK. Their anti-austerity program of reforms won them massive support, but the “troika” of the European Commission, European Central Bank, and IMF were determined to defend the status quo.
The masses faced a choice: give in to the troika’s demands or launch a revolutionary struggle against them. SYRIZA called a referendum in July 2015, and over 60% of Greeks voted to fight. Shrinking from the revolutionary implications of the vote, SYRIZA ignored the referendum and implemented the troika’s austerity program—a total betrayal of the movement that had put them in power.
However, the problems SYRIZA failed to solve did not go away. The return of the Greek workers onto the stage of history is proof of this. Events in Greece preview the future of the American working class. While the George Floyd and Palestine solidarity movements ebbed, their real root—the inability of capitalism to provide a decent life for workers—has not disappeared. In fact, the crisis of capitalism is only deepening. We will see a rise of class struggle like never before, and the communists will be there to energetically put forward a revolutionary program which can actually change society.