Greece: Let’s take the banks and the power out of the hands of the blackmailers – No to passive “serenity” – For mass action and radical measures!

We already find ourselves fighting in a bitter class war that has been declared against the vast majority of the Greek people by the “black front” of the Troika and the Greek oligarchy. Wars are not won with passive “serenity”, but with militancy and a proper plan. The time has come for mass action and radical measures.

[We here publish a statement by the Communist Tendency of Syriza on the Greek referendum and the blackmail of the Troika.]

The closing of the banks for a week and the imposition of a limit on cash withdrawals marks a sharp escalation in the war of terror conducted by the “black front” of the Troika and the capitalist oligarchy against the people, with the goal of demoralising and sapping its strength ahead of the referendum.

In his address, the Prime Minister [Alexi Tsipras] denounced the attempted blackmailing of the people and recommended “calmness and serenity”, encouraging the people not to panic, but did not mention any concrete measures to confront in practice the terrorist plans of the “black front”. The application to extend the ELA lending programme for a few days in order to keep the banks open shows that the government has not understood that the Troika is now fighting a cutthroat war and is in no charitable mood.

The current task of the government is to wrest the banks away from the hands of the Troika and the Greek ruling class. As long as the banks remain under the control of the Troika and the Greek ruling class, the safety of wages, pensions and the deposits of small savers is in no way ensured, and acts as a noose around the necks of the people, constantly tightening and preventing any possibility for a free expression of the people’s will in the referendum.

It is therefore imperative that the entire banking system is nationalised as quickly as the law possibly allows. The government must now to proceed towards the creation of a single, unified state bank, that to be administered not only by its representatives, but also by delegates appointed by the employees of the banking sector and from the different mass workers’ and people’s organisations. This is in order to establish a transparent banking system that functions in a socially beneficial way, as opposed to the current form of management, which is profit-driven, non-transparent and corrupt.

However, the crucial step of nationalising the banks brings to the fore the urgent task of taking additional radical measures. The banks have become heavily indebted to the Troika. A debt which the Greek people has been forced to shoulder in the form of public debt. In order to rehabilitate them, this debt has to be cancelled. Therefore, the nationalisation of the banks must also be accompanied by the unilateral cancellation of the “odious and illegal” public debt, as it was recently termed by the report of the parliamentary Truth Commission.

In addition, in order to ensure the protection of the deposits of small and medium savers, given the cessation of the ECB credit line to the banks, the colossal accounts of the big corporations must be put under the control of the state and society, and the state should assume the responsibility of ensuring that the wages of their employees are paid. Thus, alongside the nationalisation of the banking system, it will become necessary to nationalise all the large corporations with bank accounts in the country.

Consequently, the essential task of taking the banking system away from those who are blackmailing the people and into the hands of society, poses the need of implementing a comprehensive programme of rupture with the economic power of the Troika and of capital in the country. The Communist Tendency of SYRIZA has developed such a programme of socialist rupture. This is a programme that combines the measures set out in Syriza’s electoral programme with the anti-capitalist measures that are necessary to secure the adequate financial resources. The implementation of such a programme should start immediately.

This is the only effective response to the war of terror waged by the “black front” of the Troika and the capitalist oligarchy against the people, and to ensure the right for the free and democratic expression of the people’s opinion in the referendum, as well as creating the necessary conditions for a decisive victory of the “No” in the vote.

The leadership of Syriza is obliged to present the people with such a political and programmatic plan of action that will ensure victory and the government should start to implement it now. At the same time, any efforts or discussions for further “negotiations” with the blackmailers should be abandoned by the government, and a call should be made for the workers of Europe to mobilise vigorously in solidarity with the working people of Greece, convening a pan-European conference in Athens of all mass workers’ and people’s organisations to coordinate the struggle against austerity and against financial terrorism.

We already find ourselves engaged in a tough class war that has been declared against the vast majority of the Greek people by the “black front” of the Troika and the Greek oligarchy. Wars are not won with passive “serenity”, but with militancy and a proper plan. A victorious struggle against the fear that the ‘black front’ of the Troika and the capitalist oligarchy is trying to spread among the people requires mass action starting from today. The trade unions and Syriza should organise daily mass rallies in all towns and cities and should call for assemblies in all neighbourhoods and workplaces. Fighting committees should be elected at these assemblies to coordinate at a national level an organised struggle against the economic war of the “black front”. This is the only road for victory!