Greece: from hundreds of thousands to millions – the people step forward and make history

We publish below the initial political assessment by the Revolutionary Communist Organisation, Greek section of the RCI, of the historic mass rallies that took place on Friday 28 February, on the second anniversary of the Tempi rail crash that killed 57 people.

[Originally published in Greek at marxismos.com]

 

“I pray for your grace, my people,

I bow my head to your suffering

and admire your deeds, my people.”

We feel entitled to invoke these imposing and well-known lyrics by Michalis Stavrakakis from the song by the great composer Yannis Markopoulos in conveying the essence of what happened in Greece on Friday 28 February 2025.

Historic proportions

On Friday, in over 260 cities and towns across the country, and in over 125 cities abroad, millions of people mobilised for the largest strike rallies in modern Greek history. In Athens, over 1 million people gathered; in Thessaloniki the number of people gathered exceeded 300,000; while several hundred thousand more gathered across the rest of Greece.

Unlike in the other very limited 24-hour ‘general strikes’, this general strike really was general. The state was paralysed and the whole economic life of the country was clearly locked down, reminding one of the pandemic lockdowns of 2020-21. The calls and preparations for the strike by the trade unions (which ranged from the non-existent to the rudimentary) certainly did not play the decisive role in the complete success of the strike. Rather, the key was the universal, spontaneous willingness of the working class to participate.

It was this that pulled along hundreds of thousands of small and medium-sized businesses to close their doors, some out of a sincere desire to join the protest, others out of simple fear, impotence or even shame to stand against the massive, impetuous and spontaneous river of the workers and the masses.

The rallies of 26 January could only be compared to the most massive rallies of the anti-Memoranda movement of 2010-2015. Friday’s rallies, however, far surpassed even those. Furthermore, they surpassed in scale every other mass event that even the average elderly demonstrator could recall, with the exception, perhaps, of the spontaneous popular rallies of 24 July 1974, the day of the collapse of the military dictatorship and the return of Karamanlis to the country.

What these enormous mass gatherings proved

The unprecedented scale of Friday’s rallies showed that the working class and the poor strata of Greek society have now decisively entered the historical scene and are determining developments in the country. This intrusion onto the scene has proved itself to be the most consistent and the most dangerous opponent of the government and of the rotten capitalist regime in the whole country. It is the only real political opposition. Compared, in particular, to the symbolic chatter of the official ‘opposition’ in parliament, it has emerged as a truly irresistible force. It has thrown the seemingly powerful New Democracy government onto the defensive position and into a state of panic.

Objectively speaking, Friday’s rallies mark the entry of Greek society into a new period of pre-revolutionary upheaval. Indeed, it looked as though the ground was prepared from the very first phase of the mass movement that followed the rail disaster in Tempi in March 2023. But as a result of the temporary stabilisation of the regime following the premature end of that first phase, and the mass disillusionment that followed the comfortable re-election of the New Democracy government, it was postponed, as it turned out, to the beginning of this year.

Friday’s historic rallies were the most resounding refutation of all those analysts of the disaster, who, pointing to the successive electoral victories of New Democracy and the collapse of SYRIZA, spoke of a ‘conservative turn in Greek society’. In general, they refuted, in an astonishing fashion, every cynic and sceptic who rushed, directly or indirectly, to excuse the social-democratic and Stalinist political leaderships of the working class for the defeat of the anti-memorandum movement of 2010-2015. This is the answer to those who blamed ordinary working-class and poor people for the temporary, as it turned out, electoral revival of the right that followed that sell out.

On Friday, these same masses struck en masse in workplaces where there are no unions, defying threats of dismissal and of violence by well-known representatives of the government and the regime, who spoke of “imminent violent incidents” which actually did unfold. They mobilised not for some economic demands, but for ‘justice’ against the provocative and immoral actions of the regime. And they remained on the streets for hours, with admirable perseverance and composure, despite the chemical bombardment by the police. They thus demonstrated the highest degree of maturity and readiness to make sacrifices to change society.

And finally, with their impressive mobilisation across the country, the masses showed the true balance of power in society, the balance that the political and trade union leaderships of the working class carefully conceal in their policy of compromise with the rotten regime, of passive and deflating tactics. The balance is overwhelmingly in favour of the forces of the working class and the progressive social forces in society, and against the forces of capitalist reaction and backwardness.

Ruthless state provocation and violence

Against this rushing and overflowing river of popular anger, the government responded in the only way an authoritarian regime can respond: with provocation, state violence and terrorism. Thus, even before two hours had passed since the start of this magnificent, historic popular gathering in Athens, and before the militant representatives of the relatives of the victims of the Tempi crime had time to finish their speeches, the government put into action its well-tested method to disperse the gathering.

According to hundreds of testimonies from those assembled, published on social media and documented by the reports of major media outlets, small armies of hooded provocateurs invaded the protests from different parts of Syntagma Square. They smashed bricks with sledgehammers and began throwing them at the police, along with Molotov cocktails, rallying by their example a few irresponsible, hot-headed and lumpen elements at the rally. This set the stage perfectly for the police to come in and disperse the gathering. The photojournalist Orestis Panayiotou was injured in the head by the unbridled display of police violence, as were dozens of other demonstrators.

The massive use of tear gas and flash-bang grenades by riot police against an extremely packed crowd, due to the astonishing size of the gathering, showed what the “major operation to protect the rights of citizens to demonstrate in Athens” announced during the week by the police chiefs actually consisted of. It was merely a plan to protect the government and the regime by dispersing the gathering.

In the conditions of chaos created by this standard plan, although on this occasion even more extreme in its recklessness than usual and completely ill-conceived, it is truly a ‘miracle’ that no one was killed. It was a ‘miracle’ owed entirely to the composure and maturity of the assembled masses themselves, who, though crowded, stoically endured the chemicals and guaranteed the orderly and safe removal of children and the elderly from this burning field of state violence. Indeed, there were notable instances in Athens and especially in Thessaloniki, of protesters, as seen in videos published on social media, attacking the provocateurs themselves and removing their hoods, causing them to flee.

Unbowed fighting youth

However, despite the orgy of government-state violence, tens of thousands of young people remained in the streets around Syntagma Square and began to return again in front of the Parliament building. Some of them, among them many students, raised their hands in the air on this return, in order to separate themselves from the provocateurs and to send the message that brutal police violence will not sap their will and courage in asserting their sacred right to assemble. The image of these young people re-entering the square with their hands raised in front of the all-powerful police was a vivid illustration of the qualitative shift taking place in the consciousness of the youth through their pioneering participation in the mass movement.

Two more major and provocative police interventions were required to remove these spontaneous young fighters of the mass movement from the square, with the help not only of chemicals and grenades, but also of the police’s special armoured water tank, ‘Ajax’. Finally, Mitsotakis’ ‘Praetorian Guards’ took control of the square for good, a full 8 hours after the police began putting into action their plan to disperse the gathering. These were 8 hours in which hundreds of thousands of demonstrators were given a living political lesson in the reactionary nature of state power as a body ultimately composed of armed bodies of men in the service of the ruling class.

“Resign!”: the change in consciousness

Friday’s rallies characteristically expressed the direct and decisive effect that a mass movement can have on the consciousness of the masses. On 26 January, the main slogan spontaneously raised at the rally at Syntagma square was “Murderers!”, a slogan that clearly attributes the responsibility for the crime at Tempi two years ago to the government, but which did not yet touch the question of the government’s very position in power.

At the beginning of Friday’s rally, as a result of the insidious campaign to depoliticise the question by the government – hypocritically and timidly advocated by the entire leadership of the parliamentary opposition – not even the slogan “Murderers!” was raised. But as the rally progressed, the realisation of the sheer volume and power of the assembled crowd, combined with the scandalous attempt to break up the rally by the police, resulted not only in the reappearance of the slogan, “Murderers!”, but also in the spontaneous emergence of the slogan, “Resign!” This slogan exposed all those ‘anti-political’ speakers, expressing in the simplest way the essence of Friday’s huge mobilisation, namely, the fact that it raised the question of power.

The government and ruling class pretend not to understand

Friday’s historic rallies have intensified the panic in government and ruling class circles. Already, this panic, which began to set in after 26 January, led to the government repeatedly contradicting itself. Their public utterances ranged from openly attacking those intending to participate, accusing them of “destabilising the country”, to promising to be the “protector and guarantor of the right to demonstrate” on the eve of the strike.

As night fell on 28 February, the government’s spokesman congratulated the police for their “responsible” (that is to say, murderous) behaviour. The public utterances of the apologists of the establishment, such as those of famous journalists who delivered the propaganda ‘news bulletins’ of the arch-reactionary and arch-pro-government SKAI, revealed real political desperation as they attempted to close their eyes to the new reality that these rallies have created. Their policy is “pretend you don't understand”. Highly characteristic of these attempts was the statement made by the director of Kathimerini, Alexis Papachelas, who, after being forced to admit the historical importance of the rallies, called on the government to take away the message that they must “work to ensure justice and to create a modern state”.

But no matter how stubbornly the government and the ruling class close their ears to the thunderous popular chants of “Resign!”, they cannot turn back the overflowing river of popular anger. Friday’s rallies have shown everyone what enormous power the working class possesses when it enters struggle. This, combined with the decisive politicisation of mass movement now reflected in its key demands, are now the decisive factor. Try as they might, the government and the ruling class cannot ignore this fact.

The ruling class and its public representatives now consider prime minister Mitsotakis and his government as fatal to the political stability of the regime / Image: European Parliament, Flickr

Already in the last month, we’ve seen increasingly open expressions of discontent – even of open protest – against the government’s handling of the media coverage in the capitalist media of events surrounding the Tempi crime and the mass movement it has provoked. This reflects the extent of the government’s social isolation, as well as the ruling class’ anxiety about the immediate political future of its regime as a whole.

In fact, the ruling class and its public representatives now consider prime minister Mitsotakis and his government as fatal to the political stability of the regime. They attribute to them the lion’s share of the responsibility for the fact that, despite the relative economic stabilisation of Greek capitalism in recent years, their methods in politically handling the Tempi crime have ‘succeeded’ in bringing the people onto the streets across the whole country in a movement unprecedented in its scale. Thus, were there parties or leaders at the ruling class’ disposal that could offer the regime a viable way out, they would jettison the government this very instant and push it for elections in order to undercut the mass movement.

But they have no such political solution at present. Both the extreme right (Greek Solution, Victory, Voice of Reason) and the pro-memoranda centre-left (PASOK, SYRIZA, New Left) have but a weak electoral influence, and it is extremely doubtful they could form stable future governing partners with the New Democracy. This means that the bourgeoisie are forced to blatantly ignore the political will of the working-class and poor masses in struggle, and to support the Mitsotakis government ‘until further notice’. Their logic is the same as that which has governed the Greek railways themselves, ending in the crime at Tempi, it is the logic that is characteristic of the rot of Greek capitalism in general: “Let us blindly go wherever Mitsotakis takes us, and see where we end up.”

What is to be done?

It is clear then, that anyone who thinks that Friday’s massive strike rallies, the largest in the country’s modern history, will be enough to realise the central goal of the movement, encapsulated by the ubiquitous demand “Resign!”, is deeply mistaken. The government will now cling to power tighter than ever. This means that only by escalating the struggle can the mass movement force the government’s resignation.

However, events have clearly shown that none of the trade union or political leaderships that formally support the mass movement want direct escalation. The leaderships of PASOK, SYRIZA and the New Left – the latter representing a parliamentary force to be reckoned with but which is insignificant in terms of popular influence, are competing with each other to set the most propitious date to table a motion of no-confidence against the government in Parliament. Such a move at this stage can clearly have only a symbolic character, since the government would simply rally its parliamentary majority. Meanwhile, it is known that the trade union bureaucrats that have a majority leadership in the GSEE were only forced at the last minute, under the spontaneous wave of the workers’ anger, to announce a 24-hour general strike for 28 February. Of course, they have no intention of escalating.

Finally, the trade union leaders of the KKE (the Greek Communist Party) as well as the political leadership of the party – as their entire history vis-à-vis the mass movement of Tempi has shown, including its first phase in March 2023 but also the period of the crucial month following the rallies of 26 January – are only capable and willing of promoting a tactic of defusing the movement, although covered up in ‘fighting talk’ about escalation. They have sufficiently demonstrated that the ‘best’ we can expect from them are initiatives for sporadic mobilisations, even for new 24-hour ‘general strikes’ of the trade unions controlled by PAME (the KKE's trade union front) alone. Such mobilisations would gather the support and participation of only a small part of the masses mobilised on Friday. They would thus clearly give the impression, not of escalation, but of de-escalation.

The attitude of these trade union and political leaders is thus an obstacle to the necessary continuation of the movement until the realisation of the slogan “Resign!” The role then of the leadership of the Association of Relatives of the Victims of Tempi, with its most militant figure being the president Maria Karystianou, becomes crucial in order to immediately escalate the struggle.

The Association, with its militant stance, has won prestige among the mass of working people and youth, the likes of which the (bankrupt) social-democratic and Stalinist political and trade union leaderships never managed between themselves to attain in previous years. Only sanctimonious sectarians or ‘friends’ – that is, veiled enemies of the mass movement – could ignore this objective fact or, even worse, promote plans of ‘militant action’ for the continuation of the movement that do not account for the decisive role that the Association plays in the mass movement.

This idea of ‘militant continuation without the Association’ (which is already being promoted in practice by PAME and by various organisations of the extra-parliamentary left) acts to undermine the movement. Any political or trade union organisation that promotes it only adds grist to the mill of the reactionary operation to spread hostility towards parties and politics among the masses. This is the policy being methodically applied by the government and every type of mouthpiece of the ruling class.

If the leadership of the KKE today possessed a truly revolutionary policy and tactics, it would put the call out through the trade unions and student associations it controls for joint action with the Association to realise the central demand that the mass movement is now raising. It would explain to the militant and courageous parents and relatives of the unfortunate victims that the cause to vindicate their memory can only be achieved through the immediate overthrow of this government, which has not hesitated to conceal their children’s burnt limbs and to use mafia methods to deceive them and to cover up the crime.

At the same time, it would honestly and clearly emphasise, both to the relatives themselves and to all the working people and youth involved in the movement in general, that demanding “Justice” is not only a matter of holding government officials criminally responsible to account, be they of the state or the company involved, but first and foremost, it is a political question. It is a question of implementing a political programme that can ensure in the most radical and effective way the safe and public service of the trains. Such a programme must include the nationalisation of the railways under workers’ and social control, and the uprooting of the rotten current state apparatus that covers up mafia crimes such as that of 28 February 2023. A revolutionary, anti-capitalist programme, which only a workers’ government can implement, with a genuine revolutionary communist party in the vanguard as its guarantor.

Unfortunately, the leadership of the KKE does not want to adopt such a revolutionary policy, because, as it has repeatedly demonstrated in all the great movements of the last 15 years, it does not wish to assume the responsibilities that would flow from it. It has shown that it does not wish to wage a real struggle for power against capitalism and its rotten regime.

However, this objective political fact is far from meaning that workers and young people should ‘cross their arms’ and leave the escalation of the struggle to fate. Every pioneering militant among the labour movement and the youth must act in an organised and coordinated way in every workplace, neighbourhood, school and college to advance the cause of the immediate escalation of the struggle today.

Demanding “Justice” is not only a matter of holding government officials criminally responsible to account, be they of the state or the company involved, but first and foremost, it is a political question / Image: Hellenic Red Cross, Twitter

Revolutionary communists, as an integral part of the vanguard of the mass movement that is shaking the foundations of the rotten bourgeois regime in Greece, address ourselves to the thousands of fellow fighters in the movement, and call on them to fight with us for the following:

• Down with the New Democracy government responsible for the crime at Tempi and its mafia cover-up! The ubiquitous slogan “Resign!” that was raised at the rallies of 28 February must be put into practice through mass struggle, as an absolute precondition for any pro-people, pro-worker and progressive development in the country.
• For a workers’ government that will guarantee that all guilty parties are punished and will proceed to the re-nationalisation of the railways under workers’ and people’s control, in order to radically address their criminal neglect and avoid a ‘new Tempi’.
• For a new state power based on permanent democratic control and the active participation of the working people, which will be able to guarantee that the miserable phenomena of state cover-ups of crimes will be eliminated once and for all.

At the same time, revolutionary communists propose to those whom we are fighting alongside the following tactics and methods of struggle for the victory of the mass movement:

• Immediate escalation of the struggle with a 48-hour political general strike.
• No complacency, no confidence in the trade union and political leaderships of the parliamentary opposition who want to defuse the movement and subordinate it to their own parliamentary and bureaucratic aims and plans.
• To elect, through assemblies in every workplace, neighbourhood, school and college, recallable Struggle Committees, committed to the goal of immediate escalation and organisation of the struggle to final victory. To seek the widest possible coordination among them in order to achieve unified and common militant action at the branch, neighbourhood, municipality, city, regional and national level.

Nowadays – as has been well demonstrated, not only by the political slogans of the rallies but also by all the available relevant polls that show an anti-establishment mood among the Greek people – every militant or supporter of the mass movement realises that the problems in society are deep and systemic. Therefore, we call on all our pioneering comrades in the movement to organise themselves in the Revolutionary Communist Organisation, the Greek section of the Revolutionary Communist International (RCI), in order to fight with us to build a mass revolutionary party, the catalyst which, if it existed today, would make the cause of the victory of the developing movement as simple and easy as its historical scale demands.