Facebook Instagram Twitter YouTube

The Greek people have said NO to the adjustment measures. Now it is time to organise the struggle to defeat the Troika.

With almost all the votes counted, 61% are for “No” and 39% for “Yes”. The 22-point difference proves wrong those who predicted a narrow result. According to several sources, the “No” vote was stronger in working class districts and among young voters.

Left Voice

July 5, 2015
Facebook Twitter Share

Statement by Christian Castillo

Christian Castillo is a leader of the Partido de los Trabajadores Socialistas from Argentina (Socialist Workers Party, PTS); he will run as a candidate for governor of Buenos Aires province in the upcoming primary elections for the Left and Workers’ Front, representing the slate called “Renovar y Fortalecer el Frente de Izquierda”.

The results show voters decisively rejecting the terms of the international bailout and their opposition to paying a debt that amounts to 180% of the country’s GDP. They also show the failure of a “Yes” campaign that was aimed at terrorising the Greek people.

This is a strong message sent by the workers, the youth, the pensioners and the Greek people. The people of Greece have voted decisively against austerity and said No to the brutal adjustment plans implemented by the IMF, the European Central Bank and the European Union, which have led the country deeper into poverty over the last six years. With unemployment rates that have grown to 27% (youth unemployment is more than 50%) the current situation in Greece has similarities to that in Argentina in 2001. The result of the referendum is a No to Merkel and to the Europe of the big capitalists who want to save themselves at the expense of the suffering and hunger of the Greek people.

The No victory can give new strength to the fight against the adjustment measures. The key is to use this expression of the people’s will to organise the struggle on the streets because the Troika will not change its imperialistic demands just because of an electoral result.

The Syriza-led government was elected on a promise to end austerity, but over the last five months prime minister Alexis Tsipras has ignored the people’s mandate by accepting most of the austerity terms, including increases in VAT, deep pension cuts, and privatisations. Tsipras will try to use the result of the referendum to support his plan of a ‘negotiated adjustment’. To avoid the manipulation of the will of the Greek people it is necessary to organise and mobilise the working class and the impoverished sections of society in order to impose a real No on the Troika and its adjustment measures

This has to be the first step towards organising workers in the struggle to impose an emergency plan which should include the cancelling of the Greek debt, the nationalisation of the banking system, the reinstatement of the sacked workers and their salaries, and the reversing of all the privatisations and the placing of those companies under workers’ control. All these are basic measures to put and end to the adjustment plan to force the capitalists to pay for the crisis.

Facebook Twitter Share

Left Voice

Militant journalism, revolutionary politics.

Europe

Migrants from Northern Africa sit in lines on the Italian island of Lampedusa.

Crisis in Lampedusa: Down with Fortress Europe, Open the Borders!

The way out of the immigration crisis is through the struggle against imperialism. This is a declaration from the European organizations of the Trotskyist Fraction - Fourth International.

Germany Is Threatening to Deport Palestinian Refugees for Their Activism

#StandWithZaid: Zaid Abdulnasser, the coordinator of the Palestine solidarity network Samidoun Germany, is a Palestinian refugee from Syria. The German are threatening to revoke his residence permit due to his political activism.

Tom Krüger

September 18, 2023

Stellantis Workers in France Walk Out to Demand Breaks amid Heat Wave

Workers at a Stellantis plant in France walked out to force management to address their health concerns amid the suffocating heatwave.

Sam Carliner

September 14, 2023

FT-CI Summer Schools in Europe: More than 1,000 Young People and Workers Discuss the Challenges of Building Revolutionary Currents

The Trotskyist Fraction is moving forward with renewed strength toward our task of converging with the most advanced sectors of the working class and the youth who are looking for a real alternative to the madness and injustice of the capitalist system. 

Josefina L. Martínez

September 14, 2023

MOST RECENT

Neither Trump nor Biden Represent the Interests of the Striking Workers

Donald Trump skipped the second GOP debate to go to Michigan to speak on the UAW strike. This, one day after Biden became the first U.S. president to walk a picket line, represents the on-going fight between the parties to win influence over the working class.

Enid Brain

September 29, 2023

The Deadliest Year for U.S.-Mexico Border Crossings Occurred during Biden’s Administration

The humanitarian crisis at the border was created by capitalism. Voting for a lesser evil won’t save the Latin American working class; it will take international, political and strategic solidarity across borders to build a combative immigrants’ rights movement.

Paul Ginestá

September 28, 2023

The Big Three Are Using Layoffs to Punish the UAW and Undermine the Strike

The Big Three are retaliating against the UAW by laying off thousands of its members at plants across the country. Defeating these attacks will require the self organization and mobilization of all the workers.

James Dennis Hoff

September 28, 2023
President Biden visits striking UAW workers in Michigan.

Biden’s Picket Line Visit Doesn’t Mean He Is On Our Side

President Biden’s visit to the UAW picket line shows the strength of the strike — and why it should remain independent from him and the Democrats.

Tatiana Cozzarelli

September 27, 2023