International Socialism Project

The article is the first of a three-part series, first published in French at Tendance CLAIRE of the New Anti-capitalist Party (NPA) in France. The text is supported by the Clear Tendency of the NPA and the International Workers’ League.

Not only are the strike days consecutive, but all doctors have been called out, including those who work in emergency care. This puts the BMA at the forefront of the present trade union upsurge, and it is a significant step forward from the union’s last wave of strikes in 2016, which ended with the government unilaterally imposing an unpopular contract on junior doctors.

The emergence of mass mobilizations, during the “delicate” time of a pre-election period, is a rare phenomenon in Greek political history. And it seems like this will continue to be the case: Left-wing unionists are already pressuring for a new 24-hour general strike before the Easter holiday.

More work, less leisure, for lower real pay, in an increasingly insecure workforce, with growing pressure to work harder on the job, is the pattern as the capitalist class seeks to squeeze ever-greater levels of surplus value from its workforce.

This collision is inconceivable, given the technology at our disposal in the 21stCentury. Yet all systems of tele-command, and even the signal lights, were out of function. This is not a question of some general technological backwardness of the Greek State.

On the roots of this situation lies the social question, the explosive growth of social inequalities as a result of Mitsotakis’ ultra-neoliberal economic and social policies. Austerity in Greece is devastating, pushing the actual income of working-class households below 50% of the corresponding average for member-states of the Eurozone.

Faced with the invasion of Ukraine by the regime of Vladimir Putin, the antiwar movement has seen the development of very contrasting positions. They all have in common that they all claim peace, a word behind which very diverse, even opposing attitudes can be placed.

It is obvious that the November 9th strike could probably constitute the beginning of a progression in the coming period of workers’ struggle. The crucial question is therefore where do we go from here?

The opportunity for building a mass movement across the working class and wider society is clearly upon us. However, the left needs to develop a coherent strategy for uniting the disparate forces and growing numbers of workers entering the struggle.

Keeping fighting, creating the conditions allowing for the construction of a movement for a general strike that would unite public and private workers, here is what’s on the table.

With four prime ministers in six years and four chancellors of the Exchequer (treasurers) in four months, a massive polling deficit against Labour and the party’s business backers in open revolt, the Conservatives are in crisis.

Facing a rough winter, the crucial question is whether the working-class movement and the youth will find the strength for their own independent massive intervention from bellow.

British workers have shown us that solidarity, strikes and class struggle are back on the agenda in the developed capitalist world. Even where unions are relatively weak and their parliamentary organizations hopelessly bankrupt, the working class still hold immense power.

The resignation speech showed how delusional and self-pitying Johnson is. Like the spoilt, entitled rich kid he is, his removal was everyone’s fault but his own.