The uprising of the Polytechnic School of Athens, Greece in 1973

Learnings for the revolutionary movement in our country

The uprising of the Polytechnic School of Athens in 1973 was the most important highlight in the class struggle after the revolutionary civil war that followed the Nazi occupation in our country. For this reason, the learnings of the uprising are crucial to the revolutionary movement and the communists in Greece. In order to understand these learnings, it is necessary to describe the situation before the uprising.

Imperialism is the eve of the socialist revolution

Joint announcement of TKP/ML and CPG(m-l) for the 100 years of the October Revolution and the ICOR internet discussion

After almost three decades after the 89-91 collapse of the eastern regimes, things seem clearer for whomever wants to interpret the world and bear the responsibilities. The ideological cloak of “globalization”, “the end of history”, and “class struggle” that were weaved in the imperialist think tanks is now frayed. The capitalist storm and the imperialist barbarity and atrocity fell upon billions of toiling popular masses and so revealed its true face.

The structural, whole and incurable systemic crisis has ignited a new round of assault against the proletariat and the peoples that can be compared only with the period of “first accumulation”.

Without an organized working class there is no revolutionary struggle!

Contribution to ICOR’s internet Seminar discussion for the 100 years of the October Revolution. By N. Papavasileiou, member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Greece (m-l).

The historical new in class struggle for over 150 years now is the entry of a new class, the working class. With this in mind, Karl Marx saw the necessity and the probability for humanity to pass from its prehistory – the exploratory class societies – to its history, socialism and communism. So Marx formed his theory starting at the Manifesto and going through to Das Kapital. The Russian Revolution and the victorious October had at their base the existence and and the struggle of the working class. October is epic because it confirmed Marx, confirmed the capability of the world damned to win in their struggle for a society without exploitation and oppression. October saw also the further development of Marxism with Lenin’s works and the victorious revolution. It confirmed the relation action – theory – action. Lenin and the Bolsheviks gave the answers needed for the October to be victorious. Since 1902 (“What is to be done”), through the years of imperialist war and the bankruptcy of the Second International (“Imperialism, the highest stage of capitalism”), and up to the days before the revolution (“State and Revolution”).

About the Restoration of Capitalism in the USSR

Contribution to ICOR’s internet Seminar discussion for the 100 years of the October Revolution. By G. Andreatos, member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Greece (m-l).

The October Revolution constituted the highest winning point of class struggle in Russia, with a huge international meaning for the development of the working, revolutionary and communist movement in all of earth. The victorious socialist revolution and construction of socialism constituted worldly events that had a great impact in the political and social processes in the whole planet and gave new momentum in the working class and the people in their confrontation with their oppressors.On the other hand, the restoration of capitalism in the USSR that was signaled by the 20th conference of the CPSU in 1956 and was completed through the collapses in the period of ’89-91 constituted a big setback and finally a serious defeat for the working, revolutionary and communist movement, the consequences of which, are faced, until today by the working class, the people and all who insist on the revolutionary, communist road.

The search for the causes of the capitalism restoration in the USSR, China and the other ex-socialist countries is an important duty for all the revolutionary and communist forces that insist on the road of the October, on the road of socialism, the road of the liberation of the earth’s damned from the chains of capitalism-imperialism. And it is an important duty for these forces, since, today, they are the ones that lift the weight of the questions, the doubts, the attacks, by friends and enemies, regarding the transformation of the proletariat authority and the socialist construction in their opposite. The answers, first of all are owed to the working class and the people, in order to arm themselves ideologically and politically against the capital and the imperialists, in the formation of their resistances and their fronts of struggle. That’s why the answers which we will give do not solely concern the “yesterday”, but mainly the “today” and “tomorrow” of the working, revolutionary and communist movement.

The Merthyr Rising 1831

The story of the 1831 uprising of workers in Merthyr Tydfil in Wales. The struggle that (for some) used the the Red Flag for the first time in the history of the working class movement.



THE BACKGROUND
In 1829 depression set in in the iron industry
which was to last for three years. As a result Merthyr Tydfil Ironmasters made many workers redundant and cut the wages of those in work. Against a background of rising prices this caused severe hardship for many of the working people of the area and, in order to survive, many people were forced into debt. Often they were unable to pay off their debts and their creditirs would then turn to the Court of Requests which had been set up in 1809 to allow the bailiffs to seize the property of debtors. As a result the Court was hated by many people who saw it as the reason for their losing their property.
Against this background the Radicals of Merthyr, as part of the National movement for political reform, organised themselves into a Political Union in 1830 to lead the local campaign for reform. In November 1830 they called for demonstrations in Merthyr to protest against the Truck System and the Corn Laws. The campaign was actually supported by some local Ironmasters. William Crawshay of Cyfarthfa Ironworks and Josiah John Guest of Dowlais Ironworks, for example, both supported the campaign. By the end of the year 1830 the campaign had broadened to embrace the Reform of Parliament, and the election of a Liberal Government in Great Britain led to a bill being brought before Parliament to reform the House of Commons. The Bill was welcomed by the Merthyr Radicals as a step in the right direction, although it did not give Merthyr a Parliamentary Constituency and only extended the right to vote to the Middle Classes rather than the workers. In April 1831, however, the Bill was defeated in a House of Commons vote, the Government resigned and a new General Election was called to fight on the issue of Parliamentary Reform.