Since April 21, 1967, Greece has lived under a military dictatorship. While this dictatorship was imposed to solve the grave crisis of bourgeois rule resulting from the prerevolutionary situation of 1963-65, it has become glaringly evident that this solution has failed.
The dictatorship of the colonels was not able to build a popular base for its policy and its regime. This resulted in the bourgeois institutions facing a continual crisis. In no way could the colonels' formal proclamation of a "republic" provide a solution.
The repression and the wage freeze that were supposed to guarantee increased profits for the Greek capitalists and their imperialist backers were unable to prevent the runaway inflation that has been undermining the economy for the past two years. The virtually uninterrupted application of martial law as well as the use of military tribunals and torture to intimidate opponents of the dictatorship proved unable to stem the powerful popular upheaval that took shape in the revolutionary explosion in Athens.
The Greek bourgeoisie had become aware of the patent bankruptcy of their policy, as evidenced during the past year by the signs of a radicalization of major sectors of the worker and student youth. In response to the way the situation was developing (and after the lamentable failure of the navy's attempted coup d'etat), the leading circles of the Greek bourgeoisie pressed for a "liberalization." In reality this shift meant only normalizing the military regime, which assumed some formal trappings of bourgeois democracy such as holding a referendum on the abolition of the monarchy, proclaiming a republic, and preparing elections.
The proclamation of a "republic" had the aim of defining a new institutional framework in the wake of the collapse of the monarchy. Naming a civilian cabinet under Markezinis, scheduling elections for 1974, and above all lifting martial law were supposed to create the conditions for establishing a strong state, which would be left as a legacy of the years of military dictatorship. The objective of the ruling class was to obtain the maximum room for maneuver in dealing with the demands of the people.
This political operation required the acquiescence of those sectors of the bourgeoisie opposed to the junta (represented by such figures as Kanellopoulos and Mavros). Their participation in the elections was intended to give credibility to Papadopoulos's project. On this condition alone could Papadopoulos be assured of full control of the key sectors of the government. The Stalinists at first took an "understanding" attitude toward this "opening," which was shown in the backing and filling of the political leaders linked to the Bureau of the Interior of the Greek CP (which is opposed to the Moscow-loyalist wing). But finally, under pressure from the popular mobilization, interlocutors for the dictatorship adopted a negative position toward the elections. This ruled out in advance any possibility of operation "normalization" gaining credibility.
The student vanguard, whose confidence had been buoyed by the struggles in the spring of 1973, took advantage of the new conditions brought about by the lifting of martial law. Just as the political consciousness and will to struggle of sectors of the working class and the peasantry were ripening, the students began organizing. A succession of strikes and demonstrations reflected this new political reality.
A sharp drop in the buying power of the exploited classes in recent months helped to spread the influence of the young vanguard of workers and students who stood beyond the direct control of the Stalinist and reformist bureaucracies. This gave momentum to the militant trend of the struggle.
Already placed in a precarious position by its isolation from the bourgeois politicians, who held back from Papadopoulos's operation, the Markezinis government and its pretensions were irrevocably doomed by the power of the revolutionary explosion of the Athenian workers and students on November 16. Papadopoulos's fate was sealed. This new irruption of the masses onto the scene came as a much greater threat to bourgeois rule than the mobilizations of 1965. The main feature of the events was that by its revolutionary and anticapitalist character, this social explosion broke out of the reformist limitations imposed on the resistance by the Stalinists and the bourgeois liberals since the coup of April 21, 1967. This was shown by the extraordinary combativity, the exceptionally high level of politicalization, the quality of the democratic and technical organization, and the national impact of the event that will go down in history as the Athens revolutionary explosion of November 1973. At the same time, this development shows the failure of the combined policy of the imperialists and the Greek capitalists, and most of all the acceleration of the revolutionary rise in Europe by sudden leaps.
The new generation of workers and students has taken the initiative in the revolutionary struggle. The demonstrations and barricades of November 1973 have created a new situation, making a turning point in the revolutionary transformation of the mass movement and the mass mobilizations. The emergence of an integrated worker and student vanguard guarantees the failure of any future "normalizations." Still more certainly, it assures that the resistance will widen and deepen, moving toward taking the offensive. The first concrete elements of the answer that has been sought to the crisis in leadership of mass mobilizations arose in action during the revolutionary explosion in Athens.
The accomplishments of this revolutionary explosion are many. The resistance to the dictatorship has assumed a clear working-class and revolutionary character, breaking from the Stalinist class-collaborationist, popular-frontist orientations supported by the two Greek CPs, which shouted "provocation" when the barricades went up. The impetuous assault of the insurgent students, who raised the slogan "power to the workers and peasants," and the building workers, who demonstrated with banners asserting the vanguard role of the working class, shattered the bourgeois democratic illusions that had been poisoning the popular resistance to the dictatorship. Neither the curfew, nor the tanks, nor the murders were able to prevent the revolutionary mobilization of the masses. Bourgeois liberals and Stalinist reformists have tried, however, to falsify the political character of this revolutionary explosion in their press and the media they control. Their objective is to minimize the implications of this event, which are fatal for their respective policies.
The coup d'etat carried out by a new military junta on November 25 primarily reflects the weakening of the dictatorial regime and the splits within it. The situation is no longer the same as on April 21, 1967. The resistance has organized during the years of the dictatorship. It has learned how to fight, how to organize. And it is no longer paralyzed by surprise and disorganization as it was six years ago. The reformist apparatuses, notably the two Greek CPs, have lost their control over the masses and especially the youth. The rising mobilization of the European working class, in which the emigrant Greek workers have taken part, has had a direct effect on the Greek masses. The isolation of 1967 has been broken. The internationalist character of this explosion was made evident when the students shouted, "Thailand showed the way," or "Greece, Spain, Chile, forward to democracy!" The struggle for a Greek socialist revolution has scored a considerable advance.
Long live the Greek workers and students!
Down with the new military dictatorship!
Long live the Greek socialist revolution!