An Interview with the KKE General Secretary Dimitris Koutsoumbas

'The only way out for the peoples is the overthrow of capitalism and the construction of a society ruled by the working class, the people.'

soL news portal has held an interviewed KKE General Secretaty Dimitris Koutsoumpas to discuss the results of the Greek elections. Noting that the change of government in Greece will be used as a means to overcome the stagnation of production at the international level, Koutsoumpas emphasized that it is important to be alert about the so-called "leftists" through out this process.

We firstly want to ask the following: The elections in Greece have been discussed at length both in Greece and the rest of Europe. Could you comment on the significance of these elections for Europe and KKE? How does your party view the election results?

The election results reflect the great discontent and anger of the people against the parties of the coalition government, New Democracy (ND), Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK) and the Democratic Left (DIMAR) which has collaborated with them, the parties that plunged the people into poverty and unemployment during the economic crisis. Under these conditions, a strong trend to form an alternative government was created. The logic behind this was founded on the renegotiation of the public debt on the condition of staying within the anti-people framework drawn by the European Union (EU). The rejection of ND-PASOK policies and subsequent formation of SYRIZA - Independent Greeks (ANEL) coalition materialized on the basis of false illusions on the nature of EU and false hopes that the new government will pursue populist policies. In an environment full of extorting dilemmas, big polarization between the two parties were experienced and attempts to marginalize our forces, KKE has managed to increase its votes and the number of seats in the parliament. Without a doubt, from the viewpoint of balance of forces and the political impact of KKE, the most critical negative factor is the state of the workers'-people's movement which is in retreat, just as is the case for the rest of the European and the international movement. The tendency to rally around KKE is not diminishing the negative state of the balance of forces at the moment, it doesn't signify the liberation of the working class and popular forces from EU, capitalist path and monopolies. Our assessment is as follows: The change of government in Greece will be used by the bourgeois classes of Greece and Euro-zone as a means to overcome the stagnation of production at the international level. The current formula of the bourgeois administration will be replaced by more relaxed monetary and financial policies. This is exactly the same thesis put forward by SYRIZA in Greece and it is the monopolies that will benefit from this thesis, not the people. U.S.A, France and Italy is pressuring Germany in this direction to shoulder a bigger portion of the weight of the crisis. The Hellenic Federation of Enterprises (SEV) is moving in this direction. The pre-election agreement with the ND-splinter nationalist party which came sixth with a 4.7% vote and the fact that that party is participating in the government with six ministers is a clear indication of the direction that will be followed.

As you have also noted in the statement right after the elections, KKE will fight dynamically as the workers’-people’s opposition for the prospect of a radical overthrow of the government. To put it more concretely, can you describe the strategy KKE will follow in the following period? In other words, "what is to be done" in the Greece of 2015?

Before and after the elections, KKE made it clear that it will neither support nor give a vote of confidence to the SYRIZA-ANEL government. However, if any truly pro-people law is proposed in the parliament, KKE will support that. But this does not mean a genral support or a vote of confidence for the government. KKE will utilize the votes it got to to strengthen a workers'-people's opposition and a popular alliance, to raise the struggle against the EU, the perpetual memorandums, monopolies and their rule. We will use the power given to us by the Greek people towards the reconstruction of the workers movement, the development of people’s solidarity, the advancement of the popular alliance, to pressure the government, demand and win all the possible gains, relief measures for the popular strata. We will fight so that the workers can reclaim all they have lost through out the crisis, we will fight so that the monopoly groups, the capital pay for the crisis, not the workers and the self-employed who only get crumbs. Since KKE's proposal for overcoming the crisis is founded on the interests of the people, it continues to be the only pro-people solution. KKE will continue The KKE will continue to promote amongst the people the following:People's rule with a government that will unilaterally cancel all debt, the socialization of the means of production and infrastructure, the disengagement from the EU and NATO and collaboration with all the countries in the world based on mutually beneficial relations.

One can predict that the pressure on KKE will increase due to the new two-party system and the "left government". As devil's advocate, we want to ask the following question. In retrospect, were there any moves that KKE should have made that it didn't before or after 2012 in order to have avoided today's picture?

Despite the conditions of the creation of a new two-party system between ND and SYRIZA, the creation of an urgent "left government" expectation and the exertion of bigger pressure on our party, KKE has not only resisted against this pressure on the electoral plane but has at the same time increased its forces. And it succeeded in this while putting forward the following argument: No bourgeois government, however it is called, by staying in NATO and EU, by acknowledging the debt and by choosing the capitalist development path, cannot pursue pro-people policies. At the same time, our party has announced its own proposal: People's rule by a government that will pull the country out of EU and NATO, unilaterally cancel all debt, socialize all means of production across the country on the basis of a scientific economic planning and provide for all the needs of the people. Without a doubt, our party knew that the participation of a communist party in a bourgeois government would be very destructive for the people and the working class movement. With that in mind, long before the elections of 2012, we prioritized the ideological, political and organizational tasks of the party and KNE in order to make our strategy visible and popularize it and to ideologically arm our own ranks, followers and friends and at a larger scale the working class and the youth. The restoration of social democracy by the replacing PASOK with SYRIZA was achieved very quickly. With the approval of the strong sections of the bourgeoisie, well known PASOK government members and administrators joined SYRIZA. Against these developments, following 2012, our party went through an ideological reinforcement within our ranks, KNE and the masses. This, as also noted in the statement by our Central Committee, has reflected positively in the recent elections. This, for certain, has played a role in SYRIZA's exposing itself as it took over all the negative aspects of PASOK and shifted towards right. If we had been able to predict earlier that the old two party system which depended on the tension between the liberal party (ND) and the traditional social democratic party (PASOK) was not able to keep the popular forces attached to it in conditions of crisis, poverty and unemployment and that the political system would go through a restoration and warned the people earlier about this restoration, today's results could have been much different.

What else would you like to add on the elections or the future of class struggle in Greece or Europe?

The strategy of the Communist Party is very important for the future of the class struggle in Greece and Europe. Likewise, in addition to many other factors, the determined stand to be taken by the communist and workers parties against the "traps" laid by the so-called "left", in other words opportunist social democratic forces - just like SYRIZA in Greece, or the Party of the European Left across Europe, that rally the masses "under foreign flags", under the flag of the capitalist interests is very important. Within the international communist movement, we now have experience related to the negative impact of the participation in the bourgeois governments and this experience has to be evaluated in depth. This experience can help end illusions that imperialist EU can be reformed by singular, positive measures, that capitalism can move away from barbarism.
With a so-called "left" government, neither capitalism, the international imperialist system, nor supra-national capitalist alliances, EU style imperialist organizations, can be "humanized". Only by a strong and determined working class movement in alliance with other popular strata, only by people having risen up and when the revolutionary conditions are ripe, each country and the system in general can be radically overthrown. The only path for the people is the overthrow of capitalism and the construction of a society where the working class and the people are governing.