The atrocious crimes of the state, such as the one in Tempe, are one aspect of what the people suffer under the conditions of capitalist barbarity.

On the other hand, there are crimes that remain hidden, although they have a common denominator: the pursuit of maximum profit for a handful of business groups and the reduction of costs in order to shield the capitalist economy.

The example of Thessaly, where the people are still reeling from the deadly “Daniel” flood of September 2023, is telling. It was a tragic demonstration of the vulnerability of towns and villages and the destruction of thousands of small farmers.

17 people died in the first days of the flood, but the continuation of the crime is reflected in the report of the Centre for Public Health Research, which records a spike in mortality in the affected area four months after the floods, with 335 excess deaths in the regional units of Karditsa, Magnesia, Trikala and Fthiotida.

In other words, hundreds of people died as “collateral damage” from the flood, but were not recorded as such because official records are limited to “direct losses”. Just like those who are still seriously ill or dying as a result of the lasting effects of the flood.

These are the victims of the same policies that have left the people unprotected, because, as the report notes, the floods have affected public health, causing new diseases and aggravating old ones, while disrupting access to health services and so on.

The working class is experiencing the same undeclared war in the workplaces/ death traps. It is telling that in the last week alone five workers have died on the job because health and safety measures are seen as a cost and are “rationalized” for the benefit of business groups.

But here too, apart from the false picture —even Eurostat says that in our country only 30% to 40% of work “accidents” are registered— there is also the “collateral damage”, i.e. the multiple victims of occupational diseases.

It is telling that the ratio of the deaths from fatal “accidents” at work to deaths from work-related illnesses is 1:6. However, this ratio is not reflected anywhere because occupational diseases are not recorded in Greece. Therefore, the employers manage to cover up another continuing crime.

Another illustrative example is the situation of the people of Western Attica. That area is both home to increased heavy industrial activity (refineries, shipyards, chemical industry, recycling, steel industry, etc.) and the largest landfill in the country.

In addition to the daily “accidents”, large and small, with explosions, leaks, fires, etc. that unsettle residents from time to time, crime also has a “silent” side.

Indicatively, data from the Hellenic Statistical Authority (ELSTAT) show an explosion of neoplasms (cancers) in the area between 1999 and 2015, an increase of 31.7% compared to 10.1% in the rest of Attica. And yet, the demand of the trade unions and mass organizations to publish the data of the epidemiological research on the effects of the toxic landfill, under the responsibility of the governments and the regional authorities, has been rejected.

The number of “collateral damages” caused by the criminal policies of the state, the capital and their governments is therefore unknown. What is also unknown is the number of victims of the anti-people “legitimacy” of profit that characterizes all the above cases and deliberately conceals the massacres that the people are experiencing in order to ensure the resilience of capitalist profitability.

These silent crimes, which are not exceptions or aberrations, but the normality of the decayed state, the governments and the parties of the system, make it abundantly clear that the way out for the people to defend their lives is the struggle for their overthrow!

Published in the “Our View” column of the newspaper Rizospastis, the organ of the CC of the KKE, on Friday 21 March.