20. The Greek economy tends to enter a phase of weak recovery in 2017. The consolidation of this tendency, however, will depend on other parameters particularly on the developments in the international economy.

Over the five year period GDP -based on the stable rates of 2010- fell by 10.4%, while in relation to the beginning of the crisis in 2008 the reduction exceeds 26%. In 2015 the GDP was reduced by 0.2% while a further reduction of 0.3% is expected for 2016. In 2015, for the first time after 2007, the industrial production volume index increased slightly by 0.7%, a tendency that continued during the first two quarters of 2016. The dynamic branches of manufacturing were oil production, pharmaceuticals, chemical industry, and basic metals.

The structure of the Greek economy’s sectors has not changed essentially over the last four years.  The primary sector has slightly increased its share in new production as a whole: from 3.7% in 2012 to 4% in 2015. Likewise the share of tertiary sector increased from 80.1% in 2012 to 81.8% in 2015. Accordingly, the share of the secondary sector (manufacturing, energy, construction, mining) decreased from 16.2% in 2012 to 15.2% in 2015.

It should be underlined that, apart from the general methodological problems regarding the separation into primary, secondary, tertiary sector, the above-mentioned figures are influenced by the fact that bourgeois statistics classifies a series of industrial sectors such as telecommunications and transport in the tertiary sector. This methodological problem is aggravated in Greece due to the fact that shipping (which belongs to transport) has always been the strongest sector of the Greek capitalist economy.

 In 2015 Greek shipping ranked first at an international level, increasing the tonnage of its ships, with a significant share of the international fleet of tankers and bulk carriers and a high degree of workers’ exploitation.

The tendency the number of the employers and of self-employed to be reduced due to the crisis has continued during the past four years while there has been a marginal increase of salaried employees. More specifically the number of employers decreased from 261,000 in 2012  to 248,000 in 2015. The number of self-employed (including farmers as well) decreased from 908,000 to 856,000. The number of employees increased slightly from 2.34 million to 2.35 million. Family members who work in family-owned businesses also decreased from 185,000 to 158,000.

These changes have not caused any remarkable difference as regards the proportions or the shares in employment as a whole: the employers’ percentage/share was reduced from 7.7% to 6.9%, the percentage of self-employed from 24.6 to 23.7% and the percentage of employees increased from 63.4% to 65%. The percentage of family members who work in family-owned businesses has also seen a slight reduction. It should be taken into account that these percentages are not significantly differentiated in relation to the economically active population which, apart from the working population includes also the unemployed, a large section of whom are former salaried employees.

21. The tendency for the concentration and centralization of Greek capitalist economy has been reinforced in the period of crisis. After a cycle of buyouts and mergers, the 4 big systemic banks have gathered banking operations as a whole.

A significant increase of the market share of big retail groups has been recorded in the retail sector. In telecommunications three groups (OTE, VODAPHONE, WIND) are practically controlling the market while the second strongest group has concluded a strategic partnership with the third one.

The energy sector is dominated by three large groups in the field of fuels that entirely control oil refining. Concentration in the construction sector has increased significantly with the big groups undertaking smaller projects as well.

Ιn the metal industry, the 2 biggest consortia control almost 2/3 of the sector. Similar developments have been observed in tourism, the food and beverages sector.

22. International imperialist unions (OECD, IMF, European Commission) as well as the Bank of Greece forecast a recovery of Greek economy in 2017-2018, with an increase of investments (except construction) with the contribution of the new law on development planning, a recovery based on EU funding, on the acceleration of important privatizations.

They also forecast an increase in exports as a result of an improvement of the Greek economy’s competitiveness, expansion of the service sector (tourism, ship transport) and an increase of domestic consumption caused by the increase of employment and income and by the improvement of credit conditions. 

The potential deterioration of the international economic situation and the course of the EU after Brexit constitute factors of uncertainty which can lead to a more negative outcome. Likewise, there are potential negative consequences on tourism and trade due to an aggravation of the refugee issue and the situation in the wider region of Eastern Mediterranean, and the consequences of governmental policies (e.g. increase of indirect taxation, more burdens on popular strata).

These facts underline the uncertainty of bourgeois predictions particularly if the course of the Eurozone deteriorates and centrifugal forces increase.

It should be noted that the realization of certain major investments will not be easy (e.g. ports, rail transport) unless a mid-term compromise amongst the USA, EU, China and Russia takes place in the wider region

 23. The measures that radically changed labour relations, wages, collective bargaining agreements, pensions, social benefits etc. had been elaborated long before the crisis with the Treaty of Maastricht and particularly since 1993 with the “White Paper”. They concerned all EU countries irrespective of what phase in the cycle of capitalist reproduction they were in.  The aim of these capitalist restructurings and the respective anti-labour reforms was to promote capitalist profitability in the framework of the sharpening of international competition. Of course such reforms become more urgent for the capitalist system in periods of crisis. 

These strategic plans had been promoted in the long term and methodically by the EU and the bourgeois governments in every country. These measures were accelerated and fully developed, especially in Greece, after 2010 with three packages of measures and ten application laws just focusing on restructurings regarding labour rights (4 laws in 2010, 2 in 2012, 1 2013, 1 in 2014, 1 in 2015, 1 in 2016).

The following objectives are promoted in the framework of the unified strategy:

•        Unified policy for the drastic reduction of salaries and wages and the promotion of alternative and part-time forms of employment. Large scale abolition of stable daily working time, of permanent employment in the state sector and of any relatively more stable jobs in the private sector, sweeping changes in labour relations with the reinforcement of flexibility. These policies are part of the strategy for the liberalization of the labour market in the long term and the tendency to adjust salaries and wages to the low levels which are being formed in the international capitalist market.

•        Unified policies for the restriction of welfare and social benefits and above all social security, the expansion of privatizations.

•        Policies for the legitimization of slave trading employment offices and the utilization of immigrants as cheap manpower and a lever to exert pressure for a general reduction of salaries and wages.

•        New restriction on the right to strike, trade union activity.

•          Steady increase of indirect taxation, leading to increases in mass consumer goods (e.g. electricity, food, transportation etc).

“Europe 2020 Strategy” which was adopted by the European Council in June 2010 specializes the anti-labour framework which had been created so far. These measures, whose aim is to increase the competitiveness of European monopolies including Greek ones, cannot eradicate the contradictions of the system, uneven development, inter-imperialist contradictions. This is more evident in EU with the appliance of the “Economic Governance-European Semester” and the preparation of the “White Paper” which will be announced in spring 2017 with the aim of making the EMU more resistant to “future shocks".

The consequences of the economic crisis and the anti-worker measures which were taken with the well-known memoranda and the application laws have caused deep, large-scale and permanent upheavals in the living and working conditions, in the composition of the working class as well as of a large section of the self-employed and the small owners in the urban and rural regions. The ranks of the working class have been expanded with new sections from ruined urban and rural intermediate strata. Several sections of the intermediate strata have approached the working class, the number of semi-proletarians has increased. At the same time, emigration increased, especially among young people.

The restructurings and the crisis shrunk the layer of labour aristocracy in the private and public sector and among state employees. However, the bourgeois class is still interested in maintaining, renewing and creating new mechanisms for the manipulation of the labour movement. There is still a significant differentiation and stratification among the working class and the salaried workers in general that constitutes the material basis for the formation of a labour aristocracy.

24. Recent data confirms the tendency of absolute destitution to increase amongst the working class. After their dramatic decrease in the period 2009-2012 from 85 million to 66.1 million euros  the total earnings of salaried employees in the period  2012-2015 fell to 59 billion, a further reduction of 10.7% while in comparison with the pre-crisis levels the general decrease exceeds 30%.  Apart from the reduction of salaries, the drastic decrease of the total earnings of salaried employees also reflects the sharp increase of unemployment during the crisis.

Based on the data of the Bank of Greece the earnings per employee were reduced by 7% in 2013, by 2.1% in 2014 and 2.7% in 2015. The nominal annual compensation per employee has been reduced from 24,300 euros in 2012 to 21,800 in 2015, a reduction of 10.3% that followed the cuts of the period 2010-2012 which caused the average annual wage to drop from 26,100  to 24,300  euros. In constant terms (taking inflation as well into consideration) the reduction of the average wage exceeds 20%. On the basis of the information from IKA (the private sector social security fund), the minimum wage has shrunk nearly 35% since 2010.

In 2014 the purchasing power of the average gross wage in Greece fell from 82% in 2009 to 66% of the average purchasing power in the 15 most advanced countries of the EU. The fall of purchasing power is even sharper if we take into account the heavy taxation over the past years. Taking all these factors into account we can assess that the total losses in the living standards of the working people during the period of crisis amount to or approach 50%.

As a result of the assault on the minimum wage (22% reduction for ages above 35 years and 32% for ages below 25 years) the earnings in 2014 were lower than the minimum wage at the beginning of 1990s.

The laws of the past years continue to lead to a deterioration of the wages, the income and the life of the working class and their families. The following figures outline the difficulties that the working people face, the situation of wages and labour relations.

Low-paid workers make up 60% of the working people. More specifically, workers with a net salary below 1000 euros amount to 63.17%.  At the same time, there is a decline as regards the classification of the working people into various groups. Workers receiving 501-600 euro increased by 13.24% and those receiving 601-700 euros by 10.56%.

As regards “mobility and flexibility” in the labour market which was brought by the recent laws and the capitalist crisis, we should underline the following: in 2015 the labour contracts terminated by the employers –along with the «voluntary departures” and the termination of temporary labour contracts- exceeded the number of the employees in that year.

Labour relations are rapidly deteriorating. In 2015 the percentage of “flexible working relations” (part time employment and employment by rotation) in the new contracts increased to more than 55%, from 29% in 2009 and 45% in 2012. Almost 30% of the workers in the private sector are underemployed, while 20% work less than 20 hours per week. In any case, half of the workers recruited today work under these flexible forms of employment which of course influence the average level of wages.

The average consumption of households in Greece declined by 25% in the period 2010-2014 and decreased to 1,460 euro from 1,950 in 2010. A more evident differentiation in the nutrition of Greek households has been observed in the same period.  More specifically the quantity of the food consumed was differentiated (e.g. meat and fish consumption was reduced by 12%). In 2015 the population facing material deprivation increased significantly to 40% from 24% in 2010.

The general unemployment rate has fallen slightly over the past four years, but it still remains extremely high. In 2015 it dropped to 24.9% from 27.5% in 2013 and 26.5% in 2014. The number of the unemployed remains extremely high: 1.2 million. The unemployment rate is very high among young people (ages 15-29) exceeding 40%.The percentage of the long term unemployed has seen a significant increase (i.e. people unemployed for more than 12 months). In 2015 the long-term unemployed numbered 875.000 that is to say 73.1% of the unemployed as a whole, while in 2012 they numbered 59%.In addition, unemployment is higher among women. In 2015 unemployment rate among women was 28.9% and 22% among men. Women’s unemployment rate increased compared to that of 2012 (28.1%) and reached 618,000.

25.  In its recent report the Bank of Greece confirms the position of the KKE that the improvement of competitiveness and the policies for the way out of the crisis was based on “low wage cost and on the institutional framework that supports flexibility in labour market”, namely on cheap labour power.

The Hellenic Federation of Enterprises (SEV) gives priority to the rapid and effective implementation of the programme of the third memorandum, to the acceleration of the restructurings and privatizations, to the reduction of the so called “non-wage costs”, to the granting of greater tax incentives for the attraction of private investments. Generally the Greek bourgeois class (SEV, Union of Greek Ship-Owners, Hellenic Bank Association) is in line with the IMF and the EU regarding the imposition of measures that increase the rate of exploitation and push down the rights and the income of the working class.

Despite the actual differences among the various EU member-states the basic guidelines of these policies are being decisively implemented in all states, e.g. the recent measures in France and Italy. 

26.  The SYRIZA-ANEL government claims, for reasons of propaganda, that its orientation regarding the restoration of the country’s capitalist production is different from that of the previous governments. It promotes the slogan of “equitable development” which allegedly has as new elements the turn to innovation and quality, to the utilization of science and specialized technology for the increase of productivity, the use of the restructured bourgeois state as a lever to promote development and mainly to “support society and the market”.

The government conceals that in capitalism the utilization of science and innovation for the increase of productivity is not used for the improvement of the workers’ position (increase of income, reduction of working time) but for the increase of capitalist profit. This is proved by the fact that even in states that hold leading positions in the utilization of new technology and are not in a phase of crisis , e.g. Britain, Germany, USA, income inequality is rapidly increasing.

The truth is that the governmental policies do not lead to a partial recovery of the losses that the popular strata suffered during the crisis. On the contrary, they worsen the position of the people. At the same time, the declarations of the government regarding the effective state conceal the fact that the bourgeois state operates in favour of capital and as a consequence any adjustments made to it aim at increasing the effectiveness of its activity in favour of capital. This is the target served by the squeezing of the people through taxation and the cuts in social policy as well as of the state aid to domestic business groups and capitalist profitability in general.

The increase of indirect taxes, the reduction of the tax free threshold, the upholding of property tax (ENFIA), the reduction of pensions, the increase of social security contributions are characteristic examples of the escalation of the anti-people offensive. As regards the self-employed and farmers, the large increase of their taxes and their social security contributions is combined with a drastic decrease in their turnover leading to the significant deterioration of their position. On the contrary, monopoly groups contribute less than 5% of the annual tax revenues and the government is planning new state aid through the law on development planning.

No possible recovery can absorb unemployment or restore the basic rights of the working class which were achieved in the 20th century to their pre-crisis level.

The developments as a whole are smashing the illusion that capitalism can be managed in favour of the people and that the increase of capitalist profitability can be harmonized with the prosperity of the salaried workers and the self-employed. It has been proved there can be no pro-people policies within the framework of capitalist power, the EU and NATO. 

27. The reformation of the bourgeois political system is taking place  under the considerable influence of international developments, the inter-imperialist contradictions, difficulties concerning  EU and EMU cohesion, and contradictions within the interlocking grid of international alliances being pursued by the bourgeoisie of Greece in its efforts to manage the transition to a recovery phase after the eight-year crisis period 2008-2016.

The main forces of the bourgeois political system agree on the strategic objectives of the bourgeois class, which can be summarized as follows:

• A course of recovery for the capitalist economy.

• An attempt to upgrade the country's geostrategic position as a trade and energy hub.

• Increasing the country's active role within NATO and the EU.

• Restoration of the status of the Greek bourgeoisie within South-eastern Europe and the Eastern Mediterranean which has suffered as a result of the previous years of crisis.

The different opinions which exist amongst the bourgeois parties around specific issues of management do not negate basic shared elements such as the need to accelerate anti-people restructuring, a deeper participation in NATO projects, the need to relax fiscal policy and increase state support of investment capital plans etc.

Of course, these common objectives and shared strategy cannot cover up the contradictions that exist within the bourgeois class and which penetrate virtually all the bourgeois parties. These contradictions -which are objectively sharpened- concern as much the priorities regarding the reinforcement of the sectors of the capitalist economy as they do the choices and priorities in relation to international capital alliances. Thus, some sections of the Greek bourgeoisie are closer to the German centre, others are closer to the US or France (which has upgraded its influence in the country) and others with China, Russia etc.

28. In the last two years the governments of SYRIZA - ANEL have proven more effective for capital, for the bourgeoisie in general, but also for their key international allies. What the bourgeois class and its foreign allies recognize is not only the determination of the Tsipras government to legislatively support capitalist profitability (a characteristic which is common to all bourgeois parties), but also its ability to manipulate the public. They recognize its capacity to mitigate the people's resistance by projecting its ideological differentiation from ND, to assimilate the broad masses into the system, to distract, to repeatedly deceive the working masses, something that occurred after 1981 when PASOK first came into government.

This is the basic "card" that the SYRIZA government plays and utilizes in its confrontation with the other bourgeois parties. Of course, this effort intensifies the contradictions within SYRIZA, although they are not manifested as sharply as they were in the summer of 2015.

At the same time, SYRIZA is making an effort at reaching towards the centre-left, 'playing its card' of cooperation with European social democracy. However, this attempt encounters rivalries within social democracy,  particularly within PASOK, its basic representative in Greece for decades. Such rivalries are fuelled by the fact that Syriza has not managed to gain a strong foothold in the unions in several sectors, while PASOK has maintained such a foothold in sections of the labour aristocracy and the intermediate strata. Despite this competition, they keep various channels open with the prospect of a future government composition, enlarging the ruling majority towards the so-called "centre", with a clearer "centre-left" position, abandoning in the future the path of cooperation with ANEL.

Particularly dangerous is the government's tactic of vulgarly exploiting the history and struggles of the workers' and popular movement, promoting itself as some type of communist force, a phenomenon which is regularly reinforced by the other bourgeois parties and the media. This ideological cloak aids in entrapping those workers who identify themselves as being leftwing, who have a militant background.  A basic element of this effort is the attempt at exploiting the heroic EAM Resistance, the struggle of thousands of communists, left-wingers and other radical militants. At the same time, the government pursues various bourgeois modernization projects, not consistently however, propagandizing them as radical and groundbreaking.

29. ND, the current official opposition party, is struggling to be recognized as the most consistent alternative government, capable of consistently adhering to the aims of capital. At the heart of the confrontation with the government is its stance on restructuring - reforms, delays, accelerating their implementation. Nevertheless, it seems that it still does not have the power to act as an option for the immediate replacement of the SYRIZA government. 

Recently strenuous efforts were made to establish within the political system a new bipolar schema with SYRIZA at the core on the one hand, and ND on the other with all their various satellites i.e. available governmental partners who are necessary for this objective. They continue to intensify their struggle over who will be the most authentic proponent for capital, who will implement more effectively the anti-people policy of capitalist restructurings and the EU, IMF and Quartet guidelines in general.

Regarding the space of social democracy, the emergence of SYRIZA as its basic pillar and its recognition by European social democracy creates considerable difficulties for the efforts at reforming the so-called "centre-left", including the classic social democratic PASOK, POTAMI and other smaller political formations. Given the current difficulty this space has in terms of playing a more independent role, there is struggle and vacillation over the role it would play as a third pole: a privileged partner of Syriza or ND.

Two different trends coexist:

• On the one hand, there is a trend towards conditional cooperation with SYRIZA, the pre-requisite being an even more substantial centrist turn of the latter that will be expressed by its choice of leading personnel. This trend seems to be supported by circles of European social democracy.

• On the other hand there is a tendency to favour the need for alliance of the consistent European and reformist forces which include ND under K. Mitsotakis.

30. The "Eurosceptic current" in Greece is currently still under development.    'Eurosceptic” tendencies exist within the broader popular forces and are expressed in a series of elements disputing the EU and EMU (including the referendum in July 2015), they have not yet acquired stable political characteristics and are characterized by inconsistency.

There are forces across the political spectrum of the bourgeois political system that are moving in this direction. “Plefsi Eleftherias” of Z. Konstantopoulou seeks to play a key role, as do the opportunist formations of LAE (Popular Unity) and ANTARSYA with some of their smaller satellites. These parties and groups try to camouflage their Euroscepticism, at different levels, with some anti-capitalist slogans, and help in disorienting and entrapping radical elements in their version of bourgeois management. Overall, they are forces that strive to act as a bulwark against radicalization and the alignment of popular forces with the KKE, adopting essentially the same positions and practices that SYRIZA had when it was in opposition. Several of them were in the ranks of SYRIZA, helping it climb to the higher echelons of government power, serving as ministers or elected institutional officials, they have contributed in their own way, providing it an alibi for imposing harsh anti-worker policies and cultivating mass illusions.

 31. There are also forces that have detached themselves from ND and moved into the "Eurosceptic" space. The activities in the area of so-called extreme right must not be underestimated, although currently they have a marginal nature (e.g. the formation of L.E.P.EN. by former leaders of the "Golden Dawn"; the party of Failou Kranidiotis "New Right "; the party "National Unity” of Karatzaferis – Baltakou; the «National Unity Association" of Velopoulos; the "Front Line" of Plevris; "National Front”, the party of Artemis Sorras,; the “Greek Assemblies” party, etc.)

This space is also undergoing a process of transformation in which the final outcome of the trial of the criminal Nazi organization "Golden Dawn” will contribute, along with other processes that are taking place within certain sections of ND.

The "Golden Dawn" Nazis and indicted criminals continue on as a pillar of support for the system, spewing racist venom, leading the way in a kind of primitive anti-communism. They maintain a variety of suspicious connections with centres and services outside of Greece, with shady networks. Inside the Parliament they pretend to be an anti-systemic force, at the same time demanding more privileges and tax exemptions for sections of capital and continue to operate as traffickers of cheap labour for big employers.

This superficial contradiction, on the one hand that the entire leadership of Golden Dawn is being criminally indicted and on the other its acceptance as a respectable bourgeois parliamentary party confirms that the bourgeoisie wants a backup force with the characteristics of "Golden Dawn", but more moderate, to be used more effectively in attacking the movement and intensifying anti-communism.

A common feature of the Nazis and other nationalist political forces is their utilization of the large waves of refugees – immigrants and the anxiety that this creates for some sections of the people in order to distract them from the real cause of their problems and to disseminate reactionary attitudes.

 32. In conclusion: Overall, the bourgeois propaganda that accompanies the efforts for the reformation of the bourgeois political system, aiming to gain active popular support for this process is a critical issue that must be addressed even more decisively.

The following delusions and illusions that are being systematically cultivated must be confronted i.e. that through a process of creating new parties and government alliances something positive, in the people's interest, can emerge. Just consider the recent rich experience of the reformation process that took place during SYRIZA's rise to power as a governmental reserve force for the system.

It is also essential to address the fear cultivated in relation to the possibility of political instability, the concern about the need for stable bourgeois governments and parliamentary majorities, the calls for consensus and cohesion. All these aim to manipulate workers so that they facilitate through their stance – in the name of national unity –the implementation of anti-people measures, even so that they “lend their support” for institutional changes in a reactionary direction.    

33. SYRIZA, with constitutional reform as a spearhead, has presented a series of proposals for institutional reforms of the bourgeois state, the key elements being a change in the electoral law and an increase in the President's powers (PoD) in parallel with his/her direct election by the people. These interventions are presented in a falsified manner through propaganda concerning the "widening of democracy", while intending to safeguard the bourgeois state and ensure smooth conditions for the change of parties in bourgeois government. The proposals of the other bourgeois parties, despite their differences, are also aimed at strengthening bourgeois power.

These interventions adapt the bourgeois political system to the new situation created by the capitalist crisis, the difficulties in managing it and the urgency to accelerate the state facilitation of capitalist profitability at the expense of the popular strata. All of these elements weakened the ability of the bourgeois parties to incorporate the popular strata in a mass way into the framework of one-party governments and increased the need for wider consensus among bourgeois parties in favour of setting up coalition governments. These elements can be detected behind the long-term course of realignments and adaptation of the bourgeois political system to the new circumstances

In this direction, increasing the degree of proportionality in the electoral law does not serve the strengthening of the popular will, but attempts to accelerate the adaptation of the bourgeois political system to the current needs of forming coalition governments, large or smaller blocs, like those formed in other capitalist countries, such as Germany, Belgium etc. Proportionality objectively increases the pressure for broader consensus and cooperation between the bourgeois parties and mitigates the "petty" considerations and aspirations.

The same holds true for the proposal to strengthen the role of PoD, increasing the regulatory powers of governments in cases where it's difficult to form a government and turning it into a reference point for the bourgeois political system, which will organize governmental majorities and parliamentary consensus. In this way the PoD is upgraded as a source of legitimacy for executive power and as one of the constants of bourgeois governance, without the parliament losing its primary role.

In every instance, the bourgeois political system will become more aggressive in order to serve more effectively the needs of capital, its competitiveness and profitability.

34. Within the constitutional reform proposed up until now by SYRIZA the question of the separation of Church and State is completely missing.  The government introduces –attempting to mislead radical people– various issues that come into conflict with the hierarchy of the Church, which periodically slides into obscurantist positions characteristic of previous periods in the history of the Greek bourgeois state.

The KKE believes that for Greece the issue of the separation of Church and State, with all that this implies for education, ceremonial procedures in public institutions, civil marriage, civil funerals, the possibility of cremation, the naming of children, the issue of Church-owned property, has been long delayed. 

The separation between the Church and the State and the secularization of the state, of education, of all institutions, was carried out in many countries by the bourgeoisie and the State, even before the October Revolution of 1917 and the emergence of socialist states during the previous century.

The KKE will continue to consistently fight against every effort to divide the people based on religious beliefs. Religious consciousness is a form of social consciousness in class societies, under conditions of the capitalist system, while it survives for a very long time in conditions of socialist construction. It cannot be abolished by decree or by law.

The longstanding position of the Communist Party on these issues is first is to protect the right of religious freedom, non-persecution of religious faith or atheism and equal treatment irrespective of religion. At the same time, the KKE defends the safeguarding of the possibility to carry out an ideological - philosophical debate around issues related both to religion as a social phenomenon and the individual religions and their history. In this discussion, the KKE intervenes waging a systematic struggle against irrationalism and metaphysical thinking and defending a dialectic interpretation of nature and society, dialectical and historical materialism

35. Local and Regional Government as an institution of the bourgeois state, structured objectively closer to the working class - popular masses, played throughout the course of the capitalist crisis an important role in subjugating working people to the needs of the bourgeois system. Its functions were adapted to the new conditions, connecting it to the central administration (government) in order to serve the general strategy of capital and to assimilate the working - popular masses through various programs and interventions. In this effort they utilized an expanded axis of social policy, including the various EU-based and other programs to "combat poverty and unemployment”. They have created many types of structures, either independently or with NGOs, volunteers “social cooperatives" etc., which are included in the concept of "social economy." SYRIZA, with its government and party forces, plays a leading role in this direction.

Reforms in Regional and Local Government contributed to fiscal discipline, expanding anti-people taxation, the commercialization of services and goods, the dissolution of labour relations and rights. These are supported by the entire bourgeois political staff that administrates them.

There is a need for better and more in-depth monitoring of the activity of municipal and regional authorities and the bourgeois political forces in them. The confrontation against the political line of Local and Regional Government is based on the people's problems and the exacerbation of such caused by the offensive of capital and is also based on the highlighting of the class character of the state and its local institutions.

36. The bourgeois political system, with particular emphasis in recent years, has been promoting the "Social Solidarity Economy” sector (SSE) as the "third sector" of the economy, following the state and private, supposedly engaging in activities not only for profit, but for heightened social needs.

With the "Social Solidarity Economy" it attempts to exonerate the capitalist path of development supposedly promoting the possibility of economic activities within capitalism, which would have the sole aim of satisfying social needs. The term itself is misleading; firstly, because both the governmental and the private sectors under capitalism serve the needs of the expanded reproduction of social capital, secondly, because under capitalism any private activity that does not aim at profit will have no economic importance.

The "SSE" is used by the bourgeois state as a mechanism for the further reduction of state social benefits, transferring responsibility for a series of activities to it. Utilizing the Municipalities and the Regions as the basic vehicle, it primarily intends to exonerate entrepreneurship. In addition to this, it is being developed in the area of social services, replacing the need for mass permanent hiring, but also additional unemployment support measures. It assists the abolition of workplace and other rights of the working people, making use of “volunteerism” which of course has nothing to do with people's solidarity and genuine voluntary contributions.

At the same time, the "social economy" does not exclusively pertain to state social benefits, but through "Cooperative Social Enterprises" (CSP) it is spreading to many sectors of the economy (e.g. construction) and is utilized as a temporary mechanism to relieve high unemployment. Essentially the "Social Economy" serves as an additional lever for the deterioration of labour relations and for the further increase of the rate of exploitation, through "voluntary" work, long hours and the low wages of workers engaging in this, in the name of the "social character" of these activities. Within the framework of the EU the 'European Solidarity Corps' have been established, comprised of 100,000 volunteers to “deal with the crisis” in EU member states.

Overall, the position of the Party which states that the bourgeois political system still has the potential to repair its cracks, to the extent that the movement does not threaten it in a unified manner, with its organization, its mass strength and the direction of its struggle, has been confirmed. The main conclusion is that the struggle of the workers' – people’s movement should be directed against the bourgeois class and its parties as a whole, and not only against whatever ruling majority is in government at any given moment.