Greek communist condemns the EU

 By New Worker correspondent

A packed meeting of members, friends and supporters of the KKE (Communist Party of Greece) in central London last Saturday heard Giorgos Marinos, Member of the Political Bureau of the KKE, deliver a profound analysis of the crisis in Greece and the European Union, and the European Union (EU) referendum in Britain.

Marinos said that new laws put forward by the social-democratic SYRIZA-ANEL government in Greece to implement the 3rd EU memorandum “have extremely painful outcomes for the working class and popular families”.

They will destroy “the social character of social insurance” and “impose unbearable direct and indirect taxation at the expense of the working class and popular families,” whilst “the path has been cleared for the seizure of the primary residences of workers who cannot repay their loans”.

Marinos said the EU plans for a "leap forwards" to “the permanent supervision of the economies of the member-states”, this could not “negate the objective trend towards uneven development inside the EU, nor can it erase the role of the bourgeois states.”

“Each monopoly has its headquarters in a specific bourgeois state and these states also constitute a significant field for capital accumulation. The bourgeois states constitute the basis for the implementation of fiscal policies, funding programmes and tax exemptions to benefit their monopolies.”

These contradictions “are factors that lead to the emergence and development of what is known as 'Euroscepticism'."

Marinos said that the section of British bourgeoisie supporting the Remain vote “assesses that it has the strength and robustness to meet the requirements of the competition inside the EU… utilising its historic exemptions and choosing to struggle in alliance with the USA for a better position in its competition with Germany.”

The bourgeoisie supporting the Leave vote “assesses that is at a disadvantage due to the strong presence of Germany, and is impeded by the EU’s legal framework of restrictions and controls.”

“It aims to form new conditions to maintain the markets it has already acquired, and to win positions in new markets in the BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) and elsewhere. It even looks to the formation of a centre in the framework of the British Commonwealth, which includes India, Australia, South Africa and other states that are former British colonies.”

Marinos noted that Britain “does not participate in the European system of bank supervision and consolidation, rejecting in this way the monitoring of its banking and financial system,” and added: “The special agreement between the EU and Britain signed in February 2016… provides Britain with the ability to monitor its own financial institutions, putting a brake on the unification process.”

He said that president Obama’s recent intervention in the EU referendum debate “underscores the USA's desire to have a loyal ally inside this predatory alliance and to jointly handle the developments regarding the TTIP.”

 Jeremy Corbyn “has been promoted as a people-friendly reformist, but has turned out to be a supporter of the EU and attempts to conceal the anti-people character of this predatory alliance,” and the Trades Union Congress (TUC) was “trying to turn reality on its head by presenting the EU as the champion of workers' rights”.

On a more positive note, Marinos said: “We warmly salute the communist men and women in Britain and Ireland, and we assess that a large section of the working class, popular strata and youth support a vote to leave the EU.”

But he stressed that whatever the outcome, “power will remain in the hands of the bourgeoisie, and the working class and popular strata will remain victims of the anti-people political line and capitalist exploitation.”