Mass demonstrations have taken place across Greece in recent weeks, as students protest against a bill, tabled in the parliament in December by conservative Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, which would introduce private universities into the country. 
Article sixteen of the Greek constitution guarantees free education “exclusively provided by institutes that consist of public entities with full self-governance”. 
Mitsotakis argues that the introduction of private universities would foster competition and force both public and private institutions to innovate and improve. The prime minister’s deputy, Pavlos Marinakis, also argues that Greece has “lagged behind too many years” when it comes to “modernising” education, according to reports in Kathimerini, an Athens-based daily newspaper.
Article sixteen has for decades protected public universities from privatisation, and also prevented the growth of a two-tier, public-private system, which would benefit only the children of wealthy families. 
So students have responded to the proposed bill with protests and campus occupations. Students chanting “Not a step back!” and “Hands off our degrees!” are a sign that the government’s arguments have not cut through.
Mass student assemblies in most universities have voted for the struggle to move forward, with a notable example being the University of Macedonia, where an assembly of more than 800 students last week voted to extend the occupation of the university in a supermajority vote of 77 percent.
 In an article published at left-wing news site Epohi, Foivos Zantes, Ioanna Mpoutza and Haris Halakatevakis, elected representatives of university unions, write: “Our demands must become everyday conversation in every workers’ union, in every organisation, in every cafe, because it affects all of us”.
The attempt to privatise education is not new. In 2004, the conservative government of Prime Minister Konstantinos Karamanlis, emboldened by a strong electoral victory, was set to carry out a wave of attacks against workers and students. One of those attacks was the rewriting of article sixteen. 
In April 2006, Greek students found the courage to step onto the streets. The following month, fifteen university occupations took place following a mass rally. By June, there were 420 occupations covering practically all schools and universities. In September, university teachers joined in an indefinite strike against the attacks. 
While the strike ended after six weeks, it helped turn the tide against the government. By December, it was clear that the bill proposing the constitutional amendment would not get the needed support in the parliament, something that could be attributed to the mass movement. The students defeated the bill through the power of organised mass struggle. 
Today’s students remember the struggle of 2006 and are taking inspiration from it. 
It is still early in the year, but students have already stopped the bill from being passed in January, contrary to the government’s wishes. Many student organisations are calling on the trade unions to act and prepare for a “blackout” if the bill is presented for a vote in parliament. The university workers’ union has responded by joining the student marches and giving speeches at the mass assemblies.
The students have learned that the only way to defeat the attacks they are facing is through mass struggle. It will be a long year, but they know they can win—they have done so before.

Dimitrios Tafidis

Greek students defend free education

The decades after World War Two were marked by increasing politicisation around the world. Greece was no different. While the left was defeated in the Greek civil war, which ended in 1949, socialists, through the leadership of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE), continued to organise. This led to arrests, repression and even executions of anyone associated with the KKE. 
The years following the civil war were marked by political unrest and increasing dissatisfaction with the status quo. This unrest culminated in a mass movement in 1965 that lasted for two years. This period was marked by major strikes, protests and demonstrations against the repression by the state. The economic prosperity of the time meant there was room for concessions, but the situation worried the ruling class, as workers were once again on the offensive. On 21 April 1967, a military coup installed a dictatorship, known as the Junta, to quell the unrest. 
After the coup, all trade unions and worker organisations were declared illegal, and all political parties were dissolved. The years that followed were marked by extreme repression and brutality.
The coup did not come as a surprise to the masses of Greece. However, the KKE made no effort proactively to organise workers against it. Instead, the Communists put their trust in parliamentary democracy, specifically, the United Democratic Left (EDA) party. On the very day of the coup, Communist newspaper Avgi published an article arguing that a right-wing coup would not happen. 
This caused the left to go into disarray, with part of the KKE splitting to form the Communist Party of Greece, Interior (KKE-es), a split that left both parties much weaker. Both KKE and KKE-es, rather than take the opportunity to build a mass anti-capitalist and anti-dictatorship left, sought to create alliances with the “progressive” bourgeoisie, which at this time was reaping the fruits of hyper-exploitation and non-existent labour laws. 
This approach led both parties to contain and restrict the struggle to minor demands. An essay published in 1976 by the KKE Central Committee outlined its condemnation of the occupations of the law school and opposed any broadening of the struggle to more radical demands.
This collaborationist line continued throughout the dictatorship, the KKE seeking to build alliances with the sections of the ruling class that were against military rule, and the KKE-es arguing that the only hope for change was through the slow liberalisation of the Junta from within the bourgeois institutions of power. Mpampis Drakopoulos, a leading member of the KKE-es, emphasised that it was vital that the country return to the “road of democratic stability”.
Despite this, resistance to the Junta started in 1972, with small strikes beginning in workplaces and demonstrations on the campuses, and massively increased in 1973. The youth were the most rebellious, with the ruling institutions trying to recruit them to militarism and nationalism but failing. Instead, they were influenced by the international struggle. 
This struggle took the form of university protests demanding liberalisation and major reforms. The Junta responded with mass repression, beatings and conscription. 
The students were quick to answer. On 21 February 1973, they occupied the Polytechnic Law School. This demonstration shattered the Junta’s grip on society and pulled people from other social layers behind the students, most importantly workers. The message of the workers and students was clearly understood through their main slogan, “Bread, Education, Liberation”, a slogan that is still heard today at rallies, strikes and demonstrations. 
Both the Communist parties were against the occupation, stating that the struggle should restrict itself to student demands, so as not to upset the bourgeoisie they made alliances with. 
This created the space for the revolutionary left to take initiative and push the struggle forward. On 20 March, after a month of harsh repression from the forces of the regime, the students decide to retake the Law School, but this time were met by the armed police units of the Junta, as well as the army and fascist gangs.
The students now knew that they needed the support of the working class to defeat the Junta. The final fight came in November of that year. On 14 November, the students, who at the time were meeting to make plans for the year ahead, got news that there was a large police mobilisation in the Polytechnic. The revolutionaries immediately argued to end the meetings and mobilise a rally to counter the police. 
More than 500 students arrived at the Polytechnic, and fighting ensued between the students and the police. Half of the students broke the police lines and locked themselves on the campus, while the rest continued fighting in the nearby streets. 
Again, the KKE and KKE-es were against the occupation, the KKE accusing those who entered the campus of being agents of the dictatorship, in an article published the following year in the newspaper Panspoudastiki.
The revolutionary left, however, argued tirelessly to the students and passers-by about the importance of their actions and attracted more and more support for their occupation. By the dawn of 15 November, through to the evening of the next day, the struggle continued and reached new heights.
The struggle had become an uprising. University occupations spread to most major cities across Greece, workers, farmers and students all taking part.
The regime responded by sending the army and deploying tanks in the streets of Athens. Soldiers shot at protesters with live ammunition from the morning of 16 November until night, in an attempt to scare the protesters. 
The <a>students</a> chanted: “Workers-soldiers united! You are our brothers!” But it wasn’t enough. On the early dawn of 17 November a tank ran through the gate of the Athens Polytechnic. The actual number of the casualties remains unknown, but it is estimated that 59 people were killed and more than 2,000 injured.
While the November uprising was not enough to topple the regime, it proved to be an important nail in the coffin of the seven-year-long regime, which finally collapsed on 24 July 1974, under the pressure of the failed attempt to introduce the draft in response to the Turkish invasion of Cyprus.
To this day, the Polytechnic uprising is seen as a heroic act of resistance. The forces of the left return to the gates of the campus in the thousands every year on 17 November to remember the struggle that took place 50 years ago.

Greek students defend free education

The Polytechnic uprising 50 years on

Other Media

Shop

Conferences

Manage Your Subscription

Contact Us