ATHENS, 7 October—Today is a day that will go down in history. The judges declared that the Greek neo-Nazi group Golden Dawn is a criminal organisation, in what has been described as one of the most important trials against a fascist organisation since World War Two. 
Golden Dawn, a paramilitary gang engaged in violent criminal activities since the 1980s, rose disturbingly after 2010, entered the Greek parliament and tried to terrorise immigrants, leftists, anarchists, LGBTQ people and more. Amid the global rise of far-right parties and right-wing populists who (pretend to) “play by the rules” of liberal regimes, the world witnessed in Greece the rise of a group that enjoyed parliamentary representation and a mass following combined with an openly fascist ideology and violent militias in the streets. 
This is no longer the case. In the elections of June 2019, the party was finally kicked out of parliament (failing to pass the 3 percent threshold to gain representation). During the trial’s five years, Golden Dawn has endured a series of splits, political crises and organisational disintegration. The court ruling delivered the final blow, crippling any prospects of a “rebirth”. It delivered justice and vindication. 
Justice and vindication for Pavlos Fyssas, aka Killah-P, an anti-fascist rapper who stood defiantly against a Nazi “battalion” to protect his friends and was brutally murdered on 18 September 2013. Back then, Golden Dawn was growing; his sacrifice paved the way for the organisation’s subsequent fall. A lyric from one of his songs, which roughly translates as “There is no way I will be afraid”, became a slogan, a sticker, a hashtag. “Pavlos lives!” became a battle cry for the anti-fascist movement and thousands of (not only) young people. 
Justice and vindication for his mother, Magda Fyssa, a tragic figure turned unique heroine and inspiring anti-fascist symbol through her persistence, resilience and combativeness in pursuit of justice in the seven years since the murder of her son. The mother who once declared: “I lost a child, but I found thousands more”. The beloved woman who is known as “the mother of all of us”.
Justice and vindication for Sahzat Luckman, the previous victim of deadly Nazi violence. He was riding his bike to work on 17 January 2013 when he was brutally murdered by two Golden Dawn members. He was dark skinned and not Greek, so, tragically, his murder didn’t provoke the same widespread condemnation. 
Justice and vindication for Hadim Hussein, Sahzat Luckman’s father. He travelled from Pakistan to Greece to seek justice for his son. An imposing and highly respectable figure during the trial, always present in the court (even though his son’s case had been tried separately in the past), on the side of Magda, at anti-fascist protests, with a deafening silence until he whispered, “We have won” on 7 October.
Justice and vindication for all the victims of neo-Nazi violence during the past 30 years. 
Justice and vindication for all of us who participated in the struggle against fascism all these years: “veterans” who have spent their time and energy confronting Golden Dawn since the early 1990s; subsequent generations of activists, people who made the choice not to tolerate fascism and stood against it in the streets, in their schools, in their neighbourhoods, in their workplaces. Each and every one of them putting a small stone in the wall that stopped the Nazis today. 
We should also note the role of the activist lawyers who jointly formed the “Civil Action” during the trial. They waged a hard legal battle over the past five years. The brave witnesses who defied open threats or friendly advice to “mind their business” and willingly presented themselves to testify. We should mention the voluntary journalist networks that covered the trial while the mass media remained silent. Their commitment and efforts were amazing.
The result was not a given. The prosecutor suggested that Golden Dawn leaders and members be acquitted of all charges—a last-ditch attempt by sectors of the so-called deep state to save their thugs and a final reminder that no trust can be placed in the hand of the “justice system” to do the work on its own. As Nazi defendants admitted in court, “Without the Civil Action lawyers, you would not have a case”. 
They all did their part in the courtrooms while the rest of us did ours on the streets. We shall never forget the massive anti-fascist revolt, when thousands (not just the “usual suspects” of anti-fascist activity) protested outside Golden Dawn headquarters all around Greece as news spread that Pavlos had been murdered. This mobilisation played a big part in “forcing the hand” of the state to press charges against the Nazis, after years and years of protecting them. But on 7 October, the judiciary acknowledged officially what the anti-fascist movement has been crying out for years: they are criminals!
All the leaders of Golden Dawn were found guilty of being members of a criminal organisation. Nikolaos Michaloliakos, the long-time “Führer” of the group, and all his senior henchmen were found guilty of directing a criminal organisation. Almost all Golden Dawn “battalion” members from Nikaia, south-west Athens, were found guilty of the murder of Pavlos Fyssas. The bastards who attacked Egyptian fishermen were all found guilty of attempted murder. The thugs who attacked Communist Party unionists while they were putting up posters in a “disputed” area were found guilty (though only for inflicting serious injuries, not attempted murder). The verdict cripples not only Golden Dawn and its “Führer” but also the political prospects of its various splits, all of them recently founded by Michaloliakos’ former senior henchmen when each tried to jump from the sinking ship like the rats that they are. All guilty! 
Outside the courtroom, from early in the morning, those who believe in solidarity, those who believe in anti-fascism, had made more than clear that the people had already decided before the judges. They demonstrated their verdict: “The people demand to put the Nazis in jail!” It was the biggest anti-fascist demonstration that most of us had seen in our lifetimes. It was one of the biggest protests in recent years. For once, all forces of the left rallied together, and stood shoulder to shoulder. Trade unions, schools, universities, radical left organisations, anarchist groups, feminist collectives, artists, football fans—everyone called for the protest and tens of thousands responded. 
The police say there were 20,000 protesters. That’s a gross underestimate: A human anti-fascist river filled Alexandras Avenue and spilled into surrounding streets and alleys. It was hard to take a single step because of the density of the crowd! The size, the passion and the vitality of the protest evoked memories of the most inspiring and uplifting moments of the recent history of social resistance in Greece. The mighty thunder of celebrations and cheers when the verdict was announced via megaphones was electrifying. This was our collective cry of vindication and joy. 
Meanwhile, the government decided to implement in practice its discourse about the “existence of two extremes, which are equally dangerous”. This discourse was promoted by members of the governing party as the trial was coming to a close, to equate Nazi terror with left-wing militancy. So, while the judiciary was condemning the fascist criminals, the police unleashed an unprovoked assault against the tens of thousands of anti-fascists demanding the condemnation of fascist criminals. The sheer size of the protest reminded those who rule that there is a force to be reckoned with. It also reminded those who are ruled that we are powerful when we mobilise. So the government tried to banish this demon—to terrorise the people who took to the streets and felt self-confident. The goal was to send the message: “Don’t get any ideas”. 
A few seconds after the verdict was announced, while the cheers and celebrations were erupting, water cannons started spraying the crowd, and police started throwing tear gas. Riot police were deployed in Alexandras Avenue in full gear. They attacked the protesters and—having the support of four(!) armoured vehicles with water cannons—chased them hundreds of metres from the courtroom and into surrounding streets. It was obvious that there was a plan and a command from above to clear the streets. 
But it was also obvious that police agents were more than ready to follow these commands, displaying excessive zeal in their tasks. The cops were obviously disappointed by the court ruling against their Nazi friends and frustrated by watching anti-fascist celebrations in front of them. The police operation against protesters seemed more like revenge. But the tears caused by pepper spray pale in comparison with our tears of joy today. 
Let the mainstream media keep circulating over and over photos of a couple of bins in the middle of the street and a few burned remains here and there after some Molotov cocktails were thrown during the retreat of the demonstration, in order to scream “Violent protesters!” The photos that capture the meaning of 7 October show the amazing sea of people protesting against the Nazis. And the pictures of Mrs Magda, finally redeemed, finally vindicated, raising her fists outside the courthouse, shouting: “Pavlos, you did it! You did it my son!” No matter how hard they tried to cancel our day of protest, to refuse us the right to celebrate our victory, thousands and thousands of protesters regrouped and marched from outside the courtroom to Syntagma Square, downtown Athens, outside the Greek parliament. 
There are a few more acts to play in this trial. The Nazis’ legal defence will present “mitigating factors”, and a decision has yet to be made on the penalties. We must demand and push for the highest penalties possible and the exemplary punishment of all those found guilty.
The struggle against fascism, racism, intolerance and bigotry of course does not end here. We have many fights to come, as long as the system that produces and benefits from these vices remains in place. But the people with whom we can wage this struggle showed up today and declared that they are present. With the verdict, we took a big breath: “Victory!” circulating in the mouths of thousands of people is something precious and invaluable in the hard times through which we are living. We savour the images of the streets outside the courtroom, and on the streets of many cities and towns all around Greece filled with protesters—a display of our collective strength. We will need to deploy this social force again and again in the coming struggles. We know that we have many fights against all kinds of injustice ahead of us. But just for today, we can sit back and smile happily for a change. 
Pavlos Fyssas: Présenté! We did our part, brother. And they did not pass.

Panos Petrou

Goodnight Golden Dawn

Panos Petrou will be speaking at the Marxism 2014 conference in Melbourne in April. He is a member of the socialist group Internationalist Workers Left (DEA) – a co-founder of the Coalition of the Radical Left, or SYRIZA. He looks ahead at what 2014 may bring.
It is a tough winter once again for a large part of the population in Greece. Most people can’t afford to buy heating oil. A lot of people can’t afford their electricity bills (32 percent of the population is struggling to pay, according to Eurostat), and thousands of families have had their electricity cut off because of unpaid bills (173,000 electricity cutoffs during the first half of 2013).
As a result, many people use braziers and woodstoves to warm their homes. On some cold nights, the smoke coming out of the houses fills the sky over Athens.
The use of these indoor stoves has led to tragedies, such as the death of a young girl from inhaling brazier fumes, and fires in homes – further highlighting the brutality of the situation. And for everyone, according to experts, the air we breathe is becoming increasingly dangerous.
This picture – of an industrialised city under 21st century capitalism, where large parts of the population stay warm using makeshift stoves – is worth a thousand words about the devastation that austerity measures are causing in Greek society.
Economic crisis continues
2013 was another year of extreme neoliberal policies, which have accelerated the destruction caused since 2010, when the Greek government signed the first “Memorandum” with the “troika” – the European Union, European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund – that imposed harsh cuts, public-sector layoffs, privatisation and more in return for a bailout of the Greek financial system.
The conservative government of Prime Minister Antonis Samaras is gloating about its budget surplus achieved at the end of last year. But the social cost has been huge.
The National Organisation for Health Care Provision, which provides essential health services at a local level, is facing a “reform” measure that will effectively destroy it. Funding for public hospitals has been reduced by 21 percent from the already low level it was at in 2012, and starting this year, patients will need to pay a fee of 25 euros for hospitalisation.
State funding for the public pension system has been reduced by 22 percent – at a time when unemployment, evasion by employers and years of gambling with the reserves had already reduced funds in the system to the point of collapse. This has opened the way for neoliberalism to achieve the dream of the “Pinochet system” – full-scale privatisation of the state retirement system.
A wave of layoffs threatens to leave universities without essential administrative staff. The schools were already having a tough time after thousands of teachers were laid off.
Meanwhile, a new wave of taxes on property – designed to preserve the government surplus – is mostly hitting the middle class and sections of the working class that managed to buy a home or property over the years.
The official unemployment rate remains at 27 percent – for youth, the figure goes up to 57 percent. Of the nearly 1.4 million people unemployed as of the end of 2013, 71 percent are long-term unemployed – they have been looking for a job for more than a year with no success. Some 23 percent are “new unemployed” – meaning they have reached working age, but have never held a job.
This situation helps the capitalists to impose extreme competition. Some 20 percent of workers earn 500 euros (around $680) a month or less, before taxes and other withholdings, while 43 percent earn 800 euros (around $1190) a month or less, before taxes and contributions. A big part of the workforce is in jobs that are officially part-time, yet it is common for them to work eight hours or more, while only being paid for four hours or less.
And to top it off, getting your lousy salary at the end of the month is becoming a “luxury” – many employers have delayed paychecks for months.
Meanwhile, the conservative government’s “success story” of the last year is a bitter joke for the majority of the population that goes through this hardship.
It is actually a joke even in mainstream economic terms. The government’s forecast of positive economic growth during 2014 is the same one made in 2011, 2012 and 2013, and it didn’t happen in those years either.
Even the goal of reducing the debt to 124 percent of annual gross domestic product by 2020 is turning out to be farfetched. According to the OECD, the public debt will be 157 percent of GDP by 2020.
Yet despite these failures, the same economic policies will continue. Not because the government is stupid, nor because it surrendered to the demands of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s German government. Rather, the policies will continue because for a tiny part of the population, there really is a “success story”: The bosses – at least those who survive being “collateral damage” in the war they are waging – are celebrating.
The dire situation for the working class has helped the bosses extract more and more profit. Companies listed on Greece’s stock exchange recorded a 153 percent increase in profitability during the first nine months of 2013.
Greek banks – the same ones that were bailed out with state funds, and which then acquired other banks for nothing, with the support of the government – are leading the way. Other monopolies like Aegean Airlines, which absorbed its main competitor, the once-public Olympic Air, also had big profits.
While taxes are only going up on the working class and middle class, there have been new tax breaks for the ship owners, the wealthiest part of the Greek ruling class and the most notorious for not paying a cent in taxation. Despite the desperate need for tax income, the government admitted that of 6,575 offshore companies in Greece, it had investigated ... 34 of them!
Political crisis
The continuation of this policy by the conservative government is provoking a political crisis.
The two major parties that used to dominate Greek politics for decades, the conservative New Democracy and the centre-left PASOK, are facing an historic collapse in popularity.
PASOK, which has controlled the government for most of the time since the mid-1970s and the fall of the military dictatorship, suffered a humiliating defeat in the last national elections in 2012. It now comes in sixth place in current opinion polls.
But we are also witnessing a steady decline of New Democracy, which dominates the current government in the coalition with PASOK. Samaras had tried to regroup a conservative social bloc around him and rebuild support on an anti-left, anti-worker and anti-immigrant basis.
This strategy had maintained a certain level of support – around 25 percent – for New Democracy, but it has not galvanised support beyond the party’s traditional base of conservative voters. And lately, even this conservative base appears to be losing confidence in New Democracy.
One reason is objective: the continuation of austerity policies, the failure to stabilise the economy and reverse negative economic growth and increased taxes falling on the middle class are alienating even these base voters from the ruling party.
The second reason is the result of class struggle in Greece: Samaras has failed to impose crushing defeats on the resistance movement. He has failed to impose a “cemetery silence” on Greek society, which was a necessary precondition for the success of his strategy.
There have been very few high profile class confrontations – like the 24- and 48-hour general strikes, the major demonstrations outside the parliament, or the “movement of the squares” occupations of public spaces – for some time now. But at the same time, the resistance never stopped. From the strike of teachers in September, to the weeks-long walkout of university administrative staff later in the autumn, to the strong strike of doctors in December, there seems to always be important labour action against austerity policies and the government.
SYRIZA
This is the background to the latest electoral trends. After months of opinion polls ahead of the next election showing a neck-and-neck battle between New Democracy and SYRIZA, the Coalition of the Radical Left has taken the lead in every poll.
On one level, the lack of big resistance movements has increased electoral illusions among a part of the population. These people place their hopes in the next election and the possibility of a SYRIZA victory.
But at the same time, the continuation and strength of the various sectoral strikes has helped to keep this “electoral” trend on a left wing course. Support for SYRIZA has not turned into a choice made out of despair. It retains the dynamics of hope and expectation that a popular mandate for SYRIZA can reverse austerity.
In this situation, the ruling class recognises that SYRIZA claiming governmental power is a serious possibility. And it responded with the time-honoured tactic of the carrot and the stick.
The “stick” is obvious. There has been an ideological assault on the left reminiscent of the Cold War, which is designed to play on the fears of the conservative part of the population. SYRIZA leader Alexis Tsipras is presented as a direct descendent of Joseph Stalin. But even worse is directed at the left wing of SYRIZA, the dangerous “hyenas hiding behind Tsipras”, as the left is known.
We have been familiar with this approach since the pre-election period in 2012. If it proves anything, it is the fear of the ruling class – their fear of the political and social forces that have made SYRIZA a viable contender for governmental power. SYRIZA voters, the resistance movement, the party’s rank and file, its more radical left cadres – these are the “hyenas” that make the ruling class anxious about a SYRIZA victory.
What is new, and potentially more dangerous, is the “carrot” approach, which is developing rapidly as the next election – still unscheduled, but coming sometime in the next three years – draws nearer.
There has been a barrage of articles in mainstream newspapers flirting with the possibility of a “moderate and realistic” SYRIZA government – and even trying to dictate its direction, through “friendly suggestions” to the SYRIZA leadership about dealing with the party’s radical left if it wants to rule the government.
As SYRIZA takes the lead in opinion polls, but in the absence of mass struggles that dominate Greek politics, there is a pressure to become a broad “catch-all” party to achieve an election victory. This pressure is reflected in the moderation of speeches from some of the party’s leading figures.
For now, the pressure to moderate SYRIZA’s platform is coming mostly around the issue of Europe, and specifically around the campaign of the Party of the European Left – a coalition of parties from across Europe, ranging from radical to centre-left – in elections for European parliament to be held later this year. At the European Left’s congress in December, Tsipras was proposed as its candidate for president of the European Commission.
We in the left wing of SYRIZA argued that this relationship would serve to transmit the politics of the Party of the European Left into SYRIZA, not the other way around.
For many reasons – most importantly, the higher level of struggle in Greece over the past several years – SYRIZA’s positions and policies are far more radical than those of its allies in the European Left. For example, SYRIZA is explicitly committed to reversing austerity by any means, and it had broken clearly with centre-left strategies and alliances with centre-left parties. This is not the case for all the parties of the European Left – the French Communist Party, a major force in the Party of the European Left, is an example.
Tsipras’ speech at the European Left’s congress in Madrid last month was indicative of the danger of adjusting SYRIZA’s radical political line toward the more moderate one of the European Left – which, on the whole, is a minimal and partial critic of the EU, with a Keynesian approach to issues like the public debt, bank nationalisation or taxing capital, exemplified by the idea of a “European New Deal.”
This development regarding the European elections and its implications for SYRIZA’s policies was something the party’s Left Platform confronted at the last session of the SYRIZA Central Committee. The Left Platform voted against the majority decision and presented its own alternative document.
In the coming months, there will be more questions that will be crucial for the future of SYRIZA: local elections (whether to make alliances, what program to highlight), our attitude in struggles (actively organising the resistance rather than simply “declaring our support” while waiting for Samaras’ electoral defeat), our clear commitment to SYRIZA’s original anti-austerity program as the possibility of taking governmental power comes closer and the functioning of the party (implementing the SYRIZA congress decision to organise Popular Committees of Resistance).
Unfortunately, this struggle for the future of SYRIZA has been left on the shoulders of the Left Platform and the party’s left wing in general, since other forces of the Greek left have continued on a sectarian course.
The Communist Party (KKE) continues to attack SYRIZA relentlessly. Hiding behind the claim that we already know what the right wing’s program is about, the KKE sometimes spends more time attacking SYRIZA than the Samaras government!
Behind the KKE’s repeated pronouncements that only socialism will solve the problems of the working class is a deeply passive and conservative attitude. The logic of this attitude is that nothing can be done “until the conditions are ripe.” This conservative line seems now to have been applied to the practical activity of KKE – in the case of the strikes by teachers and university administrative staffs, the KKE’s trade union forces played a negative role in ending the actions.
Meanwhile, the anti-capitalist coalition ANTARSYA has also refused alliances with SYRIZA. Previously, criticisms from many ANTARSYA comrades were always more comradely than from the KKE, and ANTARSYA activists were always more willing to engage in united action in local or union struggles. Sadly, there now seems to be a new tendency to withdraw from even this unity at the local or union level.
Some ANTARSYA comrades seem to have concluded that the capitulation of SYRIZA is only a matter of time, so instead of fighting to prevent this from happening, they wait on the sidelines, warning that SYRIZA will betray the working class.
2014 will be a crucial year, full of potential for the Greek left. But it will also be a year full of responsibilities. Much needs to be done. The tendency toward moderation and “realism” must be defeated inside SYRIZA. The tendency toward sectarian passivity must be defeated in the left outside SYRIZA. Unity in action and radicalism can provide the working class and left in Greece with the principles needed in a new wave of confrontations.
Greece remains the weak link in the European “chain.” If it breaks, this will send shock waves across Europe. But the duties of confronting the EU and waging a successful struggle against the capitalist offensive cannot be fully accomplished in one country alone. The struggle can begin in Greece, which is on the frontlines – but it will take an international mobilisation of the working class and the left to open the way for a working class victory and the radical transformation of society towards socialism.
 [First published at <a href="http://socialistworker.org">socialistworker.org</a>.]

Goodnight Golden Dawn

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