UK grinds to a halt has half a million march against Government Cuts

The people fight back: Syntagma square flooded with demonstrators once again, after two days of unrecedented police violence in Athens

The waves after waves of police violence during the General Strike of June 28-29
deterred no-one. Once again, thousands took to the streets and gathered in Syntagma to protest against the memorandum, the troika, the government but also, this time, the police. The change in the atmosphere was quite stunning, with anti-police slogans chanting through the air. The rage of the previous days was there, but the fear was gone. Tonight’s assembly was one of the largest Syntagma has seen.

Source: The Greek Streets

The June 30th Strike in Britain - Statement by the March 26th Movement - The Alternative Platform

Democracy and Class Struggle says Don't work support the 30th June Strikers

TO FOLLOW STRIKE ACTIONS ON 30TH JUNE VISIT HERE :
http://www.j30strike.org/

Also visit :
http://themarch26thmovement.blogspot.com/

Greece - Video Reports and Updates

Despite the profound level of state violence in Athens today, thousands remain in the streets and on Syntagma square, resisting. An assembly is ongoing at Monastiraki square while a barricade has just been erected in Filellinon. There are several police blockades in various points across the city. Since early morning today, there is an ongoing chemical war-fare against the people. DIAS & DELTA motorcycle police attacked and beat up hundreds of demonstrators around Ermou Str, raided university premises and even restaurants beating up tourists and protesters. For the first time ever, the luxurious King George hotel on Syntagma Square has been evacuated

Twenty demonstrators arrested and 46 injured as protests continue in Athens during the night

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Held in a cell for three hours, the demonstrators were then transferred to the police HQ for another six hours. All detentions were swiftly turned into arrests, and all people in solidarity are calling for a solidarity gathering for tomorrow (29.6) at 10 a.m. outside the courthouse in Euelpidon Street.

Source: From the Greek Streets

Clashes in the Streets of Athens has Greek Protests escalate

A communications truck was set on fire in central Athens on Tuesday, and youths hurled rocks and fire bombs at riot police, as a huge demonstration against new austerity measures descended into violence. The demonstration was called by unions, alongside a general strike that has brought the country to a standstill. Firefighters arrived on the scene to extinguish the blazing truck, the second one to be set alight during Tuesday's riots. Tuesday's clashes came at the start of a two-day strike called by unions furious that the new 28 billion euro (40 billion US Dollar) austerity program will slap taxes on minimum wage earners and other struggling Greeks.

Video calling for general strike + blockade of the Parliament in Greece, 28-29 June 2011 prepared by Popular Assembly of Constitution Square

This video prepared by the Popular Assembly of Syntagma (Constitution) Square, calling for the 48hours strike on Tuesday 28 and Wednesday 29 June, and for the blockade of the Parliament on Wednesday 29 June, in order to block the adoption of the new "Middle Term Program" demanded by the IMF-EU-ECB Troika and supported by the Papandreou government.

Democracy and Class Struggle calls for solidarity actions with the Greek People who are pathfinders for the new democratic structures of the 21st century. Read the work of Kris Giov on the Democracy of the Squares :
http://democracyandclasstruggle.blogspot.com/2011/06/democracy-is-born-in-squares-by-kris.html

Also see Greek Solidarity message from March 26th Movement in UK to Greek protestors:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jpXdQ-OgFxs&feature=youtu.be

June 30th Strike - Statement by the March 26th Movement

International Communist Movement and Mao Zedong Thought by Harsh Thakor

Democracy and Class Struggle publishes this contribution of Harsh Thakor not because we agree with all of the views expressed in this document, but because we find this document a useful summary of some of the debates in the movement in the last few years. Readers are invited to post their views on this document.


1.Trends

A major deviationist trend within the Marxist-Leninist Movement are the distortions of the polemics of Comrades Marx,.Lenin,Stalin and Mao Tse Tung .The chief proponent of this are the Nepalese U.P.C.N(M) and the Kasama group of U.S.A. Com.Mike Ely initiated the Kasama Project Group,a breakaway group from the R.C.P., U.S.A . The Kasama trend almost reduces Com Stalin to a non-Leninist and all Mao’s ideology as an anti-thesis of Stalinism..The Kasama project is one of the greatest ever Marxist-Leninist efforts to create a forum for debate, which has been lacking in the history of the Communist Movement ,but they deviate from strong theoretical foundation. Howevever its reading of Com.Mao’s cultural revolution and theories are virtually analyzed as something different or separate from Leninism.

 The other trend that needs to be combated is that of Maoist third worldism propogated by the Leading Light Communist Organisation (LLCO)that advocates that the entire first world working class is reactionary and only the third world proletariat is revolutionary.It also upholds Lin Biao’s line as the revolutionary line as against that of Com.Mao Tse Tung. Infact it attributes the theory of Peoples War to Lin Biao.It slashes Bob Avakian from a left sectarian standpoint and even overlooks Avakian’s positive points.True it upholds Lenin and Stalin but claims that Com.Mao later veered towards revisionism with Zhou En Lai etc.

It terms some of the major third world Maoist struggles like that led by the Communist Party OF Phillipines or C.P.I.(Moaist) as that led by armed revisionists.Infact there is a significant connection between the Lin Biaoist ideology with that of rejecting the first world proletariat as a counter-revolutionary force strategically.Upholding Lin Biao’s line is counter to the correct trend in the International Communist Movement.True Lin did propogate the Peoples War concept but it was fundamentally derived from Com.Mao Tse Tung and not an original formulation of Lin Biao as advocated by the Leading Light group.

I have quoted comments and writings of intellectuals like Joseph Ball and Mike Ely.(Kasama group)Ball logically refutes Kasama’s looseness on the assessment of Stalin but he too finds fault with Mao’s line towards the end.


Significant points have been raised by this section on the class nature of the first world proletariat who reflect a general reactionary attitude and compared with workers of the third world countries live in relative luxury. However only for a temporary period first world workers will they not identify themselves with the struggles of the third world people. We must take into account the anti-war protests of European workesr and strikes combating the Imnperialist system.

Both these trends are harshly critical of the R.C.P.(U.S.A) led by Bob Avakian but from deviationist perspectives. Infact the R.C.P.took a progressive stand criticizing the Nepalese Maoists multi-party co-ordination nad defended the vanguard role of the single proletarian party. Infact Kasama has taken several ecclectical positions on Lenin and the dictatorship of the Proletariat. They see Maoism as something anatagonistic to Stalin’s ideology and even different from Leninism. True they foster a democratic spirit of discussion and debate and welcome a huge range of views but basically do not derive at a proletarian class analysis.I consider the R.C.P.U.S.A more progressive than the Kasama or the L.lc.o.I feel Avakain makes some very valid points in democracy Can we do better than that?”True the R.C.P has fallen victim to losseness in theory and practice and hardly drawn out a mass revolutionary programme for the working class.Nor has it given adequate support to the third world movements.A revolutionary writer Joseph Ball,a staunch opponent of the rightist trends within Kasama is sympathetic to certain aspects of the L.L.C.O . but also partially to the. R.C.P.Ball was critical of the m Nepalese Comrades multi-party approach which Bob Avakain also opposed.

Quoting Joseph Ball in defense of Avakian “Well, I didn’t think my comments on the UCPN(M) would go down too well here to be honest.It is true that you have a lot of good things to say about the exploitation of the Third World, and the First World worker’s complicity in all of that. My article on the UCPN(M) reflects some of this. RCP-USA is very aware of this type of analysis too. However, they still think revolution in the USA is possible for reasons other than economic ones. I reserve judgement on this line but I find it a lot easier to see how revolution could occur in Third World nations.I am afraid where Monkey Smashes Heaven (Leader of L.L.C.O.)fails and where Avakian succeeds is that his theory of the state in ‘Democracy Can’t We Do Better Than That?’ and ‘Democracy; More Than Ever Can’t We Do Better Than That?’ is correct wheras MSH and other groups that have shared its line seem to have a fairly anarchist view of the state. As far as I can tell, MSH favours a sort of Shanghai Commune approach to state organisation under socialism (correct me if I am wrong). This does not really take into account the full dialectical relationship between the need to use the state to defend the revolution and the need to advance the erosion of the differences between leaders and led and the withering away of the state.This criticism should be taken in the spirit in which it is intended.I’m not trying to ‘sell’ Avakian here but I think MSH tends to see his line in black and white, when it’s really shades of grey. After all, RCP-USA dropped its involvement in US labor unions precisely because it was felt that the strictly economic problems of US workers were pretty unimportant compared to the problems of the Third World proletariat. Not the MSH line, I know, but not really the MSH’s version of the RCP-USA line either.




Personally,the author recognizes the disparity between the first world and third world proletariat but feels disqualifying the role of the first world section would be capitulation.True the first world proletariat is complacent and much better paid but in recent times they have been affected by great level sof unemployment,jobcuts and also been launched into major strikes against globalization and anti war struggles.