SYRIZA government withdraws anti-strike amendment after Trade Unions' militant reaction

Workers-Trade Unionists invade the Ministry
of Labour in Athens.

The SYRIZA-ANEL coalition government was forced after militant mobilization by PAME and Trade Unions to withdraw a shameful amendment on workers’ strike and other labour issues only hours after they were tabled in parliament. Earlier today (Tuesday), demonstrators supported by the All-Workers Militant Front (PAME) invaded the Ministry of Labor in central Athens, as an act of protest against the antiworker-antipeople measures of the government.

The government's amendment proposes that for a union to go on strike, at least 50% plus one of active union members must agree. In fact, this measure is a step towards the restriction of the workers' right to strike and consists an escalation of the government-EU's attack against the labour movement.

Britain: 19 million people living below the line of poverty

Source: The New Worker.

Prime Minister Theresa May earlier this year claimed she was reaching out to families that were “just about managing” to get by. But there are millions more families now who are not managing at all, thanks to her policies.

According to a report released last week by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) there are now 3.4 million more households in Britain struggling to live on their income than there were in the year 2008—2009.

There are now just under 19 million people in Britain living below the ‘Minimum Income Standard’ (MIS), 11 million of whom are not managing but are sinking fast into a bottomless pit of debt and desperation.

European Communist Initiative: On the intensification of the militarization and aggressiveness of the EU

Statement by the Parties of the European Communist Initiative:

The EU, the NATO and the bourgeois governments of their member-states are engaged in an escalating arms race and in the development of military plans and preparations, which pose a serious danger for the peoples.

These developments reflect the contradictions among the governments within the EU and NATO as well as their contradictions with other imperialist centers and rival powers which are focused on the control of hydrocarbons and energy pipelines in the Middle East, in Northern Africa, in Eastern Mediterranean and other regions. 

Interview with Marco Rizzo, General Secretary of the Communist Party of Italy (PC)

The General Secretary of the Communist Party of Italy (Partito Comunista), Marco Rizzo, gave a very interesting interview to the International Communist Press:

ICP: Before starting, could you inform our readers about the discussions within the Italian Communist Movement that led to the founding of your party, the Communist Party of Italy?

Marco Rizzo: The ideological and political origins of our Party refer to the political area of ​​the legendary organizer of the Italian Communist Party (PCI) during the Resistance, Pietro Secchia, who was an opponent of Togliatti for what concerned its moderatism according to the "Italian Way to Socialism". This area kept living through the magazine Interstampa and the Marxist Cultural Centers, born in Italy during the ‘80s. This area was, in fact, the backbone of the struggle of the pro-Soviet opposition within the PCI and the establishment of the new party, Rifondazione Comunista, after the PCI dissolution in 1991.

Fidel Castro, ¡presente! Thousands gathered at the University of Havana to honour the Comandante

Thousands of people gathered at the University of Havana in order to pay their respect to Comadante Fidel Castro, on the one years since his death. Report from Granma International.

Once again the historic guerilla brought together a multitude of grateful youth. Once again he showed us the right way, with his index finger pointing to the future. In a cultural-political act at the University of Havana’s historic Grand Staircase – where he spoke to students on many occasions – the generation in which he placed all his trust, gathered one year after his passing, to show that Fidel has not left, and that today, he is more present than ever. 

Dimitris Koutsoumbas: "Socialism in the 20th century proved its superiority in comparison with capitalism"

The Secretary General of the CC of the Communist Party of Greece, Dimitris Koutsoumbas, delivered the central speech during the KKE's political and cultural event for the 100 years since the Great October Socialist Revolution that took place on Sunday 26th November in Athens / Source: inter.kke.gr. 

In his speech, the SG of the CC of KKE noted that “The October Revolution is neither an accident of history, nor a Bolshevik coup d’etat, as the capitalists declare and write, nor immature and early, as all kinds of apostates and oportunists-adventurists declare and write”  and added that “The October Revolution has been the climactic world-historic event of the 20th century that sounded the start of the era when the working class would become the protagonist of the developments and would push forward the wheel of history, taking over the power and organizing the new socialist-communist relations of production, reforming the whole society. (…) The October Revolution gave impulse to the international revolutionary movement and filled with optimism the struggle of the peoples around the world, accelerated the process for the founding of a series of communist parties. Our Party, is a product of the revolutionary flame of October. In a few days we will welcome year 2018, year of climax for the celebration of the 100 years of the honored and heroic Communist Party of Greece.”

Communist Party of Turkey (TKP): Tayyip Erdogan and his government must resign immediately!

The Communist Party of Turkey (TKP) has released a statement calling on Turkey’s President Recep Erdogan to resign immediately following the reports showing the engagement of family members of Erdogan in the transaction of millions of dollars to a foreign company via offshore bank accounts in the Isle of Man, soL international reports. 

The statement came on late November 28 just after Turkey's main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) chair Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu showed some documents during a parliamentary speech, accusing Erdogan’s family of getting involved in the transaction of millions of dollars to a foreign company via offshore bank accounts in the tax haven Isle of Man.

"Imperialists Out of Greece!": The 18th Congress of EEDYE to be held on 2-3 December in Athens

Archive Photo: From an EEDYE rally.

The 18th Congress of the Greek Committee for International Detente and Peace (EEDYE) will take place on the 2nd and 3rd of December in Athens. The Congress will be hosted at the City Hall of Haidari, west of Athens. 

For the preparation of the Congress, local peace committees across the country held meetings, discussed and organised the future activities of the antiimperialist movement.

KKE: Protest outside the Polish embassy in Athens against anticommunist persecutions

With a protest outside the Polish embassy yesterday in Athens, members of the Communist Party of Greece expressed their condemnation of the anticommunist persecutions that take place in Poland. 

The delegation of the KKE, headed by the Member of the European Parliament Kostas Papadakis, delivered to the personnel of the embassy a statement in which the Party expresses its opposition to the persecutions.

Fidel Castro: Always Alive In Our Minds And Hearts

By Nikos Mottas.

A year has passed since the death of Cuban Revolution's historic leader, Fidel Castro Ruz. A real communist and internationalist who, through his life and action, put his stamp indelibly in the history of Cuba and Latin America. Fidel was a man whose name became synonymous to Freedom, Revolution and Dignity, leaving a valuable legacy to the international communist movement and the people of Cuba.

Comandante Castro's political legacy continues to inspire the Cuban people in the consistent struggle against the genocidal economic, commercial and financial blockade that the U.S. governments have imposed, as well as against the multiform attempts by imperialist centers in the USA and the EU to undermine socialist construction in Cuba. 

"The ice has been broken, the road is open": Massive participation at KKE's event for the 100 years of the Great October Socialist Revolution

With massive participation of people of every age, in a stadium filled with young communists, the KKE celebrated the 100 years since the October Socialist Revolution with a magnificent political and cultural event on Sunday in Athens. 

The event began with a speech by the General Secretary of the CC of the Party Dimitris Koutsoumbas and continued with a theatrical play dedicated to the 1917 October Revolution events. 

Thousands members, supporters and friends of the KKE and its youth wing, KNE, filled the Stadium of Peace and Friendship in Faliro, celebrating the epic revolution which inspired the people in all over the world and proved that capitalism is neither eternal nor undefeated. 

TKP's General Secretary Kemal Okuyan: "Shut down the NATO bases, withdraw from the alliance!"

Source: soL international.

The General Secretary of the Communist Party of Turkey (TKP), soL columnist, Kemal Okuyan wrote an article on November 22 regarding the recent Turkey-NATO/U.S. row sparked with the appearance of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's name in a list of enemies on a poster at a NATO drill. 

"Your anti-NATO stance has not lasted even two days," yelled [Turkish journalist] Nihat Genç in his column on Odatv. He meant the nationalists who began to say "We are being entrapped, we are deviating from the West to Eurasia," just after they bullied the U.S. and NATO.   

Several times we have responded to the question, "What is nationalism?", but let us put it here again so that what we are going to say can be more apparent:

Regional meeting of Communist and Workers Parties to be held in Athens on November 26th

Archive Photo.

A meeting of Communist and Workers Parties of the Mediterranean, Middle East and Persian Gulf will take place on Sunday 26th of November, at the headquarters of the Communist Party of Greece in Perissos, Athens. 

The major subject of the meeting- which is an initiative of the KKE - is: "The communist and workers parties consistently by the side of the just struggle of the Palestinian people in the fight against imperialist war and capitalist exploitation".

Solidarity with the Communist Party of Poland (KPP) - Condemn the anticommunist persecutions

Call for the condemnation of the anti-communist persecution in Poland.

Anti-communist persecution against the Communist Party of Poland continues. On 27th of November the court proceedings will restart. The judicial prosecution based on charges of propagating communist ideology in the „Brzask” newspaper and on the party's website continues for two years.

This trial is a part of a campaign made by the government to illegalize the Communist Party of Poland.

Against Black Friday: Amazon workers in Germany and Italy are going on strike

More than 500 Amazon employees in Europe will go on strike on Black Friday in a bid to win higher pay from the retailer, according to trade unions.

Large numbers of employees in Germany and Italy will stay home for one of the busiest shopping days of the year in a bid to win concessions from their employer.

Workers at Amazon's main Italian distribution hub posted a statement saying that they would walk out after attempts to secure bonuses from management broke down.