The KKE is “the only party that has a power-governance program with the workers at the helm of power”, emphasized, among other things, the general secretary of the KKE Dimitris Koutsoubasspeaking at a gathering of workers, which was organized by the party’s branch organizations in Thessaloniki.

“Let’s make the KKE even stronger, so that the people will be strong against the next anti-popular government” underlined the general secretary of the KKE.

“The strengthening of the KKE was the only element of the election result that made many smile, even many who ultimately did not vote for it. We tell them to do it now, so that we can all smile more together. To cut off the smile from those who dream of “powerful” governments that will crush the workers, or those who cultivate such fears in order to blackmail the people over the ballot box” said Mr. Koutsoubas and added:

“Now we need an even stronger KKE for 100% militant, popular opposition to the anti-people policy of the ND government and the consent that everyone else will give it. This is what will count for the people, in the face of the difficulties they are preparing for the next day. That’s why we say: On June 25, KKE is strong, because hope is only here.”

Mr. Koutsoubas recalled the struggles of the KKE, throughout the previous period, for the “repulsion of the employer attack” in Food, Metal, Construction, Telecommunications, Catering – Tourism, the actions against auctions and worker evictions – of popular families and the “anti-imperialist” struggles “against our country’s involvement in NATO plans”. He also recalled the interventions of the KKE, on labor issues, on universities and schools, on income, on the environment, on health, on education, etc., while calling them “cynical” and “unacceptable” the statements of Mr. Pleuris regarding the staffing of health structures on islands that have tourism only in the summer, saying: “They want to have tourism and profits all year round, but the health of the people is a “cost” for them.” How timely, is the slogan “their profits or our lives”.

“On the question of their profits or our lives, ND, SYRIZA, PASOK and the other wild-card parties they choose the profits” said Mr. Koutsoubas and continued:

“That’s why they can’t make a real opposition to each other. This law they serve and advertise in their programs. With this law, the 150 business groups in 2022 recorded more than 10 billion euros in profits, with an increase of more than 300%. And what is the condition for all this? A minimum wage that is today roughly the same as it was in 2012, i.e. 11 years ago. Average salary 25% lower than in 2011. The people pay 95% of direct and indirect taxes, while large business groups only 5%. Not just now, forever. And it takes a lot of audacity for them to pretend that they have -allegedly- different approaches to the issue of taxation, when none of them changed this ratio.”

Mr. Koutsoubas also noted that one in two new jobs is part-time, or rotating, with an “average net salary of just over three hundred euros per month”, while “six thousand workers lose their jobs every day” and ” they cycle between unemployment and job insecurity” and added:

“This law has a name, in fact it has two names: it is called the Vroutsis-Ahtsioglou law. The first brought him, the second activated him… The fact that the workplaces have become a vast valley of Tempes bears the stamp of the ND, SYRIZA, PASOK”.

Mr. Koutsoubas argued that the government program of the “next day” is “concrete”, with a return to “bloody” primary surpluses from this year, with “tax theft” from direct and indirect taxes, with “over 350 anti-people prerequisites” and with “more determined promotion of the “green transition” strategy, which “for the people means more expensive electricity, goods, housing and transport”.

He argued that in the “goal of this stability for capital, ND and SYRIZA and PASOK are meeting” and emphasized that, as much as “capital” needs a government to implement these, “it also needs from a “consensual”, “systemic” opposition that will “turn its back” on the difficult, the important and the critical, in order to increase the profits of the few”.

“And such a muff “opposition” existed and exists: They are SYRIZA and PASOK together with other small parties satellites of the others” said Mr. Koutsoubas and added:

“You see, SYRIZA and Mr. Tsipras care about who will govern at all levels, he is not indifferent, as he dared to say about the KKE, the day before yesterday, here in Northern Greece. That’s why he “fights” the right with Antonaris, Marantzidides and other such groves. That is why in Patras he is allied with ND and PASOK against the communist mayor, Kostas Peletidis. That is why in Peristeri he supports the mayor of ND, Pachatouridis. That is why in Kaisariani he has a common candidate with ND and PASOK in order not to elect a communist mayor. One would say that, not only does he care, but he also did his best to get Mitsotakis’ ND to govern again. So, let’s not point the finger at the KKE. We, not only care, but we will also be the only ones who will be fighting against the next anti-people government of the ND”

Mr. Koutsoubas said that other smaller parties, which appear “with the same ease” as they withdraw, are used in the framework of the bourgeois system to pass anti-popular policies. He attacked the “Hellenic Solution” and its leader, saying that “he is tested against popular interests”, but also against other parties of the last fifteen years.

“Remember, in the last 15 years we had LAOS, DIMAR, ANEL, POTAMI, UNION OF CENTERS, MERA25, who entered the parliament, trapped and led away popular people, young men and women, giving a breath of help to the rotten system. So “new” are these parties that have “groundbreaking” proposals for workers, such as NIKI, which proposes forced labor with increased deductions for those who owe a loan. In other words, a slave market so that the banks don’t lose a single euro” said the general secretary of the KKE and continued:

“Therefore, there should be no vote “let’s go wherever it comes out”, but to fall, with even greater determination, only to the KKE. And for one more important reason. Because it is the only party that has a program of power – governance with the workers at the helm of power, real owners of the wealth they produce. Because the KKE does not see the workers as “kookies”, nor does it divide them into green, blue and pink. That’s why he doesn’t say “well let them suffer” because they voted for one party or the other, as others do. The KKE is flesh of the flesh of the workers. He sees them as the class that produces all the wealth that exists around us and that has the power, when it decides to turn it all upside down. Because in today’s barbarism there is a way out for the interests of the people, in the conflict and overthrow of this rotten, corrupt system.”

Mr. Koutsoumbas reminded that in the period 2019 – 2023 and with only two elected members of parliament in the first district of Thessaloniki, a number of issues were highlighted, while more than 600 topical questions and reports were submitted by the KKE to the Parliament about the problems of the people of Thessaloniki and more broadly of Central Macedonia and added:

“This is why we say that the workers of Thessaloniki have an absolute interest in sending not only these two KKE MPs to the new parliament, but also more. For example, the people of 1st Thessaloniki do not need nine ND MPs who were elected on May 21 and there may be more now with the false positive, unacceptable bonus that steals seats from other parties. He doesn’t even need the four SYRIZA MPs. It needs more communist, militant members of the KKE”.

“Therefore, we invite those who trusted the KKE, many for the first time, to do so again. Because now they have more reasons to do so. That no vote be lost due to abstention. We invite those who thought about voting KKE, but hesitated at the last minute, to do so now. So that we can all be stronger together, on June 26, to continue fighting for the interests of the “many”.