The following text is an appeal written by thee Marxists in the Greek left-wing party Syriza in preparation for its congress later this year. We also ask our readers to read our most recent analysis of the situation in Greece here: The Class Struggle in Greece

The huge response from ordinary people to the death of Hugo Chavez has highlighted the massive impact that the Venezuelan Revolution has had on millions of people worldwide. Never has the Venezuelan Revolution been more relevant than today. This explains why over 70 people came to see Alan Woods - editor of www.marxist.com and founder of the Hands Off Venezuela campaign - speak at the UCLU Marxist (University College London) society on the legacy of Chavez and the tasks of the Venezuelan Revolution now that its leader has passed away.

Despite a harsh blizzard and traffic disruptions 250 people braved the weather to gather in Brussels, at the buildings of the Christian trade union CSC/ACV, to pay homage to the recently deceased President of Venezuela, Hugo Chavez. Erik Demeester of the Hands Off Venezuela (HOV) campaign and Veronique Coteur of Intal explained the political significance of the gathering: ‘Hugo Chavez was not only a president of Venezuela. He was above all an international revolutionary leader.

News that five trade unions the INMO, IMO, Unite, ASTI and the Civil Public and Services Union have recommended rejection of the proposed Croke Park Deal will be welcomed by workers across the State affected by the proposals. Significantly the unions cover workers across a large part of the public sector including Education, Civil Servants and Health. INMO, IMO, Unite and the CPSU organise 70,000 members. That combined with opposition within IMPACT and SIPTU, from other workers in the 24/7 Frontline Alliance indicates that the deal is far from done. Significant also is that they are considering opposing the deal even if the big unions accept.

The class struggle in Greece continues.  A general strike of public transport in Athens was aborted after five days when the government forced the workers to return to work, using reactionary legislation left over from the period of open reaction. One week later, the same fate awaited the seafarers. The government of Samaras is recovering its nerve, and passing on to the offensive. This year alone, a minimum of 25,000 jobs in the public sector are due to be destroyed as a result of the deal with the Troika. Yet there has not been any serious response from the Greek trade union leaders.

One and a half million people took to the streets in 40 different cities in Portugal on March 2 in protest against austerity cuts and against the troika. This was one of the country's largest ever demonstrations on the same level as the one on September 15 and the huge mobilisations during the revolution in the 1970s.

The latest Red C poll is the third such poll that indicates that Fianna Fáil has recovered its strength in the polls. At 26% support FF is within 2 points of Fine Gael. The recovery in the FF vote should be a wakeup call to Labour Party members that coalition government and collaboration with Fine Gael’s austerity programme cannot solve the problems of working people in the state.

In Ireland a deal has been reached about another round of redundancies and pension and wage cuts called Croke Park II. Over the next few weeks the debate within the unions and in the press will be fierce. All of the forces of the ruling class and the government will be unleashed to try and sell this deal through the press and the media and through management pressure. We publish here two articles from the Fightbackwebsite on the question.

With the turbulence and discontent in the political landscape over the past year the presidential elections held in January were an important way for the Czech people to express their mood. Although the president has more powers than presidents in neighbouring European countries, it still remains a largely symbolic role with the majority of decisions being left to the parliament and the Prime Minister. It would be fair to say that the Czech President has a relatively large amount of choice in how much power and responsibility he or she wants to take in the running of the country. However, the President does hold some significant powers such as the allocation of bank officials and

Austerity policies imposed by governments throughout Eastern Europe are provoking social convulsions in one country after another. In a short span of time we have seen mass opposition arising in Hungary, Slovenia (where a public sector general strike paralysed the country on January 23), Croatia, the Czech Republic, Romania and elsewhere. Mass protests have erupted also in Bulgaria. On Tuesday, February 19, a demonstration in Sofia against austerity measures and high energy prices escalated in clashes after harsh police intervention, resulting in 25 people injured.

Within the next few months local councils will be voting through budgets for the coming financial year and are under extreme pressure from the government to make yet more serious cuts in jobs and services. Labour councils in particular are being asked to act as agents for the Tory-led Coalition at Westminster in the interests of big business.

February 20th and 21st saw Spain’s Congress (Parliament) debating the “State of the Nation”. While the debate was going on an opinion poll showed that of 80% the people do not feel they are represented by the Congress.  A growing wave of discontent is being translated into struggle. Spain is like a pressure cooker without a safety valve, facing a crisis of the regime which can only be solved through the eruption of the masses onto the scene.

The water cannons and flash-balls¹ used by the police in Brussels, Namur and Strasbourg were not enough to cool the anger of the Walloon steelworkers.  Images of the steelworkers in violent clashes with the police have been circulated internationally. Their anger erupted after the steel giant ArcelorMittal said it would close seven of the twelve cold processing facilities in Liège, eliminating 1300 jobs. 

The National Basketball Arena in Tallaght has 2,500 seats. All these were filled tonight not to mention that more than 1,000 other people were standing in the aisles and around the doors. The 24/7 Front Line Alliance pulls together general and psychiatric nurses, paramedics, prison officers, fire services and gardaí. The mood from the rally was clear; no more pay cuts.

On August 2007 just before the melt down in world capitalism the unemployment figure in the North of Ireland was  23,700. In December 2012 that figure was 62,200. It is the largest figure it has been for more than 15 years. (Irish News 24/1/12)