We provide here the text of a leaflet published for the build up to the recent 24-hour general strike in Greece and distributed on the rallies.

The capitalist crisis still haunts the planet and Greece, as the weakest link of the EU, is on the brink of defaulting. The Greek government has unleashed the biggest attack on the workers’ standard of living since the fall of the Colonels’ junta back in 1974, calling on them to pay the price of Greece’s debt through cuts in their wages, pensions and increases in the minimum age of retirement. But this debt was created not by the working class, but by the generous subsidies the capitalists have enjoyed, the ever lowering tax rate and the huge tax evasion of the big companies, the long-lasting protection the public sector offers to big private companies, the huge public spending on defence, the sweeping waves of privatizations in the public sector which have deprived the state of revenue, the mismanagement and, last but not least, the scandals of the high-paid high-ranking civil servants.

The crisis of Greek capitalism is clear for all to see. The bosses want draconian economic policies to be implemented, but the workers have already given more than they can afford to give. Bosses and workers are on a collision course as the call for a 24-hour general strike on February 24 clearly demonstrates.

Greek capitalism is at a critical point in its history. After 16 years of permanent growth in its GDP, we have now entered the second year of “negative growth”, i.e. decline in production. In 2009 GDP fell by 1.6% and in 2010 a similar figure is expected. In some European countries there are signs of a recovery – albeit weak and unstable ‑ but Greek capitalism, the weakest link in the chain is falling into a deep slump.