By Nikos Nikolaou

Making his way to his university office, professor Savvas Robolis got a nasty surprise: a banner daubed with a threat against his life. Robolis, a scientific advisor to the General Confederation of Greek Labor (GSEE), has for years fought for workers’ rights and fairer income distribution. The idiotic banner must not be the work of youth party members, but of empty-headed nihilists. The problem is that such bullying behavior is fueled by the confrontational mood cultivated by the Communist Party (KKE) and the Coalition of the Radical Left (SYRIZA).

Prior to the signing of a two-year collective labor agreement that raised minimum wages by 12.42 percent, Giorgos Perros of the Communist-affiliated PAME withdrew from the negotiations, warning that “anyone who signs this agreement is a criminal and will pay for it.” PAME has warned all sides, especially the industrialists of the Hellenic Federation of Enterprises (SEV), that “there will be blood.” Alekos Kalyvis of SYRIZA has maintained a similarly intransigent stance.

Of course KKE has never come to terms with the collapse of communism. KKE officials dream of an improved version of communism that will place the proletariat in the driver’s seat. For their part, the SYRIZA crowd dream of a socialist transformation of society and thus reject cooperation with the capitalist-leaning PASOK.

Dreaming is okay but can such visions materialize through collective labor agreements? One would hope that the proposed increases were feasible, but as Nikos Skorinis, the general secretariat of the General Confederation of Greek Small Businesses and Traders said, the collective agreement must be implemented by SEV’s 5,000 industries but also by 700,000 manufacturers and 200,000 small businesses. “Come back tomorrow to see how many of them will have closed down,” Skorinis scolded the unionists.