Foundation

Xekininma's roots can be traced to the mid-1970’s when Greek society was going through major upheavals, and was seen by many as moving to left-radical policies

Left-wing politics

In politics, Left, left-wing and leftist generally refer to support for social change to create a more egalitarian society...

 as a result of the collapse of the military dictatorship

Greek military junta of 1967-1974

The Greek military junta of 1967–1974, alternatively "The Regime of the Colonels" , or in Greece "The Junta", and "The Seven Years" are terms used to refer to a series of right-wing military governments that ruled Greece from 1967 to 1974...

 and the international situation.

The initial layer of members came from within the mass workers’ parties of that period, that is, the socialist (PASOK

Panhellenic Socialist Movement

The Panhellenic Socialist Movement , known mostly by its acronym PASOK , is one of the two major political parties in Greece. Founded on 3 September 1974 by Andreas Papandreou, in 1981 PASOK became Greece's first social democratic party to win a majority in parliament.The party is a socialist party...

) and communist (KKE

Communist Party of Greece

Founded in 1918, the Communist Party of Greece , better known by its acronym, ΚΚΕ , is the oldest party on the Greek political scene.- Foundation :...

). It was made up of young activists who thought that the policies of these parties were leading the masses to defeat, and who, in their search for answers, came to the ideas of Leon Trotsky

Leon Trotsky

Leon Trotsky , born Lev Davidovich Bronshtein, was a Russian Marxist revolutionary and theorist, Soviet politician, and the founder and first leader of the Red Army....

.

In the second part of the 1970s and the 1980s those organised in Xekinima were able to lead important struggles (both inside the mass parties and outside), of the working class movement. Especially inside PASOK, they were the main constituent of a strong left current opposed to the policies of the leadership. This opposition and the support their ideas gained amongst the ordinary members of PASOK led to Xekinima’s expulsion from the party by its leadership. In the working class struggles Xekinima played a key role in the latter part of the 1980s in the development of some of the most important industrial battles but also in university and technical student struggles.

1990s onwards

The 1990s required a complete re-orientation in the work of the Greek section of the CWI. After a series of serious defeats of the left at the beginning of the 1990s and a turn to the right by the leadership of the Trade Union

Trade union

A trade union, trades union or labor union is an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with...

s, a turn to a new generation of young people was required as older layers of activists were being driven into demoralisation and apathy.

This task was gradually achieved, by the end of the 1990s. The organisation now undertakes successful campaigning work amongst young people in the schools and universities. Two special journal

Magazine

Magazines, periodicals, glossies or serials are publications, generally published on a regular schedule, containing a variety of articles. They are generally financed by advertising, by a purchase price, by pre-paid magazine subscriptions, or all three...

s are being produced on a regular basis, apart from the organisation’s monthly paper, called School Student Xekinima (to deal with the issues affecting school students), and Machete (circulated among the University and technical college students). Xekinima played an important role in the development of a huge wave of school occupations that covered the country from one end to the other, in 1998. Young members of the Greek section were in the leadership of this struggle in a number of areas.

Very important work is also being done among political asylum seekers, refugee

Refugee

A refugee is a person who outside her country of origin or habitual residence because she has suffered persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or because she is a member of a persecuted 'social group'. Such a person may be referred to as an 'asylum seeker' until...

s and migrants in general. Xekinima fought over the past years for the release from prison of refugees who were kept in Greek jails. It brought to the surface information about what was going on inside the migrant cells, and for the first time society learned about hunger strike

Hunger strike

A hunger strike is a method of non-violent resistance or pressure in which participants fast as an act of political protest, or to provoke feelings of guilt in others, usually with the objective to achieve a specific goal, such as a policy change. Most hunger strikers will take liquids but not...

s and other struggles that were taking place against the alleged racism of Greek police and the state. Xekinima’s campaigns forced the police to open the jails to MP

Member of Parliament

A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...

s and journalists to see what was actually happening. Tens of migrant prisoners were released as a result of these campaigns and many were granted their rights.

Xekinima is also involved in a number of local community campaigns, filling the vacuum left by the leadership of the workers’ movement. In the most recent example, in the area of Kaisariani (Athens

Athens

Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...

), Xekinima, took the initiative to fight against the attempt of the council to “modernise” the area by demolishing the houses of 4,000 families in order to build trade centres and huge blocks of flats. The mayor of Kaisariani is a Coalition of Radical Left member and his plans have the unanimous support in the council. This sets Xekinima as the only political opposition in the area. The campaign has, up to now, had a fantastic reception by the local population. The possibility of forcing the council to abandon its plans is open.

Winning the working class to revolutionary ideas is of course the strategic aim of Xekinima’s work. The period of the last years is one of relative decline in struggles and trade union activity. 1999 was the year with the lowest number of strikes since the collapse of the military dictatorship in 1974. The end of the year 2000 however, saw the first signs of a new, possible, revival. A number of strikes, including two general strike

General strike

A general strike is a strike action by a critical mass of the labour force in a city, region, or country. While a general strike can be for political goals, economic goals, or both, it tends to gain its momentum from the ideological or class sympathies of the participants...

s took place. Xekinima intervened heavily in these strikes. The main target that Xekinima sets in relation to trade union work, apart from building its own forces, is to bring together class fighters of different political orientations with a view to the creation of opposition groupings and blocks outside the control of the traditional parties.

University Occupations

In 2006/07 Xekinima was heavily involved in the movement of university students occupying Greek universities against privatisation and other cuts, where they argued that the movement should link up with other social movements and the Greek working class.

Joining Syriza

After working closely with SYRIZA over a period of time and calling for a vote for SYRIZA in the 2007 elections, a special national congress of Xekinima on June 7–8, 2008 voted to join SYRIZA.