The period from 1974 to 1993 was undoubtedly a very interesting time. It was the years of fire that ignited consciences, the years of great visions, ideological conflicts, and the development of mass movements. The interest that existed then for the unions and the General Confederation of Greek Workers was a result of the presence and dynamics of the movement in the labor space. Today, the corresponding – diminished – interest reflects the state of the movement and its possibilities.

During the twenty-year period that I have tried to document as I lived it, the movement was the result of the collective efforts of hundreds of thousands of workers and thousands of leaders across the country. In those creative decades, the unions surpassed their limits. With their persistent struggles and unpredictable mobilizations, they made history.

Which includes many struggles and victories: struggles for a better position within society; struggles for democratic institutions, trade union and social rights; struggles for the participation of workers in the management of enterprises; struggles for the creation of institutions of social control.

Through this documentation, I believe that useful conclusions can be drawn about the trade union phenomenon in Greece during the twenty-year period from 1974 to 1993, and I hope that this will contribute to sparking hope and aspiring imitators in a time when neoliberalism has prevailed and the search for individual solutions has weakened unions, collective efforts, and social struggles.