SYRIZA and the Rise of Radical Left-Reformism in Europe

Donal Mac Fhearraigh

The rise of , ’s Coalition ternative to austerity and the crisis of of the Radical Left, in the May elections has provoked panic among the and in polls since, has electrified Euro-elites and the Greek ruling class. globally. Tsipras stunned Europe’s rulers when, af- The election on 6 May revealed that ter receiving the mandate from the Greek the mass of the Greek people rejected president to try and form a government, the austerity programme imposed under after New proved unable to do the Memorandum of Understanding be- so, he declared the austerity measures be- tween their government and the European ing imposed on Greece ‘null and void’. Union (EU) and the International Mone- The campaign of Jean-Luc Melenchon tary Fund (IMF). SYRIZA’s leader, Alex in the French Presidential election shows Tsipras, has denounced the programme that the re-emergence of a left-reformist as ‘barbarous’ and his refusal to form a current in politics isn’t peculiar to Greece, coalition with the parties that support the as the EU ruling class strategy of deep- Memorandum has forced Greece into a sec- ening austerity erodes traditional political ond election on 17 June. loyalties and creates rising political polar- The last opinion poll published on Fri- isation. Overall unemployment across the day 1 June showed SYRIZA on 31.5 per- stands at its highest level since cent, its highest performance yet, and a 1999 when the currency was launched with full six points ahead of -wing New 17.4 million out of work2 . The scale of eco- Democracy on 25.5 percent1 . This puts nomic contraction and suffering in some of SYRIZA on track to be the largest party Europe’s southern edge echoes the ‘shock after the June 17 election, with over 100 therapy’ Eastern European countries were parliamentary seats and in a position to subject to in the 1990s after the fall of the form a government. Soviet Union, but it has largely been with- The stakes are very high. If SYRIZA out precedent in Western Europe since the forms a government that rejects the Mem- Second World War. orandum, the In Ireland the growth of support for might well react by ceasing to fund the Sinn Fein and ‘Independents’ suggests that Greek banks, precipitating Greece’s full a similar space for an anti-austerity left re- default on its foreign debts and departure formist party may also exist here. Recent from the eurozone. opinion polls put Sinn Fein at 25 percent The prospect of a radical left-reformist and ‘Independents’ (including the left) at government in Greece posing a radical al- 17 percent, ahead of The at 1The Public Issue/ poll, published on Friday 1 June. Opinion polls are banned during the last three weeks of campaigning in Greece. 2http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/statistics_explained/index.php/Unemployment_ statistics 3http://politicalreform.ie/2012/05/14/fine-gael-labour-coalition-unable-to- command\-enough-seats-for-a-dail-majority-sunday-business-post--c-poll-13th-may- 2012/#more-3399

103 10 percent3 . (Though neither the degree reformism being dead, left-reformist par- of radicalisation nor the level of mobilisa- ties have benefited from the crisis rather tion of the working class is as yet compa- than the anti-capitalist, revolutionary left rable to that in Greece.) where they stand alone. The radicalisation generated by the cri- The elections point to deepening class sis, and resistance to it, is causing working polarisation across Europe. Major battles people to break from their traditional loy- lie ahead that can in turn push the pro- alty to mainstream social , built cess of radicalisation further left, especially up in some cases over decades, But when where the solutions offered by the various they do so they are more likely to turn versions of reform rather than revolution first to other more radical versions of re- are put to the test. formism, where these seem credible and articulate an alternative in the language the social democrats used to deploy, rather Who are SYRIZA? than moving directly to the revolutionary SYRIZA, the ‘Coalition of the Radical left. Change within the framework of the Left’, has its origins in a split in the system still seems easier and more plau- Greek Communist Party in 1968 between sible to many, than the message of revo- those who remained aligned with the So- lutionaries that to solve the crisis workers viet Union and the Eurocommunists who need to rely on their own resistance and ul- were detaching themselves from it, largely timately take control of society into their on a social democratic basis. In the 1980s own hands. both sides came together again to form The example of SYRIZA suggests that , ‘the coalition of the left and this space can be filled by coalitions of rev- progress’. But in 1989, following financial olutionaries and left reformists. If revolu- scandals under a Pasok (Labour) govern- tionaries move quickly and avoid sectari- ment, they cooperated with New Democ- anism they can help create a by racy in a coalition govern- forming broad alliances or class struggle ment. parties so as to better engage with radi- After a few months they joined a sec- calising workers. ond including both Where the far left fails to do this new and discredited Pasok. political formations can fill the vacuum. In As a result the whole Communist Party the Left Front formed out of a left Youth left Synaspismos and the Commu- split from the French Socialist (Labour) nist Party, later forming the New Left Cur- Party uniting with the French Communist rent (NAR) which now participates in An- Party. This overtook the far-left New Anti- tarsya, the coalition of the anti-capitalist Capitalist Party (NPA) as the main ex- left, alongside the Greek Socialist Workers pression of resistance to the crisis, partly Party(SEK). due to the NPA’s failure to broaden out The two wings of Synaspismos then to fill the space to the left of the Socialist split again, with the pro-USSR Communist Party. Party separating and becoming the KKE Both these examples show that a per- of today and the pro-E U wing remain- spective of building ‘new left’ alliances ing as Synaspismos. In 1992 Synaspis- alongside the revolutionary party is nec- mos voted for the Maastricht Treaty. At essary for revolutionaries in Europe today. the next elections Synaspismos’s vote col- Recent elections also show that far from lapsed.

104 In the early 2000s Synaspismos was in- icalisation is the impoverishment and suf- volved in the anti-globalisation movement fering imposed on the people. The rate and started to shift to the left. It changed of unemployment in Greece is now over 21 its name to ‘Coalition of the left, the move- percent - it has doubled over the last two ment and ecology’. Then in 2004 Synaspis- years. For young people unemployment is mos formed a broader coalition with a few at 50 percent. There used to be hardly any other small organisations, called SYRIZA, homeless people in but this win- the Coalition of the Radical Left. ter there were 25,000 living on the streets. Synaspismos is by far the biggest party Wages and pensions have been cut by be- in SYRIZA and dominates it politically. tween 20 and 40 percent. There are also Inside SYRIZA there are ex- ministers 400,000 workers who haven’t been paid for from the 1989 second coalition govern- five months in the private sector and there ment. At the same time you have people is a similar picture in the public sector. who have been involved in the movement These are very big changes in a very short for a long period and who are on the left, time and after all of this the national debt and you have politicians who say Greece has actually grown! People see the aus- has to be out of the euro to stop auster- terity policies aren’t working and this has ity. SYRIZA has both a left and a right created huge bitterness and anger. but is led by left reformists who, unlike the The second reason is that people have Irish Labour Party, won’t simply jump at fought back. Greece has had 17 general the first chance of power even if it means strikes in two years - one every six weeks abandoning all previous promises. on average! Two of these were for 48 hours. SYRIZA also has some influence in the And for every general strike there were trade unions, mainly in the public sector. tens, and sometimes hundreds, of strikes The private sector unions are dominated and occupations that were happening from by the Greek Communist Party though below and putting pressure on the union their refusal to work with others on the leadership to call the general strikes. left is weakening their grip. There was also the movement of the ‘in- dignados’ connected with the strikes. For SYRIZA’s breakthrough a month there were people in the squares, and not just in the big squares, but in the The Greek elections in early May saw the suburbs with hundreds of people meeting combined support for the two main par- and discussing every week about how to ties of austerity, PASOK and New Democ- take the movement forward. racy, crumble from 77 percent just two and The rise in support for SYRIZA is very half years ago to 32 percent. PASOK lost recent. As people broke from PASOK nearly 2 million votes at the election and and moved to the left, the first thing they New Democracy lost 1 million - out of a looked to was the which population of just 11 million. The biggest is a right wing split from SYRIZA. It’s beneficiary was the left. especially Syriza leader, , had left SYRIZA . The combined left vote was 27 percent, saying he wanted to cooperate with PA- with Syriza gaining 17 percent, the Com- SOK in government at some point in the munist Party of Greece (KKE) gaining 8 future. A month before the elections, the percent and the Front of the Greek Anti- Democratic Left was getting about 15 to Capitalist Left () 1.9 percent. 17 percent in the polls and the media, PA- The first reason for the dramatic rad- SOK and New Democracy were all saying

105 that the Democratic Left will join them in • The introduction of direct democ- a new coalition government. racy and institutions of self- But this was very bad for the Demo- management under worker’s and so- cratic Left. People didn’t want them to cial control. cooperate with PASOK and New Democ- racy. So people started moving on from the • Improved of the rights of women and Democratic Left further to the left, which young people in the family, the work shows how rapidly new political formations place and in public administration. can arise during a crisis. • The social inclusion of immigrants SYRIZA’s election platform offered a and equal rights protection. radical programme, it included: • Restoration of the pensions and the • A moratorium on debt payments. universal system of social insurance.

• Taxing the rich and a radical redis- • A free health service and universal, tribution of income and wealth. public and free education.

• The nationalisation/socialization of • End to tax avoidance and tax havens. the banks and their integration into a public banking system under social • Disengagement from NATO and and worker’s control. The nation- shutdown of the foreign military alisation of all public enterprises of bases. strategic importance. The manifesto concluded with a decla- • The administration of public enter- ration that the current economic and so- prises based on transparency, social cial system has failed and must be over- control and democratic planning. thrown. It goes on: ‘We are calling for a new model of production and distribution • The ecological transformation of the of wealth, one that would include society in developmental model including en- its totality. Our strategic aim is ergy, manufacturing, tourism and with democracy, a system in which all will agriculture. be entitled to participate in the decision- making process.’ • Well-paid, well-regulated and in- sured employment, the restoration of the and collec- If elected can Syriza imple- tive agreements, to lay- ment this programme for gov- offs, universal unemployment benefit ernment? and the introduction of a guaranteed minimum income. Implementing such a program would al- leviate greatly the burden of the crisis • A guaranteed minimum income or on workers but it would mean a radical unemployment benefit, medical care, break with capitalism that could only be housing and access to all services of achieved by massive class struggle. It public utilities. would require radical action and organi- sation of workers outside of parliamentary • Price controls and price reductions. politics.

106 Socialists therefore welcome the possi- I would like to underline the bility of SYRIZA forming a left govern- fact that SYRIZA’s proposal is ment and trying to implement its pro- not to renegotiate the so-called gram. However there is an ambiguity in bailout agreement but rather is SYRIZA’s approach to implementing its a complete rejection of it. program. Some in the coalition believe it A key preconditions for the requires radical action by workers, others success of this strategy is that in the majority Synaspismos believe a bet- in case of failure the people ter deal can be negotiated with the EU. will be informed and mobilized For the latter SYRIZA’s programme is and presumably ready to con- premised on the idea that the Euro-elite front, through solidarity net- are more scared of losing the euro as a tool works, the hardships that will in global capitalist competition than they follow the default4 . are of the contagion of resistance spreading through the Eurozone. Hence they believe However there is little evidence they will cut a deal with a new Greek gov- SYRIZA is informing and mobilising work- ernment. ers for such an eventuality. In fact the ma- SYRIZA do not call for exit from the jority of SYRIZA’s leadership are holding euro but say that they will make no sac- out that a restructuring of the EU is a pos- rifice for the euro. They then advance a sibility. They argue that the EU has been series of demands, which are incompatible captured by the neoliberals. The solution with membership of the eurozone. This is to change this. So they say, ‘look what’s puts the ball in the court of the EU elites. happened in France - we have a powerful If they want Greece outside of the euro new ally in Franois Hollande who will ar- they have to expel it from the euro. gue for economic growth’. Tsipras has also called for negotiations to reform the euro This position on the euro is designed to and the EU. deal with a contradictory desire amongst SYRIZA’s leaders say that they won’t the Greek population. Whilst a big ma- act unilaterally to cancel the debt. They jority are against austerity they are also want a moratorium so that Greece can stop in favour of staying within the eurozone paying the debt for three, or maybe five - which are mutually incompatible aspira- years, to allow growth, and then they can tions. The EU ‘bailout’ programs to main- renegotiate the debt. But the problem is tain the euro are the mechanism by which that will mean negotiating a new memo- austerity is being imposed. randum. As a step in that direction they This approach needs to be strongly up- seek a budget with a surplus because they front in the election campaign if the elec- claim that this would strengthen the ne- torate is to be armed against the threats gotiating position of Greece with its credi- and ultimatums it will face. However the tors. In effect this is a postponement of the ambiguity can also be used as a fudge to promise to end austerity until the German avoid focusing on the need to build inde- government and the banks agree to it. pendent radical movements of workers in In such a situation the revolutionary opposition to the state by claiming a new left is right to be enthusiastic about the deal at EU level is possible. possibility of a left government in Greece One leading Syriza advisor put it: that can shift some of the burden of the 4http://www.socialistproject.ca/bullet/643.php

107 crisis onto the elites. But they are also cor- 1936 that inspired further militancy which rect to highlight the potential pitfalls and won the 40 hour week, paid holidays and traps in such a government. collective bargaining. A left government must support radi- Left governments can inspire workers, cal action by workers and promote trans- but they can also sow illusions in the ferring more power into the hands of the old state and parliaments as ways to get working class if it is not to become a tool change. In France the Communist Party of the ruling class in maintaining its rule. used its influence to demobilise the work- However there are many danger signs. ing class and in four years France was un- BBC Newsnight economics editor, Paul der Nazi occupation. Mason, reports ‘When I spoke to leading In Spain the Popular Front govern- members of SYRIZA in summer 2011, they ment of 1936 was met with Franco’s fascist said the most obvious solution would be coup. This in turn provoked a revolution- an above-politics left-nationalist figure, a ary upsurge in Barcelona and elsewhere ‘Greek Kirchner’ or ‘Greek Morales’, and which resulted in virtual dual power. How- that the absence of such a figure would ever the Stalinists, the reformists and even make it impossible to form what Marx- the anarchists used loyalty to the Popular ists refer to as a ‘workers government’ - Front to hold back working class struggle ie a radical reforming government with the to within the limits of capitalism and this participation of the far left, but limited to enabled the fascists with the aid of Hitler parliamentary means’. and Mussolini, to crush the Republic and Paul Mason continued, ‘When I inter- impose their dictatorship for nearly forty viewed a SYRIZA spokesman earlier this years. year [2012] I explored the problem of a far- In other words the election of a left gov- , which is anti-Nato etc, taking ernment marks a huge step forward for the power in a country whose riot police have movement, one that revolutionary social- been regularly clashing with that party’s ists must support and welcome, but pre- youth since 2008. The message was that cisely because it throws down the gauntlet they would be purposefully limited in aim, to the ruling class it can also be a moment and that the core of any programme would of great danger. be a debtor-led partial default’5. Marxists are revolutionaries not be- cause we prefer revolution to reform but because we understand that the crisis of The debate on a ’workers gov- capitalism leads to moments when either ernment’ revolution succeeds or there is terrible re- action. Some on the left are going as far as saying Workers need to understand that it is Syriza could form a ‘workers government’ their own power from below that is key to - a government that will be an initial step changing the world not parliaments and towards full workers power. left governments. Where leaders main- Under certain circumstances a radi- tain the illusion that change can come cal left government can sharpen the class through the capitalist state and parlia- struggle and inspire greater resistance from ment it demobilises workers and allows workers. This was the case initially with the ruling class to re-establish its power the Popular Front government in France in through brutal means. This was the case 5http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-18056677

108 with Allende’s government where 50 percent of the police voted for in Chile in 1970-73 that was crushed by the the openly fascist , and which Pinochet coup. suffered military dictatorship from 1967 to The state is not neutral; it is a weapon 1974 this is no abstract threat. of class rule which, as Marx pointed out The leadership of SYRIZA has shown after the Commune and Lenin reem- it has some mettle in standing up to the phasised in The State and Revolution, ‘the onslaught from the European and Greek working class cannot simply lay hold of elites. How far it will go in leading work- and use for its own purposes’. Instead ers resistance is an open question. But workers need to smash the capitalist state whatever the answer to that question it is and replace it with their own democratic necessary to combine support for SYRIZA workers state. If this is not done the state against the right with the building of a rev- will undermine the left government and olutionary party willing to go all the way tame it or try to destroy it. In Greece to workers’ power.

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