The election
of Syriza (Coalition of the Radical Left) in Greece, expected though it was,
has sent shock waves through those states now imposing austerity upon their
populations. With the newly-formed Podemos party bursting onto the scene in
Spain too, resistance to austerity is beginning to take tangible political
form in parts of Europe. It is important, however, to remember two things.
Firstly, it
was mass struggle and resistance that created the conditions for the emergence
of these parties - street protests, occupations and general strikes in Greece,
and the indignados and their occupation of the squares in Spain. Consequently,
nothing would be worse for the Greek masses than to believe that as Syriza is
'their party", strikes and street protests should be put on hold. Syriza
came to government on the back of these struggles and it will be the movement
against austerity that will drive Syriza forward, simultaneously showing the
forces of the right that the party retains mass support. It will be up to those
smaller parties - like Antarsya - and trade unions to the left of Syriza to
give a lead to the most militant.
Second, the
battle against austerity has to be simultaneously a fight against racism and
anti-Muslim, anti-immigrant scapegoating. In countries where the left has not
taken up this work, or even worse, made concessions to Islamophobia, as in
France, the far right Front National makes gains. Anti-Muslim, anti-immigration
movement PEGIDA in Germany and the still threatening Golden Dawn in Greece,
plus fascist demonstrations in the Ukraine, show that the far right remains a
clear and present danger. If the fascists and racist anti-immigrant parties
like UKIP in Britain succeed in persuading workers that foreigners, immigrants
and Muslims are to blame for their suffering, rather than the bankers, the
bosses and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) the same game of divide and
rule will demobilise workers and blunt their ability to resist.
This necessity
to combine these struggles makes Syriza's coalition with the Independent
Greeks, ANEL, all the more problematic. ANEL is a nationalistic, xenophobic,
anti-German party. It is on the right on all the social questions, from
immigration to LGBT rights. It has been compared to UKIP, although there are
important differences. It was formed out of a split from the Tory New Democracy
on an anti-memorandum basis - opposition to the Memorandum of Understanding,
the contract which binds Greece and other countries into the bailout packages and
cuts in public spending enforced by the Troika - the European Commission, the
European Central Bank and the IMF. Crucially for Syriza is ANEL's opposition to
the Memorandum and to the austerity packages. Other parties like To Potami and
Pasok would weaken the anti-memorandum position, and the Greek Communist Party
the KKE has adopted a crazily sectarian position of refusing to negotiate with
Syriza. So by a coalition with ANEL, Syriza secures an anti-austerity,
anti-memorandum position, even if ANEL is led by bigots, homophobes and
anti-Semites.
True, Syriza
could have formed a minority government, but, as Kevin Ovenden points out in
his report on the election, that would have meant being clear that the strategy
was to use all points of strength of the left, both inside and outside
parliament, to fight the right, the oligarchs and the Troika. It would have
been perfectly possible constitutionally & politically to operate as a
minority government on a bill-by-bill basis, challenging the minor parties to
vote against the government and thereby putting them under enormous pressure.
In fact, with ANEL in the coalition, Syriza will probably have to do just that
anyway, if it wishes to propose decent measures on migrants, racism, police
brutality, LGBT rights etc
To understand
Syriza's lining up with ANEL, we have to look at the Eurocommunist politics of
Syriza's leadership. The precursor of Syriza, Synapismos, emerged in the late
80s as a coalition, with the two Greek communist parties, the pro-Soviet
Communist Party of Greece (KKE) and Greek Left, the successor to the
eurocommunist Communist Party of Greece (interior), as its largest
constituents. As the USSR disintegrated, the KKE suffered splits and purges and
left the coalition. After that, in 1991, the other parties in the coalition and
the renewing part of KKE decided to convert the alliance into a political
party, which had varying degrees of success. In the legislative elections of
2004, Synapismos and the smaller parties formed the Syriza alliance.
In a wider
context, Eurocommunism symbolised the retreat of communist parties from
revolutionary politics, and away from ideas of international revolution. This
included a greater emphasis on the notion of 'socialism in one country' and
ideas of a cross-class 'national interest'. Some Greek activists have argued
that Syriza would, even if it had a majority, have sought a coalition with
ANEL, since the leadership has a long term project to win over the
anti-austerity right in an attempt to unite the 'nation'. This is a move away
from class politics, away from the identification of the battle against
austerity with working class struggle. Real class divisions are dissolved in
the idea that governments rule in some mythical 'national interest', rather
than being the organising committees of the ruling class. At some point, as
Syriza attempts to represent the interests of workers and the poor, these
contradictions will become apparent. The real problem about having a coalition
with ANEL is that, as has been said, the struggle against racist scapegoating is an integral part
of the movement against austerity. Syriza may well find itself in conflict with
its erstwhile partners in government sooner rather than later.
None of this,
however, is meant to detract from Syriza's massive achievement.
For the first time possibly ever, a coalition of the hard left has been elected
in Europe, after mass struggles brought down the existing government. This is a
great step forward in the battle against austerity, although far from marking
the end of anything, it marks the beginning in Europe of a new phase of
struggle on a higher level. Capitalism's usual method of dealing with left
reformist governments is to attempt to co-opt them, &, if that fails, to
economically mug them by investment strikes, capital flight & in this case
the IMF sucking all the money out of the economy. To which the answer has to
be: I thought they'd done that already. As a last resort, there is always the
military option, regarding which the Greek state has form. Tsipras was born
three days after the bringing down of the Greek military junta that had lasted
from 1967 - 1974.
Socialists
discovered after the Russian Revolution of 1917 that you cannot have socialism
just in one country, and it's the same here. Without the spreading of the
struggle against austerity to other European countries, and the emergence of
mass movements that can propel other radical socialist governments into power
(or should I say 'office'), the tasks facing a Syriza government will be made
all the harder. As has been mentioned, the phenomenal growth of Podemos in
Spain is hugely encouraging, and the 'hollowing out' of the major political
parties across Europe opens up opportunities for smaller parties. This can
benefit the left, as we see in Spain, Greece, Ireland and elsewhere, or the
right, as the FN in France, or UKIP in Britain. Even here in Britain we can see
the possibility of the emergence of an anti-austerity alliance between the
Scottish and Welsh nationalists and the Greens. What is urgently required here is a credible socialist formation which can contest elections in
opposition to austerity and also to capitalism. The Trade Union and Socialist
Coalition is a small movement in the right direction, but is still 'a work in progress'
which needs to draw in wider forces within its ranks.
We cannot just
be passive cheerleaders for Syriza. It is our responsibility to the Greek
comrades to struggle to bring down our own despicable austerity-mongering
governments and ensure no space is given to scapegoat immigrants, Muslims,
the disabled and the poor. If the left and the anti-austerity movement across
Europe can raise its game and mobilise its forces effectively, we can take the
struggle onto a whole new level, and in doing so defend the electoral gains already being
made in Greece and possibly soon in Spain and Ireland.
