The historical challenge of the Greek Left!

‘The Greek Left is facing an enormous historic challenge’, writes Panagiotis Sotiris. ‘Two years of intense struggle and bitter austerity measures have led many people to ask for a radical alternative. This cannot be simply a “progressive government” that will attempt to avoid austerity while remaining within the embedded neoliberalism of the Eurozone and the systemic violence of debt. It must be an attempt towards forming a new “historical bloc”, a broad social and political alliance around an anti-capitalist program of radical social change’ (The Press Project).

As expected by many, the two governing parties, which had dominated Greek political life for decades, suffered a humiliating defeat in the national elections on 6 May. New Democracy fell back to 18.85 per cent, PASOK even to 13.20 per cent. Winners were those parties opposed to the €130 billion (£104 billion) EU bail-out package, which had included yet further drastic austerity measures.

Syriza (Coalition of the Radical Left) came second with 16.78 per cent and its leader Alexis Tsipras stated that ‘Greek voters had "clearly nullified the loan agreement"’ (BBC, 8 May 2012). At the same time, however, the fascist, neo-nazi party Golden Dawn also entered parliament with almost 7 per cent of the votes. As Kees van der Pijl (1998: 46-8) has made clear, resistance to neo-liberal restructuring and the extension of exploitation into the sphere of social reproduction is not automatically progressive. Right-wing, xenophobic tendencies too capture the imagination of those, who suffer from the complete disruption of their daily lives as a result of austerity. The progressive left of Syriza and its allies is not only confronted with the neo-liberal mainstream, but also these even darker reactionary forces of the Golden Dawn.

The victory of the socialist candidate Francois Hollande in the French presidential elections on the same day seems to give some hope for support at the international level for a successful renegotiation of the Greek bailout deal. He ‘has called for a renegotiation of a hard-won European treaty on budget discipline championed by German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Mr Sarkozy’ (BBC,7 May 2012). EU fiscal efforts should be re-directed from austerity to growth. Whether these moves will, however, lead to a drastic change in policy over the Euro crisis remains to be seen. When Lionel Jospin became the new socialist Prime Minister of France in 1997, he similarly demanded a focus on employment and growth by the EU in order to counterbalance dominant neo-liberal restructuring. In response, the Amsterdam Treaty in 1998 included the so-called ‘employment chapter’. Today, however, it is clear that despite this chapter, employment issues remained in a secondary role to the EU’s overarching objective of low inflation and price stability. In sum, there is no guarantee that the new French President’s initiative will bring about significant change.

Hence, rather than relying on help from outside, the Greek left should draw on a strong labour movement, radical social movements and all forms of people’s power in its resistance to pressures by capital and the EU troika and IMF as capital’s representatives, concludes Panagiotis Sotiris. A progressive government cannot simply be a government ‘that will attempt to avoid austerity while remaining within the embedded neoliberalism of the Eurozone and the systemic violence of debt. It must be an attempt towards forming a new “historical bloc”, a broad social and political alliance around an anti-capitalist program of radical social change. This program should include immediate stoppage of debt payments, exit from the Eurozone and regaining monetary sovereignty, nationalization of banks and strategic infrastructure, and a vast program of reconstruction of production along socialist lines, based on the initiative, collective experience, ingenuity, and self-management by the struggling people. Such a “historical bloc” must seek political power, not only in the sense of a left wing government but also and mainly in the sense of a change in actual social power configuration’ (The Press Project).

Reference:

van der Pijl, K. (1998) Transnational Classes and International Relations, London: Routledge.


Prof. Andreas Bieler
Professor of Political Economy
University of Nottingham/UK
Andreas.Bieler@nottingham.ac.uk

Personal website: http://www.andreasbieler.net
9 May 2012