It is shattering to face the indisputable evidence that the much-mocked bureaucrats of the European Commission and the European bank, bolstered by the IMF, have deliberately caused the destruction of a modern European society. This programme of despair was subsequently supported by all Greek's main parties as well as all those who already had wealth and power in Greece and across Europe. Most of the Greek population, who had to deal with the effects of the international austerity plan, had no reference point to compare with the conscious and organised dismantling of their health service, the dramatic reduction of their living standards, the rise in the national death rate, including infant mortality and chronic diseases, the new hunger faced by what the UN designates as a third of the population - nothing to compare it with, except for the very oldest people in Greece who remembered the impact of the Nazi occupation.
How can soft-skinned euro bankers and commissioners, who have only ever had to worry about ensuring the best seat in a restaurant, preside over, then regularly monitor, enthusiastically promote and defend the destruction of millions of people's lives? Who better? These people and their families will never experience the effects of what they are doing.
In 2011 Greece rose against its tormentors. The public squares became occupied territory. The police were cowed and governments fell. Most important, those who saw the possibility of a new future started to build Europe's most successful new party, Syriza. And for months now Syriza has led all the polls. Next February, say Syriza's leaders, they will probably form a government. And that is what Europe, indeed the world, and certainly the left must study and prepare for.
The current Greek parliamentary majority may fall next February over a technicality; its inability to muster a two thirds majority to initiate the new Presidency. But there is much behind this technicality. First is the claim of the current Greek government that Greece has pulled through; that Greece has succeeded in dealing with the debt and the economy is recovering. The government's claim has no credibility in Greece, and nor does it register in the centre of the euro zone, where, today, they are preparing for a new crisis. Second, the current Greek government have stated that they intend to continue with full blown austerity measures even when the 'memorandum' with the EU, the ECB and the IMF is over. This closes all hope of a reasonable future for Greek's majority by way of the current political leadership. But the Greek majority is not crushed and does not accept endless austerity for itself or for its children. 3 million (from a population of 10 million) have already used the Syriza solidarity clinics and markets initiated barely a year ago. This amounts to an immense political act of defiance.
A Syriza led government by next February may yet be avoided by chicanery or corruption in Parliament. But the critical political contradiction in Greece will not be dodged in the next period. The future of Syriza has now become the next battlefield for Greek's contending social classes and for the struggle against euro-austerity. The potential, the promise, the successes or otherwise of an anti-capitalist government in Greece will mark the whole next stage in the future of all the social classes of the country and reshape European politics as a whole.
Syriza
Syriza is a conglomerate of various left strands in Greek politics. Its leadership, assembled around the charismatic Alexis Tsipras, is partly drawn from the Euro-Communist movement (although a movement emerging in very different conditions to that of Italy, France or Spain.) Some ex PASOK people have broken from the Social Democrats. The main Trade Union spokesperson for Syriza is an ex member of the traditional Greek Communists - who up to now have taken a deeply sectarian position on the new party. Greens play a major role. Finally a significant far left trend comprising ex anarchists, Maoists, Trotskyists etc., have formed a substantial part of Syriza's most active cadre. Additionally there are tens of thousands from no particular political tradition who have been won to its non-sectarian approach, its undogmatic message and its ability to turn, in the terms of its own slogan, 'hope into practise.'
For the last four years Syriza has developed a coherent opposition to austerity and through its non-sectarian and active politics driven deep roots down in the urban centres and started to develop them, through initiatives like the 'no middlemen' markets, in the countryside too. And now Syriza's support and alliances, both internally and across Greek society, are about to be tested to their limits.
An anti-capitalist government?
In a summer-storm of abstraction (full of sound and fury but ...) all sorts of potential futures for Greece with a government led by Syriza might be envisioned. The historical experiences of Chile and more close to home, of the Greek Colonel's coup, loom threateningly across a political landscape partly created by the fear of a Syriza government among Greece's traditional rulers. But rather than issue magisterial warnings from a singular distance and from a place with no such experience in living memory, to those currently committing everything to winning popular change, it is perhaps more useful to see the Greek perspective through the eyes of the anti austerity activists on the ground as they grapple with the problem of a new and different future for their country.
For many of these militants, who come from the battle of the squares, who are building collective solidarity not charity, their most fruitful repository of radical thinking comes from the most recent experiences in Latin America. This starts with an acute understanding of the social interpenetration of what used to be called 'first' and 'third world' conditions. The social character of Greece is marked by 30% unemployment (60% of youth) and by the fact that 95% of those who are employed are working in businesses with 10 or less employees. Only 8% are employed in industry. There are 4000 unions mainly organised on a local or regional basis and while new workers formations have been built, for example between groups of workers occupying employer - deserted factories, the traditional union movement is highly bureaucratically led with a 'special interest' perspective in many cases. About 13% of workers (not including owners or renting farmers) work on the land. 24% of Greek's population live there.
This is the world of the mass movement. Class identity here flows from social and political action taken by 'the people' in the streets. It does not stem from the great units of production as in Petersburg in 1917 or Germany in 1919. The mass movement, including cooperative and self-help actions, are the living profile of a new class 'becoming' itself.
What moment has a subversive and radical government in this constellation? Inevitably it takes the political form of centralising and thereby providing the piston for the movement's energy. We have witnessed this before. Bela Kun's government in 1919 Hungary was an early and unsuccessful example. More recently and more successfully we have experienced the Latin American and more particularly the Venezuelan experience. The government leaders are a leading part of the movement itself. That is how they have won the election and why they sustain power. The government is a popular force in its own right which amalgamates the power of the administration with the power of the streets. Most important of all, it relentlessly and systematically defends, supports and advances the cause of the poor. The government is seen as an extension of the movement by the poor. The cause of the poor is the cause of the government.
Of course promoting the lives and conditions of the poor means making decisive inroads against traditional wealth and power, through taxes, through seizures of property, through fines and other legal punishments. It may also mean, in the Greek case, the repudiation of bankers' loans from the EU and even a change of currency. And it means having a decisive policy in relation to forces that sit at the centre of the state. Greece has an army of 130 000 and a population of 10 million. (The UK has a population of 60 million and an army of 80 000.) Greece (still) spends more per capita than any other European country on its armed forces. Greece has 50 000 police, about 450 for every 100 000 of the population. And the force is highly politicised by fascists. Following the end of the Colonel's coup in 1974 and the strong links between many poorer Greek families and their relations in the army it is unlikely that the army will mobilise against a genuine peoples government unless a deep crisis in their social alliances emerges. Nevertheless, the police's loyalty will be a difficult issue to resolve from day one, and the peoples' movements may need to cordon off certain units and departments of the force as part of their action against provocation and racist disorder, with associated and prompt government remedial action.
No promises in history
There are no promises in history. Many groups of leftists, including inside Greece, already write off Syriza's capacity to take the step of becoming what would be, ultimately, an anti-capitalist government. Unfortunately at this time of possibility and hope they choose to stay outside the political front that will create a new goverment of Syriza, the better one supposes to critisise it and prepare for its 'betrayel.' Others doubt the reemergence of the mass movement that dominated Greek politics in 2011 and 2012. In reality the defence of a government that really did defend and promote the lives of the poor would emerge in greater volume of numbers and with a clearer set of objectives that anything that has happened before in Greece. It would be the greatest moment of their history. So much has been proved over and over again, including in Greece, in parallel situations. So much is clear.
But the project; to set up and then defend a government in Greece whose main priority is the poor; must surely be decisive political priority for every leftist in the world and especially in Europe. The evolution of this project will no doubt take many turns. Life is infinitely more creative than any theory. But, surely the point is 'On S'engage; Et Puis, On Voit!'
Syriza
Syriza is a conglomerate of various left strands in Greek politics. Its leadership, assembled around the charismatic Alexis Tsipras, is partly drawn from the Euro-Communist movement (although a movement emerging in very different conditions to that of Italy, France or Spain.) Some ex PASOK people have broken from the Social Democrats. The main Trade Union spokesperson for Syriza is an ex member of the traditional Greek Communists - who up to now have taken a deeply sectarian position on the new party. Greens play a major role. Finally a significant far left trend comprising ex anarchists, Maoists, Trotskyists etc., have formed a substantial part of Syriza's most active cadre. Additionally there are tens of thousands from no particular political tradition who have been won to its non-sectarian approach, its undogmatic message and its ability to turn, in the terms of its own slogan, 'hope into practise.'
For the last four years Syriza has developed a coherent opposition to austerity and through its non-sectarian and active politics driven deep roots down in the urban centres and started to develop them, through initiatives like the 'no middlemen' markets, in the countryside too. And now Syriza's support and alliances, both internally and across Greek society, are about to be tested to their limits.
An anti-capitalist government?
In a summer-storm of abstraction (full of sound and fury but ...) all sorts of potential futures for Greece with a government led by Syriza might be envisioned. The historical experiences of Chile and more close to home, of the Greek Colonel's coup, loom threateningly across a political landscape partly created by the fear of a Syriza government among Greece's traditional rulers. But rather than issue magisterial warnings from a singular distance and from a place with no such experience in living memory, to those currently committing everything to winning popular change, it is perhaps more useful to see the Greek perspective through the eyes of the anti austerity activists on the ground as they grapple with the problem of a new and different future for their country.
For many of these militants, who come from the battle of the squares, who are building collective solidarity not charity, their most fruitful repository of radical thinking comes from the most recent experiences in Latin America. This starts with an acute understanding of the social interpenetration of what used to be called 'first' and 'third world' conditions. The social character of Greece is marked by 30% unemployment (60% of youth) and by the fact that 95% of those who are employed are working in businesses with 10 or less employees. Only 8% are employed in industry. There are 4000 unions mainly organised on a local or regional basis and while new workers formations have been built, for example between groups of workers occupying employer - deserted factories, the traditional union movement is highly bureaucratically led with a 'special interest' perspective in many cases. About 13% of workers (not including owners or renting farmers) work on the land. 24% of Greek's population live there.
This is the world of the mass movement. Class identity here flows from social and political action taken by 'the people' in the streets. It does not stem from the great units of production as in Petersburg in 1917 or Germany in 1919. The mass movement, including cooperative and self-help actions, are the living profile of a new class 'becoming' itself.
What moment has a subversive and radical government in this constellation? Inevitably it takes the political form of centralising and thereby providing the piston for the movement's energy. We have witnessed this before. Bela Kun's government in 1919 Hungary was an early and unsuccessful example. More recently and more successfully we have experienced the Latin American and more particularly the Venezuelan experience. The government leaders are a leading part of the movement itself. That is how they have won the election and why they sustain power. The government is a popular force in its own right which amalgamates the power of the administration with the power of the streets. Most important of all, it relentlessly and systematically defends, supports and advances the cause of the poor. The government is seen as an extension of the movement by the poor. The cause of the poor is the cause of the government.
Of course promoting the lives and conditions of the poor means making decisive inroads against traditional wealth and power, through taxes, through seizures of property, through fines and other legal punishments. It may also mean, in the Greek case, the repudiation of bankers' loans from the EU and even a change of currency. And it means having a decisive policy in relation to forces that sit at the centre of the state. Greece has an army of 130 000 and a population of 10 million. (The UK has a population of 60 million and an army of 80 000.) Greece (still) spends more per capita than any other European country on its armed forces. Greece has 50 000 police, about 450 for every 100 000 of the population. And the force is highly politicised by fascists. Following the end of the Colonel's coup in 1974 and the strong links between many poorer Greek families and their relations in the army it is unlikely that the army will mobilise against a genuine peoples government unless a deep crisis in their social alliances emerges. Nevertheless, the police's loyalty will be a difficult issue to resolve from day one, and the peoples' movements may need to cordon off certain units and departments of the force as part of their action against provocation and racist disorder, with associated and prompt government remedial action.
No promises in history
There are no promises in history. Many groups of leftists, including inside Greece, already write off Syriza's capacity to take the step of becoming what would be, ultimately, an anti-capitalist government. Unfortunately at this time of possibility and hope they choose to stay outside the political front that will create a new goverment of Syriza, the better one supposes to critisise it and prepare for its 'betrayel.' Others doubt the reemergence of the mass movement that dominated Greek politics in 2011 and 2012. In reality the defence of a government that really did defend and promote the lives of the poor would emerge in greater volume of numbers and with a clearer set of objectives that anything that has happened before in Greece. It would be the greatest moment of their history. So much has been proved over and over again, including in Greece, in parallel situations. So much is clear.
But the project; to set up and then defend a government in Greece whose main priority is the poor; must surely be decisive political priority for every leftist in the world and especially in Europe. The evolution of this project will no doubt take many turns. Life is infinitely more creative than any theory. But, surely the point is 'On S'engage; Et Puis, On Voit!'
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