Prospects for Syriza

Just a quick bit of linkage on the snap elections in Greece, and the prospect of a Syriza victory.

There is never anyone better to read on the Eurozone crisis than Costas Lapavitsas, and his take on the present situation in Greece is typically perceptive (the background context is his scepticism about a happy outcome for the Greek economy for as long as it remains in the Eurozone). His final paragraph is this:

A Syriza government will probably face an ultimatum to capitulate, perhaps by being offered some watered-down version of austerity. This would be a disaster for Greece and a major defeat for opponents of austerity in Europe. It is vital that Syriza wins and applies its programme without flinching, helped by international support. The battle lines are forming in Greece.

 Owen Jones also deserves a look. He also emphasises that Syriza would need support in the aftermath of an election victory:

That’s why Greece desperately needs solidarity. Firstly, there’s a point of principle: to defend sovereignty and democracy from attack, whether from within or without. But a Syriza government could spur on other anti-austerity forces across the continent. It is conceivable that Podemos could assume power in Spain later in 2015. The likes of Die Linke in Germany – the country at the very heart of the EU’s austerity drive – could be given a boost, too.

Those who advocate ongoing austerity in Greece can summon powerful extra-parliamentary forces to their aid: the IMF, the EU, and key personnel in Greek state institutions, including a fascist-infilitrated police force. Unless the left can summon an even greater extra-parliamentary contingent, a Syriza government alone will be powerless to halt the attack on Greece's working class. First and foremost, this needs to include broad organised working class support for a Syriza programme from within Greece itself (and the quid pro quo therefore of that programme being held accountable to the labour movement). But the struggle against austerity is as international as the institutions imposing it. Solidarity with Greece is the number one immediate priority for the left in Britain, and elsewhere in Europe, in the coming year.