Syriza is the new left wing coalition that just won the elections in Greece on a smorgasbord of promises and hope that mirrors the facade parade of Obama’s campaigns. They are reformers, not revolutionaries, yet they are the darlings of the left now. Obama was the singing altar boy of the liberals and phony left just as Syriza is the hallmark of the established left in Greece. Syriza winning the election is not a win for the working class. It will be another win for capitalism that will lead to greater exploitation, misery, and a further extending of capital’s rule over the working class.
Syriza came to power saying that the Troika’s, European Commission, European Central Bank (ECB), and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), destruction of the Greek economy on the back of the working class needs to end. PLP agrees with this point, but we also point out that in order for it to end, capitalism itself needs to end. There is no way to end the misery of the working class under capitalism. Even if some members of the working class can have their misery alleviated, it will come at the expense of other members of the working class. Furthermore, any concessions that a ruling class makes at any time will be taken back again at a later date.
Reforms are a dead end of capitalism. The Troika siphoning off vast amounts of working class wealth to pay off debts that the ruling class created and ensure the profits of the various capitalist investors is part and parcel of capitalism. The international market and the need for capital invested from one area into another, what Lenin termed Imperialism, is of paramount importance. The capital that the ruling classes of the EU funneled into Greece needs to be valorized — regardless of the needs of the working class.
The working class has not taken state power in Greece. They have just won elections and already had to form a coalition with virulently racist fascists. Communists fight racism. Any who say that they are revolutionaries and don’t fight racism are lying. There were a multitude of groups that Syriza could have formed a coalition with, yet they chose right wing racists.
Syriza may be able to renegotiate the terms of debt placed upon the wage slaves in Greece, but they have to cough up their pound of flesh to the Troika’s usury one way or another. They are now pandering to Russia a little and seeing if they can get some relief that way, not a bad idea in the current climate where Russia was just downgraded to almost junk bond status and may have to cut budgets. Even with the downgrading and budget cuts, investing in Greek markets may help Russia increase profit, acquire more assets, and get access to the Mediterranean.
Even with threatening to go to their imperialist rivals, demanding renegotiation of debt, and promising the working class in Greece the moon, Greece is not a socialist, let alone a communist, economy. The working class does not have state power, and they are not transforming the economic basis of society in order to transform all of society. What will happen is that the revisionist left in Greece will end up breaking their promises, shed some crocodile tears, wring their hands, point fingers, and lament as they betray the working class. R. Palme Dutt pointed out they before fascism can rise, a last great hope for democracy must fail; Syriza may be the fail that will usher in even more fascism into Greece where the Neo-nazi Golden Dawn Party gained in the elections.
The working class can either move to the right or to the left. Syriza, at best, will renegotiate the bonds of the Troika’s domination, maybe even ape India by playing off one imperialist rival against another, but will ultimately end up betraying the working class into the waiting arms of one profit seeking group of bosses or another. Either way Syriza falls, the working class will lose if they follow the phony left down dead ends. Our friends in Greece must continue to build PLP so that the road to communist revolution is followed even in this darkest night of capitalism.
COMMUNISM NOW! 