Last week, Greek Prime Minister Alexi Tsipras called for new elections on 20 September. At the same time the Left Platform within Syriza has announced the setting up of a new party which will run in these elections. We publish here a statement from the Greek Marxists in the Communist Tendency of Syriza about these latest developments.
Last week, Greek Prime Minister Alexi Tsipras called for new elections on 20 September. At the same time the Left Platform within Syriza has announced the setting up of a new party which will run in these elections. Below you find the statement of the Greek Marxists of from the Communist Tendency of Syriza on these latest developments.
The snap elections must become a “boomerang” against their pro-memorandum initiators. A class conscious and left-wing vote and the build of the socialist foundation of the new party would be the best way to defend betrayed “No” vote of the people, which was betrayed by the government.
The announcement of new parliamentary elections constitutes a desperate attempt by the presidential team of SYRIZA to survive politically in the midst of growing popular indignation at their betrayal. It is also designed to secure the political basis for the new Memorandum, by weakening the anti-memorandum left wing of SYRIZA. So, even though this looks like an oxymoron, the announcement of the elections is an integral part of the undemocratic cancellation of the anti-memorandum popular mandate of the recent referendum by the ruling class and the imperialist creditors. An act to which the government and the presidential team of SYRIZA participated and still participate as willing accomplices.
But whatever the intentions behind, the 20 September elections provide an important opportunity for the working class, youth and poor strata of the people. This is an opportunity to achieve a decisive victory over the defenders of capitalism as well as old and new supporters of the Memoranda by taking political revenge for the brutal violation of the people’s mandate given on 25 January and 5 July. The bourgeois parties, New Democracy, Golden Dawn, PASOK, Potami and the other smaller ones as well as the new, pro-memorandum SYRIZA of the Tsipras leadership team, have to be voted down. The popular vote must be class driven and through the active mobilisation of the workers it must give the left parties a mandate to form a truly leftist government that will eradicate the Memoranda, the austerity and capitalism which created them. This political purpose should be achieved through the unity of the KKE and the new leftist partu founded by the forces of the left wing of SYRIZA.
After the violation of the founding principles of the party and effectively abolishing all collective party proceedings, The team of Alexis Tsipras, has destroyed SYRIZA as a left party able to represent the workers. This also confirms the harsh and clear criticism that the Communist Tendency has been putting forward promptly and systematically. The leftist militants of the party have now come out strongly in favour of creating a new left party that will serve the – betrayed – founding purposes of the old SYRIZA.
The Communist Tendency actively participates in the establishment procedures of the new political entity along with the comrades of the Left Platform. For us, Communists, is obvious that we no longer have any place in the new pro-memorandum “SYRIZA”. We walk side by side with the leftist militants of the old, betrayed SYRIZA, fighting together with the purpose of a new left political entity and we genuinely and unwaveringly and express the interests and rights of the working class and the poor popular strata until the end. Our political actions will continue to be based firmly on the foundations of the principles and ideas of scientific socialism and anti-capitalist – socialist programmatic positions which we have presented and defended since the establishment of our Tendency.
Published on In Defence of Marxism
