Greece: First impressions of the Communist Tendency concerning Sunday’s election results

Statement of the Communist Tendency.

The expected results of today’s elections express the disappointment and political confusion that has been dominating society since the abrupt passing of SYRIZA into the camp of the apologists and defenders of the Memorandum.

A large layer of the working class and the poor gave a vote of tolerance to SYRIZA. But this was without enthusiasm and and without big political aspirations, due to the lack of any direct alternative solution for power, but also due to the generalized disgust towards the old, bourgeois parties of the memoranda. At the same time, a significant part of the youth in the large urban centres turned towards abstention, something that does not reflect political apathy but rather, a feeling of rejection towards the whole of the existing political set up.

The parties and coalitions of the anti-memoranda and anti-capitalist Left (KKE, LA.E, ANTARSYA) seem incapable of politically articulating the strong tendencies of radicalism that have emerged amongst the working class and the youth during the Referendum held just 11 weeks ago.

Under the conditions of deep and increasingly sharpening capitalist crisis and the abrupt changes on the political scene, consciousness within society is extremely “fluid” and malleable. Today’s election results reflect a momentary, “snapshot” of social consciousness, which will tend to change decisively in the following months through the experience of the implementation of the new Memorandum.

Although the results suggest a clear defeat for the anti-memoranda and anti-capitalist Left, the main loser being Popular Unity (LA.E), it will be significantly damaging and tragically mistaken to allow for defeatism to prevail amongst the layers of left militants.

What is necessary is to conduct systematic preparation for the new and major class struggles that lie ahead. This must be done through a sincere evaluation and analysis of the reasons for the defeat and through the necessary political redirection that flows from this. A fundamental aspect for this will be to elaborate, defend and circulate widely an anti-capitalist and socialist programme, away from any reformist illusions or “panaceas” of capitalist management, which are all doomed to fail because of their incompatibility with reality itself. In this way, we will decisively confront the disappointment and remove the political confusion that exists today within the working class, the youth and the poor layers of society.