After the latest Greek drama – what now?

Tom Armstrong from Manchester Left Unity gives his view.

It has been a turbluent two weeks in Europe, with the high of the “No” vote to the proposed austerity deal with the Troika, which was preceded by soildarity demonstrations throughout Europe, which was followed by a deep low as Alex Tsipras conceded defeat, accepting a deal which was seemingly harsher than the one that the people voted against.
It was not long before the accusations of “betrayal” and “selling out” hit social media. People both inside and outside of Greece are obviously very upset at this outcome, which has been forced upon Greece by the German government, who effectively call all the shots in the Eurozone. In Greece itself the anger is directed primarily at Angela Merkel and Wolfgang Schäuble for effectively holding their economy hostage by cutting off the lifeline from the ECB, and for now the Syriza party has still got a strong lead in the opinion polls there, regardless of the opinions of the left elsewhere is regarding them.

For outsiders, it can be hard to understand why so many Greeks want to stay in the eurozone, particularly in the UK which of course has always been quite suspicious of the very ideal of a monetary union from day one. The left is prone to naivety at times, and the cirsis in Greece is no excpetion. I can roughly sum up the mentality some have regarding what Greece should do: go for Grexit now, let the banks go bust and nationalise them, throw the bankers in jail, re-instate the drachma, and look to build a brighter future with an unimpeded march to full communism. They often look to the examples of Iceland in 2008 and Argentina in 2002, which the initial trauma was succeeded by a relatively brighter outlook for the time being.

The problem is that Greece is neither Iceland or Argentina. Both countries were not in a currency union which they would be ejected from with unpredictable consequences. Iceland in particular was small enough to fall back on what it had outside of the financial sector. Greece, on the other hand, has a lot to lose, as it effectively would have to create a new currency from scratch at short notice, a currency that would soon depreciate against the euro – which would have the advantage of making Greek exports very attractive but would severely impact on Greek savings. Grexit would create panic, more so than there currently is as the people queue for hours to withdraw their €60 limit (actually a de facto €50 limit in many cases because the machines have run out of smaller denomination notes) as people are faced with a more uncertain future. Already the bank closures have resorted in shortages of items, notably drugs in pharmacies. Even if the government were able to enact a smooth transition away from the euro, the drachma would still not be a panacea to Greece’s problems, since it still has to provide a strategy to fix the economy with the tools it has available to it. The social upheaval would potentially destablise the country, and leave it vulnerable to groups such as the fascist Golden Dawn. The vast majority of Greeks do not want this, hence why Grexit remains something to be dreaded, no thanks in part due to the scaremongering of their notoriously corrupt media. As much as there are critics both inside and outside Syriza regarding their strategy, the impact of a sudden Grexit would be a negative one. By the way, I will reiterate that the majority of Greeks are still in favour of being in the euro, and Syriza still tops the polls.

Having said that, I do not see any long term solution out of the cycle of ever more punitive austerity that doesn’t ultimately involve Grexit, particularly since this crisis has exposed the EU and the eurozone for the corrupt, undemocratic behemoth that it is. However it remains up to the Greek people to decide for themselves that the euro is just not worth it, and for Greeks to build a strong case for leaving the euro, a strategy for guaranteeing the social justice of the people in a post-euro Greece, and also finally be able to persuade Greeks that their interests are better served outside the eurozone than inside. The left at times has this annoying tendency of going about its business based on how people should be, rather than how they are, a trap that Syriza up to now has managed to avoid, hence why they were able to get elected in the first place.

So where does this leave us in Left Unity, which of course is the sister party to Syriza? First of all I think it is very important we do not write off Syriza as an organisation, no matter how critical you may be of its leadership for pursuing a failed strategy. There are many Syriza rank-and-filers who are just angry at the outcome as we are, and nobody ever thought that electing a left wing party into power would see Greece transform into a socialist utopia overnight. We all knew there would needed to be mass action from the grassroots to ensure that the government made good on its proposed policies – in fact a general strike has been called for this Wednesday (at the time of writing this article). We in Left Unity should be showing solidarity with Greeks that are continuing the fight against what many on social media are now calling a “coup”. It is the working class which ultimately has the collective power needed to change Greece (and indeed the Europe and the world) for the better. A true “betrayal” by Syriza I feel will be if they unleash the forces of the state (police, or even the army if it comes to that) in order to suppress any dissent, as previous governments have done time and time again. Also if Syriza was to implode (and even now the old spectre of infighting that dogs many a left group seems set to raise its ugly head), the main victors will be the parties that led Greece into this mess in the first place, such as the centre-right New Democracy, and even more frighteningly, it will galvanise Golden Dawn as well. Syriza above all else needs to put the needs of the people that have elected it above ideology, or indeed any call for “unity” that does not serve the interest of the people at large. By the way, just to remind you, Syriza still tops the polls in Greece at the moment.

Additionally, Greece need practical solidarity. That can include raising some much needed cash, although this feels somewhat like an Oxfam appeal for some famine-ravaged Third World country, which is of course a damning indictment of the way Greece has been treated. Also I would like to see protests at the German embassy and regional consulates, or indeed any other consulates that have been unforgiving in their attitude to Greece – Finland being one other example. Better still would be a Europe-wide day of action for such protests.

This story is far from over, and my opinions on the matter are subject to change at short notice in light of further developments. A month, or even a week from now the situation on the ground may be very different, and many of the points made here rendered moot. But this is what we currently have to work with. Regardless, we need to make sure the Greek people know that the working class stands with them all the way.