The Euro Against the Left

Richard Seymour’s latest for The Guardian is on SYRIZA’s future. As we’ve covered on Uprising, the Greek party came close to power in elections last month, but finds itself torn between its need to appear ​“respectable” to European elites, as well as the radicalizing workers that form its social base. SYRIZA’s stance towards the European Union and its common currency could evolve over the coming weeks.

The key slogan through which Syriza won support was its call for a government of left unity to express popular opposition to austerity. Amid a deepening nadir of European social democracy, and a protracted crisis of global capitalism, the issue of leftist governments is going to be a recurrent one. Syriza was the first of the European left parties (Die Linke, Fronte de Gauche, etc) to come near to taking office, but it is unlikely to be the last.

However, Syriza now finds itself in an ambiguous position. Having come close to forming a left government, the pressure will be on to establish its credentials with international lenders and EU leaders. But they must somehow do so without losing the support of the most radical workers. Already, before the election, there was a tendency to soften their stances; pledging to repeal the memorandum laws, but insisting that they would not act ​“unilaterally”. These pressures will only increase in the coming months.