|
|
"A comprehensive, collaborative elections resource."
|
Greece: Trying to understand Syriza
|
|---|
| Parent(s) |
Party
|
| Contributor | 411 Name Removed |
| Last Edited | 411 Name Removed May 15, 2012 09:56am |
| Logged |
1
[Older]
|
| Category | Profile |
| Author | Paul Mason |
| News Date | Tuesday, May 15, 2012 03:00:00 PM UTC0:0 |
| Description | This is less of a blog more of a series of notes to try and enhance understanding of who Syriza and its leader Alexis Tsipras actually are, and how they might behave if, as polls suggest, they become the winning party in a second Greek general election. I've been troubled by the lack of historical depth; and of course my own knowledge is limited to English sources. Get ready to hear about parties and political currents that most commentators believed were insignificant just a few years ago:
1. Syriza is an acronym signifying "Coalition of the Radical Left". It's key component is a party called Synaspismos, itself an umbrella group of the far left in Greece.
2. Alexis Tsipras is the 38-year-old leader of the Synaspismos party, and rose to prominence as its candidate for the mayor of Athens in 2006. Tsipras originated from the youth wing of the Communist Party, the KKE.
3. Greek communism, like most of Western communism after the 1970s, was split into two hostile parties: the KKE of the "interior" and that of the "exterior" - the latter denoting a Moscow-oriented party - the former denoting a Euro-communist, more parliamentary and socially liberal agenda.
4. Initially Synaspismos was the electoral alliance between the two KKEs. But in the early 1990s the main Moscow-oriented KKE quit the alliance, purging about 45% of its members, who then stayed inside Synaspismos with the Eurocommunists. These included Tsipras.
5. Synaspismos then evolved in an interesting direction. Reacting to the rise of the anti-globalisation movement, first of all the party itself became a highly diverse left umbrella group: of Eurocommunists, left-social Democrats, far leftists, and ecologists. It played a significant role in mobilisations against summits, beginning in Genoa 2001 and beyond. Meanwhile the main KKE remained a traditional Communist party, rooted in public sector and manual trade unions. |
| Share |
|
|
2¢
|
|
| Article | Read Full Article |
|
| Date |
Category |
Headline |
Article |
Contributor |
|
|
