Syriza and socialist strategy - Stathis Kouvelakis and Alex Callinicos

Debate on 25th February: Syriza and Socialist Strategy

Hosted by International Socialism

Wednesday 25 February 2015

with Stathis Kouvelakis, member of Syriza’s central committee and
Alex Callinicos, editor, International Socialism

The victory of Syriza in the Greek elections has raised important debates about how to achieve fundamental social change. Can the new government overthrow austerity and, more fundamentally, is this confirmation of the method of “seizing power by elections, but combining that with social mobilisation” as Stathis Kouvelakis has written?

Alex Callinicos has said that “revolutionary socialists should celebrate the new government’s victory and support the progressive measures it takes. But the entire Greek radical left will be judged by how successfully they promote working people’s self-organisation, confidence, and combativity. That is where the power to end austerity lies.”

[jonesy]

I'm fortunate enough to be studying under Stathis this year in a module regarding French Anticolonial Thought. Despite not whole-heartedly agreeing to his views, he's an impassioned speaker and this shows with his teaching.

[pewartstoat]

Wars are not won overnight. Many battles will be fought and lost along the way. Viva la Revolution!  

[RaymondFosca]

My God. I am half-way through this and Kouvelakis' talk and it's like torture. All of this is very intelligent, but what we want to know is whether Syriza will continue betraying the fuck out of the Greek people like that's the only thing it knows how to do. It's all we want to know. So get real.

[adamcortright]

Nick Beams of the World Socialist Web Site, and the Australian section of the Socialist Equality Party, summed up the situation perfectly in an article written today at www.wsws.org :

"The grovelling of Syriza flows from its class character, rooted not in the working class, but in sections of the Greek bourgeoisie and wealthier sections of the middle class, which it attempted to cover over with radical sounding phrases.

"Politically naïve and inexperienced people may have been fooled. If so, they should learn from the experience and correct their mistake by taking up a political struggle to expose the pseudo-left groups that continue to promote the poisonous fiction that Syriza represents a step forward for the working class.

"However, those who exercise the dictatorship of finance capital were never taken in. They knew from the outset with whom and what they were dealing, and acting accordingly. So confident were they in their assessment of the bourgeois character of Syriza, they did not feel obliged to offer even a concessionary fig leaf. They demanded and received total capitulation.

"The working class in Greece and internationally must draw the lessons from this bitter experience. The dictatorship of finance capital cannot be confronted, much less defeated, with a program of 'left' phrases and half-measures. It must be overturned through the fight for workers’ power and the implementation of an international socialist program, starting with the expropriation of the banks and finance capital."

[rgeocomrade]

Agree to callinicos but there is big difference, in 30s working class was organised and now its divided