The following text is a joint statement by five anticapitalist organisations in Greece: “Anametrisi”, APO, DEA, “Metavasi”, and “Xekinima”.
In recent months, these organisations have issued joint statements on various issues, marched together under common banners, organised joint events, and held extensive discussions in shared meetings.
With this statement, they declare their intention to take the process further by contributing to the creation of “a unifying political initiative of the revolutionary Left, through public and open processes of formation, unity, and regroupment of organisations, collectives, and non-aligned activists interested in such a project.”
All organizations involved will maintain their full political and organisational independence at all stages – the project will have the character of an alliance. A clear effort will be made to attract independent left activists (i.e. who do not belong to any political organization) and organisational measures will be taken to ensure that they will have a strong say in the decision making process. The intention is also to take measures that will ensure, to the extent possible, that the project will not be hijacked by this or that organization in the future.
Obviously, the statement does not reflect the full approach of each organisation on each and every issue, as it is the result of discussion and mutual concessions to arrive at common positions.
[Read our assessment of the process behind this initiative here. The statement in Greek can be found here]
Walking through difficult paths
The world today is in deep turmoil. The clouds of war are covering Ukraine, Palestine, Iran, and Syria. The terrorist state of Israel is escalating its genocidal campaign in Gaza and pushing to expand settlements in the West Bank. At the same time, its attacks on neighbouring countries continue to fuel the dangers of a wider war across the Middle East. This is happening with the direct support of the Euro-Atlantic axis and the deafening inaction of other competing geopolitical “poles.” At this moment, our hearts and our struggle are with the Palestinian people.
A brutal, multipolar world of dangerous rivalries—economic, political, and military—is emerging, posing enormous risks to humanity and making the need for a strong, unified, independent, anti-war/anti-imperialist movement more urgent than ever. Such a movement must be directed primarily against the US and NATO, especially within the heart of the Western world. At the same time, it must be built within our own country to expose the responsibilities of the Greek government and denounce its criminal complicity with the Israeli state, as well as its broader militaristic and warmongering agenda within the framework of “ReArm Europe,” which today poses a direct threat to the people.
The climate and environmental crises highlight that in our era capitalism “feeds” on destruction. The Trump administration’s extractivist policies, along with the power games of the major global players over the Arctic, demonstrate the complete disregard for the dangers of a catastrophic climate collapse. Meanwhile, in the European Union, military spending is being prioritised over even the inadequate and partial steps of the so-called “green transition,” – for which the mass of the population has been forced to pay the cost. What is urgently needed is a fighting, radical ecological movement, connected to the broader workers’ movement, and armed with a vision for an alternative society. Such a movement must aim to connect a radical ecological programme with every other field of struggle.
At the same time, the neo-conservative right and the far right are gaining ground internationally, attacking democratic rights and popular freedoms while poisoning societies with racist, misogynistic and homophobic rhetoric.
In this context, the working class is under constant attack, as are young people, immigrants, women, and LGBTQI+ people. Contemporary capitalism intensifies exploitation and all forms of oppression, seeking to dismantle the last remaining social gains and rights in order to maximise its profitability. This is the real “TINA” (“there is no alternative”) of capital—expressed in neoliberal policies, endless austerity, and militarism.
Greece’s political system is being reorganised
A realignment of the political system is underway across the entire spectrum. This is driven above all by rising popular discontent with the New Democracy (ND) government and with bourgeois politics in general, leading to a collapse of confidence in the mainstream parties. Meanwhile, scandals keep erupting one after another—the latest being OPEKEPE [Translator’s Note: a massive EU farm aid scam]. These scandals are linked both to the structural characteristics of Greek capitalism and to the arrogance and sense of impunity of those at the top.
This is combined with the complete exposure of the parliamentary opposition, both PASOK and SYRIZA, and the various splinter groups of the latter.
SYRIZA’s record in government and its degeneration are casting a shadow over the Left as a whole. The defeat of 2015 does not automatically create opportunities for the radical, anticapitalist and communist Left. On the contrary, it can fuel disappointment and disillusionment among significant sections of society, leading to widespread abstentionism. This creates conditions that strengthen the neo-conservative and far-right political forces.
While conditions create opportunities, they also demand that we act differently
Within this landscape, new opportunities are also emerging for the radical, anticapitalist, and communist Left.
Just a few months ago, we witnessed an enormous outpouring of social anger over the Tempi train crash crime and the impunity enjoyed by those in power. At the same time, powerful struggles are unfolding in education and the universities. A vibrant solidarity movement with Palestine is growing. Women and LGBTQI+ people are fighting for their rights, while environmental activists are engaged in daily battles. Workers’ struggles are reappearing, sometimes winning small victories that can pave the way for greater ones—as was recently the case with the seafarers.
We are fully aware that our small forces remain far from meeting the challenges of our time. Yet we have already entered a new historical phase that forces us to rethink the tools, demands, programme, forms of intervention and forms of organisation of the Left. This does not mean forgetting the serious defeat suffered by the people of our country ten years ago. On the contrary: we must always keep it in mind, because without drawing the lessons from that we cannot build for the future. We need to constantly measure ourselves against our future tasks and challenges and make all the necessary adjustments so that we can be victorious at the end of this long road.
This is why we firmly believe that a new attempt at “reconstruction”, within the Left and the movements, is necessary. A new, mass, anti-systemic left force is necessary. Such an effort will, of course, preserve all that is valuable from the past. But in order to look to the future, it must be new in its content, its programme, its forms, and its structures.
We must overcome the defeat and the limitations of the past
The needs of the present cannot be met by a Left that compromises and submits once again to the neoliberal, capitalist, imperialist “one-way streets” of NATO and the European Union. Nor by a Left that confines itself to parliamentary and institutional activity without drawing the lessons of 2015. Nor by a Left that rejects the perspective of rupture and revolutionary overthrow, limiting its strategic horizon to managing government power within the framework of the system. Nor by a Left disconnected from the working class and the poor, treating them merely as voters, and thus unable to rise to the challenges of the times.
Neither can the answer come from a Left that is isolationist and sectarian, that rejects initiatives for united action, that constantly denounces other sections of the Left and uses “revolutionary” rhetoric merely to preserve its own self interests. Nor from a Left that avoids direct involvement in struggles to change today’s political and social balance of forces; that avoids struggle to achieve material and other gains for the labouring masses, setting instead artificial barriers of disagreements as prerequisites for joint action. Whatever the intentions, such approaches only serve to undermine the potential for social transformation in the future.
Finally, a Left that retreats on matters of principle —whether on supporting the working class or in defending the rights of women, LGBTQI+ people, youth, and migrants— is of no use.
For a policy that achieves victories and leads to systemic overthrow
Unity is necessary, but not a sufficient condition in itself.
What is also required is “transformation”, so that the Left does not endlessly recycle old and defeated methods that stubbornly refuse to change. We need to radically reconstruct and reorganise social spaces, movements and collectives, in order to rebuild a strong, substantial bloc of rupture within the movement. This demands programmatic development and political convergences, open, broad, democratic assemblies with the participation of activists from all fields, and with substantial political exchange among all the forces involved.
We need left-wing policies that seek and plan the fight for victories and tangible gains, that can function in an exemplary fashion for other sections, in the period ahead. Such a policy must aim to rebuild the workers’ and popular movements, as well as the Left itself. At the same time, it must remain firmly committed to the strategy of socialist liberation for the majority of society. We consider all of this essential for laying the foundations of a political entity of the revolutionary Left that can gradually acquire mass influence.
From this perspective, attempts at unity that are limited to the electoral field or imposed from above are inadequate. We are united in the conviction that we need a real “renewal” of united action and programme in the mass movements.
This political direction requires prioritisation of tasks and initiatives and unity in action among all available forces. This must be achieved not just in the narrow circle of left organisations but within the mass movement itself.
The depth of today’s anti-popular offensive leaves no room for the usual “civil wars” within the mass movements and the Left. Of course, we will continue to voice our views and criticisms of other forces, but we also believe that open dialogue and comradely debate are necessary. This must always take place within the framework of a common struggle against the real enemies: the government, the state, bourgeois politics, and capital.
We must boldly pursue new unifying paths aiming at victorious struggles, rooted in militant mass movements, associations, and all forms of social organisation. Above all, we must fight for class-based trade unions that are combative and in the hands of the workers themselves — as an alternative to corporate, yellow (bosses’) and government-controlled unionism. We must build a culture of comradeship within the movements, where our interventions strengthen them, breaking with the logic of narrow party domination and left-wing internal quarrels that only weaken them.
For a united Left that fights for the overthrow of the system
In the course of this struggle, the need for a new, Left force that fights for the overthrow of the system is clear — one that has drawn the lessons from the positive elements but also recognises the limitations of the existing radical, communist, and anticapitalist formations. To make a united and revolutionary Left a reality, we must base our efforts on a transitional programme that fights for gains in all immediate labour and popular struggles, while linking today’s battles to the prospect of broader social transformation. We aim to lay the basis for a bloc of forces of rupture that will ultimately lead to the overthrow of the system itself.
Inevitably this path involves a clash with the domestic ruling class and its political and media apparatus. The experience of 2015 teaches us that insubordination, rupture, and exit from the EU and NATO are inevitable. This must be pursued from a working-class and popular standpoint, with an internationalist, class orientation.
At the same time, it’s clear that this perspective must be forged within the movements themselves, through their own struggles and experiences — it should not be imposed as a divisive precondition that blocks joint action.
What we need is a Left with a programme of intervention across all social and political struggles — uniting those who understand the need for a change of course and who are committed to building the forces to achieve it. This requires firm commitments to joint interventions in the various fields, combined with open dialogue on the major strategic questions.
The first step on a long road
This urgent need has led us to take concrete steps towards creating a unifying political initiative of the revolutionary Left.
This can be built through public and open processes by organisations and collectives together with non-aligned activists who wish to take part. It will seek to involve an ever-wider range of movements and resistance groups. Through internal democracy and grassroots participation, we aim to engage all those who want to change the course of the revolutionary Left.
We aspire to build a Left that is closely connected to the old/traditional, but also contemporary working class, the poor, the immigrants, and all those who suffer multiple forms of oppression. We will make use of modern means of communication and contemporary forms of expression, integrated into collective decision-making and direction.
Such an effort is both necessary and timely. It involves programmatic debate combined with action, rooted in society and the movements.
It requires deep internal democracy, with equal representation and contribution from the organisations involved, as well as a substantial role and intervention by independent activists. It calls for collective public representation, coordinating bodies, and methods of functioning.
We aim to form a distinct pole, in the context of the broader and challenging effort to create a mass, left-wing, anti-systemic political expression with broad social appeal across the country. To overcome the current crisis of the Left, we need to rally all the forces that can and want to move in this direction.
This is our priority, and we will devote our energies to it. We know that none of this will be easy. But the Left has never been about what is easy, it has always been about what is necessary.
We will strive to rise to this task.
Signatories
- Anametrisi – Organisation for a New Communist Left
- APO – Anticapitalist Political Organisation
- DEA – Internationalist Workers’ Left
- Metavasi – Organisation for the Communist Perspective
- Xekinima – Internationalist Socialist Organisation
