Has the Leopard Really Changed its Spots?
Back in February, a brief article at the BBC remarked on the seeming transformation of Syriza from a bunch of Marxist dreamers into (shudder..) quasi-“Blairitesâ€. To be sure, we also approved of the signs of pragmatism that emerged at the time. The party had seemingly ditched its previously implacable opposition to privatizations and didn’t even try to tax the country’s shipping magnates. The tax exemptions enjoyed by the latter strike many as unjust, but the fact is that they provide around 7% of Greek employment and their assets are out at sea. It is up to them under which flag said assets are sailing and it would be self-destructive to chase them away.
Given the stunt Mr. Tsipras just pulled (note that the Greek negotiators learned of his referendum announcement via Twitter – they were not privy to what was about to happen), we are not so sure that the leopard has really changed its spots. We are not critical of a referendum as such, on the contrary. However, the timing and the way Tsipras has gone about it, suggest that he is really trying to arrange for a “Grexit†and one cannot help getting the impression that this may have been the intention all along. As noted previously, a referendum could have been held months ago already – why wait until it is almost too late for all practical purposes?
A reminder was provided by a mail correspondent of ours in Spain, who pointed out that the parties voting in favor of Tsipras’ plan were Syriza, ANEL and Golden Dawn. As to the Stalinist KKE, he noted “[the] KKE is against everything (as usual), but I still have hope in their “No†vote, closing the circle: from the Nazis to the Communists, all united against a free Europe, in a “Molotov-Ribbentrop v2.0″.
Note that the man is by no means a supporter of centralization under a socialist European superstate (he actually supports Catalan independence from Spain). The remark merely serves to point out that radicals appear to be using the vulnerable situation of a population facing enormous economic challenges as an opportunity to take over. Is it actually fair to call Syriza “Marxist� We have previously presented a few of the most influential figures in the party who are definitely Marxists. However, confirmation that the movement as a whole is strongly influenced by Marxism comes from the party’s former economic eminence grise John (Yannis) Milios,who said to the Guardian in 2014:
