“Tis not enough to help the feeble up, but to support him
after.” Timon of Athens.
I have been ill with a nasty chest infection but that has
not stopped me having a smile on my face. Put there by two remarkable events.
As a Black Country bloke I was chuffed that the poor relations of Black Country football, Walsall FC, at the 127th
attempt have finally made it to a Wembley final.
Who cares what the trophy is or who they play. If any town
needs a lift it is Walsall. Economically they
have never recovered from the manufacturing jobs slaughter of the Thatcher
years. It’s not much but it’s great that the dispossessed get a day in the sun.
The other is the news from Greece. Despite everything Syriza
have won the election. This is the most important election victory in Europe for the left in the Neo-Liberal era.
The fact that such a movement has been necessary represents
the total failure of European Social Democracy. The only thing that is keeping it
alive is inertia. No longer a movement it has sold its soul to neo-liberal
economics and neo-conservative politics.
The great SPD in Germany are supporting Angela Merkel!
Mario Renzi the PM of Italy and leader of the Democrats, is described
as the Tony Blair of Italy.
In Spain PSOE has fallen from grace due to economic mismanagement and
corruption. The mighty PASOK reduced to
a rump. And as for Francois Hollande and the French Socialists what a
disappointment!
It looks naïve now to assume that social democratic parties
would take a strong stance in defence of their working class supporters. Whilst
the rich get away with murder the Social Democrats mutter incoherent pathetic austerity-lite
policies, desperately trying to sound “responsible”, policies that tinker
around the edges (the Mansion Tax!) in fear of upsetting the ruling elite.
An elite that gets richer on the backs of those below, by
cutting wages, slashing benefits, crushing unions, avoiding tax and by
diverting a huge proportion of our national wealth to financial speculation.
They have also used their wealth to reshape the policy world
we hear their words in the voices of Mandelson, Blair, or Milburn everyday on
how we should dilute and moderate demands that are already so feeble as to be
meaningless.
What is on offer here? Well the difference between a future with
George Osborne or Ed Balls seems to be choice in the method of execution.
Osborne offers the hangman’s noose. Whilst Balls offers us the slower method of
being garrotted.
The end result is of course the same. For the traditional far
left too has failed. Even in states with large Communist and Workers Parties
they have little traction with the electorate, the IU in Spain, the PCF
or the KKE have made little headway.
People are crying out for change and yet there is no voice
for the food bank user or the bus passenger, for the zero-hour contract worker,
in short for the victims of the cruel hoax that is austerity.
This pain has been expressed by the rise of the nationalist,
populist rightwing UKIP, but whose fault is this. I fear the Labour Party has
been insensitive to the pain of those disorientated by globalisation or hurt by
austerity. Labour’s tragic reaction to the Scottish Referendum shows that it is
incapable of renewal.
Thank goodness then for Syriza, whatever happens now they
have already changed the game. Alexis Tsipras is breath of fresh air. What they
have achieved, I know in remarkable circumstances, is amazing. This is a study
in effective leadership. In understanding the situation and building an
effective response. The press have patronised and underestimated him and the
movement at every turn.
This is not a one man band either. After studying maths and
statistics, Greek Finance minister Yanis Varoufakis received his economics
doctorate from Essex
University. He was a
Fellow at Cambridge, Lecturer at Sydney University
before returning to Greece
as Professor of Economic Theory at the University of Athens.
He describes himself as an “accidental economist”. I wonder what this makes
George Osborne?
The solidarity model of party organisation is also one we
can learn from. Some complain that they do not use the “left-wing” politics
playbook. As if our methods have go us anywhere.
As Paul Krugman points out if anything the problem with
Syriza’s plans is that they are not radical enough. Debt relief and an easing
of austerity may not be enough to create the growth they need but the Greeks
are not yet ready to leave the Euro.
“Still in calling for major change, Mr Tsipras is being far
more realistic than officials who want the beating to continue until morale
improves. The rest of Europe should give him a
chance to end his country’s nightmare.”
My fear is for a Labour election victory on a small share of
the vote with its present policies. That would lead to disaster. We have failed
to change their policies from within. Pressure now needs to come from without. The
way we can help both Labour and Syriza is to stop our bickering on the left and
build our own anti-austerity party. I know we are not Greece but if
they can pull together thirteen parties surely a UK Syriza is the best way “to
support him after”.
