A great text by Nadia Valavani* on the first Tsipras government
by Yorgos Mitralias
Introduction by Oaklandsocialist: Ten years ago, the left wing Syriza government in Greece refused – for a time – to concede to the EU’s demands for austerity. Their stance was met enthusiastically by those on the left throughout the world. That government then capitulated. Here, Yorgos Mitralias reports a comment by a left member of that government, followed by extract of a text by Yorgos and then a link to an article of Oaklandsocialist which we published at the time. The main lesson from that whole experience is that one cannot successfully oppose global capitalism by half steps.
Nadia Valavani
There’s no doubt that Nadia Valavani’s text, which we publish below, is both an unexpected and extremely welcome surprise. There are many reasons for this. Firstly, it stands out because it does exactly what none of the protagonists in the adventure of Greece’s first left-wing government, the Tsipras government, has done: a critical assessment of its actions and their consequences. And it does so in an almost laconic but at the same time exhaustive text, which has nothing to do with the traditional and usually empty logorrhea of the Greek left.
Secondly, it is distinguished by the fact that this critical assessment is made with reference to the two founding, but – unfortunately – completely abandoned and forgotten characteristics of the Left today: internationalism and class struggle. And it is precisely for this reason that Valavani’s critical assessment manages to identify from the outset the root causes of the obvious failure of the first Tsipras government in its refusal “to openly confront the creditors” and to address “not governments, but the peoples of Europe and the world”. (1)
And finally, Valavani’s text stands out and proves immensely useful for the present and future of the workers’ and socialist movement, for in choosing to identify the long-term consequences of the failure of the first Tsipras government, he manages to detect the catastrophic changes it has brought about – and continues to bring about – in the class balance of power in our country. In other words, Valavani explains the prolonged crisis and paralysis of the Greek left as a direct consequence of the defeat of historic dimensions suffered by the Greek labor and socialist movement with the capitulation of the Syriza leadership in that fateful month of July 2015!
But, may Ms. Valavani allow us to add to her record one more consequence that we consider to be perhaps even more important because it lies at the heart of the current woes of the Greek and international left. The Tsipras government, and by extension the Syriza leaders, have not only betrayed the hopes of the Greek citizens who put their trust in them. They have also betrayed the hopes placed in them – and incidentally in Spain’s Podemos, which has followed a similar trajectory to Syriza – by millions of left-wing and even non-party people across Europe and beyond! And it’s precisely because these hopes that had been placed in the Greek Syriza and Spanish Podemos were betrayed at a time when the multifaceted crisis was deepening, the traditional lefts were becoming increasingly paralyzed and discredited, and the far right was already on the rise, that the international consequences of the Tsipras government’s capitulation are even more catastrophic than the purely Greek ones! And that’s because, given the bankruptcy of first Syriza and then Podemos, as well as the Left’s inability to explain the reasons for this bankruptcy, it was only logical to see all those people who had trusted them and believed in them as their ultimate lifeline, lose both their morale and their compass. What happened next is well known: on the ruins left by this betrayal of so many existential hopes of millions of ordinary people, not all of whom were left-wing, the extreme right, openly nostalgic for the demons of the inter-war years, grew into a gigantic monster, threatening humanity and the planet with annihilation.
Read carefully this very important text by Nadia Valavani which, although published a month ago, has not elicited the slightest reaction or comment from left-wingers of all persuasions, who clearly prefer to ignore it…
*Several times imprisoned during the colonels’ dictatorship, Nadia Valavani was Deputy Finance Minister in the first Tsipras government, from which she resigned on July 15, ten days after the popular referendum whose result (61.31% No to the blackmail of the EU, ECB and IMF) was not respected by most of the leaders of this government and of Syriza.
NADIA VALAVANI’s answer to the “Epohi” newspaper’s survey question 10 YEARS AFTER THE 2015 HISTORY
In 2015, the first Syriza government, elected on a pledge to the people to reach “an honorable compromise to get out of the memorandums”, after having committed – we committed – the mistake of continuing to pay the tranches of debt until the public coffers were completely exhausted, found itself with its back to the wall faced with three alternatives:
The first: to confront the creditors openly, henceforth addressing not governments but the peoples of Europe and the world, surrounded by the prestige conferred by the unequivocal popular mandate of the July Referendum – the only electoral process in the world that took place with banks closed. At the time, according to the Minister responsible, Greece had six months’ worth of medicines, nine months’ worth of food and twelve months’ worth of fuel. To this must be added a growing international movement of support and solidarity, with unpredictable momentum – if left to develop unhindered. Will we emerge victorious from such a confrontation? There’s no way of knowing. If so, it would inevitably begin to unravel the budgetary straitjacket of the Stability Pact. If not, it would not be a defeat: it would be the most honest of struggles, a legacy of pride for the future – a struggle we can say without hesitation that “continues”.
The second option does not have the grandeur of the first, but it is also honorable. If there wasn’t the unity necessary for such a struggle, let the government resign and the third memorandum be introduced by its admirers, by those who argued that if the memorandums (which destroyed countless lives) weren’t from the Troika, we’d have to invent them “ourselves”. This would undoubtedly have been a defeat, but a tactical one: the necessary forces would soon be brought together again – together with the popular movement -, more mature and wiser.
The third option followed, against the already expressed will of the people, i.e. a third memorandum with what Samaras did not dare to sign, and an “exit” from the memoranda with the tragic impoverishment of the country and its people for 60 years – a strategic defeat, destructive in the long term: It poisoned the movement and the people in struggle with Thatcherite TINA, dismantled all that existed of collective, plunged the whole left (and not just those who said the “big yes”) into an existential crisis. Ten years on, we’re struggling to keep our heads above its sewage.
Time and time again, the Left has practiced a “headlong rushing” without dealing with the unsettled accounts of the past – usually with tragic results. Is there any chance of overcoming the current crisis of absence of anything of real meaning and value to the people and the country, solely by “bypassing” 2015?
Note: at the time (2015), the author – Yorgos Mitralias – had written an article which contained these passages:
However, there is an additional reason which makes this European duty of Syriza and its government even more urgent. This is because time is starting to desperately run out to the extent that the pressures and blackmail from “European partners” are dangerously increasing and a major asset that the Tsipras government has in its negotiation/confrontation with them is the solidarity of “those from below”, the active support of these millions of European citizens who are turning to Syriza and banking on its government to free themselves from the yoke of austerity!
How can all of this be transformed into concrete actions and initiatives as quickly as possible? Surely, it is not the role of this article to make proposals or give advice. Moreover, decisions and incentives on this subject must be taken not only by Syriza but by all those who express their solidarity with the new Greek government by demonstrating in the streets of European cities. That said, Syriza and even more the Tsipras government could do something simple and also very tangible, which could undoubtedly inspire those below to intensify their mobilizations: publicly declare that they are fully aware of their responsibilities towards their (only) natural allies and that they are committed to assuming them and transforming them into action as quickly as possible. In what way? Why not through a call, together for example with Podemos of Spain, for a European day of action against austerity and in solidarity with the Greek people in struggle in the next few weeks?…
That is the strategy oaklandsocialist was also advocating at that time.