The Greek struggle influences the whole of Europe

John Mullen, a member of the anti-capitalist left in the Left Front, comments on the impact of Greek events in France.

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The “no” in the Greek referendum and the struggle over the government re-imposing austerity against the will of the Greek population has been the main influence on political discussion across Europe.

Millions of workers have been learning that austerity is not inevitable, that the billions of euros for the “bailouts” of Greece mostly went to international banks, and that the Brave New Neoliberal World of the European Union is temporarily paralysed, and more fragile than it had appeared. The massive “no” vote in the face of a vast media barrage for “yes” has been a huge encouragement for all anti-capitalists.

In France, the neoliberal Socialist Party president François Hollande seemed mostly concerned as to whether his diplomatic efforts to keep Greece in the eurozone will improve his reputation as a world statesman assured of a place in the history books. He has little chance of going down as a hero for the French working class, given the sad list of neoliberal reforms he has imposed: reducing job protection, freezing public sector wages and cutting away union rights.

The Socialist Party last week released a list of “10 measures we have taken to improve your lives”. The extent of the radicalism is clearly exemplified in this list, which defies parody. “Pharmacies must now display their prices more visibly” is one of the reforms, along with “You can now change your driving school, without paying a penalty”. To show just how left wing the party is, minister for the economy Emmanuel Macron recently said in an interview that it was a pity the French revolution had done away with the King!

Logically enough, then, the French government spokesman on Europe has welcomed the new austerity plan that Tsipras is trying to get through the Greek parliament.

Right wing leader Nicolas Sarkozy, back in the fray after a couple of years holidaying on some warm island, is hoping to become president again when the elections arrive in 2017. He is insisting that capitalism works; the Greeks just don’t work hard enough and retire “too early”.

Sections of the right wing media have been trying an old trick – pretending that the only alternative to “enlightened” European Union austerity is the backward-looking nationalism of neo-fascism. So Marine Le Pen, leader of the fascist National Front, has been invited on talk shows as the person who could defend French national honour, just as Syriza was doing in Greece. She was denounced at once by Syriza, but Le Pen’s message has real influence. Macron claimed that “the National Front is the French Syriza, defending inward looking politics”.

The Front de Gauche (Left Front), an alliance of the Communist Party, the reformist Left Party and an anti-capitalist grouping that I am a member of (“Ensemble”), has been the main builder of solidarity demonstrations with the Greek people.

Posters with the excellent slogan, “If Greece had been a bank, they’d have already saved her”, were visible around towns across the country. Jean-Luc Mélenchon, leader of the Left Party, exulted after the referendum: “The coup d’état against Tsipras has failed”. He compared Greece with the case of Cyprus, which was brought to heel by the international banks in 2013, at a terrible cost to the Cypriot population.

Communist Party leaders (the party has 7 MPs and 18 senators) campaigned to support the “no to austerity” vote, while insisting that only inside the eurozone could there be hope for progressive policies in Greece. Green Party press releases defended a similar position.

One of the biggest trade union confederations, the CGT, called on the Greek government to freeze debt repayments and instead spend the money on helping Greek workers, raising the minimum wage and raising pensions. A 2 July solidarity demo in Paris included a strong union presence; four of the five main union confederations promoted it. Despite the difficulty of mobilising on a Thursday in July, the demonstration attracted several thousand people.

Naturally, most left wingers overestimated the capacity of Tsipras to resist eurozone pressures. The turnaround he seems to be doing right now will lead to much debate, which we hope will help clarify the roles of left governments’ “cunning plans” and of workers’ activity in defending our class.

The anti-capitalist grouping Ensemble put out a leaflet, “No to Grexit ! No to austerity !”, which argued that cross-Europe anti-austerity struggles were the way forward. The New Anticapitalist Party argued after the referendum that “the way forward after this vote is an anti-capitalist politics based on the cancellation of the debt, the expropriation of the banks, the renationalisation of privatised public services, the raising of salaries and pensions”.

One of the positive aspects of the Greek situation is that it has clearly shown that the central questions of European society – those which can rapidly destroy the livelihoods of millions – are the questions of capital, profit, speculation and interest.

The extraction of ever more billions for parasites who are already billionaires, while sacrificing pensions, minimum wages and public services, is the central mechanism of Europe. In France, political groups that recently have been centre stage on the radical left, have programmes based on identity politics and combating (often usefully) white privilege. They have had nothing to say about Greece because of their insistence that questions of identity and prejudice are the most important ones.

It is too soon to say how the current round of struggle in Greece will affect anti-austerity struggles here in France. But it seems likely that it will accelerate the learning processes required to build a powerful and consequential fightback.