All-out attack on Stefanos Kasselakis the “umbrella” announces with its announcement, opening Sotn Asko of Aeolos to SYRIZA.

The “umbrella”, with a “catapult” text sent ahead of the meeting of the political secretariat, sharply criticizes the new president of SYRIZA for his attitude towards the result of the self-governing elections, for the positions he expressed on the outbreak of violence in the Middle East and for the content of his speech to BSE.

The announcement in detail:

The final result of the Local Government elections constitutes a crack in Mitsotakis’ political dominance. Despite the blackmail and other regime practices that the government engages in, the rejection of leading government candidates is a serious blow. Which shows that popular dissatisfaction with the explosion of precision, the climate crisis, the incompetence of the bureaucratic state, as well as the discomfort with nepotism and arrogance – as a symptom indeed of governmental authoritarianism and the shrinking of democratic institutions – create in principle possibilities for new social and political processes.

These processes run horizontally through the political system. And they are accompanied by persistent high abstinence. This is an incalculable factor in alienating and disillusioning citizens from the political system, at a time when the government is trying to convince that pre-memorandum normality is returning.

However, despite the disapproval of mainstream politicians, SYRIZA-PS did not benefit in the elections. His electoral decline continued, which signals a strategic defeat. On the contrary, the KKE as well as the PASOK were electorally strengthened, particularly in the urban centers where they had recorded low percentages in the parliamentary elections. The road to the overthrow of neoliberal policies and the defeat of the Mitsotakis government is still long. Any beneficial possible alliance with neighboring political areas presupposes a strong SYRIZA. In this direction, a deeper restructuring of the Left is needed, which is not served by the substitution of political-ideological confrontation with personal-communicative duels.

2. The democratic reconstruction of SYRIZA-PS is necessary to stop its rapid unreliability, which is aggravated by political attitudes of its new leadership, which moves outside the programmatic positions and the Party Statute:

A. The deadly crisis in Israel and Palestine was dealt with one-sidedly. Condemnation of the terrorist attack by Hamas has not been accompanied by condemnation of the decades-long terrorist attack by the State of Israel in Gaza and the West Bank, which these days is developing into a threat of ethnic cleansing against hundreds of thousands of Palestinians. The current leadership of SYRIZA-PS must harmonize with the tradition of democratic solidarity of our people, with the international demand for respect for legality as well as with the decision of the Party of the European Left.

We must take the lead in mobilizations for peace and the protection of civilians, for international initiatives in order to implement the decisions of the UN for the establishment of an independent Palestinian state next to Israel and in communication with the democratic, peace-loving forces that exist there.

B. The speech of the president St. Kasselakis in BSE. For what he said and what he didn’t say. He did not mention the need to re-legislate the National General Collective Labor Agreement, that is, to guarantee wages and increases for all workers, as Collective Agreements cover only one in four workers.

St. Kasselakis referred to his personal views on the stock options that are positions of K. Mitsotakis and were explicitly disapproved in Parliament by Alexis Tsipras. The speech of the new President was accompanied by the adoption of neoliberal positions, such as on the cooperation of capital and labor and the flexibility of labor as a framework for the operation of the Welfare State. Moreover, it is inconceivable that a left-wing party does not support the redistribution of income through tax policy, does not understand today’s
inflation, worldwide but also in our country – as a phenomenon mainly from the side of profits, and not to insist on the taxation of surplus profits.

C. Between the two rounds of elections, the St. Kasselakis chose to publicly threaten those MPs and others, “undermining”, in his opinion, “the unity of the Parliamentary Group and the future of SYRIZA-PS that they will not have a place on future ballots of the party”. And this, in contrast to article 39 of the party’s Statute, which clearly defines the method of selection of candidate MPs.
All these movements of the new President are explained by his constant reference to representing “the people directly”, that is, without the statutory accountability and finally in the absence of the organs and members.
D. Public opinion watches in astonishment online abusive attacks by anonymous trolls and followers of the new President against party officials, without the slightest public repudiation of them by the new leadership.

3. The democratic relegation of SYRIZA-PS is urgent in order to stop the ongoing course of strategic defeat. This presupposes that the organs function and that the Extraordinary Congress takes place within the deadlines decided by the Central Committee, that is, in November. Only in this way can SYRIZA-PS, even at the last moment, establish a plan for an alternative governance of the country, with a program, social and political alliances, with strong ties with society. That is, with a left-wing physiognomy, far from being transformed into a centrist systemic party.

The path to the Congress must not be sealed by coup movements and leader-messianic practices that marginalize the party. Democratic functioning is necessary for the party to exist.
We are working for the unity of the Left as the tradition of our party is unitary reconstitution as an ongoing process for SYRIZA.

The members of the Political Secretariat

Anneta Kavadia
Efi Kalamaras
Katerina Knitou
Panos Lambrou
Harris Matsuoka
Andreas Xanthos
Panos Skourletis
Euclid Tsakalotos
Nikos Philis