The letter in detail

“Dear PG Members:

You urgently requested the convening of the Political Secretariat, even though the Body met just a few days ago on matters of election of the coordinators of the Member Organizations and the Prefectural Committees and on other issues of the Conference.

As you know, I have already been in London since yesterday, where I met with expatriate Greeks and this afternoon I will speak at the London School of Economics, at an event entitled “The Modern Left for Progressive Governance” and until then, from early today, I am following program of dense meetings with investment and business bodies, with the National Cypriot Federation of the United Kingdom and with the Archbishop of Thyatira and Great Britain Mr. Nikitas.

Therefore, I am unable to attend today’s meeting of the Political Secretariat which you requested to be convened as an emergency on the occasion that, as the President of SYRIZA-PS, I addressed to the members of the party – through isyriza – a questionnaire of a consultative nature, on a series of issues concerning from the image and symbols to the operation of our party.

The results of this questionnaire will not be made public. We are not a polling company. But it will be a useful tool both for the SYRIZA Organs and for me, in our decisions.

Since you are all experienced party officials, you know very well that the upcoming extraordinary Congress is not statutory. Therefore, a debate is opened, no statutory decisions are made.

We will decide on these at the regular Congress that will take place in the fall after the European elections, which will be statutory. You know this very well.

Indeed, the two Congresses, the political/programmatic and the statutory, should have preceded the election of the President. I was not in the organs when you decided to precede the election of the President at time dt.

So why did I put this questionnaire?

Precisely because these are issues that are already being discussed by our members and friends, and even strongly. We must show and prove in practice that we know what concerns them and that we, for our part, are willing to listen to them carefully and open a productive and democratic discussion about everything. This is an existential need of SYRIZA – PS.

The need, after all, for our members to contact us and express their opinions, is demonstrated by the huge interest and the very large response that this particular questionnaire has in just two days (and the extremely useful comments and suggestions for the function of the party). The responses of the members will be collected, coded and at the appropriate time (in view of the statutory conference) we will discuss them together in the Organs.

I point out that I have no disagreement with the functioning of the PG and the Bodies in general, despite my deep dismay at the repeated leaks that are made even during the meetings and which have thus unfortunately undermined the credibility of the Body. To be fair, even in the KO Bureau there are leaks, so maybe it is a wider issue in the party than the statutory function.

I have proven that I spare no effort and energy when it comes to my participation in any party initiative. I only remind that in the last two weeks we have organized two absolutely successful and productive Development Conferences, I have visited many farmers’ blocks, with the farmers embracing my presence, I have participated in the very interesting and timely event on Education organized by K.O together with the party Department, I participated in our event in Brussels on the crime in Tempe and supported the parents of the victims, and of course I have attended several events of our Membership and Youth Organizations, in order to listen and talk to members and friends us.

Is it possible to be afraid to ask our members, especially after two electoral defeats that revealed a deep deficit of grounding with society? Where did they see ND winning with 2-3 times the votes of SYRIZA? Who brought our party from 32% to 18%? If you don’t ask the members under such circumstances, when do you ask them?
Let us all learn – and the President first – to finally listen.
How much longer do we ignore our members and society?

Why was it never requested to convene the Political Secretariat for the farmers and for the students who are on the streets, for the medicines that all citizens will pay for out of their own pockets with Adonis Georgiadis’s insensitive decisions, for the draft law of Mr. Floridis which turns our penal system back seventy years, for the accuracy campaign that has not yet started, for the housing campaign and a whole host of other problems that concern society, which the government of Mr. Mitsotakis blatantly ignores?

Political Secretariat for the opinion questionnaire? For the intra-party influence of everyone in a party that has proven to be non-governmental and must respond to the needs of society, which is suffering and sees no way out or hope.

The Conference scheduled to begin on Thursday will take place! I’ll be there. We will all be there!

Until then, our stress and anxiety must be to discuss the issues that really concern society and to find in this conference the solutions and answers it is looking for.

I urge you to direct all your strength and energy in this direction.

Stop chasing chimeras, feeding conspiracy scenarios that I will supposedly make I.X. party, because we are letting our people down.
I.X. a party that listens to its members does not exist.
I.X. it is the party that wants its members to applaud in defeat.

Personally, I will listen to the members, they will advise me, I will do what I promised them for an open members’ party.
These members (and no “tradition”) did me the honor of electing me Leader of the Official Opposition with this exact request: to listen to them.

So I invite you to listen to them together.

companions,

Stefanos Kasselakis
President SYRIZA-PS”