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New Statesman
5 days ago
- Politics
- New Statesman
Why left populism failed
Photo byTen years ago this summer, as Jeremy Corbyn scraped onto the ballot in the Labour Party leadership election, the hopes of the European left centred on Greece, where a radical left government was seeking to restructure the country's debt and roll back brutal austerity that had seen suicide, unemployment and home repossessions rocket. As negotiations reached an impasse, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras announced that he would put the Eurozone's offer to a referendum. The rallies for the No (or 'Oxi') campaign, which he addressed, were the biggest public gatherings in Greece since the fall of the colonels in 1974. I was in Athens to witness the campaign, and when the result came through on 5 July – an overwhelming 61 per cent rejection – I saw the city's streets erupt in celebration. Less than two weeks later, Tsipras had signed up to the bailout package, pushing it through the Greek parliament with the help of his former opponents. Riot police were sent in to break up the same crowds who had cheered him on. Tear gas flew outside the parliament building, and police rode through the fleeing crowd on motor bikes, swiping indiscriminately with batons. Unlike the years of the mass anti-austerity movement that had led to Syriza's rise, the protests now were going through the motions. Police fielded routine petrol bombs near Exarchia. Gatherings in Syntagma Square felt like an angry wake. There were no easy options for the government. Defying the demands of 'the Troika' – the European Commission, European Central Bank and the IMF – would have meant a sudden return to the Drachma. Economic and humanitarian crisis would have been the result whichever way Tsipras turned. But the abrupt betrayal of both the election and the referendum set the Greek and European left back years. Tsipras won snap elections in September 2015, but did so at the head of a different party. Syriza lost many of its activists and almost half of its large central committee. Its youth wing voted to dissolve itself. Ten years on, the basic lesson of the Greek Oxi referendum is that new left parties – however populist and radical – can and do 'Pasokify' themselves. Whether you are Zarah Sultana or Zack Polanski, it is worth paying attention to the fate of Syriza – which, despite the British left's current momentum, could well be theirs. Pasok, Greece's social democratic party, had dominated Greek politics for decades. It signed the first bailout package in 2010, implementing harsh austerity and privatisation measures. By the January 2015 elections, it had lost 90 per cent of its voters and came in seventh place. Pasokification was the fate of the French Socialist Party, the Dutch Labour Party, and to a lesser extent the German Social Democrats. If current polling holds, Starmer's Labour is next. Syriza was the original new left alternative to a failing centre-left. In 2019, having implemented the third bailout package, it lost two thirds of its voters and left office. When Tsipras stood down as leader in 2023, the party elected Stefanos Kasselakis, an American former banker and shipping investor who had once supported the centre-right New Democracy. Kasselakis was later removed and split to form his own party, leaving Syriza once again behind Pasok in the Greek parliament. Syriza's once mighty youth support has evaporated, and it is now polling in sixth place. The Oxi vote was the high watermark of the immediate revolt against austerity in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis. The response of the European establishment was a fork in the road. Faced with mass opposition to austerity and the neoliberal economic consensus, it ploughed on. In backrooms, figures like the IMF's Christine Lagarde freely admitted that austerity measures would not work, and would instead deepen Greece's recession. But allowing Syriza to pursue a different path, backed by a popular mandate, would have been politically ruinous for governments which had asked their own populations to swallow cuts and wage depression. Subscribe to The New Statesman today from only £8.99 per month Subscribe Rather than give the radical left an opportunity, the European institutions stamped on Greece. Europe's centre-left and centre-right preferred a strategy of accommodation to a rising tide of nationalist and anti-migrant politics. Now, the new far right are in or near power in all but a couple of the EU's founding member states. Nigel Farage is odds on to be our next prime minister. In 2015, the Greek left was fighting from within the Euro and at the European periphery. It had the strongest organised left on the continent and a recent history of military dictatorship. In all these senses, it could not have been further from the post-Corbyn British left. But in the sense that it is the only example of the new post-crash left leading a government, the lessons it offers are invaluable. One of the founding promises of Syriza was that it represented a new kind of politics. When it came to power in January 2015, many of its newly elected MPs had never been near parliament before. The party was young, dynamic and above all rooted in the mass movements that had brought it to power. Even when Tsipras wrote to Angela Merkel offering concessions, many activists on the campaign trail that summer earnestly believed that their leaders would not act against the wishes of party members, let alone against the overwhelming mandate of a referendum. Some knew government ministers personally. But as Corbynism demonstrated, 'a new kind of politics' is just a slogan – even if its supporters took it as an oath. Had the Syriza government been accountable to its members and activists, it would not have been possible to capitulate to the Troika in the summer of 2015. But Syriza had taken over the institutions of the state, and those institutions had a logic of their own. As soon as it won power, the party's internal democracy barely functioned. Having had its institutions crushed by Thatcherism, the British left has many weaknesses for which it shouldn't blame itself. Its persistent lack of internal democracy is not one of them. Corbynism transformed our politics, but behind the crowds and the aesthetic edge, it was conventional. Faced with a hostile parliamentary party, the project ended up in a bunker, relying on standard party management methods. Labour members were not permitted to set policy, and no major democratic reform of the party took place. Instead of allowing Momentum to emerge as a messy, independent project, the leadership backed moves to shut down its local groups and democratic structures. The culture of the new Labour left was, above all, loyalist. Corbynism had little organisational legacy. But when the cost of living crisis hit in 2022, and the UK was gripped by its biggest wave of strikes since the 1980s, the left had an opportunity to rebuild politically. It failed to do so. One problem was that the most prominent vehicle for the left, Enough is Enough, amassed a huge email list, held some big rallies, and then, rather than build local groups and democratic structures, vanished. Where healthy left organisations are built from the bottom up, today's left has a habit of relying on celebrities and hollow online hype. We teach people to be spectators and cheerleaders. We are trained by mainstream political analysis to counterpose effectiveness and democracy, and to associate relentless professionalisation with electoral success. If you are part of an establishment for whom politics is essentially an elite sport, this is reasonable. Had Blair or Starmer allowed party members a say over party policy or candidate selection, they would not have been able to enact their strategies of choice. The radical left cannot win this way. When Tsipras signed the third bailout package, he escaped the messiness of running an anti-establishment party and his popularity initially rose. But the character of the project was irretrievable. The social conditions that swept Syriza to power and which almost put Jeremy Corbyn in Downing Street in 2017 are, if anything, even sharper now. The resurgence of the British left – perhaps as an electoral alliance between a new left party and a Zack Polanski-led Green Party – could come soon, and with a force few commentators expect. In 2027, Jean-Luc Mélenchon could win the French presidency. The first wave of the new European left was up against a failing centre; now, it must fight toe-to-toe with the far right. To succeed, it must learn not only how to win elections, but how to keep its soul intact. [See also: Inside the factions of the new left] Related
Time of India
30-06-2025
- Science
- Time of India
Modi's Vadnagar has 2,500-year-old global connect; Gujarat town was minting Greek coins centuries later, says study
Vadnagar, a small town in north Gujarat, continues to surprise historians and archaeologists. According to a TOI report, during a decade-long excavation from 2014 to 2024, researchers uncovered 37 terracotta coin moulds , used not for local rulers, but for Indo-Greek king Apollodotus II. What puzzled experts was the timing: the moulds dated between the 5th and 10th centuries CE, whereas the actual coins were originally minted around the 1st–2nd centuries CE. Dr Abhijit Ambekar, superintending archaeologist with the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), who worked on the site, explained: 'Gujarat was a key trade hub for the Arabian Sea and Indian Ocean. While many silver Indo-Greek coins , especially Drachmas, have been found before, it's rare to find moulds like these.' Unlike traditional die-struck coins, these moulds suggest the coins were being cast. So why were they being made centuries after the fall of the Indo-Greek kingdoms? 'One theory is that the Drachma stayed popular as trade currency, both on land and sea. Its continued demand could have led to reproductions. Bharuch, a major port of that time, was part of this network,' said Ambekar. The study was done in collaboration with Dr Abhijit Dandekar of Deccan College. The findings were among four key studies presented at the 10th World Archaeological Congress in Darwin, Australia, which ended on Saturday. The theme tying all the studies together? Vadnagar's global connections and continuous importance for over 2,500 years. Other studies explored: Live Events An elliptical structure found in Vadnagar, similar to ones in the Gangetic plains. Earthquake-resistant building techniques, like timber bonding, where wood is placed between stones to cushion seismic shock. This technique is also seen in West Asia. Urban planning, showing how the town evolved from the Kshatrapa era to British times. Adaptation to drought, where locals interlinked water bodies and even changed their diet for survival. Artefacts like Indo-Pacific beads, shell bangles, torpedo jars, and coins from multiple cultures confirm Vadnagar's role as a production hub and land port, or sthalpattan. Inputs from TOI
Time of India
29-06-2025
- Business
- Time of India
Vadnagar minted Greek coins and learnt quake resistance from W Asia
Ahmedabad: During the excavation at Vadnagar, which lasted for a decade from 2014 to 2024, one of the finds that surprised the archaeologists was 37 terracotta coin moulds. These were not of local powers; instead, they were for the coins of the Indo-Greek monarch Apollodotus II. What surprised the experts was the fact that the period it corresponded to in Vadnagar's 2,500-year-long continuous history was the 5th to 10th centuries CE, whereas the coins in their original form were minted in the 1st-2nd centuries CE. Dr Abhijit Ambekar, superintending archaeologist with the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), who worked on the site for the decade, said that Gujarat, being an important trade hub for the Arabian Sea and Indian Ocean, has yielded a good number of silver Indo-Greek coins, identified as Drachma. "But it is a rare instance of finding moulds. Compared to original die-struck coins, the moulds indicate a cast method of minting. One theory of the find nearly three centuries after the demise of Apollodotus II is that Drachma remained a power currency in trade both through land and sea and remained in demand, prompting its production. Bharuch was a major port of that era," said Ambekar, adding that the production of coinage continued even after the end of the Indo-Greek kingdoms. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Free P2,000 GCash eGift UnionBank Credit Card Apply Now Undo "The discovery establishes Vadnagar as an important hub of trade." The study was carried out with Abhijit Dandekar of Deccan College Postgraduate and Research Institute. You Can Also Check: Ahmedabad AQI | Weather in Ahmedabad | Bank Holidays in Ahmedabad | Public Holidays in Ahmedabad It was one of the four studies related to Vadnagar presented at the tenth edition of the prestigious World Archaeological Congress in Darwin, Australia, which concluded on Saturday. What connected these studies was the north Gujarat town's antiquity and its interconnectedness with other parts of India and the world. Some other presentations included the continuity of the ancient town over 2,500 years, an elliptical structure found in the town reminiscent of similar structures in the Gangetic plains, and timber bonding techniques in architecture for earthquake resistance by Dr Ambekar, Ananya Chakraborty, assistant archaeologist at ASI, and others. Experts said that the common thread that connects the papers includes how the ancient town remained relevant for over two millennia. "For example, in the case of timber bonding – a technique where timber or wood is inserted at regular intervals between stones as a cushion against quakes, is seen in some parts of West Asia," said a researcher. The ancient town has yielded artefacts such as Indo-Pacific beads and shell bangles, establishing it as a production centre, along with hordes of coins, cowries, and artefacts such as torpedo jars, underlining its place as sthalpattan or land port. The presentations also focused on the town planning of Vadnagar, its different development phases from the Kshatrapa period to the British period, and how the town overcame intense periods of drought with water body interlinking and even changing diet completely for decades.
