In the run-up to the January elections in Greece, there were hysterical headlines warning against the danger of a financial meltdown, should the anti-austerity party Syriza win the vote. As it happened, Syriza did win the election and formed a government, but - so far - the financial markets have survived. In fact, they're doing quite well, thank you!
By now, the same newspapers seem to have forgotten all about Greece. It is as if nothing had happened there - nothing at all! And especially not a massive vote against austerity. The last thing the media barons and their friends in Westminster want us to remember, is that their austerity is not written in stone, that it can be challenged and that it has actually been challenged successfully in Greece.
Horse-trading over the debt
Today, the focus is on the negotiations between Syriza, the rich EU governments and the international financial institutions. But these negotiations are taking place behind closed doors. Of course, they wouldn't want their wheeling and dealing to be exposed to the scrutiny of the populations which have been subjected to their austerity for so long, whether in Greece or in any other European country!
So, what is actually happening behind that door? Syriza is trying to loosen the stifling noose of the Greek debt, while the European states attempt to protect the huge profits made by their big banks out of this debt. But neither side wants a confrontation - for fear of reactions in Greece and of another financial meltdown in the Eurozone.
The rich governments and their banks may be willing to give Greece some leeway, provided they do not lose out - which they would, anyway, if Greece went to the wall. But they do not want to be seen conceding under the pressure of the street. Nor do they all see eye to eye. So, there is no guarantee that they will reach an agreement.
As to Syriza, its leaders are not enemies of the capitalist system - nor have they ever claimed to be. Like all "responsible" politicians they are concerned about the stability of financial markets and respectful of capitalist property. They will not rock the capitalist boat.
Fighting capital is the real issue
The real issue, however, is not whether Syriza will hold its ground or, on the contrary, whether it will sell out like so many parties in the past. Nor is the issue that of the Greek debt, per se. Because that is just a convenient pretext used by big business, in Greece and abroad, to demand even more sacrifices from the Greek working class.
Ultimately, the rich countries will only agree to loosen the straitjacket of the Greek debt if they fear that doing otherwise might create more trouble for them than it is worth.
And the same is true of Syriza's anti-austerity programme. The real issue is not whether it has the political will to deliver the goods. Ultimately Syriza, like any government, will compromise with the strongest side - that of the bosses or that of the working class.
This means that the Greek working class cannot afford to rely on the ballot box alone, which has never achieved anything against the greed of the capitalists. Today, it is facing a coalition of the European and Greek capitalist classes ready to wage a class war - and that is a challenge that the Greek workers will have to take up. They will have to fight back.
In the hands of the working class
By now, Syriza has announced concrete measures which would resolve some problems faced by the working class. But the best guarantee the working class has that they will be implemented, will be to intervene on the political scene on the basis of its own demands.
For instance, who is going to impose the planned increase in the minimum wage on the Greek capitalist class? A simple decree won't be enough to force big companies to comply, when they are used to doing whatever they like and when their profits depend so much on paying low wages.
Likewise, for the funds that Syriza has promised to raise, by taxing the huge accumulated wealth of the Greek oligarchs and the assets of the Church. How will a simple law do the trick, when the unelected senior civil servants in charge of taxation have been at their service for so long?
Only by using its collective strength against the international and Greek capitalist classes will the working class ensure that its demands are not swept under the carpet. It has shown its capacity to fight many times in the past. Today, it needs a policy aimed at organising, in order to use this capacity and see to it that its demands are met.