Socrates Famellos defends the line line of support for the ELAS, while Paulos Polakis openly questions the leadership and strategy.
In a wheel of deep intra-party conflict SYRIZA is entering a deeper political crisis, as the decision of the leadership to politically support the initiative of Alexis Tsipras has not only closed the internal fronts, but instead opened a new cycle of confrontations with Socrates Famellos and Pavlos Polakis as protagonists. At a time when the party is moving to historically low polling performance, the debate in Koumoundourou is more about the future of SYRIZA itself than about the prospect of a credible alternative governance proposal.
The intervention of Socrates Famellos at the meeting of the Organizing Bureau and the coordinators of the Prefectural Committees was essentially an indirect but clear response to the public spikes of Pavlos Polakis and the cadres who disagree with the strategy of approach to the ELAS. The Syriza president attempted to present support for the Tsipras initiative as a one-way for the survival and continuity of the party, causing even greater concern to those who believe that the party is gradually leading to political self-abolition.
The “bridge” to Tsipras and the identity crisis
Socrates Famellos’ insistence on describing cooperation with the ELAS as a “bridge to the future” reveals the leadership’s strategic choice to invest almost entirely in Alexis Tsipras’ project. However, for a significant part of its cadres and members, this choice amounts to an implicit admission that SYRIZA is no longer able to function as an autonomous political entity.
The image of a party that declares that it supports another political project before the country even reaches an election period raises legitimate questions about the real role that Koumoundourou aspires to play in the coming period.
Polakis picks up the gauntlet
On the contrary, Pavlos Polakis appears determined to fight to the end to preserve SYRIZA’s political and organizational autonomy. His public interventions in recent days constitute a direct challenge to Famellos’ strategy and reflect the existence of a strong internal party current that refuses to accept the prospect of political absorption by ELAS.
The disagreement is no longer just about tactical choices or organisational issues. It touches the core of the party’s political existence and the question of whether SYRIZA will continue to exist as an autonomous political entity or whether it will gradually turn into a complementary mechanism of Tsipras’ new project.
Popular collapse and internal division
The problem for the leadership is that the internal debate is evolving in parallel with the party’s ongoing poll decline. Instead of looking for ways to regain political influence, the public debate focuses on internal balances, personal strategies and scenarios of transformation.
This picture reinforces the sense of political uncertainty and makes it even more difficult to regroup voters who have already moved away from Koumoundourou.
The battle has just begun
The latest interventions by Socrates Famellos confirm that the leadership has chosen to proceed along the line of political convergence with the ELAS, despite the reactions within the party. However, as long as Pavlos Polakis and the minority side insist that SYRIZA cannot be turned into a political stalking horse for anyone, the internal party conflict is unlikely to be defused. On the contrary, all indications are that the battle for the party’s identity, autonomy and future has just begun.
