The European Radical Left

Giorgos Charalambous

Description

Is today’s left really new? How has the European radical left evolved?

Giorgos Charalambous answers these questions by looking at three moments of rapid political change - the late 1960s to late 1970s; the turn of the millennium; and post-2008. He challenges the conventional understanding of a 'new left', drawing out continuities with earlier movements and parties.

Charalambous examines the 'Long '68', symbolised by the May uprisings in France, which saw the rise of new left forces and the widespread criticism by younger radical activists of traditional communist and socialist parties. He puts this side by side with the turn of the millennium when the Global Justice Movement rose to prominence and changed the face of the international left, and also the period after the financial crash of 2008 and the rise of anti-austerity politics which initiated the most recent wave of new left parties such as Podemos in Spain and Syriza in Greece. 

With a unique 'two-level' perspective, Charalambous approaches the left through both social movements and party politics, looking at identities, rhetoric and organisation, and bringing a fresh new approach to radical history, as well as assessing challenges for both activists and scholars.

List of Tables

List of Figures

Abbreviations

Preface

Part I - Mobilisation, Resistance and the European Radical Left

1. Introducing the Approach

2. Analytical Framework

Part II - ‘Newness’ across Movement Waves and through Time

3. Social Movement Identities and Left Radicalism

4. Patterns in Social Movement Rhetoric

5. Organising in (Every Subsequent) Movement

Part III - Past and Present of European Radical Left Parties

6. Radical Left Party Identities in Motion

7. Continuities and Changes in Radical Left Party Rhetoric

8. Party Organisation on the European Radical Left

9. Conclusions: A Unified Retrospective

Notes

Index

Sujets

• Political Parties
• Political Advocacy
• Political Process
• Political Ideologies
• Political Freedom
• International Relations
• Political Science
• 20th Century
• Modern
• HISTORY
• Anti-austerity protests
• Advocacy group
• Far-left politics
• Communism
• Modern history
• Global Justice Movement
• Social movement
• General officer
• Western Europe
• Political party
• Politics
• History of Europe
• European Union
• Activism
• General
• Union européenne
• Communisme
• Obermodern-Zutzendorf
• 1968
• Europe

Informations

• Publié par: Pluto Press
• Date de parution: 20 décembre 2021
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781786807960
• Langue: English

Extrait

The European Radical Left
A rare and nothing less than perfect example of the Radical Left in Europe. It not only helps one to understand the cauldron of European politics but also contributes to a much needed (re)interpretation of the political itself.
-Michalis Spourdalakis, Emeritus Professor, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens
The concept of newness framing Charalambous sophisticated historical sociology, magnifies the significance of the New Left for subsequent mobilisations and gives serious consideration to anarchism in movement activism.
-Ruth Kinna, School of Social Sciences and Humanities, Loughborough University
This interesting volume investigates the identity, rhetoric and organisation of the radical left, looking at the legacies of the past, but also to the capacity for innovation during three recent waves of protest.
-Donatella Della Porta, Professor of Political Science and Dean of the Faculty of Political and Social Sciences at the Scuola Normale Superiore, Florence
The European Radical Left
Movements and Parties since the 1960s
Giorgos Charalambous
First published 2022 by Pluto Press
New Wing, Somerset House, Strand, London WC2R 1LA
www.plutobooks.com
Copyright © Giorgos Charalambous 2022
The right of Giorgos Charalambous to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN 978 0 7453 4051 7 Hardback
ISBN 978 0 7453 4052 4 Paperback
ISBN 978 1 78680 795 3 PDF
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Typeset by Stanford DTP Services, Northampton, England
Simultaneously printed in the United Kingdom and United States of America
Via and for Haris and Nestoras
Contents
List of Tables
List of Figures
Abbreviations
Preface
Part I Mobilisation, Resistance and the European Radical Left
1 Introducing the Approach
The European Radical Left and Newness
Parties, Movements, History
Overview of the Book
2 Analytical Framework
Introduction
Political Families: How to Study Them?
Identity, Rhetoric, Organisation
The Radical Left: What s in This Political Family?
Part II Newness across Movement Waves and through Time
3 Social Movement Identities and Left Radicalism
Introduction
Social Movements and Democracy s Radical Versions
The Fire Once Again? Between Anti-capitalism and Anti-neoliberalism
Solidarity and Internationalism
War, Peace, Internationalism
Internationalism and European Integration
Retrospective
4 Patterns in Social Movement Rhetoric
Introduction
Universalism, Revolution, Utopia, Rights
The Few, the Many, the People: Populism and Social Movements
An Evolving Radical Nationalism?
Retrospective
5 Organising in (Every Subsequent) Movement
Space as Structure of Mobilisation: Between the Real and the Virtual
Horizontality and Verticality in Radical Left Activism
Procedure and State Legality: Violence and the European Radical Left
Which Radical Subjects?
Retrospective
Part III Past and Present of European Radical Left Parties
6 Radical Left Party Identities in Motion
Introduction
Electoral Democracy, Party Systems and the Radical Left
The End of Anti-capitalism?
Solidarity and Internationalism
Internationalism and European Integration
Retrospective
7 Continuities and Changes in Radical Left Party Rhetoric
Introduction
Electioneering, Radicalism and Pragmatism
Populism and European RLPs
Nationalism, Patriotism and Framing Resistance
Retrospective
8 Party Organisation on the European Radical Left
Introduction
Structures and Procedures: Spaces and Party Models
Horizontality and Verticality through the Lens of Linkage
The Government, the State, the Radical Left
The Radical Subject as Voters of RLPs
Retrospective
9 Conclusions: A Unified Retrospective
What Goes Forward?
Appendix 1: Historical Context and the Three New Lefts
Appendix 2: Electoral Slogans of RLPs in Seven Countries (1960s-2010s)
Notes
Index
Tables
5.1 Summary of organisational demarcations inside Radical Left movements in western Europe
6.1 Aggregate number of new SDPs, CPs/RLPs and GPs per western European country (1960-2019)
6.2 New RLPs per decade per western European country (1960-2019)
6.3 Main policy positions of the ELP and DiEM25 by domain (2019)
8.1 Communist/Radical Left, Social Democratic, Green parties and government participation in western Europe (1960-2019)
9.1 Summary of patterns inside the western European Radical Left (Long 68-2020)
Figures
2.1 Delimiting the study of political families
2.2 Matrix of comparing political families
3.1 Left radicalism as self-identity in western Europe (1981-2017)
8.1 Party organisations on the European radical left (ideal-type organisational model, ideological denomination, indicative examples)
8.2 Social Democratic vote by gender, age and left-right self-placement (1979-2018)
8.3 Communist/Radical Left vote by gender, age and left-right self-placement (1979-2018)
Abbreviations
15M
indignados movement
AKEL
Aνορθωτικό Kό α Eργαζο ένο Λαού (Progressive Party of Working People)
ANTARSYA
Aντικαπιταλιστική, Aριστερή Σ νεργασία για την Aνατροπή (Anticapitalist Left Cooperation for the Overthrow)
Attac
Association pour la Taxation des Transactions financières et pour l Action Citoyenne (Association for the Taxation of financial Transactions and Citizen s Action)
CND
Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament
CPs
Communist Parties
DC
Democrazia Cristiana (Christian Democracy)
DiEM25
Democracy in Europe Movement 2025
EACL
European Anti-Capitalist Left
EEC
European Economic Community
ELP
European Left Party
EP
European Parliament
ESF
European Social Forum
EU
European Union
FI
France Insoumise (Unbowed France)
G7
Group of Seven
G8
Group of Eight
G20
Group of Twenty
GJM
Global Justice Movement
GPs
Green parties
GUE/NGL
Gauche unitaire européenne/Gauche verte nordique (European United Left/Nordic Green Left)
IMF
International Monetary Fund
INITIATIVE
Initiative of Communist and Workers Parties
IRA
Irish Republican Army
IU
Izquierda Unita (United Left)
KKE
Kο ο νιστικό Kό α Eλλάδας (Communist Party of Greece)
KKE Interior
Kο ο νιστικό Kό α Eλλάδας - Eσωτερικού
LGBTQ
lesbian, gay, bisexual, transsexual, queer
M5S
Five Star Movement
MEP
Member of the European Parliament
NATO
North Atlantic Treaty Organization
NGO
non-governmental organisation
NPA
Nouveau Parti Anticapitaliste (New Anti-capitalist Party)
NSMs
new social movements
PAH
Plataforma de Afectados por la Hipoteca (Platform for People Affected by Mortgages)
PASOK
Πανελλήνιο Σοσιαλιστικό Kό α (Panhellenic Socialist Party)
PCE
Partido Communista de Espagna (Communist Party of Spain)
PCI
Partito Comunista Italiano (Communist Party of Italy)
PCF
Parti Communiste Français (Communist Party of France)
PCP
Partido Comunista Português (Portuguese Communist Party)
PS
Parti Socialiste (Socialist Party)
RAF
Rote Armee Fraktion (Red Army Fraction)
Rifondazione
Partito della Rifondazione Comunista (Party of Communist Refoundation)
RLPs
Radical Left parties
SDPs
social democratic parties
SMO
social movement organisation
SP
Socialistische Partij (Socialist Party)
SPD
Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands (Social Democratic Party of Germany)
STWC
Stop the War Coalition
SV
Sosialistisk Venstreparti (Socialist Left)
SYRIZA
Σ νασπισ ός της Pιζοσπαστικής Aριστεράς (Coalition of the Radical Left)
TINA
There Is No Alternative
UN
United Nations
USSR
Cоюз Cоветских Cоциалистических Pеспублик (Union of Soviet Socialist Republics/Soviet Union)
WSF
World Social Forum
WTO
World Trade Organization
Preface
Discussion about European politics has changed in the past decade or so, in turn inviting, among other things, several inquiries into the Radical Left and altering the terms on which decisions are made as to what to research and publish. Correspondingly, the trend of the 1990s, which saw a large downsizing in academic research about the Left and a large rise in the volume of literature about the far right, which continues until today, has shifted dramatically. A large number of articles and books employing rigorous analysis about the European Radical Left and the politics of contention and resistance have been produced. Writing about the Left, be it about partisans or activists, elections, governments, strikes or the occupation of public squares, is a new norm that for many years was not as common. So, why write yet another book? What has prompted it?
In an attempt to make a modest contribution to this flourishing literature, both academic and political, two points of departure were taken in the broader scene of a dialogue on the prospects and challenges of alternative futures. First, plenty is being said about the contemporary Radical Left from the past to the present, but little about the past in the present. For this author, it often felt that in socialist strategy and or the study of radical politics, the historical benchmark is not properly set or understood when a discovery, a novelty, a fundamental change, a critical juncture or a breakthrough are claimed or implied. To understand the evolution of politics entails asking if and how politics recur - is there historical recurrence , analogy or parallel - not in what concerns events, of course, but in terms of the forms political conflict and within it the Radical Left take. An attempt to capture long-term development and place the contemporary within a complex sequence of events also opens up space for tracing cross-national