Simon Hardy writes from Athens.

The radical left anti-austerity party Syriza has won the Greek election and people across Greece are cheering.

The experience in Greece is incredible. People came out into the squares of Athens and started to celebrate. Being in the capital with thousands of Syriza supporters from all over Europe is the most wonderful feeling. Hundreds of international supporters came to Athens to see this moment in history when the left took power in Greece.

Members of Left Unity were outside the Syriza campaign tent when the exit poll announced a Syriza win. The cheers and jubilation of the gathered activists was a roar that hasn’t been heard in a long time. A cheer for victory.

Looking around there was socialists from left parties, trade unions and social campaigns all across Europe, Germany, Portugal, Denmark, Italy, France, Spain and Switzerland, to name just the ones that I saw. Syriza leader Alexis Tsipras thanked the international delegations from the podium when he gave his victory speech.

But whilst people from across Europe saw this as a historic moment that they wanted to be part of and to try and emulate in their own countries, it is the Greek people themselves who were the ones that struck the blow against neoliberalism and austerity.

Speaking to people in Athens, the ones that voted Syriza all said very similar things – they were fed up with austerity, with cuts and cuts and more cuts. They were fed up with wages at rock bottom levels, with a collapsing healthcare system and escalating homelessness. The people of Greece have suffered the most from the European Union’s merciless demand for austerity. Now they have drawn a line in the sand and said ‘enough is enough’!

What next?

With 149 out of 300 MPs Syriza is just short of an overall majority, but the strength of its vote and the collapse in support of the social democratic PASOK party shows that Greek people are looking for change and want to left government to fight for their interests.

Syriza proposed an immediate programme of policies to alleviate some of the worst suffering of the Greek people. This includes raising the minimum wage back up to 2010 levels, restoring electricity to the thousands of (mostly elderly) people who can’t pay their bills and scrapping the hated property tax that left thousands of people homeless.

Previously in 2012 during the last election, the ruling elites and their media outlets conducted a campaign of fear and hate against Syriza, saying that in power they would wreck the country. There was a similar campaign this time round, though this time it didn’t have the desired effect. The Greek people have been lied to by the elites for too long: they were told to fear Syriza and the left and to put their faith in the conservative New Democracy or the hopelessly compromised pro-austerity PASOK. Fed up of the lies and false promises, the vote for Syriza increased as people flocked to a party that offered them a chance to fight back and not be subservient to the programme of the EU ruling powers.

In the final days of the campaign, several mainstream voices, including the biggest selling newspaper in Greece appeared to give up – they argued that yes, now it is Syriza’s turn and if the people want them as a government they should be given a chance.

This is a warning as much as anything. The capitalists hope that Syriza fails. They couldn’t beat them in the election any more so now they will try and destroy them another way.

Solidarity is needed

So now we can expect dirty tricks and underhand manoeuvering by the EU leaders, the European Central Bank and the Greek bosses themselves. They will try and force Syriza into an impossible situation whereby they are seen to betray the hopes of the people that elected them.

Part of this is because Greece is now on a collision course with the European Central Bank. Even if Syriza ends up backtracking on large parts of its policies under the pressure of government, it won’t be able to surrender enough for the elites, so it is possible that the ECB will pull the plug on lending to Greece as a way of trying to destroy the government. This could happen as early as 1st March.

What Greece will need now is active support from across the continent and beyond. Syriza will face pressure from below, as well as above. The leaders will be more likely to stand firm and fight back if they know that across Europe, across the world, there are solidarity campaigns that are putting pressure on the capitalists to respect the democratic wishes of the Greek people. The left in Greece will be further strengthened by similar parties, like Left Unity in Britain, making gains and helping to build the resistance in their own countries.

This is a new dawn for the radical left in Europe. The future path is uncertain and all manner of challenges lie ahead – but for now we can finally say that we won. We won a victory and we can start to turn the tide.