Recent History and Contemporary Challenges of the European Radical Left

Abstract

This paper briefly reviews the recent history of the European radical left and discusses some of its contemporary challenges. After the end of actually existing socialism in 1989, anti-capitalist forces found their influence being irresistibly squeezed. A phase of reconstruction then began, in which new political formations emerged through the regrouping of anti-capitalist elements. The organizational diversity enabled the traditional forces of the left to open up to the ecological, feminist, and peace movements. New parties, together with the social movements and progressive trade-union forces, contributed to the heightened resistance against neoliberal policies. From the end of the 1990s, many of the European radical left allied themselves with social-democratic forces or supported them. The outcome was a failure. Only after the Great Recession in 2007, the European radical left began to revive against the austerity policy imposed by the antidemocratic technocracy of the Troika. However, the recent failure of SYRIZA illustrates that the European anti-capitalist left still need more resolute transnational campaigns and mobilizations.