Linkage Strategies during the Greek Crisis: the case of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) (2010-2014)

Southern Europe is tormented by deep economic crisis; especially in the Greek case the high levels of recession and hardship resulted in the erosion of legitimacy of various collective institutions, especially when several Greek governments identified themselves with the ‘Memoranda’ and the austerity programmes, causing public outcry. Therefore the outbreak of the crisis unleashed huge waves of protest which were endorsed by both political parties and civil society organizations. A distinctive feature of these collective actions was the utilization by their actors of novel repertoires that challenged the longstanding prevalence of traditional forms of mobilization and activated more contentious responses to the austerity policies. The Communist Party of Greece (KKE), while it stood in the forefront of the anti-austerity protests, it seemed unable to promote its agenda and consequently communicate with these newfound forms of protest. KKE implemented a unique linkage strategy by the creation of a quasi trade union structure, namely ‘All Workers’ Militant Front’ [PAME], which functioned as a model for respective ancillary organizations in other segments of Greek society - farmers, self-employed, students, women. With the proposed paper we will attempt to present and analyze the basic elements of KKE’s linkage strategy during the crisis emphasizing in KKE's five ancillary or frontal organizations - labour, farmers, self-employed, students, women - and their impact on KKE's appeals and relations with other parties and groups. We will argue that KKE’s linkage strategy is determined by its ideological and organizational traits that in the end isolated the party from the growing social dynamics that sky-rocketed Syriza. At the same time this strategy protected the party from its total marginalization in party competition - especially after Syriza's electoral rise, since it managed to preserve minor but strong influence in certain social groups that were affected by the crisis.