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Coalition of the Left, of Movements and Ecology Συνασπισμός της Αριστεράς των Κινημάτων και της Οικολογίας Synaspismós tīs Aristerás tōn Kinīmátōn kai tīs Oikologías
Leader	Alexis Tsipras
Founded	1989(as an electoral coalition) 1991(as a political party)
Dissolved	10 July 2013 (2013-7-10)
Merger of	Greek Left United Democratic Left Party of Democratic Socialism Agrarian Party United Socialist Party Socialist Union Progressive Agrarian Party
Split from	Communist Party of Greece
Merged into	Coalition of the Radical Left (SYRIZA)
Headquarters	1 Eleftherias Square, 105 53Athens
Youth wing	SYN Youth
Ideology	Democratic socialism[1][2] Eco-socialism[3] Eurocommunism[4][5] Environmentalism[2] Feminism[2] Pacifism[2]
Political position	Left-wing[3][6]
National affiliation	Coalition of the Radical Left
European affiliation	Party of the European Left,European Anticapitalist Left (observer)
European Parliament group	European United Left–Nordic Green Left
Colours	Yellow
Website
www.syn.gr
Politics of Greece Political parties Elections

TheCoalition of the Left, of Movements and Ecology^[3][7] (Greek:Συνασπισμός της Αριστεράς των Κινημάτων και της Οικολογίας,Synaspismós tīs Aristerás tōn Kinīmátōn kai tīs Oikologías), commonly known asSynaspismos (Greek:Συνασπισμός,Synaspismós, "Coalition") and abbreviated toSYN (ΣΥΝ), was a Greek political party of the radicalNew Left. It was founded in 1991 and was known as theCoalition of the Left and Progress (Greek:Συνασπισμός της Αριστεράς και της Προόδου,Synaspismós tīs Aristerás kai tīs Proódou) until 2003. In 2004 SYN was a founding member of theParty of the European Left.^[8]

SYN was the largest party of the left-wingcoalition formed in 2004 calledCoalition of the Radical Left (SYRIZA). SYN was dissolved in 2013.

Synaspismos emerged initially as an electoral coalition at the late 1980s, with the pro-SovietCommunist Party of Greece (KKE) and theGreek Left, one of the successors of theeurocommunistKKE Interior, as its largest constituents. TheParty of Democratic Socialism, a splinter from theUnion of the Democratic Centre which occupied a similar position toPASOK, was the largest non-Communist member party.

The disintegration of theUSSR brought the Left into disunion, and thetraditional majority within KKE purged all non-hardliners from the party—almost 45% of the Central Committee members, including ex-general secretaryGrigoris Farakos, and majorities in many Local Committees (named by the KKE majority asrevisionists and by the press as therenewers). At this time KKE also left the coalition.

After that, the other parties of the coalition and the renewing part of KKE decided to convert the alliance into a political party (1991).

Although the 'experiment' seemed to have great potential, serious ideological conflicts were afflicting the new party. At thelegislative elections of 1993, SYN failed by 2,000 votes to pass the limit of 3% and enter the National Parliament. But next year, Synaspismos got its highest national 'score' ever (6.26%) in the1994 European Parliament elections. Two years later, with 5.12%, got its highest score in1996 legislative elections.

In thelegislative elections of 2000, SYN was supported by the smallRenewing Communist Ecological Left (AKOA) party and a small group of ecologists. After the elections a few members of the National Committee, who were asking for approximation with the social democrats, left the party accusing the majority of neo-communist turn and created the short-lived party AEKA. AEKA was first split and little later disbanded in some months, when the head of the party became an Undersecretary in thesocialdemocratic administration ofKostas Simitis.

In thelegislative elections of 2004, Synaspismos, together with several smaller parties (AKOA,Movement for the United in Action Left (KEDA),Internationalist Workers Left (DEA, Active Citizens)), formed an alliance calledCoalition of the Radical Left (SYRIZA), but contested theEuro-elections of the same year on its own, because of ideological disagreements within the party. The alliance with the smaller parties was formed again at the end of 2005, when chairmanAlekos Alavanos proposed the 30-year-oldAlexis Tsipras as candidate mayor of Athens for the Municipal Election of 2006, proclaiming the party's "overture to a younger generation". The Tsipras candidacy was received well, especially so by younger voters, and formed the party's springboard for its good2007 parliamentary elections showing.

On 10 February 2008Alexis Tsipras was elected party president, replacing Alavanos, who stepped down citing private reasons. At that time Tsipras did not hold a parliamentary seat, so Alavanos remained leader of the parliamentary group. After thelegislative elections in 2009, Tsipras entered Parliament and became leader of the SYRIZA parliamentary group.

The 6th Congress of Synaspismos took place in June 2010.^[9] The "renewing wing" led byFotis Kouvelis, in disagreement with the party's participation inSYRIZA, left the party and foundingDemocratic Left.^[10][11] Fotis Kouvelis was followed by three more MPs, that left the party caucus.^[12]

Both in theMay 2012 Greek Legislative election and in theJune 2012 Greek Legislative election,SYRIZA came second, electing 52 and 71 MPs, accordingly, of which 45 and 55 were part of Synaspismos.

In July 2013, right before the first Congress ofSYRIZA, the final congress of Synaspismos took place, that overwhelmingly voted to disestablish Synaspismos and to merge withSYRIZA.^[13][14][15]

Election	Hellenic Parliament					Rank	Government	Leader
	Votes	%	±pp	Seats won	+/−
As an electoral coalition
1989 I	855,944	13.13%	New	28 / 300	New	3rd	Coalition cabinet ofTzannis Tzannetakis	Charilaos Florakis
1989 II	734,552	10.97%	2.16	21 / 300	7		Zolotas Ecumenical Government
1990	677,059	10.28%	0.69	19 / 300	2		Opposition
As a party
1993	202,887	2.9%	New	0 / 300	±0	No. 5	No seats	Maria Damanaki
1996	347,236	5.1%	2.2	10 / 300	10	No. 4	Opposition	Nikos Konstantopoulos
2000	219,880	3.2%	1.9	6 / 300	4	No. 4

European Parliament
Election	Votes	%	±pp	Seats won	+/−	Rank	Leader
1994	408,072	6.2%	New	2 / 25	2	No. 5	Nikos Konstantopoulos
1999	331,928	5.2%	1.0	2 / 25	±0	No. 5
2004	254,447	4.2%	1.0	1 / 24	1	No. 4

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SYN described itself as "a radical left party, inspired by the ideas of the renewal of the communist and broader left movement in Greece and in Europe. It also fights for the merging of the ecological movement along with the left, to form a strategic alliance. The party's culture has been enriched by its active participation in the movement against the Neoliberal Capitalist Globalization."

Synaspismos aspired to be a "canopy party"; where, under the party flag, one could find people of varying ideological and theoretical backgrounds. Therefore, SYN members were encouraged to form, or participate in, intra-party platforms on the basis of kinship in ideology. Platforms mounted open discussions and published magazines, but might not work against party consensus decisions.

Note: the exact word used is"τάσεις" ("tendencies"), but the termplatform is more fitting in English.

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The role of the platforms was vital especially in congresses, because each of them proposed a thesis on party strategy and presented its own ballot of candidates for the National Committee. In the National Committee elected by the last Congress (5 February 2008), the rank (in terms of representation) was the following: "Left Current" (mainstream western Marxism, party center-left), "Renewing Wing" (radical social democracy, party right), the "Red-green Network" (eco-Marxism, party left) and the "Initiative" (eurosceptic Marxism, party extreme left). Since 2004 the Left Stream, the Red-greens and the Initiative formed the so-calledLeft Majority, which was responsible for moving the party to more radical leftist positions.

• Left Unity (democratic socialist, supportingAlexis Tsipras), 50.63% in the last congress^{[citation needed]}
• Left Current (communist,eurosceptic), 29.83% in the last congress^{[citation needed]}
• Renewing Wing (democratic socialist; most of its members left Synaspismos and foundedDemocratic Left), 17.23% in the last congress^{[citation needed]}
• Red-Green Network (eco-socialist,communist), participated with the Left Unity list in the last congress^{[citation needed]}
• Initiative for the Left Recomposition (communist,eurosceptic), 1.16% in the last congress^{[citation needed]}

The party had members in the National andEuropean Parliament. After having survived the crisis of not achieving parliamentary representation in 1993, Synaspismos had, since 1996, been the fourth party in the Greek Parliament, and the third party (in terms of representation) in local government. In theEuropean Parliament SYN was a member of theEuropean United Left - Nordic Green Left group, and also a member of theEuropean Social Forum. Moreover, SYN hosted the 1st Congress of European Left (29–30 October 2005), which formulated theAthens Declaration of the European Left as the manifesto of theEuropean Left party.

Well-known executive members of Synaspismos were:Alexis Tsipras,Alekos Alavanos,Giannis Dragasakis,Nikos Konstantopoulos,Panagiotis Lafazanis et al.

Synaspismos was closely connected with the following:

• The Athens daily newspaper ΑΥΓΗ (Dawn)
• The Athens radio station "105.5 FM – Στο Κóκκινο" (In Red).
• The "Nicos Poulantzas" Institute for Political Research
• The Archive of Modern Social History (ΑΣΚΙ)

The structure of SYN consists of three levels:

• Local: City, village or trade union committees, responsible for everyday matters at the workplace and neighborhood level, and deciding on issues of local interest.
• Prefectural: The Prefectural Administration is elected by the members of the local committees and co-ordinates local committee work.
• Nationwide: The National Committee (Central Political Committee (CPC)) is elected by the Party Congress, held every three years. It exercises the central administration of the party and convenes almost every month. Major decisions are usually taken at this level.
  • The Secretariat is elected by the CPC among its members, and oversees three duties: to represent the party in media outlets and in negotiations with other parties; to prepare CPC sessions; and to co-ordinate party work at the nationwide level. Though somewhat similar to thePolitbüro of old-style communist parties, its role is not nearly as dominant. Usually the members of the Secretariat are working full-time for the party.
    • The Chairperson of SYN is elected by the Congress and was aprimus inter pares member of both the CPC and the Secretariat.

SYN's youth organisation wasSYN Youth (Νεολαία ΣΥΝ, SYN Youth), which was autonomous from the party structure. Until the late 1990s they were called "Left Youth League" (Ένωση Αριστερών Νέων). N-SYN had their own membership and executive bodies, but in general their decisions and activity were similar to the ones of the party. Their power was noteworthy in most Student Councils all around Greece, through the AR.EN.(Αριστερή Ενότητα, "Left Unity"). N-SYN also participated in theEuropean Network of Democratic Young Left (ENDYL).

No.		Leader	Portrait	Term of office
	1	Charilaos Florakis		8 April 1989	18 March 1991
	2	Maria Damanaki		18 March 1991	19 December 1993
	3	Nikos Konstantopoulos		19 December 1993	12 December 2004
	4	Alekos Alavanos		12 December 2004	11 February 2008
	5	Alexis Tsipras		11 February 2008	10 July 2013

Wikimedia Commons has media related toSynaspismos.

• Official website(in Greek and English)
• Radio StationIn Red liveArchived 10 April 2006 at theWayback Machine
• Institute Nikos Poulantzas
• ASKI archives, currently only in Greek
• Kitsikis/articleGrèce. Le Synaspismos tiraillé entre social-démocratie et anarchisme, Grande Europe, no.16, janvier 2010, La Documentation Française. Read on Line

• Defunct socialist parties in Greece
• Political parties established in 1991
• 1991 establishments in Greece
• Political parties disestablished in 2013
• 2013 disestablishments in Greece
• Components of Syriza
• Centre-left parties in Europe
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• Left-wing politics in Greece
• Defunct communist parties in Greece
• Eco-socialist parties
• Feminist parties in Europe
• Pacifism in Greece
• Pacifist parties
• Feminism in Greece
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