ATHENS – SYRIZA must build its communications with the base and upgrade its presence online, party leader Alexis Tsipras said on Wednesday at a meeting of the Political Committee.

At the same time, the main opposition leader warned against party in-fighting and additionally clarified that efforts should focus on “upgrading and transforming Syriza, not transcending it.”

Party sources outlined the six steps Tsipras set out for the party’s transformation as follows:

– A unified front with the Progressive Alliance partners, and a central organizational committee for party reconstruction

– A digital platform to upgrade the party’s operations online (eSYRIZA)

– A Political Declaration on the transformation by end-September

– A campaign for new members and a related e-platform as of October 1, with registrations both online and at central locations or party kiosks throughout Greece

– Open meetings with members in large cities to sign up new members and to elect new coordinating chapters at prefecture level

– The reconstruction of Syriza youth, highlighting the start of a new membership drive at the Youth Festival on September 27

According to party sources, Tsipras pointed out the encouraging fact that “interest is running high by people who supported us during general elections and want to sign up” and noted the importance of “building citizen information and action structures at the base.”

Emphasizing throughout the hard work necessary, the main opposition leader warned against “turning to a graceless and deadlocked introversion and by sparring in the shadows amongst us.”

The party’s digital transformation, he said, was non-negotiable. “The discussion about the party is complicated and complex, and very critical at both at the ideological and the organizational level. The party and the party’s structure and organization during the fourth industrial revolution is a crucial issue that must concern us deeply,” he pointed out. “The new technologies have created a new daily reality for all of us, with its basic characteristic being the great speed at which information travels,” he added, and Syriza cannot ignore this. “The new Syriza has to be an e-Syriza,” he said.

Syriza members’ efforts “should aim at upgrading and transforming Syriza, not at transcending it – transforming it into a wide, massive, popular and democratic party, and upgrading it to a party that can bring together, express and represent the entire progressive democratic area in all its social and historical base.”

“In other words,” he concluded, “our endeavor is both a turning point and a continuity of our journey so far.”