Syriza
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ALB wrote:Impossible1904 has very timelely just reproduced on his Socialist Standard Past and Present site an article from the August 1981 Socialist Standard on the last time people calling themselves Marxists took responsibility for trying to get capitalism out of an economic crisis: the PS/PCF coalition government that entered officein France in June 1981:http://socialiststandardmyspace.blogspot.co.uk/2015/01/communists-in-government.htmlNo doubt the follow-up article, two years later in the June 1983 "France: from failure to fiasco", explaining what happened next. is being scanned as we speak.The main difference is that the Syriza government in Greece has taken power under much severe economic conditions so will have even less chance of succeeding in making capitalism bend to its political will. Sad perhaps, but that's the cruel truth.
I have been known to do requests:Link: "France: from failure to fiasco"
Every Great Movement Starts Small https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6sOy4iuq6ZQ
That was Stuart's point: that the rise of Syriza to power backs up our case that ideas can change fairly quickly. Trouble from his point of view is that Left Unity is progressing even slower than us !
I feel optimistic! But that may be just the Prozac
ALB wrote:That was Stuart's point: that the rise of Syriza to power backs up our case that ideas can change fairly quickly. Trouble from his point of view is that Left Unity is progressing even slower than us !The question might be asked whether compromising on political ideas you might disagree with has the effect of growing support for your political ideas quickly or the reverse (shrinking support for your political ideas).
Greece will not negotiate with the IMF. Wonder what the response will be? Label them a bunch of 'commie terrorists'? Western capitalist media is against them and we are against them. They wont last long.http://www.aljazeera.com/news/europe/2015/01/greece-wil-operate-eu-imf-creditors-150131013241626.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+PalestineNews+%28Palestine+News%29Edit: Greece's new administration has reinstated thousands of public servants laid off by the previous government [AP]
imposs1904 wrote:I have been known to do requests:Link: "France: from failure to fiasco"Thanks. So, we've seen before what the new Syriza government in Greece is doing: it's what the PS/PCF government in France did when it first came to power in June 1981. In the first few months it too increased benefits and took on more civil servants but it didn't last. It led within a couple of years to three devaluations and the re-imposition of austerity.The article is a reminder that, even if Greece quits the euro and re-adopts the drachma, devaluation won't help to get rid of austerity either. The workers in Greece are in for it whichever way they turn. No government can help them. Only socialism can. Literally.
The other side of the coin: the decline of the established centre-left party in Greece PASOK:http://www.policy-network.net/news/4028/State-of-the-Left-%E2%80%93-The-threat-of-Pasokification
Quote:While long-anticipated, Syriza’s victory in Sunday’s Greek general election represents a mini-electoral earthquake which has further divided European social democracy.Parties are split on the implications: some factions see a great awakening, some a useful pressure point against Angela Merkel’s Europe, others either fear ‘Pasokification’ (the annihilation process that saw Greece’s centre-left Pasok party fall from 43.9 per cent in 2009 to 4.7 per cent last weekend) or a dangerous injection of wishful thinking at a time for hard truths.The knock-on effect."Podemos leader Pablo Iglesias told the crowd a "wind of change" was starting to blow through Europe."http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-31072139
alanjjohnstone wrote:The knock-on effect."Podemos leader Pablo Iglesias told the crowd a "wind of change" was starting to blow through Europe."http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-31072139The PSOE said something similar, and they became strong allied of the Spanish ruling class, and their government conducted the Spanish society into a very deep economical crisis.A Stalinist known as Enver Hoxha wrote that: "Eurocomunism was anti-communism". Carrilllismo was a very influential reformist trend within the Spanish left wingers.The so called Socialism of the XXI Century was more radical than the new government of Greece, and it is already agonizing, and heading toward a big economical crisis
Email received from a Socialist Standard reader in Greece:
Quote:I agree with the article written on page 10 of Socialist Standard about Syriza.But Syriza is not simply a coalition of various left and green etc.There are also various splits from the socialist party (like the Labour in England) and more important inside Syriza the most solid ideologically group are the one of the ex- eurocommunist party of Greece that gave also to Syriza the ideological guidelines in a eurocommunist way like the 70s.The thinktank of Syriza is called ''Nikos Poulantzas" (http://marxisttheory.org/poulantzas-eurocommunism/).If somebody is sect-maniac I can send you a list of the groups that consist Syriza!Anyway i think the next thing to be analyzed is why Syriza collaborated with a populist party to rule the country,but this is strictly a Greek peculiarity…Socialist Party Head Office wrote:Email received from a Socialist Standard reader in Greece:Quote:I agree with the article written on page 10 of Socialist Standard about Syriza.But Syriza is not simply a coalition of various left and green etc.There are also various splits from the socialist party (like the Labour in England) and more important inside Syriza the most solid ideologically group are the one of the ex- eurocommunist party of Greece that gave also to Syriza the ideological guidelines in a eurocommunist way like the 70s.The thinktank of Syriza is called ''Nikos Poulantzas" (http://marxisttheory.org/poulantzas-eurocommunism/).If somebody is sect-maniac I can send you a list of the groups that consist Syriza!Anyway i think the next thing to be analyzed is why Syriza collaborated with a populist party to rule the country,but this is strictly a Greek peculiarity…Carrillos an ex-Stalinists, and Gramsci were ones of the ideologists of Euro communism. The left is like cancer: It has not cure yet
I see the ever-so liberal Guardian's editorial are using smear against Syriza…although they have no simply anti EU attitude like UKIP, Syriza is attacked because of Le Pen expressing sympathy for it. And, of course, what would be a good smear without trying to implicate the Russians…goodness, the Russian ambassador was congratulating Syriza in its victory…GUILT!So without any evidence of the contrary, Guardian questions the democracy credentials of Syria..
Quote:All the above means voters will want reassurance of the insurgent parties’ respect for the basic rules of liberal democracy.and a twisted sense of logic…if the right rise to power in Greece and Spain, it is the left that is responsible…(i guess they have a point but i guarantee if the military do take over , they will receive the same warm welcome as Sisi did in Egypt from the UK/EU)
Piketty endorses Syriza and Podemos (of which i also read he has volunteered to be an advisor)http://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/jan/12/thomas-piketty-austerity-europe-greece-spain
I've been listening to a number of interviews with the new Greek financial minister, Yanis Varoufakis. Doug Henwood has interviewed him a number of times and put together a compilation of those interviews that is interesting:http://www.leftbusinessobserver.com/Radio.htmlAnd there is also a video worth watching titled "Confessions of an Erratic Marxist." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3uNIgDmqwIThe video is particularly interesting because right at the beginning he addresses the question of why he thinks it is worth rescuing capitalism from its crisis rather than welcoming its collapse (which he seems to assume is a possibility). His answer simply comes down to the idea that "the Left isn't ready for power" and that if the crisis is not remedied Europe is headed for something much worse (=fascism). So, behind all of his undeniable eloquence and erudition (and knowledge of capitalism), is a very tired reformist logic. Another interesting moment in the video (at the end of his talk, around the 50-minute mark) is an odd anecdote about how flying around the world first-class to attend meetings, he began to develop a sense of personal "entitlement" that he had to fight against. He says: "Your soul can be very easily corrupted. You can find yoursel in the position where the socialist of yesteryear, instead of changing the world, ends up changing himself."That may be a fairly acccurate prediction of where Varoufakis (a name that sounds like a marriage of truth and falsehood) may be headed. Mike (S)
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