The tactless
intervention of the EU officials in Greek politics has put the cat
among the pigeons here. Until now the pretence was maintained of
“political consensus” as a condition for any funding from the IMF and EU
loan. There was even talk of a possible "soft restructuring” of
subsequent instalments of the € 110 billion loan or a new loan of € 50 –
€60 billion. It was hinted that they might lengthen the repayment of
the older debt.
The tactless
intervention of the EU officials in Greek politics has put the cat
among the pigeons here. Until now the pretence was maintained of
“political consensus” as a condition for any funding from the IMF and EU
loan. There was even talk of a possible "soft restructuring” of
subsequent instalments of the € 110 billion loan or a new loan of € 50 –
€60 billion. It was hinted that they might lengthen the repayment of
the older debt.
[This article explains the background to the present movement of the youth in Greece.]
But
the latest incident has torn away the mask of “democracy” and "national
independence" by which the Greek bourgeois attempted to disguise the
real situation in which the economic degradation of Greek capitalism has
plunged the nation. What does it matter if the existing, bourgeois
Constitution speaks of governments elected by the people?
What if the recent poll of “Kappa Research” (posted on April 17 in the newspaper To Vima)
shows that the prospect of a coalition between PASOK and the right-wing
New Democracy is backed by only 8.7% of the voters? The lackeys of the
big banks, EU officials and the European Central Bank like Mr Rehn and
Mr Juncker have decided that such a coalition government corresponds
to… national unity! They are demanding that it should be formed sooner
rather than later.
Of course, our local capitalist puppets
immediately rushed to fall into step with the marching orders given by
their superiors. In this way, the PASOK government, the leadership of
New Democracy (despite their obvious awkwardness) and the extreme
right-wing nationalist party LAOS, with the encouragement of the mass
media, have escalated their efforts towards a "consensus". This will be
reflected in a round of political meetings next week, aimed at
reassuring their bosses in the "markets" that they will do everything to
preserve the profits arising from loan agreements entered into by the
Greek state.
All these circus clowns and bandits of international
and domestic capitalism are becoming more and more brazen and
provocative by the day. The reason is that it is becoming clear that all
the attempts to keep terminally sick Greek capitalism artificially
alive have failed. In order to avert the threat to the euro and to
guarantee the payments to the loan sharks, the Greek government has
launched a series of vicious attacks on the living standards of Greek
working people,
For the first time, Jean-Claude Juncker, the
President of the Eurogroup (Council of Finance Ministers of the
Eurozone), publicly admitted at yesterday’s meeting what the Marxists
and serious bourgeois analysts have argued for the last year and a half:
the Greek debt cannot be paid. At the end of 2011, according to the
latest estimates of the European Commission, it will reach157.7% of GDP,
which is “not sustainable."
At the same time, there is a serious
recession as a result of the collapse of purchasing power. The fourth
quarter of 2010 ended with the biggest decline in GDP (-7.4 %), in the
post-war period. This came after a first quarter fall of 4.8%. Finally,
the official unemployment rate has already exceeded 15%, with 704,000
registered unemployed in April, 100 000 more than the same month last
year.
In these circumstances, in a desperate attempt to avoid a
restructuring "debt haircut," i.e. losses for big banks, the IMF, the EU
and the PASOK government tried to shift the entire burden of debt onto
the backs of the working class. This is very likely to lead, not to the
solution of the debt problem, but to complete national bankruptcy.
The
government plans to introduce additional cuts this year, amounting to
€6 billion, as well as layoffs in the public sector, further reductions
in wages and pensions, sweeping privatizations totalling €50 billion by
2015. And they plan to use state property as collateral for a new loan.
These actions will inevitably lead to a permanent recession, which will
make it impossible to service debt. It will also give the money lenders
an absolute stranglehold over the country’s wealth.
In this swamp
of Greek capitalism, all political developments are very unstable by its
very nature, but the general trend is clear. The Papandreou government,
although it is carrying out as much "dirty work" as the IMF and EU
dictate, is too weak to implement the entire programme required by the
lenders. Dozens of PASOK MPs, who are on the receiving end of the
dissatisfaction of the working class every day, are indicating that they
cannot support the government much longer.
The leaders of the
Public Sector Trade Union (ADEDY), seeing the workers’ rights vanishing,
and with them their own political/social perks, have sent a message to
the Party leadership that they can no longer hold back their members.
All these signs indicate that it is only a matter of time before there
will be an attempt to replace the Papandreou government with a form of
“coalition” government based on “consensus”, with or without an
election.
Such a government would inevitably be even tougher on
the working class and, under the pressure from a mounting wave of class
struggle, would attempt to govern with increasingly Bonapartist methods.
Already we saw the murderous police attacks against peaceful protesters
during the last general strike. As a result a 31-year-old protester is
fighting for his life in an intensive care unit. Many protesters
received savage blows and kicks to their heads and legs from the batons
of the riot police.
We have seen the start of attacks against
thousands of immigrants with the help of neo-Nazis. This shows that the
forces of reaction are itching to restore “order”, while the Papandreou
government prepares the ground for enforcing “order” with a forthcoming
law to limit demonstrations.
Yet, a government of national unity
cannot stabilise on the basis of repression and the measures will only
serve to radicalise the movement further. The present mobilisations of
the youth shows the depth of resentment against the measures that Greek
and international capital are attempting to impose. There is a fighting
mood amongst the masses, which will not dissipate easily.
Unfortunately,
during this critical juncture for the working class, the leadership of
the Left [Communist Party and Synaspismos] shows no sign of being
determined to fight for a change of government. Instead of explaining to
the workers the need to take power and implement a socialist programme,
it is gripped by reformist obsessions and finds itself in a state of
introversion, passivity and fragmentation.
The leadership of the
Communist Party undermines every call for united action against the
attacks on the labour movement, limiting themselves to vague appeals for
"popular power” some time in an indefinite future. The leadership of
SYRIZA (the Left electoral front based on the Synaspismos) is paralysed
by internal contradictory "plans", all of which share a common political
element: the persistent search for reformist solutions that do not
involve a conflict with the foundations of capitalism.
Marxistiki
Foni has patiently explained that there is no way out of this crisis on
the basis of capitalism. So, whilst on the one hand the ruling class
cannot impose its attacks on the working class, on the other hand, the
working class lacks the leadership to transform society. Therefore, the
crisis will not be resolved in the short-term. In the long-term,
however, unless the Left is united to fight to take power and change
society from the bottom up, the capitalist crisis will throw the working
class into a nightmare of persistent poverty, mass unemployment and
reaction.
Source: Μαρξιστική Φωνή (Greece)
