date:20150626

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And another thing: one of the consistent but under-reported fronts in this
battle is the attempted privatization of the ports (with China being the
most powerful pursuer of their assets). Dockworkers have militantly
resisted this, not only out of fear for their jobs, but also from
recognizing the immense wealth contained in the industry. Syriza supporters
thought their votes were stopping these bargain-basement sales, and are
furious at the party's backtracking.

On Fri, Jun 26, 2015 at 11:35 AM, Andrew Pollack acpolla...@gmail.com
wrote:

 Offense taken.
 Useless?
 Are the billions leaving the country my imagination (and by the same token
 Are the billions which escaped South Africa, mentioned by Patrick in his
 wonderful article just posted by you, just his imagination)?
 Are the billions which could be made available by seizing the banks, by
 taxing the rich, of no value?
 What precisely are you objecting to?

 On Fri, Jun 26, 2015 at 11:29 AM, Louis Proyect l...@panix.com wrote:

 On 6/26/15 11:23 AM, Andrew Pollack wrote:


 I mean for goodness' sake most of it's not rocket science; the billions
 which Greek capitalists want to take out of the country must be seized,
 their income taxed at confiscatory levels, the banks nationalized, etc.
 As for what sectors the everyday economy can be based on: yes, there's
 not much there, but neither was there in Nicaragua (or Albania or
 Yugoslavia for fucks sake).


 Andrew, no offense but this kind of back-of-the-envelop recipe is useless.



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Re: [Marxism] If Greece Defaults, Imagine Argentina, but Much Worse

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Yes, it's not a solution: it's just a stop gap to stop further capital
flight, and to ensure continued financing of economic operations while the
economy is restructured.
And yes, as I said myself, the (relatively) tiny Greek economy can't make
it in isolation. But those million umbilical cords will not all be cut
(just as the Soviets maintained right from the start their own connections
- but under government control - with foreign capitalists). Furthermore,
tiny and dependent as it is, a real, semi-autonomous Greek economy exists -
how do you think the Greek bourgeoisie (both town and country) survived all
those decades, on foreign aid?

On Fri, Jun 26, 2015 at 11:45 AM, Louis Proyect l...@panix.com wrote:

 You don't seem to get my point. Seizing the banks is not a solution.
 Greece has a dependent economy. It is connected through a million umbilical
 cords to the European economy. If the USSR in the 1920s could barely keep
 going with all its resources, how is a socialist Greece with a population
 about the size of New York and a GDP just a bit larger than Volkswagen
 sales supposed to survive?


 On 6/26/15 11:35 AM, Andrew Pollack wrote:

 Are the billions which could be made available by seizing the banks, by
 taxing the rich, of no value?


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Re: [Marxism] If Greece Defaults, Imagine Argentina, but Much Worse


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On 6/26/15 11:52 AM, Andrew Pollack wrote:

Furthermore, tiny and dependent as it is, a real, semi-autonomous Greek
economy exists - how do you think the Greek bourgeoisie (both town and
country) survived all those decades, on foreign aid?


It survived because it was no threat to the capitalist status quo. My 
argument is with Callinicos, Alan Woods, and company who don't seem to 
have the slightest grasp of what a socialist Greece would have to deal 
with. This is not to speak of those on the Keynesian left who assure us 
that Grexit will be as successful as Argentina's default in 2001. I have 
seen what suffering a peripheral, radical economy can be subject to as 
someone very involved with the Sandinista experiment. If Nicaragua was 
poorer than Greece, at least it had social democratic support in Europe. 
The only hope for Greece is a continent-wide rejection of austerity and 
the election of friendly governments in Spain, Scotland and elsewhere. A 
lot of the left advice about a Grexit remind me of what I heard from 
Trotskyists in 1989 when Nicaragua was trying to keep its economy 
afloat. They said that the big estates should have been divided up even 
if that would have had reduced the exports necessary for foreign exchange.


As I have stated before, Marx, Engels, Lenin, Trotsky, Rosa Luxemberg et 
al favored world revolution. How Trotskyists today become advocates of 
building socialism in a single country mystifies me.

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[Marxism] Fwd: World Political Economy Meets South Africa’s Many Marxisms » CounterPunch: Tells the Facts, Names the Names


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Really interesting article by Patrick Bond.

http://www.counterpunch.org/2015/06/26/world-political-economy-meets-south-africas-many-marxisms/
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Re: [Marxism] If Greece Defaults, Imagine Argentina, but Much Worse

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I thought we'd been through this already weeks ago but apparently not.
Yes, Argentina -- and the extractivist pseudo-socialist regimes in Latin
America today -- had and have advantages (ecologically and time-constrained
though they may be) that Greece doesn't have.
But ANY country in a state of complete or even partial dependence on richer
ones will face economic blackmail and sabotage if it moves against capital
before the revolution happens in the richer ones. The question is always:
can it move quickly and broadly enough, and with sufficient worker
involvement, to sustain itself before being attacked militarily?
I mean for goodness' sake most of it's not rocket science; the billions
which Greek capitalists want to take out of the country must be seized,
their income taxed at confiscatory levels, the banks nationalized, etc. As
for what sectors the everyday economy can be based on: yes, there's not
much there, but neither was there in Nicaragua (or Albania or Yugoslavia
for fucks sake).

On Fri, Jun 26, 2015 at 11:05 AM, Louis Proyect via Marxism 
marxism@lists.csbs.utah.edu wrote:

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 (Can someone explain to me how a socialist Grexit will avoid an economic
 catastrophe? Argentina was an export-oriented nation that took advantage of
 a commodity boom while Greece relies on imports. I have yet to see an
 answer to this, including from Left Platform luminaries--the KKE and Alex
 Callinicos are hardly worth mentioning. Yanis Varoufakis understands this
 but the ultraleft can't be bothered with what he says because he stays at
 fancy hotels apparently. What a fucked up situation.)

 NY Times, June 26 2015
 If Greece Defaults, Imagine Argentina, but Much Worse
 By JAMES B. STEWART

 There may be a one-word explanation for why Greece will ultimately
 capitulate to European demands for more austerity:

 Argentina.

 Greece is hardly the first nation to face the prospect of defaulting on
 its sovereign debt obligations. Argentina has defaulted on its external
 debt no fewer than seven times since gaining independence in 1816, most
 recently last year. But it’s Argentina’s 2001 default on nearly $100
 billion in sovereign debt, the largest at the time, that poses a cautionary
 example for Greece.

 Should Greece default, “Argentina is an apt analogy,” said Arturo C.
 Porzecanski, a specialist in international finance at American University
 and author of numerous papers on Argentina’s default. But for Greece, “It
 would likely be worse. Argentina was comparatively lucky.”

 Daniel Gros, director of the Center for European Policy Studies in
 Brussels and the author of “A Tale of Two Defaults,” a paper comparing
 Greece and Argentina, agreed. “Default would be much worse for Greece than
 it was for Argentina,” he said.

 Like Greece today, Argentina had endured several years of hardship and
 austerity by 2001. It borrowed heavily from the International Monetary
 Fund, the World Bank and the United States, all of which demanded unpopular
 spending cuts. The I.M.F. withheld payments when Argentina (like Greece)
 failed to meet its deficit targets. A bank run led the government to freeze
 deposits, which set off riots and street demonstrations. There were deadly
 confrontations between police and demonstrators in the heart of Buenos
 Aires, and the president at the time, Fernando de la Rúa, fled the country
 by helicopter in December. In the last week of 2001, Argentina defaulted on
 $93 billion in sovereign debt and subsequently sharply devalued the peso,
 which had been pegged to the dollar.

 In addition to social unrest and a wave of political instability (at one
 point, the country had three presidents in four days), Argentina’s economy
 plunged into depression. Tens of thousands of the unemployed scavenged the
 streets collecting cardboard, an enduring image that gave rise to the term
 “cartoneros.” Dollar-denominated deposits were converted to pesos, wiping
 out over half their purchasing power.

 The country became the epicenter of Europe’s debt crisis after Wall Street
 imploded in 2008. Now, it is struggling to pay its debt, and its people and
 creditors are growing restive.

 Despite this trauma, the Argentine economy stabilized in 2002. The country
 was able to repay the I.M.F. in full by 2006. But the country has never
 re-entered the international debt markets. It has

Re: [Marxism] If Greece Defaults, Imagine Argentina, but Much Worse

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Offense taken.
Useless?
Are the billions leaving the country my imagination (and by the same token
Are the billions which escaped South Africa, mentioned by Patrick in his
wonderful article just posted by you, just his imagination)?
Are the billions which could be made available by seizing the banks, by
taxing the rich, of no value?
What precisely are you objecting to?

On Fri, Jun 26, 2015 at 11:29 AM, Louis Proyect l...@panix.com wrote:

 On 6/26/15 11:23 AM, Andrew Pollack wrote:


 I mean for goodness' sake most of it's not rocket science; the billions
 which Greek capitalists want to take out of the country must be seized,
 their income taxed at confiscatory levels, the banks nationalized, etc.
 As for what sectors the everyday economy can be based on: yes, there's
 not much there, but neither was there in Nicaragua (or Albania or
 Yugoslavia for fucks sake).


 Andrew, no offense but this kind of back-of-the-envelop recipe is useless.

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[Marxism] AP: Supreme Court extends gay marriage nationwide

2015-06-26 Thread Joseph Catron via Marxism

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The Supreme Court declared Friday that same-sex couples have a right
to marry anywhere in the United States, a historic culmination of
decades of litigation over gay marriage and gay rights generally.

http://bigstory.ap.org/article/9e1933cd1e1a4e969ab45f5952bbb45f/supreme-court-extends-same-sex-marriage-nationwide

-- 
Hige sceal þe heardra, heorte þe cenre, mod sceal þe mare, þe ure
mægen lytlað.

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[Marxism] Fwd: Report on the Chicago Conference and LeftElect Network Update: June 22, 2015


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 Forwarded Message 
Subject:Report on the Chicago Conference and LeftElect Network Update:
June 22, 2015
Date:   Mon, 22 Jun 2015 14:14:05 -0500
From:   LeftElect Conference leftel...@gmail.com
To: leftel...@gmail.com



*_Report on the Chicago Conference and LeftElect Network Update: June
22, 2015 _*

Seven weeks have passed since the May 3-4 Future of Left/ Independent
Electoral Action Conference. We value your interest and would like to
offer a report on the conference and next steps for the network.

Some 200 political activists from around the country and from a variety
of independent political organizations, as well as individual activists,
carried out a rich discussion and an amicable debate about how to
collaborate in the work of building a large political alternative to the
left of the Democratic Party. Participating in the Future of the
Left/Independent Politics Conference http://leftelect.org/, in an
unprecedented spirit of cooperation, national, state, and local
candidates and activists, as well as elected officials from the Green
Party, the Peace and Freedom Party, the Richmond Progressive Alliance,
Socialist Alternative, Progressive Dane, and the Vermont Progressive
Party discussed the challenges of campaigning and the difficulties of
actually holding office while trying to both build movements and push
progressive policies. Also at the conference were members of the
International Socialist Organization, the Justice Party, and many other
organizations. Thanks to numerous contributions and hardworking
volunteers, conference costs were kept low, and the conference brought
in more than it cost. The surplus will be seed money for the new network!

For additional reports see /New Politics/:
http://newpol.org/content/left-independent-political-action-conference-unprecedented-cooperationand

The North Star http://www.thenorthstar.info/?p=12264

To view the conference livestream archive see
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o6M57pSRjRk

Responding to the country’s pervasive economic and social crisis many
leaders of the movements Occupy, Black Lives Matters, and Fight for $15
were in attendance. While this was a conference focused primarily on
electoral action, the organizers made it clear through panels on the
Black Lives Matter movement and the Fight for $15 that politics must be
about building and giving voice to such movements.

The conference was historic not only for its agenda but the spirit of
mutual respect, cooperation, and solidarity that the conference
engendered. The organizing committee—which includes leading members of
the Green Party as well as representatives of the the Peace and Freedom
Party, International Socialist Organization (ISO), Socialist
Alternative, Solidarity, the Black Agenda Report, and Richmond
Progressive Alliance—announced that a continuations committee would take
up the question of now to keep alive the network established by the
conference. They also recognized the need for greater diversity, for
greater involvement of African American and Latino activists, and for
simply casting a wider net and drawing in others involved in such
political campaigns.

The Future of the Left/Independent Politics Conference represented an
important step forward not only for independent politics but also for
cooperation on the left. There were many suggestions presented for the
organizations and individuals involved in this conference to keep alive
the network we have founded, while continuing our work in local
movements and independent political campaigns. The continuations
committee is meeting by email and telephone. We hope to *continue to use
the website* at leftelect.org http://leftelect.org/as a place to share
information on important electoral campaigns, upcoming events, as well
as to link to sites of dialogue and comradely debate. We encourage
activists and candidates to use the website to contribute their thoughts
on these topics. We have started the transformation of the website from
a conference focus to reflect this goal.

We wish to thank everyone who planned, participated, contributed and
attended the conference and hope that you will continue to interact and
plan with the continuations committee. If you or your organization would
like to suggest someone for the planning committee contact us at
leftel...@gmail.org mailto:leftel...@gmail.org

For the Future of Left-Independent Political Action,

The Continuations Committee:

Kali Akuno, Robert Caldwell, Todd Chretien, Bruce Dixon, Howie Hawkins,
Bryan Koulouris, Dan La Botz, Gloria Mattera, Gayle McLaughlin, Joanna
Misnik, Debra Reiger, Lance Selfa, Jill Stein, Linda Thompson

[Marxism] Ramzy Baroud on Syria


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How long did the Syria conflict carry on before the western ‘left’ began 
to formulate a stance? Months. The conflict was just too involved, and 
initially removed from western engrossment that only few knew what to 
think. Only when western governments began pondering war, urged on by 
their regional allies, did the left began to formulate a position around 
the same old discourse. While the West and their allies had their own 
sinister reasons to get involved in Syria, the war in Syria, as the war 
in Libya before it, was not as simple as picking and choosing the good 
guys versus the bad guys. While vehemently rejecting western military 
crusades that have wreaked havoc is an admirable act, TURNING LOCAL 
DICTATORS INTO MODERN-DAY CHE GUEVARAS REFLECTS RECKLESSNESS, NOT 
CAMARADERIE.



full: 
http://www.counterpunch.org/2015/06/26/the-western-left-and-its-sterile-field-of-ideas/

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[Marxism] On the brink of Grexit?

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On the brink of Grexit?
by Socialist Resistance, June 26
http://socialistresistance.org/7565/on-the-brink-of-grexit

(This piece has been written as an editorial for the forthcoming issue
of Socialist Resistance)

As we go to press, deadlock over the Greek debt crisis remain
unresolved, despite three emergency EU summits over the past few days.
Greece, therefore, remains not only on the verge of defaulting on its
debt to the IMF but of crashing out of the Eurozone –a so-called
Grexit – if a deal is not reached in the next few days.

A week ago the Greek government announced that it had run out of money
and was unable to pay the €1.6bn due to the IMF by the June 30
deadline.

The EU was withholding the final €7.1bn tranche of bailout money until
Greece agreed to accept further stringent austerity measures. This
money, due under the third bailout agreement was the only way that the
debt to the IMF could be paid The Troika (the IMF the ECB and the
European Commission) were demanding further deep cuts to pensions, a
substantial rise in VAT, and the liberalisation of labour laws.

The consequences and nature of the debt has been spelled out clearly
by the Truth Committee on Public Debt set up by the speaker of the
Greek Parliament Zoi Konstantopoulou (a leading member of Syriza) in
April. It includes a number of left wing and Marxist economists from
across Europe including Eric Toussaint from CADTM and Özlem Onaran, a
supporter of SR in Britain.

Its first report concludes not only that is Greece unable to pay but
that it should not pay because the debt is ‘illegal, illegitimate, and
odious’. It says the following:
“All the evidence we present in this report shows that Greece not only
does not have the ability to pay this debt, but also should not pay
this debt first and foremost because the debt emerging from the
Troika’s arrangements is a direct infringement on the fundamental
human rights of the residents of Greece. Hence, we came to the
conclusion that Greece should not pay this debt because it is illegal,
illegitimate, and odious.”

It concludes that “the increase in debt was not due to excessive
public spending, which in fact remained lower than the public spending
of other Eurozone countries, but rather due to the payment of
extremely high rates of interest to creditors, excessive and
unjustified military spending, loss of tax revenues due to illicit
capital outflows, state recapitalization of private banks, and the
international imbalances created via the flaws in the design of the
Monetary Union itself.”

But last week the question posed was which side would blink first.
Unfortunately it was the Greek government.

On Sunday June 21 the Greek cabinet decided to make major concessions.
They agreed a package that did not give the Troika everything it was
demanding—there was still around a €2bn gap between the two sides—but
it was a dangerous compromise.

The 11 page package included a VAT increase, though not on electricity
as demanded by the Troika. It included reduction in pensions
expenditure by increasing contributions from better-off pensioners and
reduced early retirement rights—but not a cut in the rates paid as the
Troika was demanding. It also proposed raising corporate taxes.

The biggest concession, however, appears to be on debt reduction. The
Greek Government has always insisted that any deal must include
immediate measures to cut the debt. Now it appeared prepared to accept
a pledge to address this in the future.

It was clearly austerity, though not in the shape (or as severe) the
Troika wanted it. They wanted to target the poor more and the
employers less and they wanted to totally humiliate the Syriza
leadership in the process.

The EU elites applied huge pressure on the Greek government to bring
about this climb down. They talked of the imminent collapse of the
banking system and speculation as to when the ATMs would close down
resulting in riots on the streets. Billions of Euros haemorrhaged from
the Greek banks and the ECB was threatening to withdraw support
facilities.

Climb down is no answer. It will resolve nothing. Even if there is a
‘settlement’ now, further debt major repayments are due to the IMF in
July and August.

At first the creditors welcomed the proposals, and European Commission
President Jean-Claude Juncker described the package as “a major step
forward”. The mood then changed. When the Troika met, they rejected
the package. Led by Christine Legarde of the IMF, they tabled a
heavily revised version reintroducing their hard line demands. In
particular they were not prepared to accept the Greek proposals to
raise pension contributions, but insisted on a

Re: [Marxism] On the brink of Grexit?

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The editorial (whether as copied here or on the SR site) seems to be
missing something at the end. A lost concluding paragraph?
ps The Guardian's live updates today are definitely worth following:
http://www.theguardian.com/business/blog/live/2015/jun/26/greece-crisis-markets-to-open-lower-ahead-of-weekend-talks-live

On Fri, Jun 26, 2015 at 1:55 PM, Dayne Goodwin via Marxism 
marxism@lists.csbs.utah.edu wrote:

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 On the brink of Grexit?
 by Socialist Resistance, June 26
 http://socialistresistance.org/7565/on-the-brink-of-grexit

 (This piece has been written as an editorial for the forthcoming issue
 of Socialist Resistance)

 As we go to press, deadlock over the Greek debt crisis remain
 unresolved, despite three emergency EU summits over the past few days.
 Greece, therefore, remains not only on the verge of defaulting on its
 debt to the IMF but of crashing out of the Eurozone –a so-called
 Grexit – if a deal is not reached in the next few days.

 A week ago the Greek government announced that it had run out of money
 and was unable to pay the €1.6bn due to the IMF by the June 30
 deadline.

 The EU was withholding the final €7.1bn tranche of bailout money until
 Greece agreed to accept further stringent austerity measures. This
 money, due under the third bailout agreement was the only way that the
 debt to the IMF could be paid The Troika (the IMF the ECB and the
 European Commission) were demanding further deep cuts to pensions, a
 substantial rise in VAT, and the liberalisation of labour laws.

 The consequences and nature of the debt has been spelled out clearly
 by the Truth Committee on Public Debt set up by the speaker of the
 Greek Parliament Zoi Konstantopoulou (a leading member of Syriza) in
 April. It includes a number of left wing and Marxist economists from
 across Europe including Eric Toussaint from CADTM and Özlem Onaran, a
 supporter of SR in Britain.

 Its first report concludes not only that is Greece unable to pay but
 that it should not pay because the debt is ‘illegal, illegitimate, and
 odious’. It says the following:
 “All the evidence we present in this report shows that Greece not only
 does not have the ability to pay this debt, but also should not pay
 this debt first and foremost because the debt emerging from the
 Troika’s arrangements is a direct infringement on the fundamental
 human rights of the residents of Greece. Hence, we came to the
 conclusion that Greece should not pay this debt because it is illegal,
 illegitimate, and odious.”

 It concludes that “the increase in debt was not due to excessive
 public spending, which in fact remained lower than the public spending
 of other Eurozone countries, but rather due to the payment of
 extremely high rates of interest to creditors, excessive and
 unjustified military spending, loss of tax revenues due to illicit
 capital outflows, state recapitalization of private banks, and the
 international imbalances created via the flaws in the design of the
 Monetary Union itself.”

 But last week the question posed was which side would blink first.
 Unfortunately it was the Greek government.

 On Sunday June 21 the Greek cabinet decided to make major concessions.
 They agreed a package that did not give the Troika everything it was
 demanding—there was still around a €2bn gap between the two sides—but
 it was a dangerous compromise.

 The 11 page package included a VAT increase, though not on electricity
 as demanded by the Troika. It included reduction in pensions
 expenditure by increasing contributions from better-off pensioners and
 reduced early retirement rights—but not a cut in the rates paid as the
 Troika was demanding. It also proposed raising corporate taxes.

 The biggest concession, however, appears to be on debt reduction. The
 Greek Government has always insisted that any deal must include
 immediate measures to cut the debt. Now it appeared prepared to accept
 a pledge to address this in the future.

 It was clearly austerity, though not in the shape (or as severe) the
 Troika wanted it. They wanted to target the poor more and the
 employers less and they wanted to totally humiliate the Syriza
 leadership in the process.

 The EU elites applied huge pressure on the Greek government to bring
 about this climb down. They talked of the imminent collapse of the
 banking system and

[Marxism] Fwd: Gunther Schuller Dies at 89; Composer Synthesized Classical and Jazz | Louis Proyect: The Unrepentant Marxist


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The NY Times obituary  for Gunther Schuller is must-reading for anybody 
interested in contemporary music. It pays tribute to him both as an 
avant-garde composer of atonal music but also as a pioneer of what was 
known as the “Third Stream” in the 1950s and 60s, an attempt to bridge 
the gap between classical music and jazz that was epitomized by the 
Modern Jazz Quartet. To some extent, Schuller was merely expanding upon 
earlier works of synthesis such as George Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue”, 
Igor Stravinsky’s “Ebony Concerto” that was written for Woody Herman, 
and Darius Milhaud’s “Creation of the World”, a ballet score that the 
composer wrote after being exposed to jazz in Harlem in the 1920s.


Although I have no deep insights about Schuller’s politics except that 
he hated racism, the MJQ saw the Third Stream as a way of breaking with 
the notion that jazz was “entertainment” served up for white audiences 
as some kind of “jungle music”. Ironically, Duke Ellington, one of the 
men most responsible for attempting to bridge the gap between classical 
and jazz, performed “jungle music” in the 1920s himself. Who said that 
popular culture and race were not complicated matters?


full: 
http://louisproyect.org/2015/06/26/gunther-schuller-dies-at-89-composer-synthesized-classical-and-jazz/

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[Marxism] Greece: Tsipras calls referendum over Troika's 'blackmailing' deal

2015-06-26 Thread Stuart Munckton via Marxism

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Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras announced on June 26 that a referendum
will be called over the bailout deal being proposed for the country by
Greece's creditors. the deal is pushed by the Troika of the European
Union, International Monetary Fund and European Central Bank.

https://www.greenleft.org.au/node/59324


-- 
“Disobedience, in the eyes of anyone who has read history, is humanity’s
original virtue. It is through disobedience that progress has been made,
through disobedience and through rebellion.” — Oscar Wilde, Soul of Man
Under Socialism

“The free market is perfectly natural... do you think I am some kind of
dummy?” — Jarvis Cocker
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[Marxism] The Lucky Country: transcript and audio

2015-06-26 Thread Ratbag Media via Marxism

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From Australian to Scotland.   Here's the transcript and audio of my recent
podcast on Australian racism which goes out in a regular SSP Socialist
Voices' package.

 http://leftclickblog.blogspot.com.au/2015/06/the-lucky-country.html

The SSP media site is here:
https://www.scottishsocialistparty.org/category/media/


In today’s Socialist Voices, we have SSP Co Spokes people, Sandra Webster
and Colin Fox, Sandra on Paisley’s Sma Shot and Colin on the SNP’s strange
relationship with the monarchy. We have Don Mackeen on racism in the USA,
the confederate flag and of course the awful terrorist events in Charleston
last week.  We have Dr Bruce Scott speaking about Mental distress from a
socialist perspective; We have blogger and transgender woman, Amber Daniels
on her experiences, Matthew Geraghty on our democratic deficit, Australian
Socialist Alliance member Dave Riley on “the Lucky Country,” SNP activist,
Debra Torrance with a very emotional plea about the terrible events in the
Mediterranean, Calum Martin on the SSP alternative to the Council Tax – the
much fairer Scottish Service Tax and Aiden O’Rourke with a suggestion for
the SSP…


dave riley
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Re: [Marxism] Greece: Tsipras calls referendum over Troika's 'blackmailing' deal

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In addition to the Green Left Weekly report and text of Tsipras' 1am
speech on Greek television, both at link below provided by Stuart,
here are five current reports in three English language Greek news
media sources (link at second one, from Greek Reporter, gives text of
the last creditors' proposal that Syriza expects will be voted on) -

1)  Greece to Hold Referendum on Bailout Agreement
by Anastasios Papapostolou
The Greek Reporter, June 26
http://greece.greekreporter.com/2015/06/26/greece-to-hold-referendum-on-bailout-agreement

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras announced that Greece will hold a
referendum on July 5 to ask the Greek people if they approve of a
bailout deal with the country’s creditors.

In a speech on national TV, Tsipras said his government had been asked
to accept “unbearable” austerity measures.

He said German Chancellor Angela Merkel and European Central Bank
chief Mario Draghi have been informed of the plan, and he’ll request
an extension of Greece’s existing bailout, due to end June 30, by a
few days to permit the vote without having to introduce capital
controls in the Greek banks. A Greek government source said the
country’s banks will open on Monday and no capital controls are
planned.

The referendum is expected to ask Greek citizens if they approve the
proposed bailout agreement with Greece’s foreign creditors without
touching upon a possible Grexit that could follow if the nation votes
no on the deal.

Greece’s State Minister Nikos Pappas said that he expects the Greek
people to vote no on the “humiliating” deal the creditors have offered
the Greek government.

“Those who are rushing to connect the referendum’s outcome with
Greece’s stay in the Eurozone are pro-memoranda political forces that
favor austerity” stated the Greek minister.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel urged Greece to accept the deal
[creditors' proposal], describing it as “extraordinarily generous”.

On Saturday the Greek parliament will convene to approve the
referendum, as it is required by Greek law.


2)  Greece Referendum: This is the Bailout Deal Greeks Will Vote On
by Anastasios Papapostolou
Greek Reporter, June 26
http://greece.greekreporter.com/2015/06/26/greece-referendum-this-is-the-bailout-deal-greeks-will-vote-on

As Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras announced that Greece will hold
a referendum to ask the Greek people if they approve of a bailout deal
with the country’s creditors, here is a final draft of the creditors
proposal for Greece, as it was obtained by the Financial Times.

The referendum, to be conducted on July 5th, will ask the Greek
citizens if they approve a deal based on the following document the
Greek government has already described as “humiliating” since it
includes more austerity for the country.

See the proposal [here]
http://greece.greekreporter.com/2015/06/26/greece-referendum-this-is-the-bailout-deal-greeks-will-vote-on



3)  PM Tsipras calls referendum on bailout on July 5
Times of Change, Greece, June 27  (Reuters)
http://www.thetoc.gr/eng/news/article/pm-tsipras-calls-referendum-on-bailout-on-july-5

Late Friday night, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras called a referendum
on July 5 whether the country should accept or reject a bailout
agreement offered by creditors.

These proposals, which clearly violate the European rules and the
basic rights to work, equality and dignity show that the purpose of
some of the partners and institutions was not a viable agreement for
all parties, but possibly the humiliation of an entire people,
Tsipras said in a televised address to the nation.

He made the comments hours after flying back from Brussels, where
European and IMF creditors offered Greece a deal that his government
rejected as inadequate.

Athens will ask for an extension of its bailout agreement, which ends
on June 30, by a few days in light of the referendum, he said.

Greek State Minister Nikos Pappas, a senior aide to Prime Minister
Alexis Tsipras, said he believed Greeks would vote to reject a bailout
agreement offered by creditors in a referendum called on July 5.

Right-wing junior government coalition partners Independent Greeks
party will urge voters to reject a bailout agreement when they vote in
a referendum on July 5, the party's leader said on Saturday.

Just like in 1940 when Greek people decided to say no to foreign
armies, as president of the Independent Greeks party I call for all of
the party to participate in this big celebration of democracy called a
referendum and to vote 'No' - no to handing away our independence,
Panos Kammenos, whose party is the junior partner in Prime Minister
Alexis Tsipras's coalition, told Greek television.

[Marxism] saving capitalism from the capitalists

2015-06-26 Thread Gary MacLennan via Marxism

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Michael Roberts' blog on the *Inclusive Capitalism* conference sponsored by
Lady Rothschild was a good read (as usual). The last paragraph struck me as
particularly interesting



Both Lady Rothschild and Thomas Piketty believe in capitalism. Both reckon
that capitalists can be made to or persuaded to act to reduce inequality,
create a better environment and adopt moral policies in investment. Piketty
wants more and higher taxes to do this; Lady Rothschild wants shareholder
power. But ‘responsible’ or ‘inclusive’ capitalism won’t and can’t deliver.



It is the phenomenon that Piketty and the good Lady represent that
interests me.  I think they are like the canaries in the 19thC coal mine.
 They are flopping about , showing signs of distress and in so doing
presaging a tremendous explosion.  The distress of the canaries is genuine,
but it does nothing to halt the build up of methane.



Truly, the strength of the forces at work in today's world is such that it
seems that agency has made way for structure. The assaults on the poor and
the ecosystem are remorseless. The crucifixion of Greece, for instance, is
a species of madness.  None of it makes economic or moral sense, as
Habermas points out. But it is not only the canaries  like Prince Charles
and Lady Rothschild that are getting alarmed.  For every beautiful soul
anguished by the spread of inequality, there are plenty of hard men and
women who are determined to do whatever it takes to protect existing
capitalist social relations. And that means that if Greece needs to be
sacrificed to act as a warning to Podemos and Sinn Fein, then so be it.



In the coming struggle, the beautiful souls will have no role to play. Only
the courage and strength and solidarity of the working class can save us.


comradely

Gary
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[Marxism] Fwd: ‘The spectre’ of communism or Mozgovoy as Che Guevara for Tolikenists | Ukraine solidarity campaign солідарність України кампанія

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Che Guevara is first and foremost a widely advertised commercial image
that has little to do with the real Commandante. And we all are obliged
to love that image; except for raging anti-communists who go rabid at
the sight of anything red. On 18th February 2014 when the first clashes
in Kyiv began, I met a man near the already smoking Party of Regions
office. The man was holding a Cuban flag with Che’s portrait on it in
his hand.

Those symbols suddenly stood out in the general blue-and-yellow and
occasionally red-and-black background so I asked the ‘Cuban’ why he
chose them. The answer was simple yet ingenious: ‘I chose this flag
because I protest. Because I am a patriot of Ukraine!’ And then some
year later in one of Kyiv’s hostels the Cuban flag and Che’s portrait
was peacefully side by side with symbols of the Right Sector. The latter
too is thoughtlessly used by people who have no idea of the real
ideology of that organisation. That hostel by the way housed displaced
people from Donbas.

The first lines about Mozgovoy as a new Che were written by Boris
Kagarlitsky. Boris Yuliyevitch is rather clever especially if one is to
consider that for many years now for the left he managed to be the
mouthpiece of Kremlin and that he still was not caught red-handed,
neither were there attempts to beat him up. Thence we shall certainly
lend him an ear. Leeching off the trust of the left, including the
Western, Kagarlitsky knows perfectly well their psychological makeup as
well as knowing perfectly what makes a good ‘Che’.

full:
http://ukrainesolidaritycampaign.org/2015/06/18/the-spectre-of-communism-or-mozgovoy-as-che-guevara-for-tolikenists/

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Re: [Marxism] If Greece Defaults, Imagine Argentina, but Much Worse

On Fri, Jun 26, 2015 at 9:05 AM, Louis Proyect via Marxism
marxism@lists.csbs.utah.edu wrote:

(Can someone explain to me how a socialist Grexit will avoid an economic
catastrophe? Argentina was an export-oriented nation that took advantage of
a commodity boom while Greece relies on imports. I have yet to see an answer
to this, including from Left Platform luminaries--the KKE and Alex
Callinicos are hardly worth mentioning. Yanis Varoufakis understands this
but the ultraleft can't be bothered with what he says because he stays at
fancy hotels apparently. What a fucked up situation.)

Breaking Greece
by Paul Krugman, June 25, 2015 7:22 am June 25, 2015 7:22 am
New York Times, June 25
http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/06/25/breaking-greece

[GRAPH]
I’ve been staying fairly quiet on Greece, not wanting to shout Grexit
in a crowded theater. But given reports from the negotiations in
Brussels, something must be said — namely, what do the creditors, and
in particular the IMF, think they’re doing?

This ought to be a negotiation about targets for the primary surplus,
and then about debt relief that heads off endless future crises. And
the Greek government has agreed to what are actually fairly high
surplus targets, especially given the fact that the budget would be in
huge primary surplus if the economy weren’t so depressed. But the
creditors keep rejecting Greek proposals on the grounds that they rely
too much on taxes and not enough on spending cuts. So we’re still in
the business of dictating domestic policy.

The supposed reason for the rejection of a tax-based response is that
it will hurt growth. The obvious response is, are you kidding us? The
people who utterly failed to see the damage austerity would do — see
the chart, which compares the projections in the 2010 standby
agreement with reality — are now lecturing others on growth?
Furthermore, the growth concerns are all supply-side, in an economy
surely operating at least 20 percent below capacity.

Talk to IMF people and they will go on about the impossibility of
dealing with Syriza, their annoyance at the grandstanding, and so on.
But we’re not in high school here. And right now it’s the creditors,
much more than the Greeks, who keep moving the goalposts. So what is
happening? Is the goal to break Syriza? Is it to force Greece into a
presumably disastrous default, to [dis]courage the others?

At this point it’s time to stop talking about “Graccident”; if Grexit
happens it will be because the creditors, or at least the IMF, wanted
it to happen.

Gerassimos Moschonas: Syriza and the EU after the first long
battle—the balance sheet of the negotiations

by Miri Davidson, for Verso blog, June 23
http://www.versobooks.com/blogs/2055-gerassimos-moschonas-syriza-and-the-eu-after-the-first-long-battle-the-balance-sheet-of-the-negotiations

Gerassimos Moschonas, author of In the Name of Social Democracy,
reflects on Syriza's strategy over the course of the negotiations,
including what its achievements and failures reveal about
possibilities for challenging European austerity. May 19, 2015.
. . .
In the negotiations the Greek government has—on the whole—adopted an
appropriate orientation. The central pillar of this strategic approach
has a name: moderation. Ultimately, what Syriza was asking for in
early February was a very gradual and very controlled transition from
the Troika regime and brutal austerity to a greater economic autonomy
and a reasoned growth policy. It had already (without doubt
temporarily or tactically) abandoned its objectives concerning the
restructuring of the debt (but also the goal of an international
conference on debt) practically right from the moment that the
negotiations officially began. So after five years of sharp recession,
it was proposing an extremely prudent political turn. By the standards
of its pre-electoral promises, Syriza could not have been any more
moderate. All the rest is just ideological chatter—or ignorance.

The second pillar of Syriza’s strategic orientation was determination.
A powerful accompaniment to this pillar called determination,
particularly evident and active when the negotiations between Greece
and the other Eurozone governments ground to a halt, was the fact that
it remained vague as to its ultimate objectives. The formulation used
by Euclides Tsakalotos—currently the lead Greek negotiator—can hardly
be understood otherwise. We deliberately create uncertainty among our
partners as to what our intentions are. Otherwise we can’t negotiate.
Rupture? Well, it’s a possibility! (TV Star, 27 March 2015).
Moderation + determination + maintaining the uncertainty over whether
there

[Marxism] The Paris Commune


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London Review of Books, Vol. 37 No. 13 · 2 July 2015
Globalisation before Globalisation
by Philippe Marlière

Massacre: The Life and Death of the Paris Commune of 1871 by John Merriman
Yale, 324 pp, £20.00, October 2014, ISBN 978 0 300 17452 6

Communal Luxury: The Political Imaginary of the Paris Commune by Kristin 
Ross

Verso, 148 pp, £16.99, March, ISBN 978 1 78168 839 7

Lenin, it’s said, danced in the snow once the Bolshevik government had 
lasted a day longer than the Paris Commune. He was in awe of the 
Communards, and his tomb is still decorated with red banners from the 
Commune, brought for his funeral by French communists. Though it lasted 
only 72 days, the Commune was a defining moment for the European left, 
though not an uncontroversial one. Marx praised it in The Civil War in 
France (1871) – ‘Its martyrs are enshrined in the great heart of the 
working class’ – but in 1872 in a new preface to The Communist Manifesto 
he wrote: ‘The working class cannot simply lay hold of the ready-made 
state machinery and wield it for their own purpose.’ The Communards, he 
believed, had made a crucial error by seeking to reform, rather than 
abolish, the state. Engels agreed, calling the Commune the first 
‘dictatorship of the proletariat’, a state run by workers in their own 
interest. The argument about its political nature still hasn’t been 
settled 144 years after the Commune itself was crushed. Some see it as 
the first self-consciously socialist uprising: a popular rebellion, 
unlike the liberal and nationalist Revolutions of 1830 and 1848. Others 
describe it as one among many manifestations of French republicanism.


The Yale historian John Merriman’s new book concentrates on the chain of 
events that created the Commune, and the main players behind its 
formation. He opens with a description of Paris in 1870: its western 
side a playground for the rich, the east an overpopulated slum. The 
class divide was deep and class consciousness entrenched. In July that 
year, Napoleon III, desperate for military glory, declared war on 
Prussia, his generals having assured him that France would win easily. 
They were wrong. As soon as the fighting started, Prussian troops routed 
the French and on 2 September captured the emperor together with 100,000 
troops in Sedan. There were mass demonstrations on the streets of Paris 
demanding the overthrow of the empire, and its replacement with a 
democratic republic. Moderate republicans were terrified and on 4 
September established a new republic. The s0-called Government of 
National Defence promised not to cede an inch of territory to the 
Prussians; but it feared the radicalised working class in the capital 
even more, and decided that it would be wise to surrender to Bismarck as 
soon as possible. Secret negotiations were opened soon after the 
Prussians laid siege to Paris on 19 September.


As the weeks went by, hostility to the new government grew. On 28 
October, news reached Paris that the 160,000 soldiers at Metz had 
surrendered. On 31 October, 15,000 demonstrators gathered at the Hôtel 
de Ville in Paris calling for the resignation of the government and the 
establishment of a Commune and a Committee of Public Safety, such as 
there had been in 1792. Food was running out and so was money; on 29 
January the government surrendered, as it had been planning to do since 
the beginning of the siege.


The right-wing député Adolphe Thiers was appointed president by the 
National Assembly and given a mandate to accept and implement the harsh 
terms imposed, which included ceding Alsace and Lorraine to Prussia. In 
March, the Prussians paraded through Paris. They occupied part of the 
city for two days, then withdrew. The surrender to the Prussians and the 
threat of monarchist restoration led to a transformation of the National 
Guard. A Central Committee of the Federation of National Guards was 
elected, comprising 215 battalions, equipped with 2000 cannons and 
450,000 firearms.


Thiers’s new government embodied a conservative brand of republicanism. 
He had been prime minister under Louis-Philippe’s July Monarchy in 1836, 
1840 and 1848, and was later a fierce opponent of Napoleon III. He was 
far from being the kind of leader the Parisian militants wanted in 
power. Thiers had promised the conservative députés in the National 
Assembly that the monarchy would be restored. His first task was to 
undermine the newly empowered National Guard, which had the militants’ 
support and controlled the city’s 2000 cannons. For Thiers and the 
national army amassing in Versailles, this represented a grave threat to 
the new order. On 18 March

[Marxism] Chicago teachers contract talks break down: Impending strike?

2015-06-26 Thread Steven L. Robinson via Marxism

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https://uk.news.yahoo.com/chicago-teachers-contract-talks-break-down-impending-strike-155928308.html#GOyznnu
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[Marxism] 5 British U.S. mainstream media reports on Greece referendum move

Greece's Tsipras calls referendum to break bailout deadlock
by Lefteris Papadimas and Renee Maltezou
Reuters, June 27
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/06/27/us-eurozone-greece-idUSKBN0P40EO20150627

ATHENS/BRUSSELS - Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras called a
referendum on bailout demands from foreign creditors on Saturday,
rejecting an ultimatum from lenders and putting a deal that could
determine Greece's future in Europe to a risky popular vote.

After a week of acrimonious talks in Brussels, where Tsipras dismissed
proposals from the lenders as blackmail, the 40-year-old prime
minister said parliament would meet on Saturday to approve holding a
referendum on July 5.

Our responsibility is for the future of our country. This
responsibility obliges us to respond to the ultimatum through the
sovereign will of the Greek people, Tsipras said in a televised
address in the early hours of Saturday.

The call marked the most dramatic twist yet in long-running
negotiations between Greece and its lenders that have left the
cash-strapped nation to the threshold of a bankruptcy and put the
country's future in the euro in doubt.

Tsipras said the creditors' proposals clearly violate European social
rules and fundamental rights and would asphyxiate Greece's flailing
economy.

The euro zone had offered to release billions in frozen aid if Greece
accepted and implemented pension and tax reforms that are anathema to
its leftist government, elected in January on a promise to end
austerity.

Without the bailout funds, Athens is set to default on 1.6 billion
euros in repayments to the International Monetary Fund on Tuesday,
pushing Greece closer to being forced out of the euro, causing chaos
for its economy and financial markets. Tsipras said he would ask for
an extension of the bailout ending June 30 by a few days to
accommodate the referendum.

Soon after the televised address in the early hours of the morning,
lines of up to 10 people were seen forming to withdraw cash from
automated teller machines in at least three different parts of Athens.
Small groups of anti-establishment protesters threw petrol bombs and
stones at police in a central Athens neighborhood where protests are
common.

Tsipras spoke with European Central Bank President Mario Draghi to
discuss the referendum, and senior government officials were due to
meet the ECB chief later on Saturday.

With Greece's stricken banking sector dependent on central bank funds
to remain afloat, the ECB will play a vital role in keeping the system
on its feet over the next few days.

But despite fears of a surge in deposit outflows from banks, a deputy
minister said there were no plans to impose capital controls and banks
would open as normal on Monday.

[Text: Greek Prime Minister Tsipras announces bailout referendum]
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/06/27/us-eurozone-greece-tsipras-text-idUSKBN0P700T20150627?mod=relatedchannelName=ousivMolt

Tsipras said the creditor demands appeared to be aimed at the
humiliation of Greece, and ministers called on voters to reject the
package but opposition parties attacked the government.

Tsipras brought the country to a total deadlock. Between an
unacceptable agreement and a euro exit, former conservative Prime
Minister Antonis Samaras said. The referendum question was effectively
a yes or no to Europe, he said.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande
had earlier met Tsipras on the sidelines of an EU summit to coax him
to accept an offer to fill Athens' empty coffers until November in
return for painful reforms.

But after months of fruitless wrangling, the patience of European
partners with the leftwing government in Athens had grown thin and
officials had indicated that there was little more room to maneuver.

Merkel said she and Hollande had urged him in a 45-minute private
meeting to accept the creditors' generous offer.

We have taken a step toward Greece, she said. Now it is up to the
Greek side to take a similar step.

Both she and Hollande said Saturday's meeting of euro zone finance
ministers would be the decisive moment for a deal since time was
running out to secure German parliamentary approval in time to release
funds needed to avert a Greek default.

The creditors laid out terms in a document handed to Greece on
Thursday. It said Athens could have 15.5 billion euros in EU and IMF
funding in four installments to see it through to the end of November,
including 1.8 billion euros by Tuesday as soon as the Greek parliament
approved the plan.

The total is barely more than what Greece needs to service its debts
over the next six months and contains no new money. Further

[Marxism] Forty European groups call for Greek debt relief

2015-06-26 Thread Stuart Munckton via Marxism

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https://www.greenleft.org.au/node/59322

-- 
“Disobedience, in the eyes of anyone who has read history, is humanity’s
original virtue. It is through disobedience that progress has been made,
through disobedience and through rebellion.” — Oscar Wilde, Soul of Man
Under Socialism

“The free market is perfectly natural... do you think I am some kind of
dummy?” — Jarvis Cocker
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[Marxism] Guardian: Greece Greece's rich: insulated against an EU exit

2015-06-26 Thread Shalva Eliava via Marxism

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Greek CEOs joined the ranks of demonstrators fearful of departing the eurozone, 
but many of the country’s wealthy have already moved to cut their losses

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jun/25/greeces-rich-insulated-against-an-eu-exit

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[Marxism] Fwd: Turning Oppressive Reality Into Great Art » CounterPunch: Tells the Facts, Names the Names