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The Class Logic Behind Austerity Policies In the Euro-Area: Can SYRIZA Put Forward a Progressive Alternative? by John Milios The B u l l e t, Socialist Project • E-Bulletin No. 1124 June 1, 2015 <http://www.socialistproject.ca/bullet/1124.php#continue> . . . A new wave of radical domestic institutional changes is urgently needed in order to build on a new basis the social alliances with the subordinate classes. What is missing is a domestic ‘memorandum against the wealthy’ which will improve the living conditions of the working people. The oft-stated goal of the left that ‘capital should pay for the crisis’ has never been more to the point. This internal dynamic will strengthen the effectiveness of negotiations with lenders. The issue is political. The neoliberal trap can be broken if the Greek government makes it clear that if forced, and in order not to breach the mandate given to it by the electorate, will dare to delay reimbursement payments, until an agreement with the Institutions has been reached. In order to be successful in this internal dynamic, the Greek government must stick with the class prejudices of SYRIZA's programme: the protection of the interests of social majority against those of capitalist oligarchy. This necessary partisanship is often characteristic of the speeches and declarations of the Prime Minister, Alexis Tsipras. But this does not always appear as the agenda of the Greek Finance Minister, Yanis Varoufakis. Soon after the election, he suggested publicly that 70 per cent of the Memorandum is good for Greece. The SYRIZA government did not come to power supporting 70 per cent of the Memorandum. If SYRIZA had pledged so, it would probably not be included in the parliamentary map today, playing the key role. Such notions redefine the SYRIZA mandate and amount practically to an attempt to change the social alliances which have supported so far the historical experiment of a left government in Greece. A new similar attempt was put forward by Yanis Varoufakis with the following declaration at the 20th Banking Forum of the Union of Greek Bankers, on the 22nd of April, 2015: “In the year 2015, after five years of catastrophic recession, where ultimately everybody is a victim, there are only a few cunning people who have profited from this crisis. The era in which a government of the Left was by definition contrary to the milieu of entrepreneurship has passed. If we get to a point when there is growth, we can start talking again about conflicting labour and capital interests. Today we are together.” Furthermore, it is characteristic that in the Memorandum, economic growth relies on exports and every wage increase is automatically considered as being against competitiveness. No matter how empirically erroneous this perspective is, it still reflects the viewpoint of the Institutions and, unfortunately, still of the Greek Ministry of Finance. The mainstream approaches that we have presented, do not reflect the positions of the Finance Minister alone. A considerable part of SYRIZA's cadres comprehends austerity and the Memoranda as simply ‘an economic mistake’, merely in the sense that it constitutes a recipe for recession that is unable to boost growth. In a society where the loss of 25 per cent of GDP and the impoverishment of large part of the population is just the visible aspect of the rapid intensification of social inequalities, in a society where mass unemployment is the numerical complement of a severe deterioration in working conditions, in a society of multiple contradictions and expectations, the policy of the SYRIZA government can only become hegemonic if it clearly supports the interests of the working majority in their struggle against capital. There is no room for a policy generally and loosely defending everything ‘Greek’ or ‘European’. Such an approach never has, and never will represent the perspective of the Left. We face a historic challenge and we must respond without hesitations and vacillation. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ John Milios is Professor of Political Economy, National Technical University of Athens, and member of the Central Committee of SYRIZA. Talk written for the Forum international – 20-22 mai 2015 – Lausanne (Suisse): “Le troisième âge du capitalisme, sa physionomie socio-politique à l’orée du XXIe siècle. En mémoire d’Ernest Mandel (1923-1995)”. _________________________________________________________ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
