On Aug 23, 2015, at 2:17 PM, Louis Proyect <[email protected]> wrote: > Isn't it obvious by now that Syriza has split? The Popular Unity group > has committed itself to defending the historic program of Syriza while > Tsipras has essentially created a new formation that has few differences > from PASOK…That being said, I > don’t think there is much hope for sweeping economic and social change > as long as the workers of Europe begin to put some pressure on their own > ruling classes.
Isn’t this precisely the line the Tsipras leadership has taken all along, which you endorsed? Why abandon Tsipras now if you still accept that there is little a Greek government, reformist or otherwise, can do in the absence of a mass upsurge in the other European countries? The Greek left inside and outside Syriza thought there was plenty the Tsipras government could do - namely, begin in January to implement the party program: debt repudiation, nationalization of the banking system, public works to create jobs, reversal of privatizations and rollbacks, issuance of a parallel currency and preparation for a Grexit in the event negotiations proved fruitless. This would necessarily have required the government to simultaneously educate and organize the Greek workers and their allies in defence of the measures taken. In so doing, it would have inspired anti-austerity groups outside Greece and given a mighty boost to efforts by the European left to mobilize workers in other countries against their own governments and in solidarity with Greece, without waiting indefinitely for this process to occur spontaneously. You polemicized against the Left Platform and its supporters abroad for proposing this strategy in much the same manner as Panitch and Ginden who said the Greek left was “dreaming in technicolour” and that the Syriza government had no other option other than to disregard the democratic will of Greek voters and to sign up for another round of austerity and privatizations. What has changed your mind? > On 8/23/15 1:59 PM, Charlie wrote: >> LP 2015: >> "I don't think I have had much to say about Greece except [the currency >> issue]. Greece's problems are pretty intractable, ... a function of ... >> its semi-peripheral economic status." >> >> LP 2012: >> "If and when a struggle emerges between SYRIZA and the Wall >> Street/Washington/Bonn axis, the left will need to mobilize to defend >> the bolder measures such as nationalizing the banks while protecting the >> government against fascist attacks and CIA subversion. In an escalating >> series of confrontations, it cannot be ruled out that popular power will >> dictate the outcome and usher in a new type of society that hearkens >> back to the original Marxist vision of a classless society. But to stand >> on the sidelines now, because SYRIZA is not 'revolutionary', is a big >> mistake." >> http://louisproyect.org/2012/06/09/debating-syriza/ >> >> But then, Donald Trump used to be in favor of single-payer healthcare. >> > _______________________________________________ > pen-l mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
