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on Sonntag, 8. März 2015 at 02:31, glparramatta via Marxism wrote: > "Greece: Yiannis Bournous' thoughts on the new situation and SYRIZA's > responsibilities" http://links.org.au/node/4324 Quotes from that article: > improve public finances by making the rich pay. A first positive > sign in this direction is that the treasury prosecutors > investigating lists of Greek account-holders who have illegally > transferred money to Swiss and other foreign banks have already > blocked €404 million found in the bank accounts of 17 depositors. Why don't they take control of the banks? Merging the banks into one national bank under public control. No need to expropriate the owners or account holders, but to give the working people the means to direct the liquid capital to productive purposes. As to taxes, slash the VAT to the minimum level prescribed by the EU treaties, and raise the income taxes for the rich. Secure the ships of the Greek shipping companies, the way the US hedge fonds nailed down the school ship of Argentinian marine. > At the same time, we will be judged on our moves to democratise the > political system and the public sphere, in the war against > corruption and in tackling the humanitarian crisis. The government > has already presented its first bill, which includes free > electricity for households that live in conditions of extreme > poverty (300 Kwh per month), housing rent allowance for 30,000 > households (€70 per person or €220 per family per month), as well as > a nutrition allowance for citizens that also live in conditions of extreme > poverty. It is nice to make gifts, but that does not change the political situation, and does not help to secure a mass base. People need ways to take part in the creation of a new society, and building the country with their own hands. This is what lets self-confidence grow; receiving gifts by governmental benefactors does not, it rather increases the feeling of being powerless and having to rely on "those above". Besides the nationalisation of the banks, the most important move is a public works program which mobilises the 25 percent unemployed, gives them a sense of being important, constructs important infrastructure, and alleviates the state budget by organising exchanges of products bypassing the retail trusts, organising farmers to supply their produce directly in exchange to work by the city workers. One of the worst moves is what I heard this morning in the radio (DLF - Deutschlandfunk), according to which Varoflakis, the non-partisan finance minister, is said to have called on each and everybody to spy on each other for detecting tax frauds. There is no "better" way to destroy any feeling of solidarity. Again: study Lenin's The Impending Catastrophe and How to Combat It to learn from it in a creative way. Otherwise I fear that the end of the Syriza government and party is coming much faster than their worst enemies would have hoped for, and the end of the last vestige of social-democratic populism. Yours, Lüko Willms Frankfurt/Main, Germany http://www.mlwerke.de _________________________________________________________ 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
