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Correction: Last sentence, second para. should read “millions”, not “tens of millions”. Begin forwarded message: > From: Marv Gandall <marvga...@gmail.com> > Subject: Re: [Marxism] Facing bad choices, in or out of the euro, Greece > needs our solidarity > Date: July 10, 2015 at 6:15:07 PM EDT > To: ioannis aposperites <aposperi...@gmail.com>, Activists and scholars in > Marxist tradition <marxism@lists.csbs.utah.edu> > > > On Jul 10, 2015, at 4:35 AM, ioannis aposperites via Marxism > <marxism@lists.csbs.utah.edu> wrote: > >> …Tsipras was clear from the beginning: His government was declared to be a >> national salvation government. The promises to the proletariat were supposed >> to be the outcome of a fair class collaboration and were conditioned by that >> collaboration as long as the bourgeoisie had to be also satisfied. You like >> it or not, that was Tsipras' game. Of course the greek working class and its >> other political forces were and are playing a variety of different games, >> but that does not regard Tsipras' intentions. Conclusion: speaking of >> treachery is not even technically correct. > > The word treachery is sometimes bandied about too loosely, but let’s not bend > the stick back too far in this case. Tsipras was not “clear from the > beginning” that his intention, and that of his government, was to implement > the most punitive of a succession of austerity packages forced on the > battered Greek masses over the past five years. Exactly the opposite, of > course. The stated intention of the Thessaloniki program was precisely to put > an end to the austerity packages and the country’s debt peonage and to use > the state to launch a program of public works and other measures to promote > an economic recovery. The program was Keynesian in essence, and it is from > that standpoint, not that of revolutionary socialism, that Tsipras’ > government wholly abandoned the party program and the tens of millions who > rallied behind it. > > Tactical retreats and compromises which fall short of the full realization of > a party program are often necessary and inevitable given adverse economic > circumstances and the political correlation of forces. Calling on your troops > to lay down their arms and surrender unconditionally to the enemy the day > after they have won a resounding victory and their confidence and readiness > for further combat in pursuit of their objective has been greatly > strengthened (as well as that of their allies abroad) is a qualitatively > different matter. > > Finally, the Tsipras government was not a “national salvation” or unity > government, as the term is commonly understood. Syriza formed a coalition > government with the smaller right wing ANEL party which was also opposed to > the austerity program imposed on Greece. The two established parties, ND and > PASOK, and a new centre party, To Potami, were all outside the government and > were consistently critical of its declared intention to repudiate the debt > and resistance to so-called “structural reforms”. It was only earlier this > week that the Syriza leadership reached out to the discredited leaders of the > opposition parties to issue a joint statement in favour of an agreement with > the troika on the latter’s terms, precisely those which a strong majority of > Greeks had rejected by referendum a day earlier. _________________________________________________________ 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
