By Nikos Mottas.
It was six years
ago, on May 2010, when the then Prime Minister George Papandreou, in
a televised message from the picturesque island of Kastelorizo, was
announcing Greece's entry to the support mechanism of the IMF and the
EU – the 'memorandum phase'. The economic crisis in Greece had
manifested itself a year earlier, in 2009, when it entered in a phase
of rapid recession, following the outbreak of global financial crisis
in 2007-2008. Today, after four bourgeois governments (Papandreou,
Papademos, Samaras, Tsipras) and three memorandums of harsh austerity
packages, we can draw some significant conslusions. What did the
Capitalist Economic Crisis in Greece teach us?
1. The
Source of the Crisis.
Contrary
to various bourgeois interpretations and theories of the economic
crisis (over-consumption, casino-capitalism, etc.), there is one
clear, scientifically proven, reality: Capitalism itself contains in
it's DNA the inevitability of crises. Capitalist production, with
it's contradictory character and anarchy, contains the seed of such
crises. In Capitalist economy lies the motive to
push capitalist reproduction to extremes levels,
to accumulate immense profits, thus
giving a
monetary speculative form to the appropriation of surplus value from
the working class labour.
The devaluation of capital (either commercial or financial) and the
devaluation of labour power (as a commodity), has occurred repeatedly
in the past and will certainly occur in the future for as long as the
exploitative system called 'Capitalism' exists.
The
bourgeoisie and it's political representatives have tried any
possible method in order to hide from the people the source of the
crisis. Certain theories, such as the “over-consumption”, the
“mis-management” theory, the “casino-capitalism”, have been
consciously promoted in order to disorientate the people from the
real issue and revamp Capitalism in public conciousness. In the Greek
political scene, social-democrats (SYRIZA, PASOK) and conservatives
(New Democracy) have done anything in order to obfuscate the real
source of the crisis. In this game of people's disorientation, SYRIZA
played a major role by spreading illusions about a “humane
capitalism” where- supposedly- people will be over profits. The
Greek bourgeoisie and it's european allies managed to limit the
public discussion of Greece's crisis on specific boundaries,
completely harmless for the capitalist system: neoliberalism
versus social-democracy, monetary versus keynesian policies,
memorandum versus anti-memorandum, structural reforms, debt
restructuring, debt hair-cut, privatizations,
etc.
With
the only exception being the Communist Party of Greece (KKE)- which
from the very first time talked about “the
deepest and lengthiest crisis of capital over-accumulation since the
1950s” which
“highlighted
even more intensely the historical limits of the capitalist system”-
the
rest of the country's political powers promoted theories quite
convenient for the capitalist establishment, as long as they weren't
touching the heart of the problem. Three of these theories were:
a)
“Greece
should exit from the EU”,
mainly advocated by opportunist and ultra-leftist powers, such as the
'Popular
Unity'
(ex-SYRIZA members) and 'Antarsya'.
This argument supports that Greece should exit the EU, adopt a
national currency and nationalize banks and major sectors of the
economy. However, the major question still exists: Who will have the
keys of the economy? Who will be the owner of the means of
production, the bourgeoisie of the working class?
b)
“Greece
is under occupation; Germany's domination, etc.”,
advocated by various nationalistic (including the fascist-criminal
'Golden Dawn') and populist, both left and right-wing, powers. Such
arguments- blaming the “Germans” and the country's “conquerors”
in general- were convenient for the Greek bourgeoisie and the Greek
capitalists who have been profited from the crisis. As an opposition
power, SYRIZA (as well as their current right-wing governmental
allies, the “Independent Greeks”-ANEL Party), used this theory in
order to pose as the liberation force from “memorandums” and
“austerity's occupation”. The above argument tried to divert the
blame for the crisis from the capitalist system to a convenient
“enemy”- by doing so it was obfuscating the roots of the problem.
c)
“Corruption
and mismanagement of public economics”.
There is no doubt that the corruption within the Greek governments in
the previous decades submitted significantly to the amplification of
the economic crisis. Numerous financial scandals of PASOK and New
Democracy governments have been exposed. However, corruption isn't
the cause for the crisis, but a symptom of the capitalist crisis. It
is not true that Greece's huge debt and deficits consist a result of
“corruption” and “mismanagement”. The debt was increased as a
result of bourgeois parties' policy which was funding enterpreneurs
and large business groups in order to invest and cultivate their
profits. There lies the vicious circle of the country's debt- in the
connection between the political system and the capitalist
establishment.
Both
the above two theories (b & c) were systematically cultivated
within the so-called “square movements” of 2010-2011. The
“indignant citizens movement”- the “15-M Movement” as it's
known in Spain- with it's non-party, apolitical character, fostered
the aversion towards the organised labor-movement. Focusing on
persons (“politicians are thieves”!) rather than on the heart of
the class-oriented policies, such movements cultivated the
ideological and political ground for far-right, even fascist voices,
such as the one of the Nazi-criminal 'Golden Dawn'.
2. Crisis
and austerity for the people, profits for the Capital.
In a period of seven years (2009-2016) the Greek people faced
multiple austerity packages, cut-backs in salaries and pensions,
losing a huge proportion of their income. It is estimated that during
the 2009-2013 period, Greeks lost approximately €17,000 per person
(Source: ECB). Between 2010-2014, the purchasing power of the average
wage was decreased by 16.5%, while the unemployment rate reached
(according to official data) 27% in 2013.
However,
not everyone was damaged from crisis. In 2011, in the midst of the
financial turmoil, the 500 most profitable Greek industries saw a
18.2% increase of the profits! According to a research by Stat Bank
(2012), these 500 businesses increased their profits by €25 billion
within a year, from 2010 to 2011.
The
crisis certainly affected a part of Greece's big capital. However,
another- quite significant- part gained profits, taking advantage
from the decrease of labour's value and the various tax-privileges.
An example of this is the Greek shipping industy, one of the largest
in the world. At least €140 billion of shipping industry money has
gone untaxed since 2002 (Der Spiegel, 2014), while up to €60
billion, mostly belonging to shipping giants, are estimated to be the
Greek funds in Switzerland. In first half of 2011, the 16% of the
total capital given for ship-building internationally, was belonging
to Greek-owned companies.
The
SYRIZA-ANEL government, like it's predecessors, continues and even
amplifies a policy in favor of large corporations and businesses'
profitability. Proving it's role as a political puppet of the big
Capital, the current Greek government managed to pass law through
which it gives new tax-privileges to large companies and free
state-funding for “strategic investments” in various sectors. All
these, in the name of the country's “development”...
3. The
bourgeois political system reformed.
PM Alexis Tsipras (left) and the current opposition leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis (New Democracy). |
The
Communist Party of Greece (KKE) had analysed on time the tendency of
this reform. In the 19th
Congress Political Resolution (2013) KKE was stating: “The
differences between the liberal and Keynesian model are expressed in
our country by the controversy over the alternation of the bourgeois
governments, they are used to trap the popular masses inside the
framework of the system, in the attempt to reform the bourgeois
political system, so that it can provide a variety of alternate
bourgeois parties for the governance, on the basis of the cooperation
amongst them” […] (The bourgeois class) takes into account which
government can control the labour movement, prevent the rise of class
struggle and ensure that the escalating offensive on the working
class and popular income and the consequences of the crisis in
general, which are characterised chiefly by the large percentage of
unemployment, will take place with the least possible reactions
either with memoranda inside the euro or with the bankruptcy, either
controlled or uncontrolled with the exit from the Euro”.
Indeed,
the rapid electoral decline of PASOK (the dominant center-left party
which governed the country for over 20 years) in the 2012 elections
marked the rise of SYRIZA. In a period of three years, from 2012
until it's electoral victory on January 2015, SYRIZA was rapidly
transformed from a small opportunist party of the Left (a coalition
of social-democratic, maoist, trotskyist, ecologist and other groups)
into the major pillar of Greece's Social-democracy. The bi-pollar
system of PASOK-New Democracy was replaced by the SYRIZA-New
Democracy one. Through this change, the Greek bourgeoisie was able to
trap into the system's boundaries a wide part of working, low-income
masses.
In
order to disorientate the people from the real issue (the capitalist,
exploitative system which creates the crises), the new bi-pollar
political system was constructed on a new fake dilemma:
“Pro-Memorandum and against Memorandum”. As we will see in the
following lines, the memoradums consisted the peak of a broader
anti-people policy, implemented by the EU and the bourgeois
governments for the interest of the monopolies.
The
rise of 'Golden Dawn'- a fascist, Neo-nazi party which is responsible
for numerous criminal actions, including the murder of musician
Pavlos Fyssas in 2013- proves that fascism emerges from the roteness
of Capitalism. Although 'Golden Dawn' has tried to pose itself as an
anti-systemic power – with a racist, populist demagoguery- it has
been clear that it consists the 'guard-dog' of Capitalism. The
numerous murderous attacks on immigrants, trade unionists and workers
consist another proof of this criminal organisation's role.
4. Austerity
memorandums as the peak of anti-people policy.
SYRIZA's president - then opposition leader- Alexis Tsipras, being a keynote speaker at the Greek Federation of Industrialists and US Brookings Institute. |
The
beginning of the recession marked also the beginning of new,
inter-bourgeois struggles and contradictions – both in Greece and
the EU- about the policy that the country should follow in order to
overcome the crisis with the less possible loses for the capitalist
establishment. These contradictions were mirrored in the political
level and the fight- in both Greece and EU level- about an “internal
devaluation” (austerity, strict monetary policy, cutbacks, taxation
increase etc.) or an “external devaluation” (mainly devaluation
of the currency which would mean Greece's exit from the Eurozone). In
both cases, people would play the price through bloody sacrifices.
As
an opposition power, SYRIZA spread to the masses the illusion that a-
supposedly- better negotiation with the creditors, the EU and the
IMF, could bring more positive results for the people's interests.
The party of Alexis Tsipras deceived the voters by promising to
overcome the crisis through a- supposedly- pro-people policy without
memorandums and austerity, within the boundaries of the capitalist
system.
KKE
had multiple times warned about the nature of SYRIZA's perception of
the crisis. In 2014, while Mr.Tsipras was posing as the 'saviour' of
the country, KKE was stating:
"SYRIZA
is fishing in the “muddy waters” of the parties of the so-called
“anti-memorandum arc”, of “anti-Merkelism”, and
“anti-banking” version of the EU and Eurozone, of parties that
condemn merely the troika and particularly Germany. Nevertheless, it
conceals the fact that the outbreak of the capitalist crisis preceded
the memorandum. It overlooks the fact that the EU is a component of
the Troika. The memorandum that the Greek government has signed with
the troika of the lenders, is nothing other than the specialization
of the general political line of the EU in the conditions of crisis
in Greece. Consequently the opposition of SYRIZA to the memorandum is
dust to the people’s eyes given that this party does not oppose the
EU but supports it. But
why is SYRIZA only blaming the troika or Germany? Because,
in this way it conceals its essential support for the EU of capital,
of the monopolies. It is fostering illusions to the people that the
EU can change through “a front of the countries of the South”.
Nevertheless, the international allies and support that are invoked,
such as the governments of the USA, France, Italy, the Mediterranean
South, are enemies of the people, they steamroller the people’s
rights in their countries, just as the German government does. The EU
is a hell for all its peoples. Τhe
truth is that the anti-people measures concern the working class and
popular strata of all the countries, regardless of memoranda and
debts” (Elisseos
Vagenas, SYRIZA: “The left reserve force” of Capitalism,
inter.kke.gr).
What
followed SYRIZA's rise in power is, more or less, known: the
referendum-farce of July 5th 2015 (when the Tsipras'
government shamelessly transformed a 61% “No” vote into a “Yes”
to new austerity), imposition of capital controls, a new austerity
memorandum with extremely harsh measures, a monstrous law against
social security rights, tax-plundering of the working people, new
benefits for the big Capital, etc.
The
memorandums of austerity in Greece were bourgeoisie's effort to
overcome the crisis with the less possible loss. But, the memorandums
were only the peak of an anti-people, anti-workers policy that takes
place for decades now. The anti-workers reforms, the privatizations,
the opening of new sectors in the free market (e.g. energy,
telecommunications etc.) are measures which consist a core part of EU
policy – the 1992 Maastricht Treaty and the subsequent EU treaties
(Lisbon, Amsterdam, Nice, etc) put the basis of a permanent
anti-people policy. Therefore, we see countries without “memorandums
of agreement”, like France, Spain, Portugal, Italy and others to
implement policies of austerity, reforms that strengthen the
capitalist development and restrict workers' rights.
5. One
solution- One realistic exit from Capitalism's crises.
Massive rally by PAME (All-Workers Militant Front) in Athens. |
The years
of the crisis proved that there is no bourgeois government
(neoliberal, conservative or social-democratic) that can provide a
solution for the people's interests. All mixtures of policies within
the bourgeois political establishment- from the strict monetary to
the Keynesian one- have been proved disastrous for the working class
and the low-income people. The rise of SYRIZA in the country's
government proved that, no matter how good your intentions are, you
can't change the system from within. The Eurocommunist,
social-democratic theories, aimed in managing the Capitalist system
in a more “humane” way, utterly failed. Newly-formed parties, created by former SYRIZA ministers (like Yanis Varoufakis, Zoe Konstantopoulou, Panagiotis Lafazanis), have the same aim: each of them wants to become SYRIZA in SYRIZA's position, to replace Tsipras' social-democratic illusions with new ones. To offer an supposed "alternative" solution within the capitalist boundaries. People must not be trapped in such fake promises.
The case of Greece
teaches us that you can't place “people above profits” within the
framework of capitalist economy.
The
crisis highlighted the historical and permanent contrast between the
bourgeois-class' interests (economic, geopolitical ones etc.) and the
interests of the working people, of the masses. The danger of
Greece's participation in a NATO-led imperialist war (Syria, Libya)
became more and more apparent, as far as the Greek bourgeoisie
actively participates in the inter-imperialist antagonisms that take
place in the broader region.
The
formation of a powerful workers-people's alliance and the regroupment
of the working class movement towards is the only positive scenario
for the masses. Towards this direction, the political line and
activity of KKE, as the organised leadership of the proletariat,
consists the only alternative to capitalist barbarity. For the
victorious outcome of the struggle, the overthrow of the monopolies'
authority and the construction of a new society; of
Socialism-Communism.
In Defense of Communism ©.
In Defense of Communism ©.