Party X
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Another sign of the times. Born of the ‘indignados’ movement and Spain’s financial crisis, a new political party, Partido X, has emerged from the protests.“it is light on policy proposals in some areas, but says it has its sights set on tackling corruption with a “Nuremberg-style trial for bankers” and a dedicated anti-fraud unit, and to bring in more participatory democracy, with regular referendums. The party promises to provide financial aid for Spain’s small businesses, increase the minimum wage and introduce a maximum wage so no boss can earn more than 10 times his or her staff.The party refuses, however, to be drawn on whether it is of the left or right. It describes itself as “progressive”, a rejection of old-style politics… Partido X is keen to avoid being led by a populist, charismatic leaderand sees itself as a “party of, and for, the citizens of this country”For better or worse the recession certainly resulted in a spurt of re-assessment of current politics and political parties and the growth of new ones on both Left and Right. It appears to be a repeat of what happened in the 30s…disillusionment with the status quo and a search for a new hope .In another article of interest is the coping mechanism of an Andalusian village that has become a co-op with occupations of land owned by the rich.alanjjohnstone wrote:In another article of interest is the coping mechanism of an Andalusian village that has become a co-op with occupations of land owned by the rich.http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/oct/20/marinaleda-spanish-communist-village-utopia
We discussed this in the Socialist Standard in June 2012 (it's always coming up): http://www.worldsocialism.org/spgb/socialist-standard/2010s/2012/no-1294-june-2012/cooking-books-socialism-one-village
That reminds me, and feel free to move this elsewhere, the bankers responsible for the meltdown won't be prosecuted here in america, might they be in other countries ot the ICC? I see JP Morgan Chase was fined.Thanks
Although it's tempting to want to see arrogant and greedy bankers get their come-uppance, it was the whole capitalist system that's to blame for the present slump. In fact singling out "the bankers" not only let's other sections of the capitalist class off the hook but deflects attention from the need to get rid of the system.
Actually part of the sticking point with this lates JPMorgan fine is that they were not granted legal immunity from prosecution. http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/72a0044c-39ab-11e3-a3a4-00144feab7de.html#axzz2iLF4opMX But i wouldn't hold my breath waiting for an arrest, much less a successful prosecution. A few middle ranking bankers particularly in the smaller US banks have been prosecuted and found guilty but i don't think any got jail time. While i understand ALB i would love to see a few suffer the same fate of some of the Enron directors and Conrad Black. Did someone say that the revolution will only come when the last investment bank trader is hung by the guts of the last hedge-fund manager? As an aside, i read that one of the main lobbyists against public sector pensions happens to be an ex-Enron executive who escaped prosecution. They are unrepentent.
alanjjohnstone wrote:Did someone say that the revolution will only come when the last investment bank trader is hung by the guts of the last hedge-fund manager?Nobody here did. But some currency crank or funny money merchant might have.
"Did someone say that the revolution will only come when the last investment bank trader is hung by the guts of the last hedge-fund manager Nobody here did. But some currency crank or funny money merchant might have." – ALB Are you sure there isn't a slightly vindictive ex-postal worker who feels that the banks have used the small-print to escape paying the promised returns on his redundancy/retirement money fund while they are guaranteeing their own golden handshake pay-offs, who wouldn't be averse to happily stringing them up, given a half a chance and that chance would only be when some sort of revolution has arrived? ….not that i am one to hold grudges against bankers but i may just have a little black book of who will be up against the wall…
OK, I too have a wish list of things I'd like to see happen when socialism is established but they are to do with demolishing buildings and statues (eg the Sydney Opera House) not killing people.
What little of politics mentioned by Partido X might sound fresh, buttrial for bankersanti-fraudparticipatory democracy and referendumsincreased minimum wage and introduction of a maximum wagerefuses the labels left-wing or right-wingparty of, and for, the citizens of the countryare all political positions that can be claimed by many political currents of the so-called 'radical centre'. Many of them are commonly used by fascist populist movements especially the opposition to 'finance capital'. Think the 'New Party' etc. and you will see the similarities so far.The term 'progressive' seems more exclusive at first, but thinking about it, no politics describes itself as regressive except perhaps primivitists.
Apparently the Podemos ("We Can") party is now the party in Spain with the most (opinion polled) support:http://www.newsweek.com/radical-spanish-party-podemos-lead-polls-first-time-281699Don't lnow what it means except that people there seemed to be as pissed off with conventional politics as people here, except that here it's taking the form of UKIP.
Indeed Podemos are ahead in the polls http://www.elmundo.es/espana/2014/11/24/5472339c268e3ee96d8b4593.html I think the question i'd really like answered is why they can claim substantial support and Left Unity remain on the fringes.
Yesterday Podemos presented its "realistic" economic programme:
Quote:Podemos, the new left-wing party that has taken Spanish politics by storm, unveiled plans for a swathe of economic reforms yesterday, including the nationalisation of key industries, tax rises and banning redundancies at profitable companies, as part of an emergency programme to pull the country out of six years of financial crisis.Pablo Iglesias, the pony-tailed leader of Podemos, which means “We Can”, said his party was launching a realistic programme to help Europe’s fourth biggest economy to recover, and reduce its devastating unemployment. (….)It proposes to make it illegal for Spaniards to be denied access to borrowing, and would seek to secure loans from the European Central Bank to families and small businesses on the same terms as private banks. The measure is designed to encourage spending to help to boost growth and investment to small businesses.Mr Iglesias said he would cut the retirement age from 66 to 60 to free up jobs for young people and raise taxes to pay for a Nordic-srtyle welfare system. Podemos also proposes to introduce a 35-hour week and nationalise key industries such as energy companies.Mr Iglesias proposed to cut state incentives for short-term employment contracts, on which many Spaniards are employed, and introduce fiscal reform to improve tax collection.The party would raise funds by cutting expenditure on Spain's high-speed rail network and use the proceeds to pay for schools.And they call us impossibilists!Another new party with feet of clay.
There are many movements like that in Spain, but none of them want to overthrow capital which is the real root of the problem, they justwant to reform capitalism through the electoral system . The Podemos movement is another example. The Carrillistas which were pro-Soviets, they were also making the same claims in the past, and they were just a bunch of reformists, and the Socialist Party was a fierce supporter of the European capitalist class.They are popular because workers do not trust in the left wingers, or the Leninists, they have associated Leninism and leftism with socialism and communism, which is wrong too The problem of capitalist society are not the bankers, that is the theory of the conspiracionists, specially, in the US where everything is a conspiracionist theory, even more, the left wingers are always supporting those false theories The real problem of this society is the whole capitalist system, and also, banks and bankers are not productive, they do not produce any social value, and they do not control the capitalist economy either
Haven't really been following this but Louis Proyect comments on Podemoshttp://louisproyect.org/2014/12/14/parlez-vous-francais/
Quote:The fact that Podemos has reached millions of Spaniards while self-declared vanguard formations largely speak to those already “in the know” about Lenin and the Russian questions should tell us that we are on the brink of a new period in the class struggle, one in which the socialist movement will be rebuilt on 21st century realities. It is about time.
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