ALB
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You're right that there is a close parallel between policies of Syriza and Podemos. I don't think it is accidental but because the programmes will have been drawn up by the same kind of leftwing "Marxist" intellectuals in both countries who will have read each other's stuff.The Left Flank (an SWP fragment) article you link to says of a Podemos document on economic policy:
Quote:The new “emergency plan” was presented as a “discussion document” in a press conference, but in practice is being treated by Iglesias as Podemos policy. Its analysis is that the crisis is fundamentally one of “under-consumption” (which Iglesias agrees is “the problem”) caused by mushrooming socio-economic inequalities under neoliberalism (including a sharp decline in wages’ share of GDP) — a view that overlaps with those of Thomas Piketty, Joseph Stiglitz and Paul Krugman. The solution is thus to increase consumer demand through expansionist public spending (a la Keynes). They then neatly tot up how exactly this can be funded though measures such as combating relatively high levels of tax fraud (mostly carried out by the rich), reintroducing inheritance and property taxes, and debt restructuring.Compare this with Syriza's programme here:http://www.transform-network.net/de/blog/blog-2014/news/detail/Blog/-5ed1064aab.htmlIncidentally, could Left Flank be those Counterfire (another SWP fragment) are criticising when they say:
Quote:Faced with the prospect of a radical left actually attaining office, some have written off a Syriza government before the first ballot has even been cast. Citing its leadership’s support for the eurozone, assorted pieces of the European left have been content to provide lectures about the dangers of “reformism” and “left Keynesianism”..
I spoke to John Lee (who joined in the late 40s) about this and we think he must be Ron Paulus, especially as you say he wrote again in 1970-71. According to John, he too joined in the late 40s and must have dropped out for a while as he rejoined Haringey branch in 1969/70 of which we were both members at the time. Julian Vein remembers the name but not the person. Unfortunately, the branch minute books for the period are lost. A member left them on the top of his car and drove away without realising and they must have dropped off somewhere. It wasn't me but a member called Malyon who told an interesting story about the end of the war. He was in the army in Norway at the time the German troops there surrendered and was part of a detail taking the details of each soldier. He says that the British soldiers robbed all the Germans of their wrist-watches. That must have been against the Geneva convention. Another anecdote for Monument: the Continuation.
I wouldn't just blame Assad. Equally to blame are the Western capitalist powers who sought to use popular unrest and then Sunni muslim discontent in a bid to overthrow a regime they regarded as part of the "axis of evil". They could have let things be but they chose to interfere in pursuit of their own interests. They need to be in the dock as well
Another recruit for your Pope's Brass Band?http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/commentandblogs/2014/03/17/as-tony-benn-showed-christian-socialism-has-always-been-a-force-in-british-politics/
Are these the same people who have been criticising SPEW's "underconsumption" theory of crises that we've discussed here before? I say "people" but aren't there just a couple of them? In which case the word "splinter" rather than "split" comes to mind. It is true, though, that SPEW does make the mistake of espousing an underconsumption ("workers can't buy back all they produce") theory and that this is the basis of their (via TUSC) reformist programme (increased state spending, increase workers' wages) as a way out of the crisis.
alanjjohnstone wrote:Could he be the Anti-Christ.?You mean, could the Reverend Inane Paisley have been right after all?
More details here from John Milios as to what Syriza's economic policy is likely to be if they win power in this month's elections. Syriza, I've just read, is an acronym in Greek for "Coalition of the Radical Left".http://news.yahoo.com/greek-leftists-wont-run-deficits-policymaker-says-193856885.htmlI think he realises, given his knowledge of Marx's analysis of capitalism, that what can be done is limited:
Quote:"We are going to boost growth and combat the humanitarian disaster." Syriza's recipe for boosting growth is through a fiscal stimulus, targeted at lower incomes in order to boost their spending power (…) Milios also said Syriza won't attempt to bring incomes back to pre-crisis levels, but will begin by helping the neediest..I think we can concede that a Syriza government might be able to mitigate a bit the "humanitarian disaster" but not that they will be able to boost growth by increasing demand. We'll see.
Just looked up John Milios on a research engine and see that he has written extensively on Marx, crises, commodity fetishism, etc. He's a serious Marx scholar. For example:http://philpapers.org/rec/MILMTAhttp://mymill.wordpress.com/2009/06/10/althusser-and-marxs-value-form-analysis/http://marxandphilosophy.org.uk/reviewofbooks/reviews/2014/942In fact in the first two above could he might even be arguing something we could agree with.He must know how capitalism works and, therefore, how Syriza is bound to fail. A bit surprising then that he is prepared to stake his reputation by getting involved in advising how a government should try to run capitalism. But I suppose academic economists, even Marx scholars, must find it tempting to have a go at something practical. Ernest Mandel was for a while an advisor to the Cuban government and there have been plenty of others who advised Chavez.
Here an article on one of Syriza's top economic advisers, who claims to be a Marxist:http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/dec/23/syriza-john-milios-greece-eurozone
Quote:He is the first to concede the programme is radical. “I am a Marxist,” he says. “The majority [in Syriza] are.”The programme he sets out is radical but hardly Marxist (not that there is or can be any Marxist programme for dealing with capitalism's problems within capitalism; if there was such a thing as a "Marxist programme" it would have to involve taking all productive resources into common ownership, the ending of production for profit and the wages system, and bringing in production directly for use not for sale):
Quote:Milios rolls off the party’s priorities one by one. It would make concerted efforts to help those hardest hit by the crisis – free electricity for Greeks who have had supplies cut off, food stamps distributed in schools, healthcare for those who need it, rents covered for the homeless, the restoration of the minimum wage to pre-crisis levels of €750 a month and a moratorium on private debt repayments to banks above 30% of disposable incomeIf it comes to power after the elections on 25 January Syriza may be able to implement some of these measures, but we know what will happen in the medium term, in fact perhaps in a much shorter time. They will be governing within the context of capitalism (and in a coalition with other parties) and so will sooner or later be forced to accept its priorities: profits and conditions for profit-making. This has been the result of all governments that have come to power committed to trying to improve things for workers under capitalism. The article ends by invoking this possibility:
Quote:Ultimately, Syriza’s biggest challenge may not be Angela Merkel but the tortuous road it will have to take not to betray those who so want to see it in power."Betray" is probably not the best word as it suggests deliberate insincerity. A more appropriate word would be "fail".From our understanding of capitalism, we know they won't be able to avoid this but following what happens will be instructive for those who think capitalism can be reformed to work in the interest of the non-owning majority.
Quote:This short video is actually quite funny:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TDDzlgMrkGMAlan, I hope you didn't think that this was Brand himself speaking. It was another comedian doing a take-off of him.
This short video is actually quite funny:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TDDzlgMrkGM
