[D66] Greek crisis comes to a head

[J.N.]

http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2015/06/29/pers-j29.html

Greek crisis comes to a head
29 June 2015

The decision of European financial authorities to terminate the European
Union (EU) bailout of Greece and limit the flow of credit to Greek banks
has brought the country to the brink of an economic and financial
meltdown. It is the latest stage in a ruthless five-year assault that
has imposed draconian austerity measures which have shattered the
country’s economy.

After the EU announced the end of the bailout program, the European
Central Bank (ECB) declared that it would maintain but not raise the €89
billion cap in emergency liquidity to Greek banks, most of which has
already been used. In the face of a potential banking collapse, Athens
has imposed capital controls and declared a week-long bank holiday.

The program presented by the EU, the ECB and the International Monetary
Fund amounts to a plan for Greece, already bled white, to commit
economic and social suicide.

It calls for deep new pension cuts, regressive Value Added Tax increases
that will slash workers’ buying power, and the privatization of energy,
port and transport infrastructure. Financial Times columnist Wolfgang
Münchau called it “an economic version of Dante’s hell,” adding, “It
would have brought about the total economic destruction of Greece.”

In imposing this hell the European financial and political elites have
made clear they will stop at nothing as they tear up all democratic
norms and principles to impose a dictatorship of capital. The working
class must draw a political balance sheet of the bitter experiences of
the past five months and advance its own independent struggle in this
life-and-death struggle.

The central political lesson is the assertion by Syriza that any
struggle for socialism and the taking of political power by the working
class must be rejected on the ground that it is not realistic has been
refuted by events. It is the politics pursued by Syriza that have proven
to be completely bankrupt.

Those politics are continued in the calling of a referendum for July 5
on whether to accept the EU’s latest measures. The Syriza-led government
is engaged in a cynical political exercise. Its main purpose is to foist
political responsibility for accepting the new round of brutal austerity
onto the Greek people.

Politically, the Greek government already has a clear mandate to reject
the austerity demands. It was elected on the basis of an appeal to the
deep popular anger over the dictates of the European banks. From the
beginning, however, Syriza has insisted on its commitment to the bailout
and its desire to reach an agreement with the European institutions.

At this point, it is not even clear what the referendum would decide.
The European institutions have indicated that if Greece defaults on its
scheduled loan payments due on Tuesday, the entire agreement will be
scrapped. Syriza, moreover, has made no attempt to explain what it will
do if there is a “no” vote, or given any indication of how it will
change its policy of seeking to remain in the euro zone and reach an
agreement with Greece’s creditors.

Syriza’s politics have been based on the social interests of sections of
the upper middle class. Above all, it is opposed to an independent
mobilization of the working class on a socialist and revolutionary
program. To the demands for the mass impoverishment of the Greek working
class, it has responded with hopes for palliatives that it can use to
sell austerity to the population.

Syriza is still holding out for some accommodation. As Sunday
progressed, with growing concern over the impact of Germany’s hardline
on European markets, there have been calls for a way out of the impasse
to be found. Concerned about both the financial and geopolitical
implications of the Greek crisis, Obama called German Chancellor Angela
Merkel yesterday to discuss the need for “Greece to resume reforms and
growth within the euro zone.”

For its part, the European institutions are holding in reserve the
possibility of regime change. The Financial Times, in an editorial
denouncing Syriza on Sunday, warned of this possibility. “George
Papandreou attempted a similar [referendum] maneuver in 2011 when he was
prime minister. The harsh bailout deal survived; Mr. Papandreou lost his
job.” To deal with mass opposition in the working class, there can be no
doubt that top generals are at this moment conspiring behind closed
doors, considering the possibility of using the military to intervene
directly and meet protests with violence and repression.

The situation confronting the working class is dire. At stake is not
only the future of workers in Greece, but in all of Europe. By seeking
to humiliate Syriza, the European banks want to send a signal that
popular elections, such as the January anti-austerity vote that brought
Syriza to power, have no bearing on the actual policies that are carried
out. It is making of Greece an example that no opposition to austerity
will be tolerated.

Should a Greek referendum on EU austerity proceed, the World Socialist
Web Site calls upon workers in Greece to vote “no.” The EU’s ruthless
drive to impose austerity and the bitter experience of the Syriza
government make clear, however, that the working class cannot limit
itself to simply a “no” vote. The working class must advance its own
program, based on a rejection of the entire framework accepted by Syriza
no less than the European institutions. There is no solution to the
crisis in Greece under the capitalist system.

Above all, workers in Greece must appeal for support and protest action
to mobilize the deep opposition to austerity in the European working
class as a whole. If the EU succeeds in making an example of Greece, it
will soon turn to imposing the savage measures carried out in Greece on
the entire European working class. A successful fight against these
attacks requires the political mobilization of the working class across
Europe, as in Greece, in a revolutionary struggle for socialism.

Alex Lantier