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The problem with the labor-negotiation analogy, as with so many of Louis's bogus comparisons, is that unions go into negotiations threatening to strike if they can't arrive at a satisfactory deal with the bosses. What was Syriza's equivalent of a strike threat? Did they think they could persuade the Eurocrats of the reasonableness of their position? Appeal to their decency and humanity? Louis writes: If they had anticipated the ferocity of the German response, as well as the willingness of France’s “Socialist” Party to back the Germans, maybe they would have decided not to run for office. But was this response so hard to anticipate? On Feb. 1, I wrote in a post to this newsgroup: Let us take stock. I don’t claim to know how things will turn out, but if I were a pro-austerity Eurocrat or banker, I might calculate as follows: “We have within our power an enormous capacity to make the Greek economy scream even louder than it already is, and to underwrite anti-Syriza forces. Greece is a small country whose default, even exit from the Eurozone, is something we can withstand. It therefore makes more sense to tighten the screws and make an example of Syriza now than pursue some genuine compromise that will only embolden Podemos and others. We can certainly offer Tsipras a few sops in return for his agreement to act as the human face of austerity. But, beyond that, what’s to be gained by compromise?” How was I able to anticipate what Syriza was not? Is it because I'm a soothsayer or a genius? No, it's rather because I'm a Marxist, whose political-theoretical training allows me to penetrate all the illusions and verbiage that surround such events as these to perceive the intractable class realities at the core. Others who call themselves Marxists are apparently unable to do so. The reality in this case is that ensuring the domination of the bankers and more powerful states is the essence of the common currency and the EU; that those, like Varoufakis, who peddle the middle calss illusion of the possibility of a "social Europe" are deceiving both themselves and the millions who are following them. We didn't have to wait for the outcome of these talks to find this out. Maybe Syriza does have an answer to Greece's plight besides further negotiations. Maybe they are simply buying time in order to implement a secret Plan B. So far, however, I see no evidence of it. And if, as Louis seems to think, no Plan B is possible, what then? Should the Greek people resign themselves in advance to a defeat like the one the Sandinistas suffered, which Louis assures us was also inevitable? Maybe the bosses are just too strong to fight. Jim Creegan _________________________________________________________ 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
