> On Mar 7, 2015, at 2:38 PM, Carrol Cox <[email protected]> wrote: > > MG] My guess is that some form of debt relief will be offered to Greece and > the peripheral states because economic recovery and political stability > demand it, although how much relief and how it will be structured will be > decided through negotiation, and reflect the respective bargaining power of > parties involved. > > ---------- > > I have no opinions of my own on what is happening or what may happen in > Greece. I want to focus on the (usually) unchallenged premise that "economic > crisis/chaos/stagnation/etc) necessarily threatens political "stability." > Note that stability is an entirely subjective concept. I remember some > writer in the NYRB observing that a "calm day" in 18th-c London would result > in the calling out of the National Guard in a modern city. > > Economic crisis, no matter how devastating to the populace at large, does > not necessarily constitute a threat to capitalist hegemony. > > [...] > > Austgerity so far has been a very effective form of repression; economic > recovery would be more apt than continued austerity to generate political > instability.
I agree that economic crisis does not necessarily , or even mostly, constitute a threat to capitalist hegemony. But it frequently breeds political discontent which falls short of that, and can be met more effectively with modest concessions than by ignoring or repressing it. Repression in particular strengthens the power of the state, and the bourgeoisie, as a rule, only turns to a strong state in desperation, when it has exhausted its capacity for reform. The historic concessions to the masses in matters of democratic rights, health, education, old age and unemployment insurance, etc. have also in most cases coincided with the interests of the bourgeoisie. Presently in Europe, the traditional governing right- and left-centre parties are concerned about growing mass discontent, expressed through elections, eroding their hold on the political system. Neither they nor their bourgeois patrons want to cede control of government to parties to their left like Syriza and Podemos or parties to their right like the National Front in France which are hostile to the eurozone project. Though there is always the lurking fear that events could spiral out of control, they do not presently seem to be worried about a shift in class power and property because none of these parties are aiming at the revolutionary overthrow of capitalism, and the temper of the masses, while radical, is not revolutionary. But Germany and its allies have benefited mightily from the eurozone, and do not want to see it dissolve under the pressure of mass discontent. On the economic front, there is a fierce debate being conducted between conservatives and liberals in the chancelleries, central banks, and the academy as to whether the austerity policies have helped or hindered economic recovery or resulted in meaningful "structural reform", which mainly involves removing the unions from the workplace and opening up regulated markets and public assets to private capital. The Keynesians appear to be winning that debate, but the confrontation with Greece ought to tell the tale. _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
