[Marxism] Left Platform proposal defeated 95-75 Re: Syriza: central committee meeting this weekend

[Dayne Goodwin via Marxism]

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Greece's ruling Syriza party narrowly rejects call to stop paying IMF
debt, nationalize banks
by Associated Press, May 24



ATHENS, Greece –  A call by hardliners within Greece's ruling Radical
Left Coalition (Syriza) party to not pay the next installment to the
International Monetary Fund and to nationalize the country's banks has
been narrowly defeated.

Syriza's central committee rejected the proposal by the party's Left
Platform on a vote of 95-75 and one blank vote. Thirty other members
of the 201-member central committee had already left for their
hometowns.

Earlier Sunday, Left Platform leader Panayiotis Lafazanis had declared
that "it would not be a catastrophe to exit the euro (nor) a terrorist
act not to pay the next installment to the IMF."

Interior Minister Nikos Voutsis, a senior Syriza member, said in a TV
interview Sunday that Greece can't pay the IMF installments, a total
of 1.6 billion euros, in June.

On Sun, May 24, 2015 at 1:40 PM, Dayne Goodwin  wrote:
> Syriza’s Left Platform call not to pay next IMF tranche
> The Greek Analyst, May 24
> 
>
> Syriza’s Left Platform, spearheaded by Minister of Productive
> Reconstruction, Environment and Energy, Panagiotis Lafazanis, issued a
> document during today’s meeting of the Central Committee of SYRIZA,
> which will come for a vote later in the day. The document calls – once
> again! – for the rupture with the lenders. Specifically, it asks from
> the government not to repay the upcoming tranche to the IMF in June,
> if the ‘institutions’ continue with the ‘same blackmailing tactic.’
>
> You can find the original text in Greek here and here.
> http://www.thetoc.gr/politiki/article/aristeri-platforma-min-plirwsoume-ti-dosi-an-sunexisoun-tous-ekbiasmous
> http://www.koolnews.gr/politiki/621670-min-pliroseis-pame-na-fygoume-keimeno-aristeris-platformas-lafazani-stin-kentriki-epitropi/
>
> [Here is] my translated version of the document:
>
> The “institutions” are not pursuing what some call an “honest
> compromise,” since an “honest” compromise cannot occur with
> privatizations and new weights over the working classes and, of
> course, cannot occur without a real removal of austerity, [and]
> without the write-off of (the biggest part of) the debt, and without
> ample liquidity for the rejuvenation of the economy.
>
> What the dominant circles of the EU, the ECB, and the IMF are aiming
> at, ruthlessly and with consistency, for about four months now, is to
> strangle the economy, to drain even the last euro from the reserves of
> the country, and to force the government, “unprotected,” to complete
> submission and paradigmatic vilification.
>
> This tactic by our partners was [also] verified in the Summit Meeting in Riga.
>
> The government has no other choice than turning swiftly in the
> counterattack, with an alternative plan that will be based on the
> pre-electoral pledges of SYRIZA and the programmatic proclamations of
> the government.
>
> During these hours, we need [the following] to come urgently in the 
> foreground:
>
> The immediate nationalization of banks, with all relevant measures
> that are necessary in order to be secure and operate with clear
> productive, developmental and social criteria.
> The establishment of democratic legitimacy and transparency in the
> dominant media, together with the substantive control of their debt
> and other obligations.
> The immediate termination of each protection grid for the corrupt
> oligarchy of the country.
> The removal of privileges, preferential arrangements, and immunity of
> major economic interests.
> The effective taxation of great wealth, large property, very high
> incomes, and high profitability of large companies.
> The immediate and complete restoration, assurance and actual abidance
> to labor and trade union rights of the working people.
>
> The government ought to refute the propaganda of the dominant circles,
> which terrorize the people with the ultimate destruction that will
> supposedly be brought with the failure of repaying the debt and the
> potential exit of Greece from the Eurozone.
>
> The biggest disaster for the country is the imposition of a new
> Memorandum, of this [current form] or another form, and the extension
> of what was previously applied [by the former government].
>
> It is this development that must be prevented, at all costs and with
> every possible measure.
>
> Any alternative solution for an anti-memorandum progres

Re: [Marxism] Left Platform proposal defeated 95-75 Re: Syriza: central committee meeting this weekend

[Dayne Goodwin via Marxism]

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A note on Syriza’s Central Committee meeting and the text presented by
the Left Platform
International Viewpoint, May 27


by Stathis Kouvelakis [facebook May 24]


Syriza’s Central Committee on 23/24 May, 44% in favour of of the text
of the Left Platform calling for a rupture in the negotiations and for
an alternative plan.

At the central committee session which ended a few hours ago, the Left
Platform submitted the following text, which got 75 votes, with 95
against and one blank vote. The text calls for a break with the
lenders starting with a default on the payment of the debt.

In the text adopted by the majority of the central committee, four
conditions of an ‘acceptable compromise” are listed:

 Low primary budgetary surpluses

 No further cuts to wages and pensions

 Restructuring the debt

 A significant package for public investment, particularly in
infrastructures and new technologies.

To these the text adds the “indispensable reinstatement of collective
conventions and the gradual rise of the minimum wage to 751 euros [its
2009 level]” and stipulates that “any changes in fiscal policy should
promote social justice by alleviating the burden of those who are
economically disadvantaged and forcing the well-off and tax-escapers
at last to pay”.

In his opening report, Alexis Tsipras adopted a firm tone but avoided
any precise reference to the current state of the negotiations and
what was the basis of discussion of a possible agreement, referring
only to the four conditions mentioned above, which do not clarify most
of the points of disagreement. The session was also marked by the
intervention of the president of Parliament Zoe Kostantopoulou, who
supported openly a one-year suspension in the payment on the debt, on
the basis of the first conclusions of the Committee for the Auditing
of the Debt which are expected to come out in the next few days. She
also rejected the very controversial appointment of Lambis
Tagmatarchis as the new director of the reconstituted public
broadcasting company ERT. Tagmatarchis is a person very linked to the
media establishment and has already served as the director of ERT
under the PASOK government of George Papandreou.

The full text of the Left Platform

It has become now clear that the “institutions“ are not striving for
what some are calling an „honourable compromise”. An “honourable
compromise” cannot exist anyway by means of privatizations and new
burdens on the popular classes, and it certainly cannot exist without
a real end to austerity, without a restructuring of (the biggest part
of) the debt and without adequate provision of liquidity for the
revitalization of the economy.

What the ruling circles of the EU, the ECB and the IMF are ruthlessly
and consistently aiming for in the last [four] months, is to strangle
the economy, to milk even the last euro from the country´s reserves
and to push an “unprotected” government to full submission and
exemplary humiliation.

This tactic of the EU partners was also on display at the Riga summit.

The government has no other option but to proceed to a counterattack
with an alternative plan that is based on SYRIZA’s pre-electoral
pledges and the government’s programmatic announcements.

The following measures must immediately be implemented:

 The immediate nationalization of the banks with all necessary
accompanying measures to insure their function along transparent,
productive, developmental and social criteria.

 The establishment of democratic legality and transparency upon the
dominant media, along with the substantial control of their lending
obligations.

 The immediate termination of every grid protecting the country’s
scandal-immersed oligarchy.

 The suspension of privilege, privileging adjustments and immunity for
big economic interests.

 The substantial taxation of wealth and large properties, as well as
the taxation of top earners and of high corporate profitability.

 The immediate and full reintroduction, as well as safeguarding and
practical implementation of labour legislation and rights to trade
union organization.

The government has to counter decisively the propaganda of the ruling
circles that terrorizes the people with the scenario of full disaster
that the suspension of debt servicing and of an eventual exit from the
Eurozone will allegedly bring upon the country.

The greatest disaster facing the country is the imposition of a new
memorandum in one form or another and the extension of the
implementation of past memoranda.

This development must be a