A Future That Works

A Future That Works
NO2aTory/Liberal coalition - Vote with your feet for an alternative to a neo-liberal economy and neo-conservative state Yes2aLeftFront and a Red/Green Left Alliance

Friday 10 June 2011

It’s time for a new ‘‘historic bloc’’

Greek anti-austerity protest in Syntagma Square

‘‘We are here because enough is enough’’ said a 40-year-old mother of four, who has just managed to find employment after a year on the dole. Christina works as a cleaner at a hair salon for six hours daily and earns 500 euros a month. ‘‘We must show them that they have taken enough so far, we must rise up’’ referring to Greece’s political elite. ‘‘I am not indignant, I am determined’’ Lakis, a civil servant in his fifties says ‘‘There is nothing left for us, the people are condemned to misery’’.

6 comments:

  1. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  2. I would like to see a stronger British Left/Green alliance that could break through on the electoral front, which would be in line with the Communist Parties strategy of a Left-Labour government in partnership with other progressive political forces. Class power won’t be change through the ballot box; it’s a strategic and tactical tool for creating opportunities and weakens the capitalist classes both in Britain and Europe.

    I see an alliance with the European Left as vital and that’s why I have argued at my CPB branch that if we ignore the European Left group because of history between the Euro-communist (Marxism Today) elite who ran the party in the 1980’s and rank and file (Morning Star) party activists we are failing to apply Marxist historical-materialism.

    As a Marxist-Leninist party the CPB should be leading the British Left/Green alliance towards the dialectical conclusion that any strategy for a British road to socialism has to incorporate a European road. If we are to succeed in forming a new historic bloc that can fight back and take the initiative it will succeed only as a part of a European offensive in solidarity with the other communist parties of Europe and its peoples.

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  3. Coalition of Resistance

    Eurozone in Crisis – Solidarity with the Resistance

    Speakers
    Esther Romero (Democracia Real Ya),
    Sofia Hilari (Greek anti-capitalist activist),
    Kate Hudson (CoR), and Alex Kenny (NUT)

    6.30pm, Wednesday 15 June,
    University of London Union,
    Malet Street, London,
    WC1E (nearest station: Euston)

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  4. European Left group

    The Communist Party of Austria (Kommunistische Partei Österreichs), Communist Parties of Belgium (KP Flanders and PC Wallonie-Bruxelles), Communist Party of Finland (Suomen kommunistinen puolue), French Communist Party (Parti Communiste Français), Communist Party of Italy (Partito della rifondazione comunista), Communists Party of Moldova (Partidul Comuniştilor din Republica Moldova), Communists Party of San Marino (Rifondazione Comunista Sammarinese) and Communist Party of Spain Partido Comunista de España.

    GUE/NGL grouping

    Communist Party of Czech Republic (Komunistická strana Cech a Moravy), Communist Parties of France (Parti Communiste Français and Parti Communiste Réunionnais), Communist Parties of Italy (Partito dei Comunisti Italiani and Partito della rifondazione comunista),Communist Party of Greece(Kommunistiko Komma Elladas) and Communist Party of Portugal (Partido Comunista Português)

    The French Communist Party (Parti Communiste Français), Communist Party of Italy (Partito della rifondazione comunista) are in the European Left Party and the GUE/NGL grouping.

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  5. The people had finally sussed that voting Liberal-Democrat was keeping the Tories in power when they should have been gone years before if the gang of four hadn’t split the Labour vote. And the reason we have a Tory/Liberal coalition government now is because the people had finally sussed in 2010 that new-labour was neo-liberal/neo-conservative and voted Liberal-Democrat like they voted Labour in 1997 to get rid of the neo-liberal/neo-conservative policies of Thatcher/Major and Blair/Brown. Only to find that voting Liberal-Democrat meant getting a further continuation of neo-liberal/neo-conservative policies at an accelerated rate under the Cameron/Clegg Tory/Liberal coalition.

    When the global financial system collapsed in 2008 it was Gordon Brown who led the way in adopting neo-Keynesian economic and political strategies that saved global capitalism from collapse, We know that the institutions of international finance capital, World Bank, IMF, European Central Bank etc. and the capitalist elite in government from the USA, EU and Britain are intent on making sure it’s the people who pay for the crisis they made rather than them. Our problem is we don’t have a political party committed to defending the post war settlement between capital and labour and the democratic controls on global finance capital that would allow social welfare capitalism to continue in Britain, Europe and Scandinavia.

    The question therefore for socialist is the Labour Party and the social-democratic parties of Europe still the best/only option or is it time to start turning to the European left parties and the GUE/NGL grouping. If this becomes the case then will it be that the people have to turn to the Alliance for Green Socialism, Communist Party of Britain and Socialist Party for an alternative to the Labour Party and European Social-Democratic group of parties.

    If this is the case how long before a British Left grouping can win council, Westminster and European parliamentary seats? This is why most socialists and social-democrats have stayed in the Labour Party, but for how much longer if the Blairite right-wing who are neither socialist nor social-democratic, but are neo-liberal and neo-conservative stay in control before they choose to join the broad left alternative.

    Is It time for a new ‘‘historic bloc’’ of the broad left?

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  6. I think as a Marxist that the ‘‘historic bloc’’ formed after the second world war for welfare capitalism has probably served its role as a force for democratic and social progress. After the First World War, Soviet Revolution, I930’s Depression, rise of Fascism and Second World War the capitalist classes felt the need to make conscious which produced the post-war settlement. In Britain, Europe and Scandinavia social-democratic welfare capitalism became the model, based on Keynesian economic and social policies. By the late 1960’s to mid-1970’s there arose a crisis of class power in the democracies of Western Europe and Britain.

    At the same time the Soviet model of socialism began to stagnate and increasing discontent within the countries of Eastern Europe. This allowed the capitalist elite based around the theories coming from Hayek, Milton Friedman, the University of Chicago and Washington to mount an ideological offensive against the Keynesian model of welfare capitalism known as Free Market capitalism based on the ideologies of neo-liberalism and neo-conservatism. It’s doubtful that there is any real possibility of a return to the Keynesian model of welfare capitalism, so whilst the broad left must attempt to defend the concrete gains achieved in the 20th century it must also look beyond the social-democrat reformist approach to achieving economic and political social progress.

    This is why as a Marxist I would argue we need a new ‘‘historic bloc’’ of the broad left that goes beyond the Keynesian economic model of welfare capitalism and for the transformation of society from the Keynesian and neo-liberal/neo-conservative model that has dominated the global economy respectively from 1945-1975 and 1975-2005. Since 2008 capitalism has entered a new phase of crisis similar to that of the late 1920’s and early 1930’s, The USA and Britain have tried to solve the crisis of capitalism and the need for economic growth (social-geographer David Harvey says capitalism need a growth rate of 3.0%) by imperialist wars to secure access to oil in Iraq and gas supplies through Afghanistan.

    We now see the European Union becoming involved imperialist wars in the pursuit of oil in Libya along with the USA and Britain and following the economic policies of privatization and marketization of energy, rail and services just as Britain has over the last thirty years. Now that Europe is abandoning the Keynesian model of welfare capitalism and adopting the neo-liberal/neo-conservative free market model of capitalism it would appear the social-democratic reformist road to socialism has gone as far as it can. If this is the case then a new progressive ‘‘historic bloc’’ is required that can replace the capitalist social, political and economic mode with a sustainable socialist economic and political model of development.

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