The "erratic Marxism" of Mr. Varoufakis

The ‘erratic Marxism’ of Mr. Varoufakis

Written and translated from the Greek by Gori

Blog: Revolutionary Vigilance

The Greek Finance Minister was very clear in his ‘famous BBC interview’, but our petty-bourgeois commentators were too busy commenting on his style and the absence of a tie. He said that the current crisis has so far been dealt with as a liquidity crisis, which it is not. He said that it is instead an insolvency crisis. What he did not say is that this is a capitalist crisis. That the recession was caused by the inherent contradictions of capitalism, and more specifically by the anarchy of production, and by the gap and necessary breakdown between production and consumption, which produces all sorts of distortions the more the productive force of capitalism develops. What he did not say is that Varoufakis-Syriza’s neo-Keynesian proposal is a proposal to deal merely with the results and the symptoms of the problem (i.e. capitalist crisis), and not to eradicate the problem at its roots (i.e. the capitalist mode of production itself).

Evel Economakis-The Strange Marxism of Syriza

The Strange Marxism of Syriza

By Evel Economakis*

(Historian)

In the eyes of Angela Merkel and the Troika, the pre-election promises Syriza made to the Greek people are “socialist”, even “extremist”: renounce the usurious debt, kick out the Troika bailiffs, and put an end to austerity that has plagued the country for the last five years. So too are some of the statements the new government has made since it won the elections on January 25th, including Finance Minister Giannis Varoufakis’ plan to halt the privatization of two ports in Greece and increase the minimum wage and rehire some public sector workers.

None of these things however make Syriza socialist. And let us not forget that its junior partner in government, ANEL, or the Party of Independent Greeks, includes extreme right-wingers. Indeed, this mix is reflected endymatologically in the way the members of the government dress. While many refuse to wear ties, and some don’t even tuck in their shirts, others don three-piece suits.