Crisis in Germany

by - Fri Jun 03, 2005 11:16

i think germany is very interesting at the moment, especially the verbal attacks that leading spd members made against capitalism and especially international finance capital before the election in nrw. it shows the depth of opposition and that the spd leadership is most definitely worried about being punished by the working class as it fulfils the role of bridesmaid for german capitalism.

the editorial in the economist a few weeks ago was clearly offended when it responded to the spds chairman calling international finance capital "locusts", because who could describe international companies taking over german companies firing all the workers and making a huge profit anything like locusts!!

more significantly is the development of WASG and the clear potential alluded to above of a new working class party emerging from the struggle against agenda 2010 and hartz IV. comparatively with brazil and P-SOL thew development of WASG is clearly at a lower stage right now but depending on the way the election goes in germany at a certain stage WASG could develop very quickly and significantly.

german capitalism is in crisis the latest copy of the economist gives figures for confidence of german business and it has dropped to a new low of 13-14 (historically to give an idea of what that figure really means the average for business in germany is 34), im not to sure how they calculate that figure but it is clear that business is not confident of the future in germany.

just to respond to above article respect in england and wales is nowhere near as developed as a conscious expression of working class politics as the ssp, not to mention WASG or P-SOL. Respect is more of anti-war expression than anything although i won't hesitate to add that a credible anti-war expression is a progression forward from what was there previously.

The above article is correct to point to the fact that we could see a breakthrough or development along similar lines here, though i would add a rejoinder that we mustn't get too far ahead of ourselves and that where this developmewnt might come from is still an open question (the water charges in north has clear potential to develop a political expression if the government really is stupid enough to bring them in).

My last point would be to describe a cringingly bad article by the international website of the socialist equality party (World Socialist Website) which describes WASG as a bunch of trade union bureaucrats who are sowing illusions in a parliamentary road to socialism and that it is doomed to repeat the mistakes of the spd! the experience of reformism in general has been discredited though that is not to say that the question of reformism is done and dusted but that history has shown that small reforms that will subsume and superseed capitalism to socialism will never work. on the question about the effect of the euro and germany, what has been more significant for germany has been the enlargement of the eu's common market as this has allowed the moving en masse of jobs to countries like czech republic and poland where there are people willing and able to do the work of the german working class but at a lower wage level. if anyone knows anymore about the effect of the euro on germany i would be reaqlly interested to hear about it.

by socialist - swp Fri Jun 03, 2005 04:49

Labour continues move to right



The Labour Party conference in Tralee at the weekend saw a continuation of its drift to the right.

Pat Rabbitte’s coalition strategy of seeking a pre-election pact with Fine Gael was approved overwhelmingly. The opposition came from two souces. Firstly those who believed it tactically better to keep the options open – which would allow the possibility of a Lab-FF coalition after the next election (a prospect Rabbitte has rejected) and a smaller group demanding Labour keep its independence. These included Decaln Bree from Sligo, John Bolger of the ATGWU and Tommy Broughan TD for Dublin NE.

25 years ago there was a split in Labour over the question of coalition in principle, which led to the formation of the short-lived Socialist Labour Party. This included such figures as Mattie Merrigan, then leader of the ATGWU and Noel Browne.

Today, as Michael D Higgins pointed out, the differences were all about tactics. An overwhelming majority of delegates support the idea of coalition with one of the right wing parties. Most reject Fianna Fail, following the disastrous electoral drubbing Labour received after the FF-Lab coalition of 1993, which saw the Labour vote collapse as thousands of Labour voters walked away from the party in disgust.

We put a leaflet into the conference call ing for delegates to reject coalitionism, pointing out that a Fine Gael -led government would not be an alternative. Here are some extracts:-



“Fine Gael is the B team for the Irish rich – promoting the same neo-liberal policies while pretending to be cleaner.

“The only reason they appear less corrupt is because they have not been in government for as long as Fianna Fail. Fine Gael, however, was the party of Michael Lowry and party that got donations from Denis O Brien and Ben Dunne.

“Fine Gael does not favour greater taxes on the wealthy. Instead it turns its wrath on public sector workers, claiming that their wages increases are too high.

“It is a party that wants to both keep US troops coming through Shannon and favours the greater militarization of Europe.

“The proposal for an alliance with Fine Gael already has had two damaging outcomes.

“First, it is helping to revive the fortunes of Fine Gael. A year ago, there was a serious debate about its very future with many dismissing Enda Kenny as a non-entity. Today thanks to the failure of Labour to lead the anger against the FF-PD government – as witnessed by the shambles over the Presidential elections - its fortunes have begun to revive.

“Second, it is pulling Labour to the right. Pat Rabbitte has endorsed the ‘law and order’ rhetoric of Fine Gael by supporting the Anti-Social Behaviour Orders. These can only lead to the greater criminalisation of youth and will also be used against protestors in future. In the past, Labour supported the Public Order Act claiming it was just to deal with ‘rowdyism’. Today the same Act has been used to criminalise over 100 anti-war and anti-globalisation protestors.

“Fianna Fail and Fine Gael have far more in common with each other – than either has with Labour. Yet they carefully avoid going into coalition to maintain the charade of competition between their rival brands. But underneath the brands, they are fundamentally similar.”



The Labour conference also backed by a large majority the neo-liberal EU constitution at precisely the moment French voters were giving Chirac and Raffarin a bloody nose.

Two “left” motions of note were passed, the effect of which is open to doubt. First Conference committed itself to seek from Fine Gael a commitment to shut Shannon to US military as a condition of coalition. That Fine Gael would agree to such a position outside of a huge movement on the streets is extremely unlikely. Secondly UCD Labour managed to get an emergency motion passed supporting SINALTRAINAL’s campaign for trade union rights in Colombia, despite opposition form some SIPTU members. The price of admitting this motion to the confernce floor was that the movers had to remove all reference to the Coca-Cola boycott.

The movement of social-democracy into social-liberalism – expressed most dramatically by Blair in Britain -- is clearly evident here as well. This leaves many people without a political home. Interestingly even the Labour Party website showed the extent of opposition to its pro-coalition and pro-EU contstitution stance. 80% disagree with the election strategy and 67% disagree with the position on the EU.

A response to this retreat of social democracy has been the emergence of significant breaks to the left in other countries. As well as the Scottish Socialist Party and the impressive results from the Respect in Britain, the WAHL in Germany was recently joined by senior SPD figure and former Shroeder associate Lafontain.

We need to be open to the possibility and to encourage a similar development here which may become possible over the next few years.

by Old Wag Thu Jun 02, 2005 20:01

The objective conditions will never be right in Ireland because the Thomas Street SP bods are too busy responding to everything on Indymedia.

by :-) Thu Jun 02, 2005 19:13

:-)
Any opinions in the house yet, on why the monetary union ought be kept or ditched or re-negotiated?

by Mark P - Socialist Party (pers cap) Thu Jun 02, 2005 19:05

The WASG is very interesting. It comes initially from an initiative on the part of a section of the trade union movement opposed to the long rightward march of the Social Democrats. There is a lot of potential for the new organisation, with the big movements against social cuts all across Germany and now with talk of Lafontaine and the PDS linking up with it. There are also a lot of dangers ahead, not least the undemocratic attacks which the WASG have been making on the left in the organisation, and in particular Socialist Alternative.

by Frida Thu Jun 02, 2005 18:35

Dem objective conditions are coming 2gether. Real Stalinists n all.