Creative Destruction
1st February 2015, 06:42
Translated for and reprinted on the Marxist-Humanist Initiative's website (COTG, or TGTP by their Greek name, is a left-comm magazine in Greece):
What happens to left political programs when social movements retreat?
It is interesting to draw up a list of the changes in SYRIZA’s political program from 2010 till today. In order to illustrate the changes more clearly, we divided them into the following categories.
Government debt management: the main position of SYRIZA’s program concerning the restructuring of government debt has remained the same since 2010, i.e. to renegotiate the government debt with the aim to write-off its biggest part. Recently, they have invoked the historical precedent of the 1953 debt relief treaty between the Federal Republic of Germany and creditor nations after the London Debt Conference. On the other hand, the main changes in their program can be summarized as follows: a) in 2010 and 2011, SYRIZA argued for direct borrowing from the European Central Bank (ECB) at very low interest rates, similar to the ones offered to private banks, whereas in their most recent program they argue for “quantitative easing” policies through the purchase of government bonds by the ECB; b) since 2012, SYRIZA has proposed a deferred payment of interest until the Greek economy recovers, as well as the establishment of an “economic growth clause” regulating its repayment; and c) in 2011, SYRIZA argued for an extensive audit of the government debt in order to cancel its odious part[5], a position which has since been removed from the program. It is also telling that in 2010 and 2011, SYRIZA called for the abolition of the European stability pacts, whereas in 2015 they just ask for the exclusion of public investment programs from the restrictions of the Stability and Growth Pact. Further, in 2010 SYRIZA advocated restriction of the free movement of capital, e.g., through the imposition of the Tobin tax, a position which has since been purged from the program. Last but not least, in the program of 2015, SYRIZA calls for the establishment of a substantial grace period so that the Greek state will not have to service any debt for a number of years in order to immediately channel funds to investment spending as a lever to “restart the economy”.
Banking system and private debt: there has been a fundamental change of the program of SYRIZA with regard to the banking system. In particular, in 2010 and 2011 SYRIZA advocated the nationalization of banks, whereas in 2015 they are only speaking about the establishment of a public investment bank and a number of specialized public credit institutions for small enterprises, self-managed enterprises and farmers. Every reference to the nationalization of banks has been erased. Since 2011 SYRIZA has included in its program a provision for the settlement of non-performing loans of households and enterprises, while the 2015 program promises that the auctioning of primary residences will be forbidden. Moreover, the 2015 program advocates the settlement of private debts to the state due to taxation or due to outstanding contributions to the social security funds by setting upper limits to the debt installments, which will be connected to the household income. At the same time, they promise to stop property foreclosures and criminal prosecutions of the individuals, who will voluntarily settle their debts to the state.
Privatizations/nationalizations: SYRIZA has not changed its position to stop the privatization of public utilities, public enterprises and infrastructure. However, its initial position in 2010 to “gradually” re-nationalize “strategic enterprises” such as telecommunications, electricity and infrastructures such as ports, airports and roads has gradually been abandoned. Since 2012, SYRIZA connects the re-nationalization of “strategic enterprises and infrastructure” with the availability of funds in order to buy out stock and property rights, a condition which practically means that the re-nationalization will not take place. Also, since 2012 SYRIZA advocates the transfer of the ownership of natural and mineral resources to a public treasury in order to use them as collateral for the issuance of government bonds. Their position of 2010 for the re-regulation of the market (utilities, etc.) has been abandoned.
Public investment: SYRIZA programs have not changed since 2010 with regard to the intention to increase public investment as a lever both for growth and for the so-called productive reconstruction of the economy. In this context, they promise to raise the expenditure on scientific research, mainly conducted in the Greek universities, and facilitate certain industries (e.g. medicine production). In 2015, SYRIZA calls for a European “new deal” that will reverse deflation and fuel growth in Europe through an EU-backed public investment program.
Taxation/expenditures: the position of SYRIZA in 2010 and 2011 to impose a tax of 45% on the undistributed profits of big capitalist enterprises has been erased from its program since 2012. Also, their promise of abolishing tax exemptions for shipping capital in 2010 and 2012 has been watered down, since in their most recent program they only talk about the review of all exemptions and the abolition of only those which are “not related to shipping activity per se”. As far as the taxation of “natural persons” is concerned, the 2010-11 position of increasing direct taxation of the richer strata has disappeared. In the program of 2015 they only speak about the gradual reduction of indirect taxation “after deliberation”, contrary to their position of 2010 for an immediate reduction of indirect taxes and their position of 2012 for the reduction of the value added tax in tourism and dining. However, in the 2015 program SYRIZA promises to increase the tax-free income for all natural persons to 12.000 euros, to abolish the new property tax, the heating oil tax and the poll tax imposed on self-employed workers. Further, they promise to reduce the tax burden on small enterprises. As far as state expenditures are concerned, during 2010 and 2011 SYRIZA advocated the increase of social expenditures and the reduction of defense expenditures, whereas since 2012 SYRIZA only talks about freezing the reduction of social expenditures. After 2014 their position is that they will maintain a balanced government budget, a position which is usually equivalent to the continuation of austerity, despite and in contradiction of their promises.
Wages/labour relations: the program of SYRIZA in 2010 promised an increase in wages, pensions and unemployment benefits. In 2011 their position had changed to the immediate restoration of wages and pensions to the levels of 2009, before the imposition of the memoranda programs. In 2012 they only advocated freezing wage and pension reductions and the gradual restoration of wages to the levels of 2009, whatever is meant by that, and only promised the immediate restoration of the minimum wage. In 2015 they are just promising the immediate restoration of the minimum wage to the levels of 2009. As far as labour (i.e. the exploitation) relations are concerned, in 2010 they advocated the imposition of new restrictions on lay-offs, whereas since 2012 they have only promised to abolish the 2010 legislation, which provides for the “liberalization” of the labour market by making lay-offs easier, reducing severance pay and limiting the application of collective agreements. SYRIZA still advocates the reduction of precarious labour through the abolition of indirect employment and the curbing of outsourcing in the public sector. However, they contradictorily admit that they will use subsidized programs of temporary labour in municipalities as well as “training programs” in order to reduce unemployment. Also in the programs of 2012 and 2015 SYRIZA promises the criminalization of employing undeclared (“black”) labour and the reinforcement of the state agency which [enforces] labour legislation. Last, in their most recent program they promise to fully restore Sunday holidays for retail shops.
Benefits: SYRIZA promised in 2010 to increase unemployment benefits. In their most recent program their position is just to restore unemployment benefits to the 2009 levels (461 euros for 12 months). In 2012 they promised to extend unemployment benefits to the self-employed while in the 2015 program they are talking about the redesign of unemployment benefits in order to cover a part of the self-employed workers without income. While they advocated the extension of duration of unemployment benefits to 2 years in 2012, in their most recent program they promise such an extension only for long-term unemployed workers. However, they promise to abolish the imposed restriction on the total length of benefits (400 total subsidized day benefits per 4 year period). Also, they have included in their recent program a number of benefits for the alleviation of extreme poverty, i.e. free electricity and food tickets for 300.000 households, free housing for homeless people through the utilization of empty municipality buildings and empty hotels which will be subsidized, free medical care for unemployed and people with no social security, free transport for unemployed and very low-income workers. SYRIZA had understood that it could gain many votes by promising to provide a pittance to the significant group of pauperized households.
Pensions: back in 2010 SYRIZA promised to abolish all the laws that had attacked social security rights and pensions since 1990 and recognize the debts of the state to the social security funds. In the 2012 program this position had been erased and they only promised to restore employer contributions to their previous higher levels, fight contribution evasion by the employers, freeze pension reductions, “gradually restore the pensions” to their previous levels and abolish the 2011 exemption of many jobs from the “hazardous occupation” category which is favorable to the workers. As mentioned above, the promise of 2010-11 to restore pensions to the 2009 levels has been replaced both in the 2012 and the 2015 programs by a promise to freeze pension reductions. Furthermore, in the 2015 program they claim that they will review the exemption of jobs from the “hazardous occupation” category, contrary to their 2012 promise to immediately abolish this exemption. They also claim that they will reduce retirement ages by 2 years, i.e., restore the retirement age to 65 years for full pension and to 60 years for reduced pension. Moreover, they promise to abolish the new method for the calculation of pensions after 1/1/2015, as well as the restrictions on the award of a reduced pension which exclude many workers from the right to get a pension (i.e. according to these restrictions, a worker should have contributions for 100 workdays per year within the last 5 years).
“Social economy” (self-managed sector): in 2010 the program of SYRIZA did not put much emphasis on the “social economy” apart from a reference to supporting farmers associations. This started to change in 2012 when the program promised to provide incentives and accommodations for the development of the “social economy”. This has completely changed in the 2015 program, where it becomes evident that SYRIZA gives much weight to this sector both for the reduction of unemployment and for the “productive reconstruction of the economy”. This change reflects the growth of the “social economy” sector, as more and more proletarians partially cover their needs or even make both ends meet by engaging either in such projects or in low cost businesses. Specifically, they promise to help the takeover and self-management of bankrupt enterprises by changing the bankruptcy law. Also they promise to support cooperative enterprises and associations through tax exemptions, European subsidies, and funding by specialized public credit institutions, as well as through the creation of support facilities providing consulting, accounting and legal services.
Public sector jobs: The 2012 program promised the abolition of the law on redundancies and lay-offs in the public sector. In the program of 2015, SYRIZA promises that the public sector workers who have been laid off or made redundant will return to their previous positions. They also promise to abolish the new employee and unit evaluation system and replace it with an evaluation system that will be based on “objective factors and indicators”, whatever is meant by that. Further, they are for the abolition of the new strict disciplinary law for public sector workers, which was imposed in the context of the memoranda legislation. Last but not least, they promise the creation of thousands of permanent stable public sector jobs in education, health care and social protection as a part of their commitment to create 300.000 jobs in total in the public, the private and the self-managed sectors.
***
The previously presented and rather long drawn-out catalogue of the changes in the program of SYRIZA illustrates convincingly the gradual watering down of its positions to a more timid social-democratic direction, as well as their contradictions. The gradual adjustment of SYRIZA to realpolitik shows that, after pruning out most of its positions which are considered unacceptable from the standpoint of the dominant neoliberal capitalist strategy in the Eurozone, and by keeping and maybe enriching the most harmless ones such as those concerning the so-called social economy, it can transform itself into a “fresh” and rather competent manager of the capitalist state.
http://www.marxisthumanistinitiative.org/international-news/on-syrizas-victory-statement-by-tptg.html
What happens to left political programs when social movements retreat?
It is interesting to draw up a list of the changes in SYRIZA’s political program from 2010 till today. In order to illustrate the changes more clearly, we divided them into the following categories.
Government debt management: the main position of SYRIZA’s program concerning the restructuring of government debt has remained the same since 2010, i.e. to renegotiate the government debt with the aim to write-off its biggest part. Recently, they have invoked the historical precedent of the 1953 debt relief treaty between the Federal Republic of Germany and creditor nations after the London Debt Conference. On the other hand, the main changes in their program can be summarized as follows: a) in 2010 and 2011, SYRIZA argued for direct borrowing from the European Central Bank (ECB) at very low interest rates, similar to the ones offered to private banks, whereas in their most recent program they argue for “quantitative easing” policies through the purchase of government bonds by the ECB; b) since 2012, SYRIZA has proposed a deferred payment of interest until the Greek economy recovers, as well as the establishment of an “economic growth clause” regulating its repayment; and c) in 2011, SYRIZA argued for an extensive audit of the government debt in order to cancel its odious part[5], a position which has since been removed from the program. It is also telling that in 2010 and 2011, SYRIZA called for the abolition of the European stability pacts, whereas in 2015 they just ask for the exclusion of public investment programs from the restrictions of the Stability and Growth Pact. Further, in 2010 SYRIZA advocated restriction of the free movement of capital, e.g., through the imposition of the Tobin tax, a position which has since been purged from the program. Last but not least, in the program of 2015, SYRIZA calls for the establishment of a substantial grace period so that the Greek state will not have to service any debt for a number of years in order to immediately channel funds to investment spending as a lever to “restart the economy”.
Banking system and private debt: there has been a fundamental change of the program of SYRIZA with regard to the banking system. In particular, in 2010 and 2011 SYRIZA advocated the nationalization of banks, whereas in 2015 they are only speaking about the establishment of a public investment bank and a number of specialized public credit institutions for small enterprises, self-managed enterprises and farmers. Every reference to the nationalization of banks has been erased. Since 2011 SYRIZA has included in its program a provision for the settlement of non-performing loans of households and enterprises, while the 2015 program promises that the auctioning of primary residences will be forbidden. Moreover, the 2015 program advocates the settlement of private debts to the state due to taxation or due to outstanding contributions to the social security funds by setting upper limits to the debt installments, which will be connected to the household income. At the same time, they promise to stop property foreclosures and criminal prosecutions of the individuals, who will voluntarily settle their debts to the state.
Privatizations/nationalizations: SYRIZA has not changed its position to stop the privatization of public utilities, public enterprises and infrastructure. However, its initial position in 2010 to “gradually” re-nationalize “strategic enterprises” such as telecommunications, electricity and infrastructures such as ports, airports and roads has gradually been abandoned. Since 2012, SYRIZA connects the re-nationalization of “strategic enterprises and infrastructure” with the availability of funds in order to buy out stock and property rights, a condition which practically means that the re-nationalization will not take place. Also, since 2012 SYRIZA advocates the transfer of the ownership of natural and mineral resources to a public treasury in order to use them as collateral for the issuance of government bonds. Their position of 2010 for the re-regulation of the market (utilities, etc.) has been abandoned.
Public investment: SYRIZA programs have not changed since 2010 with regard to the intention to increase public investment as a lever both for growth and for the so-called productive reconstruction of the economy. In this context, they promise to raise the expenditure on scientific research, mainly conducted in the Greek universities, and facilitate certain industries (e.g. medicine production). In 2015, SYRIZA calls for a European “new deal” that will reverse deflation and fuel growth in Europe through an EU-backed public investment program.
Taxation/expenditures: the position of SYRIZA in 2010 and 2011 to impose a tax of 45% on the undistributed profits of big capitalist enterprises has been erased from its program since 2012. Also, their promise of abolishing tax exemptions for shipping capital in 2010 and 2012 has been watered down, since in their most recent program they only talk about the review of all exemptions and the abolition of only those which are “not related to shipping activity per se”. As far as the taxation of “natural persons” is concerned, the 2010-11 position of increasing direct taxation of the richer strata has disappeared. In the program of 2015 they only speak about the gradual reduction of indirect taxation “after deliberation”, contrary to their position of 2010 for an immediate reduction of indirect taxes and their position of 2012 for the reduction of the value added tax in tourism and dining. However, in the 2015 program SYRIZA promises to increase the tax-free income for all natural persons to 12.000 euros, to abolish the new property tax, the heating oil tax and the poll tax imposed on self-employed workers. Further, they promise to reduce the tax burden on small enterprises. As far as state expenditures are concerned, during 2010 and 2011 SYRIZA advocated the increase of social expenditures and the reduction of defense expenditures, whereas since 2012 SYRIZA only talks about freezing the reduction of social expenditures. After 2014 their position is that they will maintain a balanced government budget, a position which is usually equivalent to the continuation of austerity, despite and in contradiction of their promises.
Wages/labour relations: the program of SYRIZA in 2010 promised an increase in wages, pensions and unemployment benefits. In 2011 their position had changed to the immediate restoration of wages and pensions to the levels of 2009, before the imposition of the memoranda programs. In 2012 they only advocated freezing wage and pension reductions and the gradual restoration of wages to the levels of 2009, whatever is meant by that, and only promised the immediate restoration of the minimum wage. In 2015 they are just promising the immediate restoration of the minimum wage to the levels of 2009. As far as labour (i.e. the exploitation) relations are concerned, in 2010 they advocated the imposition of new restrictions on lay-offs, whereas since 2012 they have only promised to abolish the 2010 legislation, which provides for the “liberalization” of the labour market by making lay-offs easier, reducing severance pay and limiting the application of collective agreements. SYRIZA still advocates the reduction of precarious labour through the abolition of indirect employment and the curbing of outsourcing in the public sector. However, they contradictorily admit that they will use subsidized programs of temporary labour in municipalities as well as “training programs” in order to reduce unemployment. Also in the programs of 2012 and 2015 SYRIZA promises the criminalization of employing undeclared (“black”) labour and the reinforcement of the state agency which [enforces] labour legislation. Last, in their most recent program they promise to fully restore Sunday holidays for retail shops.
Benefits: SYRIZA promised in 2010 to increase unemployment benefits. In their most recent program their position is just to restore unemployment benefits to the 2009 levels (461 euros for 12 months). In 2012 they promised to extend unemployment benefits to the self-employed while in the 2015 program they are talking about the redesign of unemployment benefits in order to cover a part of the self-employed workers without income. While they advocated the extension of duration of unemployment benefits to 2 years in 2012, in their most recent program they promise such an extension only for long-term unemployed workers. However, they promise to abolish the imposed restriction on the total length of benefits (400 total subsidized day benefits per 4 year period). Also, they have included in their recent program a number of benefits for the alleviation of extreme poverty, i.e. free electricity and food tickets for 300.000 households, free housing for homeless people through the utilization of empty municipality buildings and empty hotels which will be subsidized, free medical care for unemployed and people with no social security, free transport for unemployed and very low-income workers. SYRIZA had understood that it could gain many votes by promising to provide a pittance to the significant group of pauperized households.
Pensions: back in 2010 SYRIZA promised to abolish all the laws that had attacked social security rights and pensions since 1990 and recognize the debts of the state to the social security funds. In the 2012 program this position had been erased and they only promised to restore employer contributions to their previous higher levels, fight contribution evasion by the employers, freeze pension reductions, “gradually restore the pensions” to their previous levels and abolish the 2011 exemption of many jobs from the “hazardous occupation” category which is favorable to the workers. As mentioned above, the promise of 2010-11 to restore pensions to the 2009 levels has been replaced both in the 2012 and the 2015 programs by a promise to freeze pension reductions. Furthermore, in the 2015 program they claim that they will review the exemption of jobs from the “hazardous occupation” category, contrary to their 2012 promise to immediately abolish this exemption. They also claim that they will reduce retirement ages by 2 years, i.e., restore the retirement age to 65 years for full pension and to 60 years for reduced pension. Moreover, they promise to abolish the new method for the calculation of pensions after 1/1/2015, as well as the restrictions on the award of a reduced pension which exclude many workers from the right to get a pension (i.e. according to these restrictions, a worker should have contributions for 100 workdays per year within the last 5 years).
“Social economy” (self-managed sector): in 2010 the program of SYRIZA did not put much emphasis on the “social economy” apart from a reference to supporting farmers associations. This started to change in 2012 when the program promised to provide incentives and accommodations for the development of the “social economy”. This has completely changed in the 2015 program, where it becomes evident that SYRIZA gives much weight to this sector both for the reduction of unemployment and for the “productive reconstruction of the economy”. This change reflects the growth of the “social economy” sector, as more and more proletarians partially cover their needs or even make both ends meet by engaging either in such projects or in low cost businesses. Specifically, they promise to help the takeover and self-management of bankrupt enterprises by changing the bankruptcy law. Also they promise to support cooperative enterprises and associations through tax exemptions, European subsidies, and funding by specialized public credit institutions, as well as through the creation of support facilities providing consulting, accounting and legal services.
Public sector jobs: The 2012 program promised the abolition of the law on redundancies and lay-offs in the public sector. In the program of 2015, SYRIZA promises that the public sector workers who have been laid off or made redundant will return to their previous positions. They also promise to abolish the new employee and unit evaluation system and replace it with an evaluation system that will be based on “objective factors and indicators”, whatever is meant by that. Further, they are for the abolition of the new strict disciplinary law for public sector workers, which was imposed in the context of the memoranda legislation. Last but not least, they promise the creation of thousands of permanent stable public sector jobs in education, health care and social protection as a part of their commitment to create 300.000 jobs in total in the public, the private and the self-managed sectors.
***
The previously presented and rather long drawn-out catalogue of the changes in the program of SYRIZA illustrates convincingly the gradual watering down of its positions to a more timid social-democratic direction, as well as their contradictions. The gradual adjustment of SYRIZA to realpolitik shows that, after pruning out most of its positions which are considered unacceptable from the standpoint of the dominant neoliberal capitalist strategy in the Eurozone, and by keeping and maybe enriching the most harmless ones such as those concerning the so-called social economy, it can transform itself into a “fresh” and rather competent manager of the capitalist state.
http://www.marxisthumanistinitiative.org/international-news/on-syrizas-victory-statement-by-tptg.html