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19 Απριλίου 2012

by Shawn Hattingh (ZACF)

As the crisis in Europe has intensified, class war and imperialism have deepened in Greece. Indeed, the Greek working class has been subjected to further attacks from the local ruling class – comprised of capitalists and high ranking state officials – and imperialist powers. In order to receive the latest ‘bailout’ from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and European Central Bank (ECB), a bailout that goes straight to the banks that own most of the Greek state’s debt, the Greek state was told by the German, French and US ruling classes to once again reduce pensions by more than 15%, to fully privatise public utilities, to yet again cut social spending, and to implement more wage cuts, including a 22% reduction in the minimum wage. By 2014 it is planned that the Greek state would have cut spending, mostly on social services, by a further 12 billion Euros. All of this has come on the back of earlier rounds of austerity measures and the Greek working class has been under severe pressure: homelessness has been growing at a rapid rate and the unemployment rate has shot past 20%.

Why the ruling classes are attacking the working class

Of course, the ruling classes in Germany and France – who in reality also control the European Union (EU) – have a major interest in demanding their pound of flesh from the Greek working class. Many German and French banks hold the Greek state’s debt, through bonds, and it is in their interests to ensure that this debt is paid – even if only part of it. As a result these banks have called on their respective home states to intervene to ensure this happens. Consequently, the German and French states recently unveiled a deal, linked to the latest ‘bailout’, to ensure a large part of the debt is paid. The main stream media has portrayed this deal as debt relief for the Greek state, but it is not as simple as that. The deal involves banks agreeing to reduce the value of the Greek bonds they hold. Part of this also includes the banks swapping bonds into new loans to the Greek state. The deal will, in reality, see 93 billion Euros of the latest bailout going to the banks in return for them reducing the value of the Greek bonds they hold by 107 billion Euros. This deal, ultimately, ensures that the banks holding the Greek state’s debt will get most of what is owed to them back. Central to this, the Greek state is expected to pay the rest of its debts – and the new value of the bonds – in return: thus ensuring it does not default. As the Russian anarchist Alexander Berkman pointed out, imperialism often involves large companies calling on the powerful states in which they are from “to defend their interests…and protect their profits”.[1] In Greece, a classic example of such imperialism is playing itself out as the French and German...

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