Re: [OPE] The Crisis of the Euro

I guess this relates to all treats we are currently having. But I put it here to support Paul B's statement below. It is a quote from German Chancellor Angela Merkel's new year address. The speech as a whole seems to be not translated yet. Since I have very limited time I will try to translate only one passage. It would have been however very interesting to analyse the whole speech to get a meaning of what bourgeois politicians in the face of world economic crisis try to do:

"Meine Devise ist: Wir wollen die Auswirkungen der weltweiten
Finanzkrise nicht einfach überstehen. Wir wollen stärker aus ihr
herausgehen, als wir hineingekommen sind. Das geht, das können wir
gemeinsam schaffen!" (http://www.bundeskanzlerin.de/nn_5296/Content/DE/Rede/2008/12/2008-12-31-merkel-neujahrsansprache.html)

"My motto is: we do not want simply survive the effects of world-wide financial crisis. We want to come out of it stronger than we went into it. This is possible, we can make it together!"

Similar statements about the question to how to handle the crisis  have been made by various other leading politicians and figures from industrial and economic organisations. What is interesting about this statement is that it clearly states what means and way(s) German burgeois politicians are going apply to handle the crisis. The underlying principle in this quotation is that of expansion. Roland Koch, another leading politician from Merkel's party CDU, was more open and said we must enclose new market segments when we come out of the
crisis. Now as the world markets are already distributed among imperialist countries this is a clear statement for a redistribution. Mr. Obama's recovery-plan indicates in the same direction. So we may assume that the competition (economic, political, military technological etc.) among imperialist countries is going to sharpen. The question for working classes and socialist movement is how to overcome this situation before it comes to the situation that war between imperialist forces becomes continuation of politics with other means.
Cheers,
Dogan 

-----Original Message-----

From: paul bullock <paulbullock@ebms-ltd.co.uk>

To: Outline on Political Economy mailing list <ope@lists.csuchico.edu>

Sent: Sun, 25 Jan 2009 22:12

Subject: Re: [OPE] The Crisis of the Euro

Dave, 

 

given your enthusiasm for Rosa ( which we all share I imagine) i'm a bit
suprised that you say you are slowly trying to read up on
imperialism......although such an honest staement does reflect the
peculiarly common position amongst left 'economists'.... 

 

 . anyway, I wanted to say that 'accusations' of fascism were not
inaccurate in the cases of Mussolini's Italy, Nazi Germany and Japan during
the second inter-imperalist world slaughter.... so I guess you are worried
about the use of the term in the case of ....... USA? UK? France? ... When
imperialist states become more seriously debilitated by economic crisis then
it is clear that the
use of violence by the state against the working class,
and the removal of democratic rights is typical. If we take it that inter
imperialist rivalry, whatever its particular forms, will deepen as the
struggle for markets and materials deepens, then the political definition of
fascism will in fact become more appropriate for such states. This is not
to be pessimistic about the role of the working class must take on, but a
reflection on the lesson of modern history. With respect to 'leftists'...
well we don't live in a world where emmotions and reactions are all
concisely expressed by a universal standard use of words....and that is no
excuse for understanding and demonstrating the fact of imperialism. 

 

----- Original Message -----
From: "Dave Zachariah" <davez@kth.se> 

To: "Outline on Political Economy mailing list" <ope@lists.csuchico.edu> 

Sent: Sunday, January 25, 2009 11:19 AM 

Subject: Re: [OPE] The Crisis of the Euro 

 

> paul bullock wrote: 

>> You are quite right, that there seems to be an absolute fear of
>> discussing imperialism by many in the acedemic/socialist/ heterodox etc
>> area... which if one compares the open investigation of the subject by
>> classical liberals at the turn of the 20th century eg Hobson, or
>> Schumpeter , is quite striking. 

> 

> I'm slowly trying to read up on the topic of imperialism. But my
> impression is that it is not a discussion that is 'fear
ed' among left-wing
> intellectuals but rather imperialism after de-colonisation of most of the
> world was a lot harder to comprehend and analyse than in the days of
> Hobson and Lenin. The political and economic dominance of the US in the
> world has operated quite differently than the British state during its
> peak. 

> 

> Moreover, I think 'imperialism' as a concept has lost its accuracy by
> misuse by leftists. C.f. the accusations of 'fascist'. 

> 

> //Dave Z 

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> ope@lists.csuchico.edu 

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>  

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Received on Mon Jan 26 03:02:13 2009