More On Germany And Greece

We recently wrote here about the importance of the German and Greek elections and the questions they raise for the left internationally.

Some on the German left are attributing the terrible loss taken by the Social Democrats (SPD) in the elections to reforms in Germany which cut some unemployment benefits. The left vote advanced and gave the Left party (Die Linke) 11.9 per cent of the votes and the Greens 10.7 per cent.

In the aftermath of the election the ruling Christian Democrats and the right wing Free Democrats have sounded triumphant and have been lauded by the American right wing, and particularly by corporate interests here who want to see anti-labor and anti-environmental legislation advance. They also would like to see a weaker Germany--and a weaker Europe--with a stronger dollar in place. Will German capital and the right wing there take the bait and compete, give American imperialism what it wants or stand on something like a national principle?

One of the controversial national leaders of Die Linke has stepped down from national party leadership. The Green party, which has too often befriended NATO and what it might represent in a new (read pipe dream) Europe, then started talking about a regional coalition with--guess who!--the right wing. This might give the Greens a path to a power-sharing arrangement regionally and a better shot in future elections, but it also effectively puts some Greens in the service of imperialism and risks repeating the failures of the social democrats eventually. Will the Greens get their hand at managing a part of the economy in crisis and misdirecting the left and take that opportunity or not? This is what cost the SPD its heart, soul and power.

It is cliche to say that no good deed goes unpunished, but it is also often true. The Greek elections gave the social democrats there a good victory and gave the left a general advance while also polarizing the country and giving the far right there some needed numbers as well. The Greek left-led labor movement in particular acted with admirable discipline before the elections and helped give the left its votes. Wall Street noted the Greek left's advance with dismay. "Why can't they more like the Germans?!" seemed to be the line on Wall Street last week and the week before. They have been saying this for 70 years.

Multinational capital responded to the Greek vote by downgrading the country's sovereign-credit rating and suddenly discovering that Greek accounting is slipshod. The government announced that the 2009 budget deficit is much worse than anticipated and multinational capital and European Commission both responded by expressing their new-found lack of trust in the Greek economy and government. These warnings have a hollow ring to them since the outgoing conservative government revised the economic figures for both 2008 and 2009, and held power then, but they still serve to provoke outside intervention in Greece and push the incoming government towards a more conservative model. The Greek social democrats will be caught between a polarized and restive electorate and hostile international economic interests no matter what they do now. The downgrading of Greece's sovereign-credit rating and the opportunistic criticism of Greek accounting practices is a first shot fired at the new government--and it comes even before the social democrats have fully taken power. The real threat is that Greece's credit ratings may be cut again in the coming months.

The Greek government is responding cautiously. It will take 3 or 4 years, speaking optimistically, for the Greek social democrats to cut the country's deficit to a level acceptable to the European Union. The Greek statistics services will be separated from the Finance Ministry, which comes as a mixed blessing. The draft budget will be presented next week. We appreciate the need for PASOK, the Greek social democratic party, to proceed cautiously. We hope that PASOK will cast its lot with the left, uphold the independence of the country and put forward a budget which does not penalize the working class. International solidarity between the left-led and social democratic-led countries is needed and should be seen as a part of an international anti-imperialist strategy.