[lbo-talk] Tea Party: less than meets the eye

Marv Gandall marvgand at gmail.com
Thu Nov 11 07:38:17 PST 2010


On 2010-11-11, at 9:33 AM, Wojtek S wrote:


> Marv: "Not only would it never be elected, but national states and central
> banks would not surrender their sovereignity to it."
>
> [WS:] But have not they already done so by adopting the Euro? Countries
> that were concerned about the sovereignty of their central bank opted out of
> the Eurozone, no?

I understood the call to be for a global central bank and global currency and my point was addressed to that. My mistake.


> My point was that Eurocapitalists would have to swallow
> the bitter pill of a redistributive mechanism for the same reason they had
> to swallow the bitter pill of welfare state some 60 years ago - because
> state administrators, fearing a breakdown of the institutional order, would
> force that pill down their throats. Of course, this is only a conjecture,
> as good as everyone else's, but this conjecture had some historical
> precedents.

The banks will have to suffer defaults, it seems clear, because austerity is making the political and economic situation worse, not better. But, beyond that, what redistributive mechanisms are they talking about? Germany, which calls the shots, wants to punish "profligate spenders" to avoid future debt crises. I don't think they've anywhere reached the point where they fear the protests are uncontrollable and that important structural change is required to contain them. But, as I said, I'm not that in touch with events in Europe. Wendy, Angelus, and some of the other more knowedgeable correspondents on this list are in a better position to comment.


> In any case, I am convinced that Eurolabor's best weapon against the
> neo-liberal onslaught is the state - as it was in the past, provided of
> course that they can exert the same pressure on it as they did in the past.
> I am less sure if the same applies to the US though, because the state is
> a very different animal here, much more amenable to the demands of capital
> (to acknowledge Shane's point.)

Yes, I think we all understand that it reflects the different levels of class consciousness and tradition of class struggle in Europe and the US. But it is very doubtful the Europeans can exert the same pressure as in the past because the same forces which have gravely weakened organized labour in the US are also weighing on the European working class. It is fighting desperate defensive battles to retain its gains, rather than fighting for new ones in an expanding economy.



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