Profiting Without Producing: How Finance Exploits Us All Costas Lapavitsas

Financialization and the Collapse of European Social Democracy - Costas Lapavitsas Profiting Without Producing: How Finance Exploits Us All Costas Lapavitsas On Reality Asserts Itself, Mr. Lapavitsas says Greece will face the choice between socialism or fascism




The problem with the left in Greece is both reformism and dogmatism. The left-wing party Syriza and the Communist Party of Greece, are the biggest left-wing parties in Greece. Syriza is the strongest, it has replaced the social democratic ( and pro-capitalist ) Pan-Hellenic Socialist Movement - PASOK as the main leftist party. But Syriza is deeply reformist, its leadership searches for compromises with the capitalist EU and the owners of the Greek economy. Yet people voted on Syriza to stop the exploitation of workers and the poor. Alexis Tsipras is the leader of Syriza and not a revolutionary socialist!
Syriza used to be a coalition of many leftist political parties. Its full name in English is the ''Coalition of the Radical Left'', the leading political party inside Syriza is the ''Coalition of Left of Movements and Ecology'' or Synaspismos. Tsipras is the leader of Synaspismos and here we have the problem. Synaspismos is reformist and not revolutionary. Because Synaspismos leads Syriza their reformism is the problem!
Now the Communist Party of Greece is a revolutionary force. A revolutionary force still limited by their Stalinist dogmatism. They are sectarian and refuse to work with Syriza, saying that their communist party is the only true leftist party and that Syria is reformist and not revolutionary. They are right about this, but rejecting Syriza is foolish. Both Syriza and the communist party must work together on a socialist program to overthrow the ruling class and create a Socialist Hellenic Republic. Another problem is the top-down management of the communist party or KKE. Also Joseph Stalin is viewed positively by the KKE and they reject any criticism of the Soviet-Union under classic stalinism. So although the KKE is a revolutionary force, they are limited by their Stalinist dogmatism and sectarianism. This is the problem of the Greek left-wing!