The world crisis of capitalism is asserting itself with a vengeance, defying every attempt by governments and the world financial system to bring it under control or even mitigate its disastrous spiral into a full blown collapse of the entire capitalist system on a world scale.
Nowhere has the inability of capitalism to come anywhere near to a solution to this crisis been more keenly felt than in Europe, which now stands at the very centre of the economic storm.
Just over one week ago, emergency plans were rushed through to ‘recapitalise’ the Spanish banks to the tune of 100 billion euros, in other words, to stop them going completely bust.
This solution lasted precisely three days, when last Thursday the cost of borrowing for Spain on the money markets shot up to a record 7%, up from the 6.18% before the rescue.
A 7% interest rate is so high that it is impossible for any country to actually repay any loans.
Faced with an inability to raise money on the international markets Spain will be unable to pay any state expenditure and will be forced into insolvency.
When the figure of 7% interest rates was reached by the Greek, Portuguese and Irish economies it forced these countries to beg for handouts from the Eurozone in the form of the European Central Bank along with the International Monetary Fund just to keep them afloat.
Spain, the fourth largest economy in Europe, is bigger than the economies of these three countries combined, making it impossible to bail out.
The bankruptcy of Spain will bring down the entire Eurozone and precipitate a crisis that will collapse the banking system internationally.
The world economic crisis dominated last Sunday’s elections in Greece, with every bourgeois politician across Europe lining up to warn Greek voters that a vote for the anti-austerity parties would mean Greece crashing out of the Eurozone and being left to sink into economic and political oblivion while simultaneously being responsible for the complete collapse of the rest of Europe.
Under the weight of this barrage, and facing what many felt was a leap into the unknown, a section of older Greek workers hesitated and opted reluctantly for the illusion of security.
‘I have voted for the thieves!’ one elderly man proclaimed as he left the polling station expressing the content of this vote.
As it rapidly becomes clear just exactly what the ‘thieves’ have in store for the Greek working class – introducing cuts that will dwarf anything seen so far in a desperate attempt to make them pay in blood for the crisis caused by the banks – those workers who voted for Pasok or New Democracy will quickly be forced to realise that there is no way out under capitalism.
With no solution to this crisis under capitalism, the Greek workers are being driven towards the only solution open to them, the revolutionary overthrow of capitalism through the socialist revolution.
Revolutions never proceed in a straight line but take a spiral form of development with each leap forward inevitably preceded by an apparent step back.
If the Greek working class appears to have taken a step back in this election, it must necessarily result in a massive leap forward in the near future as they quickly learn that there is no salvation or respite under capitalism and that only the socialist revolution can provide a future for workers and youth.
Sunday’s vote represents a preparation for the further expansion of revolution in Greece and throughout Europe.
