#WORLD #WORLDWIDE #GERMANY #BERLIN #ANARCHISM #News #Journal #Update - (en) #Germany, die plattform: The crisis is called capitalism - a contribution to the debate by the #Berlin platform (ca, de, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

 In every crisis and always, it remains the task of a serious radical left to

focus on the debate about the big picture and to look at this simple fact: the
crisis is called capitalism. Instead, what we are being served up from all sides
are symptomatic debates about inflation and price increases that we are all
familiar with. However, these symptoms, which are supposed to be caused by a
crisis, have been topical for the people most affected for a long time, well into
the existential crisis. ---- Meanwhile, a ("left") liberal green bourgeoisie
can't get enough of their oh-so-eloquent minister responsible for administering
the best possible framework for national capital, in short Economics Minister.
This is able to glorify the capitalist compulsion (= profit maximization) in the
well-known green manner and soppy babble and the consumption-critical (1) voters
equipped with the necessary wallets rave that he explains politics so well - what
nonsense. They see in the FDP the problem that stands in the way of green (ie
correct) government and thus hide the fact that there is no match between them
and the FDP.

Now "leftists" are also bringing themselves into play about the practical
necessity. They want to bring the competition for the highest possible rate of
profit to its knees through state action. Keynesians (2) who no longer want
anything to do with Marx, since a materialistic analysis would require
self-criticism and would thus mean criticism of the "left" governments of this
world. And even they are only in conversation until the compulsion breaks their
"socialist" neck - then they quickly bet on the next horse. To learn from
mistakes? None! 100 billion are being demanded for social affairs and people are
being taken for fools. The recurring transfiguration of the ideal total
capitalist (3) can drive you (and the platform) crazy.

The capitalist crisis is a cyclical and thus a constantly recurring crisis, which
cannot be determined in terms of time but is inevitable. Because the
above-mentioned constraint of profit maximization always leads to overproduction
and thus to various crises (hello climate catastrophe!). Politics can postpone
this to a limited extent, but cannot solve it. Late capitalist reality seems to
have reached this point of now impossible postponement, and we say it again: the
crisis is called capitalism. (4)

A symptom of this postponement is the rising inflation since around June 2021
(5), which is mainly the result of (over-accumulative) monetary policy by the
central banks. This monetary policy, in turn, had only one purpose: to keep the
already sputtering economic engine running with cheap money. This in turn results
in the price increases that are currently spreading. Neither the corona pandemic
nor the Russian war of aggression are triggers for inflation. They are
reinforcing elements or accelerators of a crisis inherent in capitalism, which
also includes inflation. If a postponement is no longer possible, this crisis
will be resolved in the "market adjustment" (6). In summary, this means the
destruction of capital, not only in the form of money, but specifically in the
form of companies. The consequences are even more unemployment and further
impoverishment.

All of these are not rosy prospects.

The politics of the European hegemon Germany, including the austeritarian (7) and
highly popular (8) Minister of Finance Schäuble, has always been able to
outsource the moments of crisis within Europe, which are now being expressed in
price increases - the European comrades can sing a song about that .

The price increases in Germany due to inflation are just one expression of a
crisis that is not national and therefore calls for anti-national answers. There
is no question that the political class of every nation will try by all means to
keep the crisis described away from the respective national capital and "resolve"
it entirely at the expense of the wage earners and the precariat. The»Concerted
Action«(9) that has already been launched is an example here. The black zero is
expected to be applied again in 2023 (10). She will exert pressure and draw a
picture on the wall with which the "tightening belt" appears as a last resort.
 From this, an emancipatory left must draw the conclusion not to tighten the belt
for national capital, but to pull it out. It has to contradict the prevailing
debates and not allow itself to be fooled by the green to the left.

As long as we remain silent and cowed, the state will not respond. A capitalist
state protects capitalist interests, how often should Mr. Lindner explain that?
It is therefore fundamentally wrong to expect improvements from this side. If the
crisis is not to be borne entirely by the wage-earning class, an attempt must be
made to build up countervailing power from our side. No matter how manageable it
may be, it has to be loud as well as limitless. Let's name the real opponents and
initiate the non-existent debate about the whole thing.

We know that in addition to an analytical classification, most of us also need
very practical help right now. There are already very good discussions on the
current situation, which, in addition to asking the right questions, also offer
answers and actions (11). For practical help in the Berlin area, we will link
various contact points and organizations on our Twitter account over the next few
weeks.

Anyway and always applies: Organize yourselves, whether unionized (12) and/or
with us or somewhere else, but organize yourself!

Remarks:

(1) Consumer criticism-criticism Lecture:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=11QkcineikQ
(2) Keynesians and the criticism from the left:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=F572Y0QWH_Y
(3) "The modern state, whatever its form, is essentially a capitalist machine,
the state of capitalists, the ideal total capitalist." Friedrich Engels
(4) From the platform consensus on capitalism:
How do crises arise?
Capitalism is ruled by overproduction. This results from the fact that production
is always carried out exactly as a profit can be expected from it. The crux here
is that production is not based on needs, but purely speculative. Means of
generating "artificial/false needs", for example through advertising, must be
taken into account here. But even in this case, it remains a speculative
production, since sales, despite all statistics or market research, can never be
forecast as a fixed consumption. If products flood the market that are not
consumed, i.e. not bought, the capitalists will not make any profits. Because the
beer produced wants to be drunk: "The effects of profits (...) determine the
investment flows. And since investment determines how much money is spent hiring
workers (and thus consuming them) and buying raw materials, equipment, and
machinery, their growth or decline affects the growth or decline of the economy
as a whole. " In summary: Speculative production leads to overproduction that is
inherent in the system, which in turn leads to a collapse in profits; This
results in a reduction in jobs, which in turn results in underconsumption. The
crisis is therefore not to be determined on the basis of "mistakes" by one or
more actors, no, it is inherent in capitalism.
(5) "How much are prices rising right now? -
Germany is in a phase of inflation. What does that mean? And how bad is that? An
overview in graphics."
interaktiv.tagesspiegel.de/lab/inflation/
(6) "In economics, market shakeout is a process in which the number of providers
in a market is reduced."
de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marktbereinigung
(7) "The term is mainly used in economic contexts and is a designation for a
strict government budgetary policy that strives for a balanced national budget
and a reduction in national debt (austerity policy, restrictive fiscal policy,
austerity policy). Budget cuts and tax increases in times of poor economic
development are defined as austerity measures."
de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Austerit%C3%A4t
(8) "The majority of Germans hold the Greek government responsible for the
escalation in the debt dispute. According to the DeutschlandTrend, it is 68
percent of those surveyed. Finance Minister Schäuble, on the other hand, is more
popular than ever."
www.tagesschau.de/inland/deutschlandtre...
(9) ""Concerted action" Scholz swears citizens to a long crisis"
www.tagesschau.de/inland/inflation-konz...
(10) "Christian Lindner says that 2023 should be the end of more and more new debts."
www.tagesspiegel.de/politik/das-geplan...
(11)
dieplattform.org/2022/08/23/situationsanalyse-sommer-2022-zeit-der-Krisen-zeit-fuer-widerstand/#more-2417
(12) FAU Berlin berlin.fau.org/

https://berlin.dieplattform.org/2022/08/26/die-krise-heisst-kapitalismus/
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