calling for a debt-audit for those countries with a high debt/GDP as prelude to default. Yet there are still major points of debate on additional issues that are relevant to the debt crisis as well as how to put forward a coherent response to the attack on the working class and the social welfare state that form the neoliberal response to the debt and deficit crisis in the Eurozone. The three pieces (Lapavitsas, Onaran and Millet and Toussaint) that appear in this issue all support a debt-audit of countries affected by high debt/GDP. In addition, other relevant questions are raised by the first two authors. Specifically, what is addressed is the role of the Euro as a world currency and the economic conditions required to sustain it, whether or not to advocate that Greece (and other peripheral economies in the Eurozone) exit or remain in the Eurozone; the possibility of shifting the mechanisms and institutions of the Eurozone and the European Union towards a socialist basis; and finally they a socialist address transitional programmes towards Europe. Understanding the nature of the role of the Euro and the mechanisms that sustain it to fulfil its role as a world currency are argued by Costas Lapavitsas to be essential in order to develop an anti-capitalist response to the debt crisis. He maintains that the abandonment of the currency, the shift away from anti-labour foundations requiring both suppression of wages in the core of the Eurozone and indebtedness in the periphery of the Eurozone to sustain the export-oriented German economy (where effective a necessary condition to address the situation from an anti-capitalist perspective. Moreover, solutions proposed to the crisis by the European ruling class are of doubtful sustainability where effective demand is surely to fall in the periphery due to the introduction of austerity measures affecting both the social welfare states of these countries and the state sectors (and state sector worker employment and wages). As such, the demands of the IMF, European Central Bank (ECB) and EU will pose a threat not only to the ability of these countries to deal with the debt/deficits, but also threaten the strength of the German economy. Onaran argues that a discussion of the crisis should not be concentrated upon the discussion of exiting the Euro. Instead she argues that the analysis must be based upon points of agreement amongst the Left to address the crisis. Concerned over the dangers of a nation-state solution to the problem and the dangers of rising nationalism, she asks whether the can be based upon a joint response of the European Left. Whether the Euro and the financial institutions of Europe can be reformed and whether the EU can be reformed to reflect a socialist agenda form the foundation of her response to Lapavitsas. Finally, she articulates a transitional programme to move towards a socialist solution to the economic situation. This discussion is ongoing and you can comment on all these articles on the Socialist Resistance website. We will return to this debate in our next issue. Susan Pashkoff Euro & debt debate he anti-capitalist left is coming to agreement in demand is provided by peripheral countries in Europe) is
International: Euro and debt debate – Introduction
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