Before he entered politics, Yanis Varoufakis, the iconoclastic Greek finance minister at the centre of the latest eurozone standoff wrote this searing account of European capitalism and and how the left can learn from Marx’s mistakesIn 2008, capitalism had its second global spasm. The financial crisis set off a chain reaction that pushed Europe into a downward spiral that continues to this day. Europe’s present situation is not merely a threat for workers, for the dispossessed, for the bankers, for social classes or, indeed, nations. No, Europe’s current posture poses a threat to civilisation as we know it.If my prognosis is correct, and we are not facing just another cyclical slump soon to be overcome, the question that arises for radicals is this: should we welcome this crisis of European capitalism as an opportunity to replace it with a better system? Or should we be so worried about it as to embark upon a campaign for stabilising European capitalism?When called upon to comment on the world we live in, I had no alternative but to fall back on Marxist traditionWhy did Marx not recognise that no truth about capitalism can ever spring out of any mathematical model?Europe’s elites are behaving as if they understand neither the nature of the crisis, nor its implications for the future Continue reading...
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