The drama of the eco­no­mic si­tua­ti­on is hard to over­look. Many sta­tes of the Eu­ropean pe­ri­phe­ry are ver­ging on bankrupt­cy, and an emer­gen­cy loan of 750 bil­li­on Euro is sup­po­sed to save the sin­gle cur­ren­cy. An in­crea­sing na­tio­nal debt will af­fect the main part of those po­pu­la­ti­ons, with yet un­fo­re­see­able con­se­quen­ces. In Ger­ma­ny, too, mas­si­ve so­ci­al de­cli­ne is on the agen­da. So­ci­al be­ne­fits and wage pay­ments are cut back, life’s risks pri­va­ti­zed, and the na­tio­nal la­bour ad­mi­nis­tra­ti­on fur­ther tigh­te­ned. More and more peop­le have to ac­cept crap­py wor­king con­di­ti­ons and la­bour lea­sing, with even more stress and less se­cu­ri­ty. More and more have to sup­ple­ment their low wages with un­em­ploy­ment be­ne­fits. Even more drop out of the eco­no­mic pro­cess com­ple­te­ly, and are ha­ras­sed by Job Cen­tres and em­ploy­ment pro­grams.

The ag­gra­va­ted com­pe­ti­ti­ve cons­traints don‘t spare schools and uni­ver­si­ties. Through the selec­tive pro­ce­du­res of a di­vi­ded school sys­tem, “elite schools” and the Ba­che­lor/Mas­ter-​sche­me, the trai­ning and uti­liza­t­i­on of the human ca­pi­tal are op­ti­mi­zed. What keeps to­ge­ther win­ners and lo­sers of the ca­pi­ta­list sys­tem is their shared de­pen­dence on na­tio­nal suc­cess wi­t­hin the glo­bal mar­ket com­pe­ti­ti­on. In­di­vi­du­al power­less­ness in the face of overw­hel­ming so­ci­al con­di­ti­ons is com­pen­sa­ted by an ideo­lo­gi­cal bond, based on the sup­po­sed com­mon de­s­ti­ny of the na­tio­nal collec­tive.

Wi­des­pread agi­ta­ti­on against Greece is an ex­pres­si­on of this hos­ti­le set­ting of na­tio­nal eco­no­mies. The real cri­sis is ca­pi­ta­lism! As long time “Ex­port Cham­pi­on of the World”, Ger­ma­ny has ef­fec­tive­ly ruined com­pe­ting eco­no­mies like Spain, Por­tu­gal or Greece, and now re­proa­ches them for the di­sastrous con­se­quen­ces of this re­mor­se­l­ess con­test. With pa­tro­ni­zing credit lines by EU and IMF, Greece is being forced under the yoke of ra­tio­na­liza­t­i­on for years to come. Broad le­vels of its po­pu­la­ti­on – from stu­dents to un­em­ploy­ed and wage la­bo­rers, right up to re­ti­rees – al­re­a­dy have to put up with dras­tic cut­backs. But many of them have met this ons­laught with re­so­lu­te re­sis­tan­ce, from ge­ne­ral strike to mi­li­tant ac­tions in the streets.

Wi­t­hin ca­pi­ta­lism, one thing is for cer­tain: Its cri­ses. For more than a cen­tu­ry, the ob­ses­si­ve com­pe­ti­ti­on of com­pa­nies, busi­ness re­gi­ons and en­t­i­re na­tio­nal eco­no­mies has ge­ne­ra­ted one cri­sis after ano­ther. Every busi­ness – be it the pro­duc­tion of ve­ge­ta­bles, cars, wea­pons or equi­ty de­ri­va­ti­ves – is star­ted as a ven­ture for pro­fit. Those who want to sur­vi­ve the strugg­le for mar­kets and in­vest­ments have to take un­pre­dic­ta­ble risks, and ruth­less­ly ex­ploit any chan­ce for pri­va­te gain.

To be­lie­ve that this ca­pi­ta­list order could be tamed, be it by the forces of the mar­ket or the state, has al­ways been il­lu­so­ry. The im­pe­ra­ti­ves of ca­pi­ta­list ac­cu­mu­la­ti­on and ex­ploi­ta­ti­on defy any re­gu­la­to­ry ef­fort. Every cri­sis-​in­du­ced ra­tio­na­liza­t­i­on en­han­ces the cons­traints of com­pe­ti­ti­on, and thus the dan­ger of new cri­ses. Go­vern­men­tal sti­mu­lus packa­ges for trusts and banks only rein­force the ca­pi­ta­list cri­sis-​ca­rou­sel.

The in­e­vi­ta­bi­li­ty of ex­ploi­ta­ti­on under ca­pi­ta­lism is a con­stant as­sault on a good life. The rat race of com­pe­ti­ti­on is not about per­so­nal bliss and so­ci­al needs, but about pri­va­te pro­fit and na­tio­nal in­te­rests. We don’t want this mur­de­rous non­sen­se.

Join the an­ti­ca­pi­ta­list block! Let us take our ra­di­cal cri­tique into so­cie­ty! We only get what we fight for. For the so­ci­al re­vo­lu­ti­on!