Out of work in the Great Depression:
Can we avoid a repeat?
Estadao, Brazil
Let the World
Remember the 1930s - Not Relive Them
"The
20th century, in addition to witnessing the irresistible emergence of the
masses, suffered under an insurmountable contradiction: on the one hand,
economic ties were internationalized, making different national systems more
and more dependent on one another; and on the other, we developed an incapacity
to politically oversee the process of internationalization."
After a dramatic year in
which we saw paraded before us the painful consequences of what began as the U.S.
sub-prime
mortgage crisis, and has now fully struck the project of European
unification, the irresistible temptation is to give in to pessimism and even apocalyptic
tones. That is, if it weren’t for the profound and universal lesson of the poet,
who tutored us that the last day of the year isn't the last day of time, much
less the last day of everything.
So, while maintaining these poetic
exceptions, which for irony's sake we are permitted to keep - and regardless of
some regret and willful optimism - it is worth examining the scope of a situation
beginning to spill powerfully into economic policy. This raises opinions that
by analogy allude to one of the most critical periods in the 20th century. In
fact, we now increasingly use as a reference the period of the long European
civil war that began in 1914 and ended with the global conflict that took place
between 1939 and 1945. And in the midst of all this, we experienced the Great Depression of
the 1930s.
Then as now, there was a
general diagnosis in several political areas that was similarly voiced by
intellectuals across the democratic spectrum, except of course from supporters
of the corporate-nationalistic solutions represented by fascism and Nazism. The diagnosis considered
that the 20th century, in addition to witnessing the irresistible emergence of
the masses, suffered under an insurmountable contradiction: on the one hand,
economic ties were internationalized, making different national systems more
and more dependent on one another; and on the other, we developed an incapacity
to politically oversee the process of internationalization, as key nations
close their borders and stimulate an aggressive nationalism or, in the case of
Nazism, one that was openly belligerent.
The critical context of our times
with its deepening economic depression seems to support the analogy. Without being
metaphorical, today one can speak of a global economy, or in other words, a
global economic system, which consists however, of market forces free of any
democratic regulation. The hollowing out of politics or its irrelevance as an
expression of the popular will has at times reached unprecedented levels. To
give an example of this irrelevance, look at Belgium, a country which, by the
way, is the “capital” of a unified Europe. For this emblematic country, from
the date of parliamentary elections in mid-2010 up to a few weeks ago, no
formal government had yet been formed - as if this were strictly unnecessary.
Let’s leave aside the
specifics of Belgium, which is internally fractured between the Flemish and
Francophone. That is not a case to analyze today. The example is of interest only
as a symptom, once again, that the facts of the economy appear to show a
“natural historical process,” either completely beyond the control or poorly
governed by policymakers who are incapable of providing social security and ensuring
that citizens, whether at the national level or within supranational
institutions, feel a sense of participation and belonging.
The latest voice to sound
the alarm is Paul Krugman's, who underlined the precarious state of that
small representative democracy, Mitteleuropa. In Hungary, Krugman tells us, the
Jobbik Partybehaves according to the rituals and “values” of Nazism, starting with
anti-Semitism and the sponsorship of an “armed wing”; meanwhile the ruling Fidesz Party government, which
holds a huge majority, is developing policies to permanently remain in power -
nullifying the difference between party and state and turning the judiciary
into a partisan tool. It is also promoting the idea that it is impractical to
transfer power and it is busy nationalizing the media, turning it into a
propaganda vehicle for those who seek permanent power. This is a context in
which, according to Krugman, although no Hitler is in sight, the potential of a
euro collapse would be no small problem for Europe's political elite and the project
to unify the continent.
In the 1930s, as we know,
there was a communist left backed by a powerful state that fortunately, although
it was a bumpy ride for everyone involved, joined with the Western democracies
to defeat the Nazi-fascist challenge to civilization. Even in the West,
especially in France and Spain, communists and socialists were found in common
trenches, alongside "bourgeois" democrats, as they were called back
then, under the umbrella of the “Popular Front.”
(And even in Brazil, in another context, the 1935 experience of the National
Liberation Alliance, not to mention the unfortunately violent outcome, deserves
to be regarded as a sign of the way the urban masses coalesced and attempted to
broaden democracy.)
Senior columnist John Authers and editor
Lionel Barber discuss how the
new treaty to enforce changes to the E.U.'s fiscal rules could be enforced
without Britain on board, whether it's enough for to appease markets,
All this is undeniable and
should inspire those on today's left to concern themselves with the destiny of
their own nations, and at the same time, keep a global, cosmopolitan,
culturally-articulate and socially fair society on the horizon.
While this is true, it isn't the
whole truth. Historical communism, bearer of demands for substantive change led
by “one class,” was born of a rupture with political democracy. In other words,
the system of democratic guarantees should be suspended in the event of a revolutionary
seizure of power and the construction of a new society beyond class. Then, as would
become clear, the "eastern sin" from which we derived these closed
societies would be repudiated by their respective populations during events that
symbolically culminated with the fall of the Berlin Wall.
To avoid this catastrophic outcome,
and during the current crisis to work productively on a sensible strategy, the
left should reacquaint itself with the liberal tradition, reforming itself to
incorporate, among other things, the element of pluralism.
*Luiz Sérgio Henriques is
a translator, essayist and founder of Gramsci
Brazil.
