Crisis, Movement, Strategy: The Greek Experience (Historical Materialism)

In 2010 Greece entered a period of extreme austerity measures, but also of intense struggles and protests. Social and political crisis led to tectonic shifts in the political landscape and the rise to power of SYRIZA. Despite the impressive level of resistance expressed through the 2015 referendum, however, the Troika of the European Union (EU), International Monetary Fund (IMF), and European Common Bank (ECB) managed to impose the continuation of the same politics of austerity, privatisation, and neoliberal reform.

This social and political sequence poses important theoretical and analytical questions regarding capitalist crisis, public debt, European integration, political crisis, the new forms of protest and social movements, and the rise of neo-fascist parties. It also brings forward many pressing questions regarding radical left-wing strategy. The contributions in this volume attempt, from different perspectives, to deal with some of these theoretical and strategic questions using the Greek experience as a case study.

Contributors include: George Economakis, Stavros Mavroudeas, Ioannis Zisimopoulos, Alexios Anastasiadis, Maria Markaki, George Androulakis, Despina Paraskeva-Veloudogianni, Eirini Gaitanou, Alexandros Chrysis, Euclid Tsakalotos, Spyros Sakellaropoulos, Panagiotis Sotiris, Giannis Kouzis, Yiorgos Vassalos, Christos Laskos, Angelos Kontogiannis-Mandros.

Panagiotis Sotiris, received his Ph.D. from Panteion University Athens. He has taught social and political theory and philosophy at the University of Crete, Panteion University, the University of the Aegean, and the University of Athens. He has written extensively on Marxist theory and social and political developments in Greece. His book A philosophy for Communism. Rethinking Althusser is forthcoming with Brill in the Historical Materialism Book series.