Annual Meeting of Transform! Europe

Stockholm, June 15th

On June 15th the Network transform! europe gathered in its annual general assembly in Stockholm. The assembly took place after a two-day seminar entitled "The Social and Welfare State - Prospects and Perspectives...." The seminar was part of the Network’s project "European Social Model and Left Actors" co-financed by the European Commission. This seminar offered a space for a rich debate on the current situation of welfare models in different parts of Europe, the ways in which they are being dismantled, as well as on the social and political consequences of this ongoing neoliberal process including resistance and alternatives. The general assembly of transform! europe assessed the seminar as being a productive and fruitful first step into a long term all-European research work.. 

Following its recognition, in 2007, as the partner foundation by the Party of the European Left, transform! europe decided to carry out research work on topics which concern the European social model and the perspectives of the European political and social Left. The responsibilities undertaken by transform! europe towards the EL does not contradict the fact that, since its establishment, it is an independent actor of the Left in Europe, a feature which it intends to strengthen in the future by different means, including those of enlarging the Network.

In the Stockholm meeting, transform! europe decided to adjust its organisational structure aiming at facilitating the cooperation of all its members in the new period of its enlargement. For this reason, it elected an operating managing board consisting of Ruurik Holm (Left Forum, Finland) who was elected as new legal representative, Elisabeth Gauthier (Espaces Marx, France) and Haris Golemis (Nikos Poulantzas Institute, Greece) which together with the  coordinator, Walter Baier, are commissioned to run the every day organisational work of the network. The assembly expressed its thanks to Michael Brie for the work performed as the first legal representative of transform! europe.

Regarding the work in 2009, transform! europe identified a number of main areas along in which it will organize its activities and research: the continuation of the project on the European Social Model and new social realities in Europe including also the feminist perspective, research on the economic and financial crises  in the era of financialised capitalism, participatory democracy, techno-political tools of communication and its impact on today’s politics, economic democracy, and to start a research project on the main strategic challenges of the left parties in Europe. transform! europe will also continue to publish the transform! magazine in different languages. The Network will also co-organize jointly with the European Left the summer university in Paris (July 2008), participate on the International Marx Congress in Portugal (November 2008) and organize seminars in the ESF in Malmö (September 2008) and in the WSF in Belem, (January 2009).

Presently, the network consists of 16 members and observers of 13 European countries.

Members: Rosa Luxemburg Foundation (Germany), Espaces Marx (France), transform.italia, Centre for Marxists Social Studies (Sweden), Nikos Poulantzas Institute (Greece), journal Sozialismus (Germany), Foundation of Marxist Research - FIM (Spain), transform! austria, CUL:TRA (Portugal), Left Forum (Finland) .

Observers: Foundation Copernic (France), Manifesto Group (Norway), Foundation Gabriel Péri (France).

At the Stockholm meeting, following their applications SPED (Czech Republic), transform! luxemburg and the Association Culturelle Joseph Jacquemotte (Belgium) acquired the status of transform! europe observers.

www.transform-network.org    baier@transform.or.at

In November 2007, transform! organised a conference entitled “The Reform of the Revolution”. The title was chosen to convey two theoretical political objectives, namely: the reformulation of – that is, the giving new form to – the idea of a radical transformation of society, and at the same time, a radical critique of the historical concept of revolution itself. Two critical phenomena are coming together at the beginning of the new century: On the one hand, the crisis of neoliberalism, whose full implementation was supposed to lead to the “end of history,” that is to an era of growth and of economic and social stability – by contrast, today there is the risk that the world economy could be shaken to its foundations through a crisis of the international financial system; on the other hand, the forces arrayed against neoliberalism, especially in Europe, have still not succeeded in developing common, coherent political projects that are capable of winning over a majority of the population. Even the anti-globalisation movement which arose at the turn of the century is having a difficult time conceiving of a transition from resistance to political alternative.

How then, in the current relations of exploitation, domination and repression, do we locate and understand tendencies to a transformation that would transcend the system? In different words: Where can we locate, within the inner contradictions of contemporary capitalism, which knows no boundaries, the approaches that could bring about a political unity of the very diverse forces which can be mobilised in the struggle for a new society, and how can we find, after the dramatic upheavals at the end of the 20th century, a new language in which these forces and their struggles can express themselves? Hence the question is: can a revival of the radical left be achieved without it degenerating into a non-critical apology for the forces of domination, of which a growing number of the liberal left have been guilty? Without degenerating into the naturalisation of capitalistic social relations? Without losing sight of the political goal of overturning such relations?

To download the file of the journal please click on the title of this information.

Immanuel Wallerstein talked to an audience of 500 people at the Old Student Union House in Helsinki on Wednesday, March 5, 2008. The talk was part of a bigger event, Capitalism '08. The possibilities of a freer future. The house was one of the main venues of the 1968 radical student movement in Finland. Other international speakers of the event were Rodrigo Nunes, Ruth Reitan and Peter Waterman.

The topic of Immanuel Wallerstein's lecture was "The chaotic state of the world-system". Wallerstein predicted that capitalism is drifiting toward its end -- not through a revolution -- but because the system is not profitable enough for the capitalists themselves. According to Wallerstein, the reason for this is that the price of labour has been increasing since the birth of capitalism around the 15th century.

This becomes evident when one, for example, considers the upper middle class of the year 1939. In those times, families had servants, but nowadays almost no-one has a servant because of the raise in salaries. Another example would be the wage level of a metal worker in the 60's compared to the present.

In the afternoon, the possibilities of a post-capitalist future were discussed in a panel led by Teivo Teivainen (see above). The late afternoon consisted of workshops on the themes work, expansion and human.

In the evening, the world-political rock party filled club Dubrovnik to its capacity and beyond.

The events were organized by Left Forum, Attac at the University of Helsinki, Political Science Department of the University of Helsinki, NIGD, KSL Civic Association for Adult Learning, Finnish Construction Trade Union, Le monde diplomatique (Finland) and Demokratiafoorumi VK.

Wallerstein's thesis certainly has echos from Marx's law of decreasing rate of profits, according to which the ratio of profit to the invested capital decreases in the long run.

Annual Meeting of transform! europe

On December 15, 2007, transform! europe assembled for its 2007 annual meeting in Athens. At the same time, the Greek member organisation, the Nicos Poulantzas Institute, celebrated it ten-year anniversary by a series of public events.

Nine member organisations from nine European countries took part in the transform! meeting: transform.at (Austria), Left Forum (Finland), Rosa Luxemburg Foundation (Germany), Nicos Poulantzas Institute (Greece), transform.italia (Italy), Espaces Marx (France), Cultures of Work and of Socialism (Portugal), Foundation for Marxist Research (Spain) and the Centre for Marxist Studies (Sweden).

As observers, there took part in the session the coordinator of the network “PRESOM – Privatisation and the European Social Model, Jörg Huffschmid, as well as Anastasia Theodorakopoulou for the executive of the Party of the European Left.

As far as the project submitted together with the European Left to the EU Commission “European Social Model and Left Actors” (approved in the meantime by the commission) is concerned, the next steps were defined:

■ a first meeting of the coordinating group at the end of January,

■ coordination of the work with PRESOM,

■ conduct of a seminar in Stockholm in June,

■ presentation of first results of the research at the European Social Forum,

■ a proposal to the GUE/NGL to conduct a joint European conference in the fall.

Several applications for membership in the network were submitted to the network. These will be treated at the next meeting (summer 2008) in the context of an “enlargement strategy” for transform!europe.

Uta Tackenberg was elected treasurer and Walter Baier coordinator of transform!

As common projects for the common year, there were defined:

■ participation in the organisation of the summer course of the Popular University of Malmö,

■ organisation of a day at the summer university of the EL,

■ continued participation in the project on participative democracy and its presentation at the European Social Forum,

■ cooperation in the preparation of the ESF,

■ public events on the year 1968,

■ cooperation in a conference of the Nicos Poulantzas Institute on theory of the state.

Michael Brie, Walter Baier

The reprot can be read in French here

With the journal Transform! we hope to open up a new space for political- intellectual debate and dialogue within the European left. It is true that the internet has significantly intensified cross-border communication between people, and we believe that the left has still not fully exploited its possibilities. Nevertheless, the printed word, the print media, is still enormously important for intellectual discussion as well as for simple communication.

Our magazine, whose first number we here present to the readers, will appear bi-annually in English. Each issue will focus on a commonly determined theme important for the work of the Transform! network. The current issue’s focus is the future of Europe and the possibilities of transforming it. Alongside the thematic focus, there will be contributions on current left developments on the international level or in single countries. In addition, our magazine will report on current initiatives and projects of the Transform! network.

Any attempt at founding a transnational medium represents, to some extent, an experiment and an adventure. It involves not only trying out new ways of working and starting to communicate in a language which for most participants is not their mother tongue, but also at the same time creating a basis for people of different political cultures to work together. Through this journal, therefore, we would like not just to initiate and support common left political projects, but also to contribute to the genesis of a new common political culture of the left. In so doing our journal is committed to a renewal of the European left. This journal is a common project of the whole network.

This first issue’s authors come from twelve European countries, the text is compiled in Austria, edited in New York City, and typesetting and distribution are done in Germany. We take this opportunity to thank all of the collaborators for their work, their willingness to be flexible and their capacity for improvisation.

Organising a project of this kind on a European scale is ambitious and needs time to develop. We therefore ask our readers to forgive us for any hopefully minor errors that may occur. We look forward to receiving your criticisms and suggestions, as well as your substantive contributions regarding the topics covered by our journal.

Michael Brie, Offi cial Representative, Transform!

Walter Baier, Coordinator and Editor, Transform! August, 2007